Announcements – Department of Theatre and Dance

�ǿ��޴�ý University Will Present THE ELEMENTARY SPACETIME SHOW At Lincoln Center

phillipsam — Mon, 20 Apr 2026 17:56:53 +0000

�ǿ��޴�ý University’s Department of Theatre and Dance will present a full-scale production of THE ELEMENTARY SPACETIME SHOW, a musical by César Alvarez with a book by Alvarez and Emily Orling. Performances will take place at the Alexander Kasser Theater in Montclair, New Jersey, followed by a concert presentation at Lincoln Center’s David Rubenstein Atrium on April 26, 2026.

The musical follows Alameda, a teenager who, after attempting to take her own life, finds herself in a surreal game show that she must win in order to die. As she encounters a series of characters—including a mosquito, an android, a doppelgänger, and a piece of rhubarb—she moves through a series of trials that explore identity, loneliness, and meaning.

The work features music and lyrics by César Alvarez and blends indie-rock influences with experimental theatre and philosophical themes. The musical has previously been developed at Ars Nova, University of the Arts, NYU, and New York Stage and Film.

Alvarez said, “We’ve been working on this musical over many years and it has always been part of the plan to fully realize it with students. This is a musical about teen suicide. The piece tries to strike directly at the stigma around the mental health struggles which are ravaging young people. The Elementary Spacetime Show is meant to be a space of transformation for young people, and the brilliant young artists at MSU are the perfect people to bring it to life.”

Creative Team
The creative team includes César Alvarez (composer/lyricist), Emily Orling (book and additional lyrics), Alaina Ferris and César Alvarez (orchestrations), Dante Green (director), Spencer Weidie (choreographer), Piper Hill and César Alvarez (music direction), Alexander Tom (music coordinator), Emily Orling (scenic and costume design), Nick Kolin (lighting design), Ansel Brasel (stage manager), and Max Vann and Isabella Ferrara (assistant stage managers).

Good Times: A review by Mari S. Gold

phillipsam — Mon, 20 Apr 2026 17:34:50 +0000

About this post:
This article is a reprinted review by Mari S. Gold examining Lighten Up!, a dance program presented at the Theater at St. Jeans featuring performers from the �ǿ��޴�ý University Dance Department.The �ǿ��޴�ý University Dance Ensemble performed alongside artists and ensembles including the Joffrey Ballet School and Joffrey Concert Group NY.

We live in challenging times that keep many of us perpetually on edge. What a delight to spend an evening that asks only that you look, listen and sometimes laugh out loud.
That’s the premise of Lighten Up! a two-night program of dances at the Theater at St. Jeans, performed by a roster of highly competent groups and soloists who all deserve appreciation.
From the opening number, The Skaters Ballet, a reimagining from the 1948 musical comedy film, Up in Central Park, it’s clear that pure enjoyment is the expectation. Even the opening image, a Currier and Ives print of “Central Park-Winter—The Skating Pond”- is a nostalgic delight and comes to life with the dancers.
Other standouts were For Ella, three numbers choreographed by Margo Sappington, set to music by the queen of scat and danced by members of the Joffrey Ballet School’s Pre-Professional Trainee Program and the numbers danced by Henning Rűbsam, who excels at mime, acting and movement.
As the subtitle of the program title phrased it, there was ‘nothing to ponder, nothing to analyze.”
Cheers to soloists Antonio Fini, Aoi Matsuda whose tossed-in shrug is perfection, Claire Porter and Mr. Rubsam and to the Joffrey Concert Group NY; members of the Joffrey Ballet School, NY.; �ǿ��޴�ý University Dance Ensemble and Valentina Kozlova dancing with Andre Jouraiev.
Costumes are modest yet highly effective especially those by Christian Holder.
A cheerful, entertaining evening with no deep thinking required: just what we need.

