Read the latest happenings with our faculty, staff, students, and alumni!

October 2024 

• Shae Palic held a Theatrical Intimacy Workshop for Cal Poly students to introduce them to theatrical practices surrounding intimacy in shows.
• Peter Hadres held a Stage Combat Workshop for Theatre & Dance majors & minors.
• Assistant Professor Ramón Esquivel new play Fallenstar: The Watchoverers premiered at the New Native Theatre. See a feature about the play here. 

September 2024

• Associate Professor Karin Hendricks-Bolen became the Associate Chair for the Theatre & Dance Department.

August 2024

• Associate Professor Karin Hendricks-Bolen taught a Movement Intensive with PCPA.

July 2024

• Professor Thomas J. Bernard submitted for publication his book "Historical Pattern Archives 2: Women's Clothing from Historic Clothing Collection 1820-1938". Look to purchase your copy in 2025. This is a sequel to his first book with Marcy Linton.
• Costume Shop Manager Laina Babb designed costumes for the ballet "Peter and the Wolf" with SLO Movement Arts Collective as part of Festival Mozaic.
• Technical Director Richard Jackson attended an OSHA 10 Training to further his knowledge of current safety practices in the workplace.

June 2024

• Professor Thomas J. Bernard designed costumes for The Play That Goes Wrong at PCPA. Read a review of the play here.
• Assistant Professor Ramón Esquivel presented a staged reading of his new play Watching for Sasquatch in the Theatre & Dance Dept's Black Box Theatre. This work was funded through a Cal Poly RSCA grant.
  • Student performers included: Michelle Pellegrin, Tien Nguyen, Isaac Lewis, John DeVries, Niah Pratt, Colin Elman, Steffan Evans, and Alli Zamora. 
  • Dramaturgy was by Millie Harrison
  • Stage Management was by Drew Mahecha-Sherrard.

May 2024 

• Assistant Professor Karin Hendricks-Bolen has been promoted to Associate Professor and granted tenure.
• Associate Professor Brian Healy was featured in two Mustang News articles about the critical lack of space at Cal Poly. They can be found here and here.
• The Theatre & Dance Department hosted playwright Larissa FastHorse for a Q&A panel discussion.
• The Theatre for Young Audiences class took their show "Loose Threads" out to the local community, touring the show to 12 schools in San Luis Obispo county. The class spent the winter quarter devising and workshopping a new show and continued this spring quarter by rehearsing, designing, and creating technical elements for the show before it went out to the schools. 
• Assistant Professor Karin Hendricks-Bolen performed at SLO Rep in The Thanksgiving Play by Larissa FastHorse.
• Costume Shop Manager Laina Babb worked on alterations for the Janet Jackson Together Again Tour - 2024.
• Andrew Saito, the Susan Currier Visiting Professor, presented Ocean Aria, a culminating lecture/performance for his work at the university during the spring quarter.
• Theatre lecturer Hala Baki presented a stage reading and discussion of Passage by Christopher Chen. The interdisciplinary panel consisted of Visiting Professor Andrew Saito and Social Sciences Lecturer C.T. Aradanas. Look to see a full-length version of this show in the Cal Poly Theatre & Dance 2024-25 season.
• Professor Diana Stanton choreographed student dancers for the Music Deparment's Soundings performance.
  • Student dancers included: Dylan Hahn, Aviv Kesar, Carly Morris, Kaitlyn Kelly, Hannah Bielcik, Melissa Nemec, Emily Olster, Melissa Evans, Chloe Rosero, Eleanor Simon, Gracie Mitchell, Ellie Johnson, and Katya Tsikina.

January 2024 

• Rachel Kupfer-Weinstein received a glowing response to her direction of A Cat Found God from a KCACTF respondent. Linnaea Marks and Kennedy Martin received Irene Ryan Acting Nominations for their performances in the show and Jenna Brock received a Certificate of Merit for her work as the stage manager for this production. 
• Jordan D'Acquisto was featured in the January 10 Cal Poly Report for her work on the 2023-24 Rose Float. 
• Katherine Konjoyan served as Music Director for Morro Bay High School's production of "Little Women."
• Ashli St. Armant, creator of NORTH: The Musical, had a special conversation with theatre students about her approach to writing and developing a musical for young audiences. Ashli is known for her award-winning work in children's education and entertainment, and her Audible mystery series, Viva Durant. 

December 2023

• Rachel Kupfer-Weinstein presented A Cat Found God, her student-directed production, in the Cal Poly Black Box Theatre. This production was entered into the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival (KCACTF) and may be eligible for invitation to the regional festival.

October 2023

• Larry Southall presented a Hip-Hop Master Class in the PAC Pavilion. 
• Assistant Professor Ramón Esquivel's play Dulce is currently being performed at PCPA as part of their Outreach tour this season. The show will be touring the Central Coast bringing the experience of professional live theatre to a wide variety elementary schools throughout Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties.

September 2023

• Shae Palic held a Theatrical Intimacy Workshop for Theatre & Dance majors & minors. She has been working as an Intimacy Professional since 2018 after training through the SAG accredited certification program IDC Professionals. Shae is the Intimacy Coordinator for the fall production of Dead Man's Cell Phone.
• Gale McNeeley joined the Theatre Improv class for a workshop on Commedia Characters. 

