Julio Ulises Medina woke up to the sound of the Colombian cumbia and Dominican merengue every morning playing on his home radio. He danced salsa and punta with girls at quinceañeras. Read more...
Photo: Graduate student Julio Medina performed his final UCLA show, “ONDA,” Friday and Saturday. The performance explores themes of race and masculinity through the medium of hip-hop and break dance. (Pinkie Su/Daily Bruin)
Three-year-old Alison Elliott sat in her car singing the haunting lines of Ophelia in “Hamlet”. By the time she was 4, Elliott’s parents had to pretend she was a theatrical understudy and create fake five-minute rehearsals to indulge her yearning to be on stage. Read more...
Photo: Alumna Alison Elliott is currently starring in “Six Characters in Search of an Author,” a play that premiered Saturday in Pasadena. Elliott performs alongside her mother, father and younger brother, and said her close relationship with her family allowed her to get past the strange relationships the characters experience in the play. (Courtesy of Craig Shwartz)
Monty Navarro is a young, zealous heir who discovers he is ninth in line to inherit a large fortune. While concurrently manipulating his fiancee and mistress, Navarro is willing to do anything it takes to get himself first in line to the riches. Read more...
Photo: Alumnus Robert Freedman’s musical “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder” will be performed at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles from March 22 to May 1. (Center Theatre Group)
The commotion of cast members running back and forth backstage was drowned out by the distant sound of a drill. Stage designer Amy Cummings, with the drill in her hand, was focused on attaching the missing legs of a wooden table. Read more...
Photo: Stage designer and third-year gender studies student Amy Cummings spent her spring break building the “Oklahoma!” set. She researched early 1900s scenery and found props like corn and barrels to bring the set to life. (Owen Emerson/Daily Bruin senior staff)
Brette Tell flipped through the glossy pages of magazines, eagerly searching for her favorite members of boy bands ‘N Sync and Backstreet Boys to add sketches of the perfect human face to her art repertoire. Read more...
Photo: Alumna Brette Tell has advertised her artwork on the UCLA Jobs & Internships Facebook page so she can earn some extra money while transitioning between jobs. Tell, who began sketching and painting in elementary school, sees her art as a means for self-expression and a way to cope with her experiences with mental illness. (Anthony Tran/Daily Bruin)
It would be impossible to distinguish set designer Tatiana Kuilanoff from the rest of the stage crew if not for her sharp coat and clean pants. Read more...
Photo: Graduate student Tatiana Kuilanoff designed the set of “The Trojan Women” by collaborating with the play’s two directors. (Anisha Joshi/Daily Bruin)
Eight-year-old Khamari Bendolph set his stereo down in the crosswalk of Quincy Street in Boston, preparing for a dance battle with the neighbor’s kid. He synced the Harlem shake dance with the pulse of the music and shuffled his energetic feet to the heel toe, stopping only when cars needed to pass. Read more...
Photo: Fifth-year dance student Khamari Bendolph grew up in Boston’s troubled inner city, where he lost his father and brother in a drive-by shooting. Bendolph now tries to help youth dealing with the same struggles by mentoring them away from the dangers of inner-city life and hosting dance workshops. (Tehya Faulk/Daily Bruin)