�ǿ��޴�ý University Musical Transfers to Lincoln Center with Full Student Cast

phillipsam — Mon, 20 Apr 2026 17:02:54 +0000

The �ǿ��޴�ý University Department of Theatre and Dance presents a full-scale staging of “The Elementary Spacetime Show,” the inventive new musical by César Alvarez with a book by Alvarez and Emily Orling. The production features more than two dozen student performers, stage managers, and musicians, culminating in a special concert presentation at Lincoln Center’s David Rubenstein Atrium on April 26, 2026.

“The Elementary Spacetime Show” tells the story of Alameda, a teenager who, after attempting to take her own life, finds herself in a cosmic game show that she must win in order to die. Alameda faces down a host of avatars—including a depressed mosquito, an arrogant android, a self-loathing doppelgänger, and a talking piece of rhubarb. Through eight existential trials, Alameda confronts questions of identity, loneliness, and the meaning of existence, discovering that her darkness may be a gift.

With music and lyrics by Alvarez and a book by Alvarez and Orling, the musical blends indie-rock soundscapes, experimental theatre, and philosophical storytelling. Playbill has noted that the work “bends the rules of space and time to grapple with suicide and the stigma tethered to it.” The Philadelphia Inquirer suggested the musical could become “Rent for the social-media generation.”

Alvarez says, “We’ve been working on this musical over many years and it has always been part of the plan to fully realize it with students. This is a musical about teen suicide. The piece tries to strike directly at the stigma around the mental health struggles which are ravaging young people. “The Elementary Spacetime Show” is meant to be a space of transformation for young people, and the brilliant young artists at MSU are the perfect people to bring it to life.”

The musical has been developed in earlier iterations at Ars Nova, University of the Arts, NYU and New York Stage and Film.

Following the Montclair performances, the full MSU company—including student actors and musicians—will bring excerpts from the production to New York City, giving students the opportunity to share their inventive staging on one of the city’s most prominent public performance stages.

“The Elementary Spacetime Show”: A Reason to Keep Living

phillipsam — Mon, 20 Apr 2026 16:30:43 +0000

Mental health is a subject that is so often talked about in media, but in recent years it seems where the subject tends to fail with audiences, particularly in authenticity and proper storytelling is in theatre.

�ǿ��޴�ý University’s production of “The Elementary Spacetime Show” is a show that challenges the topic in a way no other Broadway show I’ve seen has done. Trying to break through in a time that so many feel so strongly about.

“The Elementary Spacetime Show” is a musical about a young woman named Alameda, who attempts suicide and finds herself in a cosmic vaudevillian gameshow that she has to win in order to die, all while finding the need for recovery through each challenge.

With a story this unique and dark, it was certainly going to be a challenge to figure out how this story would work for audiences. The show is blunt, dark and at times, disturbing.

The show will put you in moments of pure despair and wrap up in a giant blanket, wanting to hide, only to be then picked up and out of the chrysalis. It’ll then cause you to break out to fly again in happy thoughts and relief, going through an experience that makes you appreciate life.

Co-author and co-music director of the show César Alvarez emphasizes this point.

“One of the most dangerous things about suicidality, is the stigma around it,” Alvarez said. “So many people have these feelings and there’s a terror around how to confront them or how to share them, and the show sort of just absolutely blows that apart… by the time that you’re done seeing the show, you’ve been so immersed in such a wild, raucous, multi-dimension conversation around this topic, that it feels liberating.”

This production and the team also made it a point to make sure that the cast is coming into a safe and mentally supportive environment, according to Andrea Avilés, a freshman BFA musical theatre major, who plays Razmush in the show.

“Our creative team has been so wonderful,” Avilés said. “At the beginning of rehearsals we have our access check-in, where we go around and ask if we have any mental blocks and how we can keep ourselves physically well.”

She also discussed how the creative team brought in two mental health experts to come in every Monday during the process to discuss the students’ mental health and how each is feeling.

As a student myself and a person who’s been always fascinated and engaged in the art of theatre, it was truly fascinating to see a musical based around a topic that you would never find anywhere else.