July 2023

• Various members of the Theatre & Dance Department's faculty, staff, and students were involved with Festival Mozaic's summer music festival.
  • Costume Shop Manager Laina Babb designed costumes for Appalachian Spring and A Soldier's Tale.
  • Students Julia Neils and Natalie Rathle assisted Laina with costumes as part of their Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP+) project. You can find an article about their experience here.
  • Dance Lecturer Maartje Hermans was a principal dancer in Appalachian Spring.
  • Assistant Professor Karin Hendricks-Bolen directed A Soldier's Tale.

June 2023

• Assistant Professor Ramón Esquivel received a 2023-24 Research, Scholarly and Creative Activities (RSCA) grant from the Research, Economic Development and Graduate Education (R-EDGE) division for his proposal submission: "Watching for Sasquatch: A New Environmental Play."
• Madeline Webb received the 2023 College of Liberal Arts (CLA) Senior Award for the Theatre and Dance Department. 
• Max Kennel received the 2023 Cal Poly Arts Award for Excellence in Original Work.
• The Verbatim Theatre class presented a sharing based on interviews of undergraduate students currently enrolled at Cal Poly about their concerns and needs related to their experience on campus. Listen to the audio play here.

May 2023 

• Assistant Professor Karin Hendricks-Bolen directed A Doll's House, Part 2 at SLO Rep. The show also featured CLA Associate Dean Josh Machamer.

March 2023

• Theatre Lecturer Erin Solemsaas stage managed Vania and Sonia and Masha and Spike at SLO Rep along with student Theo Puleston. Also acting in the production was Sabrina Orro, alumna of the Cal Poly theatre program.

March 2023

• Two Theatre & Dance Department student playwrights earned honors at Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival's Region 8 conference in Las Vegas. The conference brought together students from college and university theatre programs in Central and Southern California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, and Hawaii. KCACTF's National Playwriting Program has recognized the finest, most challenging new work written by student playwrights for decades. 
  • Taylor Wendell Lozano's one-act play, Horizons, was performed as a staged reading at the festival, and then earned first prize in the region's ten-minute play competition.  
  • Max Kennel's excerpt from his play, The Story of Jimmy Kaplingus, was also performed at the festival, and it won in the monologue's competition. Both Taylor and Max hope to pursue dramatic writing as a career beyond Cal Poly. These honors demonstrate that they are off to a great start. Congratulations!

February 2023

• The Theatre & Dance Department received a new embroidery machine, a 3D printer, and a CNC machine thanks to an allotment of funds from the College of Liberal Arts Dean's Office. These machines will help improve productions and expand students' access to new technology. Click here to read an article about the new technology in Mustang News.

January 2022

• Associate Professor Brian Healy will now serve as Department Chair.

April 2022

• Theatre lecturer Hala Baki served as the Assistant Director for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival's production of unseen.

September 2021

• Two Cal Poly Theatre alumni have been cast in Berkeley Playhouse's production of Into the Woods! Congrats to Erika Cospin and Romelo Urbi. 

June 2021

• Assistant Professor Brian Healy has been promoted to Associate Professor and granted tenure. Congratulations!!

April 2021

• Theatre lecturer Hala Baki led a discussion based on the film “Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People" on April 27. The event was co-sponsored by the Theatre and Dance Department.

March 2021

• Winter mainstage productions Shelter and Floor Plan were previewed in the New Times paper.
• Minute Perspectives: A mixed-media art installation inspired by Shelter was featured in downtown San Luis Obispo! Works by Cal Poly students, staff, and faculty could be viewed in several stores as well as in the windows of the SLO Chamber.
• Associate Professor Christy Chand's dance film O U T S I D E was selected as an official entry to the Inaugural Cornish College of the Arts Screen Dance Festival.

February 2021

• Associate Professor Christy Chand published an article for the global online dance community, DancePlug about dance podcasts. 
• Assistant Professor Ramón Esquivel and his co-presenter, Johamy Morales of Seattle Children's Theatre, presented a workshop, Playwrights for Change: Creating a Playwriting Workshop for BIPOC Youth, on February 6th. This workshop is part of the Everyone's a Playwright Symposium, sponsored by the American Alliance.
• Assistant Professor Ramón Esquivel presented Teatro Campesino / Farmworkers Theatre: Lessons on Activist Theatre at the 5th Annual CLA Social Justice Teach In on February 11.  
• Assistant Professor Ramón Esquivel led the workshop Playwriting and Latinx Theatre: Writing Our Identities and Cultures on February 12th at the KCACTF Region 8 virtual festival. Using models of excellence by Latinx playwrights, participants wrote monologues and scenes that project their unique backgrounds and experiences on to the stage.
• A dance Master Class with the Doug Varone Company happened on Friday, February 19 from 10:00 am to 11:30 am.

January 2021

• Professor Josh Machamer has taken a new role in the College of Liberal Arts Dean's Office!  Associate Professor Christy Chand will serve as Interim Department Chair through this academic year.