Feats of Engineering & Artistry

By Christine Byrd If you see opera singers on a flying alligator’s back or snakes chasing Mozart, if it rains inside the theatre or a wild owl swoops overhead, it’s not magic. It’s just another day’s work for the Claire Trevor School of the Arts production team. “We’re prototyping and...

UCI students put diversity center stage in a summer series for young theatre professionals

UCI graduate students and their colleagues present Re-Creating the Stage: a round table for our new reality, a six-week digital summer program produced and organized by K.B. Theatre Company and collaborators. The program consists of panel conversations and workshops with industry professionals...

UC Irvine and ‘Made in L.A.’: A Relationship Through Time and Space

By Richard Chang There’s a special connection between the Department of Art at UC Irvine’s Claire Trevor School of the Arts and “Made in L.A.” — the influential art biennial founded and hosted by UCLA’s Hammer Museum since 2012. This year, the biennial will also take place at the Huntington...

Arts Advocates: Tom Nielsen

ARTIST ALLY Q&A with Tom Nielsen   Tom Nielsen, founder of a real estate consultancy, is a longtime advocate and supporter of Orange County arts organizations. A longstanding member of the CTSA Dean’s Arts Board, Nielsen ramped up his support of the school over the past decade,...

UCI Dance Welcomes Two New Faculty Members

  Irvine, Calif., July 1, 2020 – The Department of Dance in the UCI Claire Trevor School of the Arts welcomes two new Assistant Professors in Dance, Ariyan Johnson and Cyrian Reed, choreographer artists who specialize in hip hop and jazz dance.  The department conducted a year-long...

UCI Study Abroad Center: Photo Contest 2020

Congratulations to the winners of our first UCI International Photo Competition. The Office of Global Engagement, the Claire Trevor School of the Arts, and the Study Abroad Center are honored to share with you the inspiring winning photographs. UCI domestic and international students and alumni...

Lindsay Gilmour named UCI Hellman Fellow

Gilmour's research will explore Tibetan ritual dance in monasteries and nunneries Lindsay Gilmour, assistant professor in dance, recently received a 2020-21 Hellman Fellowship, which helps promising junior faculty realize their scientific and academic potential. Gilmour joins an elite group of...

Going ‘solo’ to come together

UCI Illuminations contest showcases student creativity during COVID by Lilibeth Garcia, UCI | June 24, 2020 "Students have been social distancing since mid-March, and it hasn’t been easy for them. They have had to adapt to the loneliness being apart from friends and classmates, the...

Humorous Empathy from North Coast Rep

David Dixon reviews North Coast Repertory Theatre video production of Human Error, directed by Jane Page, professor of directing in the department of drama, for San Diego Story. "Before North Coast Repertory Theatre’s Zoom video production of Human Error begins, Artistic Director David...

Black Performers You Probably Don't Know About — But Should

“‘Ah haaa!’ – The most ferocious sound in the room at the David H. Koch Theater was coming from an 85-year-old man in a wheelchair. But the years melted away as that man — Donald McKayle, the modern dance and Broadway choreographer known for exploring African-American themes in his work — watched a...

LIFT EVERY VOICE AND SING: Black Opera Singers Raise Their Voices in Remembrance and Triumph

Prof. Darryl Taylor, countertenor, recently participated in soprano Nicole Heaston’s Purple Robe Song Series. The Juneteenth tribute features 65 of the nation’s top operatic talents, singing “Lift Every Voice and Sing!” arranged by Roland Carter. The song was written by James Weldon Johnson and...

Director Jane Page On HUMAN ERROR & New Forms of Storytelling

Broadway World Los Angeles interviews department of drama's Prof. Jane Page regarding her new project, HUMAN ERROR. "North Coast Rep's west coast premiere of playwright Eric Pfeffinger's HUMAN ERROR will go on as originally planned, only in these times of social distancing, being presented...

UCI Vocal Arts students pay tribute to the lives lost to Covid-19

On June 6, 2020, the UCI Chamber Singers released a virtual choral performance of “Unclouded Day,” an old American folk song, newly arranged by renowned composer Shawn Kirchner. Dr. Irene Messoloras, Choir Director at the Claire Trevor School of the Arts, conducted the virtual performance,...

UCI Drama alum Taylor Fagins produces a powerful message through song

Taylor Fagins, Department of Drama alum, B.A. ’17, recently released a moving piece, “we need more.” The song is dedicated to George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and the countless others who have died through violence. The project was written and sung by Taylor Fagins, and arranged,...

Chiisana Omatsuri by Kei Akagi

Jazz pianist and head of the Jazz Studies program at UCI, Prof. Kei Akagi, was recently invited by Bay Area artists Brenda Wong Aoki and Marl Izu to be part of Earth Dance 2020: First Voice Earth Day, Offerings to Mother Earth. "Many traditions believe everything and everyone is part of a living...

‘Lint Lady,’ Long Beach artist Slater Barron dies at 89

By Asia Morris, Long Beach Post From abstract lint paintings and life-sized installations to bite-sized works mimicking plates of upscale sushi in her series Chef’s Special, artist Slater Barron found joy in using a material most would consider worthy only of discarding: lint. Known as the “...

Ballet in the kitchen: Alana Isiguen

"Alana Isiguen was a mere 2-years-old when she became so committed to emulating the movements in her older sister’s dance class that the instructor eventually conceded, much to the young pupil’s delight, in letting her join. From there, it was love. Isiguen, who will join the UW department of...

Saints and Anteaters together in Music during COVID-19

2020 was going to be the year that the annual combined concert, comprised of the UCI Symphony Orchestra and the Santa Ana High School (SAHS) Symphony Orchestra, "went bigger" and became the "Triple Jubilee." The ensembles were poised to perform in the Downtown Santa Ana Arts District on the 2nd...