Actors dressed like characters you’d normally find out of Tim Burton film, discussing topics you would normally hear in often in coming of age literature, is a big swing to take for a group of college theatre students. But because of the writing by co-authors Alvarez and Emily Orling, it proves to be such a memorable show both allowing an audience member to experience the pain one feeling with suicidality.

Not only this but the costumes and scenic design, courtesy of Orling, go hand in hand with the “freak-show” mentality of this production, showing how fantastical the story and characters are while still allowing them to tie into the messaging and themes of this show so wonderfully.

However, even with this show’s bleak themes, it still reminds people that with a conversation, they have the choice to either give up or to keep going on the journey.

It is quite surreal for an audience to be transported to another field of vision and begin to experience life before their eyes and the choices they made and the words people said around them.

Watching this show, you can go from laughing at the dark jokes one character says to sobbing your eyes out as another character makes you question the weight and guilt one would feel putting a tragedy on a family member.

It’s truly exceptional to see why a production like “The Elementary Spacetime Show” is important to see and experience, especially in the times that we live in. This is not just a show about suicidality, or what it means to die. By the end, “The Elementary Spacetime Show” shows that it is a musical about the importance to keep on living.

Adjunct Professor Parul Shah Named United States Artist Fellow

thelinal — Wed, 04 Feb 2026 20:06:31 +0000

Department of Theatre and Dance Adjunct Professor Parul Shah has been selected as a , one of the most prestigious national honors awarded to artists working across disciplines in the United States. As part of the fellowship, Shah will receive $50,000 in funding, recognizing her significant contributions to dance, education, and cultural discourse.

United States Artists is dedicated to supporting artists unconditionally, guided by the belief that investing in artists strengthens the cultural and social fabric of society. Through this fellowship, the organization affirms the importance of artists’ voices in broadening perspectives, fostering dialogue, and enriching public life.

A , choreographer, and educator, Shah spent more than twenty-seven years creating work that confronts cultural narratives and hierarchies that diminish the dignity of South Asian women. Drawing from the rich tradition of North Indian classical dance, her choreography embodies resistance, artistry, and personal agency. Her works center stories of women who push against boundaries, whose labor, histories, and voices have too often been overlooked or erased.

“Rooted in the storytelling traditions of Indian classical dance, my body becomes a vessel where memory, resistance, and transformation intertwine. Through gesture, I give voice to forgotten narratives.”

-Parul Shah

Trained in India by the late, groundbreaking choreographer Kumudini Lakhia, Shah developed a distinctive movement language that expands Indian dance technique while challenging male-dominated and Eurocentric frameworks. Her work has been presented at major venues including City Center’s Fall for Dance Festival, Jacob’s Pillow Inside/Out, Jazz at Lincoln Center, The Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, and Asia Society in New York City. Equally committed to education and community engagement, Shah teachers while pursuing a doctoral degree in Dance Education at Teachers College, Columbia University, where her research and pedagogy emphasize embodied practice and critical inquiry to disrupt dominant narratives.

Shah’s selection as a United States Artist Fellow honors both her artistic excellence and her sustained commitment to cultural equity, education, and social impact.

Quilt Keepers Threads Montclair’s Community Tapestry into Powerful Play

phillipsam — Wed, 17 Dec 2025 20:48:34 +0000

By Ilmar Vanderer

Published December 17, 2025 at 3:00 AM

Last updated December 17, 2025 at 8:20 AM

MONTCLAIR, NJ — In a town long synonymous with cultural depth, civic engagement, and artistic daring, an ambitious new theatrical work is bringing Montclair’s past vividly into the present by placing community voices center stage.

More than a play, is a living archive — a deeply collaborative, community-driven work shaped through listening, learning, and honoring the stories of those who built and sustained Montclair across generations.

