Theatre and Dance 2020/2021 Season
Welcome to the California State University East Bay, Theatre, and Dance Department 2020-2021 Season!
We love for as many people to come and enjoy as many of our performances as possible.
In addition, we as a department believe that Theatre and Dance should be accessible to everyone!
California State University, East Bay welcomes persons with disabilities and will provide reasonable accommodation upon request.
Please call (510) 885-3868 at least two weeks in advance if accommodation is needed for the performance you wish to attend.
In addition, no one will be turned away due to lack of funds.
Come and enjoy a show!
Fall 2020
Cal State University East Bay
Department of Theatre and Dance
in association with Theatre Rhinoceros
presents
BLOOD AT THE ROOT
Directed by Darryl V. Jones
Streamed Performance Dates: November 6th at 7:30 pm
On-Demand Streaming November 7th until November 15th
Performance Location: Online Streaming of Recorded Zoom Movie
To purchase tickets, visit: Blood at the Root Tickets
Check out our Blood at the Root Study Guide for more information about the play and the playwright.
BLOOD AT THE ROOT. A striking new ensemble drama based on the Jena Six; six Black students who were initially charged with attempted murder for a school fight after being provoked with nooses hanging from a tree on campus. This bold new play by Dominique Morisseau (Ain't Too Proud, Sunset Baby, Detroit '67, Skeleton Crew) examines the miscarriage of justice, racial double standards, and the crises in relations between men and women of all classes.
Moving, lyrical, and bold, Blood at the Root probes the complexities of race, individual freedoms, and what justice means when biases have been normalized. When the central character, a black female student named Raylynn, decides it's time for a change in her high school, she sits under a tree around which only white students regularly gather. In response—as was the case in Jena—nooses are subsequently hung from that tree, causing many black students to erupt in protest. Things come to a head when six black students, including Raylynn's brother, attack a white student and are brought up on trumped-up charges.
© 2020. This Audio-Visual Presentation was produced by special arrangement with Concord Theatricals Corp. All Rights Reserved. This Audio-Visual presentation is authorized for non-commercial use only. Further distribution of this presentation by download, streaming, reposting, broadcast, telecast, or in any other manner or medium, is strictly prohibited. A violation of the author(s)'s rights and actionable under applicable copyright law.
MELT
Producer & Choreographer: Nina Haft & Eric Kupers
Performance Dates:
Program #1 - Friday, December 4 at 7:30 pm
Program #2 - Saturday, December 5 at 2:30 pm
Program #3 - Saturday, December 5 at 7:30 pm
Location: Virtual Viewing in Zoom
For tickets visit: MELT Tickets
**Note: When you reserve your tickets, use the "General Public" option.**
MELT is a weekend dance showcase of
powerful performance, created and performed by
Theatre and Dance students.
Join us in the community as we give voice to our bodies, minds, and spirits!
US in the U.S and A. Fajilan
present
WHAT HAD HAPPENED WAS...
Created by CSUEB Students
Directed by Tyler Jeffreys
Performance Dates: December 11th & 12th at 7:30pm
December 13th at 2:00pm
Performance Location:
CSUEB Theatre and Dance YouTube Channel
&
US and the U.S. YouTube Channel
Each performance will be followed by a Community Circle hosted on Zoom.
To Purchase Tickets, visit: https://csueastbaytickets.universitytickets.com
**Note: When you reserve your tickets, use the "General Public" option.**
"What Had Happened Was" Part One - The Past
This production will examine the oppression and destructive nature of White Supremacy. Taking a step further, we are renaming it "Supremacy Culture." The anxiety, depression, and body dysmorphia we suffer from, along with the mass incarcerations and day to day bigotry, are all symptoms of this hate-fueled culture. If we are to defeat this monster, we have to figure out what it really is and what fosters its growth. This problem is much bigger than race relations between Black and White.
US in the U.S. hopes to expose the causes of the Supremacy Culture and help us all realize that we can make changes for the better of all persons. We must learn from the mistakes of the past in order to have a better today and create an even better tomorrow for all.
Spring 2021
Songs in a Time of Pandemic
Director: Marc Jacobs
Music Director: Sierra Dee
Production Type: Virtual Theatre
Streaming Dates: March 12 - March 21, 2020
Location: On Demand Viewing
This production will be a series of songs, dance, and monologues – most of them chosen by the students who are performing – that reflect in some way on Covid-19, Shelter in Place, the Black Lives Matter protests, or our current political climate. The entire revue will tell its “story” through these songs, monologues and dance pieces.
Wandering in the Wilderness
Directed and Choreographed by Eric Kupers with assistance by Raven Malouf-Renning and additional collaborators.
It is being created collaboratively and performed by the Wandering Ensemble (which is a collaboration between the CSU East Bay Inclusive Interdisciplinary Ensemble (IIE) and Dandelion Dancetheater.)
Performance Dates:
All performance will start with a Pre-Show Labryinth Walk at 7:30 pm
Friday, April 16, 2021 from 8:00 pm to 9:30 pm
Saturday, April 17, 2021 from 8:00 pm to 9:30 pm
Friday, April 23, 2021 from 8:00 pm to 9:30 pm
Saturday, April 24, 2021 from 8:00 pm to 9:30 pm
Location: Site Specific
Note: The show will start in front of the University Theatre Lobby, and then travel to a couple of sites on campus.
Wandering in the Wilderness - Cycle 1 is a site-specific, outdoor, physically distanced dance/music/theater ceremony.
Wandering explores the spaces in-between, when we have moved away from the things that no longer work in our lives, but we don’t yet know what is next. The work emerges from stories in the Torah (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible,) focusing on the time after the Jews were freed from slavery, but had to spend 40 years in the wilderness to prepare themselves for the Promised Land.
We are investigating the nature of uncertainty, groundlessness, and mystery—particularly inquiring into how to leave behind situations, attitudes, relationships, governments, homes, and habits of abuse, oppression, and dysfunction. How do we create our new lives without carrying forward the suffering from our past?
The complete work will take 40 years to create and will premiere on April 8th, 2061. In the meantime, we'll have regular work-in-progress showings, including these performances in April 2021.
Wandering is directed/choreographed by Eric Kupers with assistance by Raven Malouf-Renning and additional collaborators. It is being created collaboratively and performed by the Wandering Ensemble (which is a collaboration between the CSU East Bay Inclusive Interdisciplinary Ensemble (IIE) and Dandelion Dancetheater.)
Music will be performed by UltraSonic Current, Bandelion, and members of the ensemble.
Cycle 1 performances in April 2021 will begin at 8pm, with a pre-show labyrinth ceremony at 7:30pm.
Pilipinx
Produced in cooperation with PASA and Department of Theatre & Dance
Performance Dates: TBD
Location: TBD