“Barbecue” skewers racial stereotypes, addiction and typical representations of the American family and sears them to their very core. The delightfully crass comedy, showing at the Geffen Playhouse until Oct. Read more...
Photo: Playwright Robert O’Hara’s comedy “Barbeque” is playing at the Geffen Playhouse. The play tells the story of two American families confronting issues of racial stereotyping and addiction. (Courtesy of Jeff Lorch Photography)
Set and prop designers Lisa Lechuga and Evan Bartoletti spent the past three years pulling strings to bring their latest piece to life. Alumni Lechuga and Bartoletti founded Lechetti Art & Design, a scenic design company that specializes in creating sets for theater and live events. Read more...
Photo: Alumni Evan Bartoletti and Lisa Lechuga form design company Lechetti Designs. Their latest project together involved designing sets and puppets for the show “Voices Carry,” an interdisciplinary production involving dance, abstract puppetry, music and performance art in Downtown Los Angeles. (Courtesy of Silvia Spross)
Joseph Mango knows friends can be the best therapy – and Phoebe, Joey, Rachel, Ross, Chandler and Monica are the best therapists. Mango, a senior public administrative analyst for the UCLA Center for Health Services and Society, penned a play called “The One With Friends,” about a struggling Los Angeles actor who meets a writer who is scripting a reunion episode for the television show “Friends.” Both the main characters of the play, which will debut at the Tamkin Auditorium on Friday, struggle with depression and eventually find comfort and healing through their newfound companionship and mutual love for “Friends.” Mango, a lifelong “Friends” enthusiast, incorporated more than just his love of the 1990s sitcom into his play. Read more...
Photo: UCLA employee Joseph Mango (right) wrote the play “The One With Friends” about characters with mental illnesses that find friendship over a shared interest in the sitcom “Friends.” (Anthony Tran/Daily Bruin)
Kyle Abraham has danced from Brooklyn to Paris – but this year, he will be calling UCLA home base. Abraham joined the faculty of the world arts and cultures/dance department this year. Read more...
Photo: Kyle Abraham joined the world arts and culture/dance faculty this year. The founder of Abraham.In.Motion, he bends dance to add a political angle to his work. (Courtesy of Steven Schreiber)
Nine UCLA alumni joined the cast of “Frozen – Live at the Hyperion,” performing as Elsa, Olaf, Hans, Kristoff or the ensemble. The live adaptation of the 2013 Disney animated film “Frozen” currently plays three times a day at Disney California Adventure after opening in May. Read more...
Photo: Alumnus Kevin Patrick Doherty performs as Disney’s “Frozen” character Olaf by manipulating a puppet and matching its facial expressions. (Miriam Bribiesca/Photo Editor)
Bernard Brown said he couldn’t hug another man growing up in South Los Angeles – doing so elicited scowls of disapproval. The graduate student wants to challenge the stereotype of gay men as inferior by questioning the gender roles he believes are generally assigned to sexual acts, such as the male being dominant, Brown said. Read more...
Photo: MFA student Bernard Brown choreographed “Active/Passive,” which features dances based on wrestling moves. (Maryrose Kulick/Daily Bruin senior staff)
When Jose Luis Valenzuela was debating whether or not to join the Chicano theater movement of the 1960s, a professor asked if he wanted to make history or let it pass by him. Read more...
Photo: Professor Jose Luis Valenzuela directed a play about Mexican-American immigrants to challenge the idea that immigrants in America are criminals. The third part of the play suggests how traditions can be lost after moving to the U.S. (Miriam Bribiesca/Photo editor)