The production, which debuted December 15 and runs through December 17 at Vanguard Theater Company, weaves together oral histories, intergenerational memory, and imaginative storytelling to illuminate the legacy of Montclair’s historic Fourth Ward — widely recognized as the heart of the town’s Black and Brown cultural life.

The culmination of a multi-year collaborative effort, was spearheaded by performer, producer, and theater professor Janeece Freeman Clark, founding artistic director of Vanguard Theater Company. At its core, the play explores a simple but profound premise: every neighborhood holds an ongoing story — a tapestry stitched together from the experiences, struggles, and triumphs of its residents.

For the creative team, translating deeply personal narratives into shared public performances offered an opportunity to build empathy, challenge dominant historical narratives, and amplify voices too often sidelined or forgotten.

“This neighborhood was shaped by migration, segregation, resilience, and community care,” Freeman Clark told TAPinto. “Its stories reflect broader American histories that are frequently under-told.”

At a time when rapid development, technological acceleration, and cultural shifts leave little room for reflection, serves as a reminder that storytelling not only preserves the past — it safeguards identity for the future.

“Audiences aren’t just invited to watch,” Freeman Clark said. “They’re invited to recognize the humanity behind the history, and to consider how the past continues to shape our present and future,” Freeman Clark said.

“Quilt Keepers” marks a first-time collaboration among Vanguard Theater Company, �ǿ��޴�ý University, and The New Jersey Play Lab — three institutions united by a shared commitment to meaningful storytelling and purposeful community engagement.

The partnership grew out of �ǿ��޴�ý University’s BA Theatre Studies program, led by award-winning director and theater professor Jessica Silsby Brater. The program emphasizes the connection between what unfolds onstage and the world beyond the theater walls.

“When Jessica described her community-based theater course — embedding students directly in communities to research, listen, and write from lived histories — it immediately aligned with Vanguard Theater’s long-standing interest in telling the Fourth Ward’s story through an intentional and ethical process,” Freeman Clark said.

“The BA Theatre Studies program developed the idea of new play commission partnerships with the New Jersey Play Lab in 2022,” Silsby Brater explained. “The program focuses on the relationship between what happens on stage and what happens in the world around us, so we wanted to partner with New Jersey professional theaters to build connections in the artistic community.”

For students, participation meant more than studying theater — it meant learning Montclair’s history directly from those who lived it.

“Our goal is to develop artist-citizens,” Silsby Brater said. “Students who understand their role as change-makers and who are grounded in the communities around them.”

At the heart of the play are two young friends, fictional characters Tala and Nilo, whose curiosity opens a door into the lives of Montclair’s “quilt keepers” — elders, families, and neighbors whose experiences reflect migration, redlining, immigration, resilience, and the pressures of gentrification.

The quilt serves as both literal and metaphorical framework: individual pieces stitched together to form something collective, resilient, and enduring.

In transforming lived histories into theater, questions of authenticity naturally arise: how much creative reshaping can occur while still remaining faithful to the original storyteller’s truth?

Rather than strict verbatim theater, adapts real stories into a fictional structure — a choice that allowed for theatrical freedom while preserving emotional and historical integrity.

“The project grew from deep listening,” Freeman Clark said. “Accuracy and authenticity are the foundation. But we wanted to create a piece that felt like memory — layered, intimate, and alive.”

In 2023, commissioned playwright Dania Ramos conducted oral history interviews with community members, while Vanguard high school students participated in the research process, ensuring that community voices shaped the work from the ground up.

Those whose stories informed the script were invited to early readings and feedback sessions, ensuring trust, accountability, and care throughout development. New Jersey Play Lab dramaturgs Cheryl Katz and Kaitlin Stilwell supported the process, helping refine the work with clarity and ethical rigor.

“Theatricality becomes a vessel, not a distortion,” Freeman Clark said. “Our responsibility was to translate emotional truth — not embellish it.”

For Aminah Toler, Montclair’s Fourth Ward councilor and a lifelong resident with deep family roots in the neighborhood, the play carries profound personal meaning on multiple levels.

She hopes inspires audiences to become more deeply invested in their communities — to listen, reflect, and ask meaningful questions.

“My wish is that people walk away with a stronger understanding of how African Americans helped shape Montclair,” Toler said. “Despite enormous challenges, this community persevered and thrived. That story deserves recognition.”

Toler believes the play opens space for dialogue across generations, allowing younger residents to understand the struggles that shaped the town they inherited, while older residents see their histories honored onstage.

“Storytelling bridges generational divides,” she said. “It reminds us what makes Montclair such a gem — and why protecting that legacy matters.”

She also hopes the model travels.

“My vision is that other towns create their own ‘Quilt Keepers,’” Toler said, “so communities across New Jersey can better understand how deeply interconnected our histories really are.”

For the collaborators, success will not be measured by applause alone — but by the conversations and connections that linger long after the curtain falls.

“These stories aren’t just footnotes,” Freeman Clark said. “They belong to the people who shaped this town, and they deserve to be honored with care, respect, and visibility.”

Through a shared appreciation for the nuggets of wisdom, life lessons, and inspiring stories contained in the play, Freeman Clark hopes the production connects people who might never otherwise cross paths.

“We want audiences to leave with a deeper understanding of how personal histories shape collective identity,” she said, “and with a renewed responsibility to listen, remember, and protect the stories embedded in the places we call home.”

If You Go

WHEN Monday, December 15 through Wednesday, December 17, at 8:00 PM each day

WHERE Vanguard Theater Company, 180 Bloomfield Avenue, Montclair, NJ 07042

MORE Tickets (Students $15, Adults $20) at

Dance Students Take Part in Global Celebration of Dance Education Laboratory’s 30th Anniversary

thelinal — Mon, 15 Sep 2025 16:26:18 +0000

On Wednesday, September 20, students in Kristen Bell’s freshman dance class joined a worldwide celebration of the by creating a , a collaborative project that blends improvisation, composition, and community.

This year marks DEL’s 30th anniversary, and to honor the milestone, the organization is spearheading the creation of 30 MSCs across the globe. �ǿ��޴�ý University was invited to participated by DEL founder Jody Arnhold and the DEL Team, joining an international network of dancers and educators marking this special occasion.

The session was facilitated with the support of students Vicky Batista and Caitlyn Scott, both , along with adjunct faculty member Susan Pope, a specialist in dance education. Live accompaniment on drums and piano was provided by musician Glen Fittin.

A DEL Movement Sentence Choir combines two powerful ideas: Rudolf Laban’s iconic movement choirs, which are large groups moving together in harmony, with DEL’s ‘movement sentences,’ which are short phrases built from two or more action words. For Bell’s clas, the guiding words were:

“Weave. Spin. Expand.”

-Facilitators of the Danced Education Laboratory creating a Movement Sentence Choir

After warming up and engaging in improvisational exercises that encouraged connection and awareness, students developed their own movement sentences. They then learned a choreographed phrase by Caitlyn Scott, before collaborating in small groups to create additional phrases. These sections were woven together into a complete MSC, performed collectively by the end of class.

The culminating moment featured all dancers joined in a static, connected shape, as a visual representation of unity and artistry.

DEL, known for its transformative teacher training programs, emphasizes the artistry of teaching while centering equity and justice in dance education. Each participant in the event received a t-shirt with the message “Dance for Every Child” – a reminder of DEL’s mission and vision.

This class highlighted the creative journey from improvisation to composition, as students moved from spontaneous exploration to the shared act of building and performing a finished piece.

Germán Martínez Wins Prestigious Princess Grace Award in Theater

thelinal — Tue, 12 Aug 2025 18:46:54 +0000

�ǿ��޴�ý University alumnus Germán Martínez has been named a 2025 recipient of the Princess Grace Award in Theater, one of the nation’s most distinguished honors for early-career artists. The award includes an unrestricted cash grant of $15,000, given directly to the artist.

Presented by the Princess Grace Foundation–USA, the award upholds the legacy of Her Serene Highness Princess Grace of Monaco (née Grace Kelly) and her lifelong commitment to advancing the arts in the United States. The Foundation supports exceptional early-career talent in theater, dance, and film through transformative grants, and continues to nurture and champion Princess Grace Award winners throughout their careers.

A proud son of immigrant parents, Martínez is a Honduran-American, award-winning freelance theatrical sound designer based in the NYC/NJ area. He earned his degree in Sound Design from �ǿ��޴�ý in 2018. Known for his ability to collaborate with bold playwrights and bring new stories to life, his work has been featured at leading venues including Lincoln Center Theater, Atlantic Theatre Company, American Repertory Theatre, Repertorio Español, and George Street Playhouse, among many others.

Follow his work on Instagram at .

marcus d. harvey Played the Role of “Reggie”

thelinal — Fri, 02 May 2025 20:06:16 +0000

marcus d. harvey, Assistant Professor in the , played the character of “Reggie” in Dominique Morrisea’s Skeleton Crew at on Hilton Head in South Carolina.

Synopsis: At the start of the Great Recession, one of the last auto stamping plants in Detroit is on shaky ground. Each of the workers have to make choices on how to move forward if their plant goes under. Shanita has to decide how she’ll support herself and her unborn child, Faye has to decide how and where she’ll live, and Dez has to figure out how to make his ambitious dreams a reality. Power dynamics shift as everyone is torn between doing right by their family, and by the red tape in their office.

marcus d. harvey is an award-winning performer, writer, director, educator, and cultural strategist. A first-generation college and graduate school graduate, he holds an MFA in Acting from Brooklyn College, an MA in Dramatic Writing from NYU, and dual BAs in Dramatic Arts and Performance Studies from UNC-Chapel Hill.

He has performed on stage with companies including the National Black Theatre, The Old Vic, Triad Stage, and PlayMakers Rep, with appearances in both film and television. As a playwright, his works include homegrown, Are We Not Men?, and baba: a black boy’s cry. His upcoming play a bright light, addressing mental health in Black and Latin communities, will premiere at Passage Theatre in 2025.

As a director, marcus has led productions for the Contemporary American Theatre Festival, Lean Ensemble, and The Working Theatre, among others. He has taught at institutions including NJCU, Franklin & Marshall, and Marymount Manhattan College, and is a noted August Wilson specialist.

He also serves as an Equity, Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging consultant, partnering with organizations such as Lean Ensemble and NY Classical Theatre to advance inclusive practices in the arts.

Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!

thelinal — Mon, 10 Mar 2025 19:09:43 +0000

The Department of Theatre and Dance recently produced Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!. Rodgers & Hammerstein’s first collaboration remains, in many ways, their most innovative, setting the standards and rules of modern musical theater. In a Western territory just after the turn of the 20th century, a high-spirited rivalry between local farmers and cowboys provides a colorful background for Curly, a charming cowboy, and Laurey, a feisty farm girl, to play out their love story. Their romantic journey, as bumpy as a surrey ride down a country road, contrasts with the comic exploits of brazen Ado Annie and hapless Will Parker in a musical adventure embracing hope, determination, and the promise of a new land.

Director’s Note:

It’s 2025 and let’s face it, this show did not age well. So, how do we make it work for our audiences today? What do you do? You change the point of view of the story told. I wanted to challenge the original and see what would happen when you explored the story from Laurey’s point of view. I was curious to see what would happen when you explore the idea of having a choice to control your narrative vs. doing what would be expected of you. I was curious about what it meant to be a woman at this time and the complications that brought. I’m eager to highlight the text of this piece instead of getting caught up in the romanticized feel of it. The themes of choice/no choice, isolation/community, and animosity between two parties at the turn of the century are still things that society is dealing with at present. This show will never go away, so we might as well figure out a way to make it work for us.

-Francine Espiritu