Campus Stories - Theater & Performance

Stanford Live presents a genre-bending musical performance exploring beauty and aesthetics in Robert Mapplethorpe’s photography

Marking 30 years since the death of groundbreaking photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, Triptych (Eyes of One on Another) explores the origins and impact of Mapplethorpe’s controversial photography. This staged musical work produced by ArKtype / Thomas O. Kriegsmann combines orchestra, vocal ensembles, theater, poetry, and photography to re-examine notions of obscenity, race, and aesthetics that Mapplethorpe himself challenged…

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Stanford Repertory Theater and Planet Earth Arts tackle environmental and social justice issues

The final three performances of Anna Considers Mars, the story of a young woman who dreams of being chosen for a one-way journey to Mars, take place in the Nitery Theater this Saturday and Sunday, and The Guardians, about the indigenous community in Mexico that is the guardian of imperiled monarch butterflies, screens at Cubberley Auditorium on Monday. Both the play and…

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artsCatalyst Grants 2018-19

This past academic year, the Office of the Vice President for the Arts awarded 27 artsCatalyst Grants to faculty members from across the University. These grants foster arts experiences that enhance classroom experiences for undergraduate students. Activities included field trips to Bay Area cultural organizations, workshops with visiting artists, and attending performances. 2018-19 artsCatalyst Grant Recipients Interpreting Art (ITALIC 92), Karla…

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Two from Stanford named 2019 Great Immigrants by Carnegie Corporation

Carnegie Corporation of New York has released its annual July 4 list of Great Immigrants in a salute to 38 naturalized citizens who strengthen America’s economy, enrich our culture and communities and invigorate our democracy through their lives, their work and their examples. Among the honorees are President MARC TESSIER-LAVIGNE, a native of Canada, and YOUNG JEAN LEE,…

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Student Arts Grants: A Year in Photos 2018-19

 vvcThis year’s Student Arts Grants supported a wide range of projects across the Stanford campus. The projects covered many genres including contemporary plays, documentary and fiction film shorts, musical theater, zines, photography, sculpture, and more. Many of this year’s grantees utilized Roble Arts Gym as a rehearsal/work space as well as a venue for their exhibits and…

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Ram’s Head brings The Addams Family, living, dead and undecided, to Stanford

From casting to set design, Stanford’s Ram’s Head Theatrical Society takes advantage of the diverse talent on campus to present their perennial spring musical. This year’s production is The Addams Family. The Addams Family musical takes the humorously macabre characters drawn by cartoonist Charles Addams and places them in an original story on stage. Wednesday Addams, a…

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Stanford Live’s 2019-20 season will explore the intersection of art and politics

Stanford Live’s curators have put together a 2019-20 season of multidisciplinary events that intersect music and performance with politics. “A key role of the artist is to reflect a society back upon itself and that political context and content is a crucial part of this storytelling process,” says Chris Lorway, executive director of Stanford Live….

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Young Jean Lee has been awarded the 2019 Windham-Campbell Prize in Drama

YOUNG JEAN LEE, associate professor of theater and performance studies in the School of Humanities and Sciences, has been awarded the Donald Windham-Sandy M. Campbell Literature Prize in the category of drama. Administered by Yale University, the Windham-Campbell Prizes are awarded to eight international writers in the fields of fiction, nonfiction, poetry and drama. Winners will receive a $165,000 prize…

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Perspectives on “Hamilton”

Hamilton is one the most popular and most celebrated musicals in American history. It has essentially redefined the American musical by drawing on the language and rhythms of hip-hop and R & B, genres that are underrepresented in the musical theater tradition. Last year Allyson Hobbs, associate professor of history in the School of the…

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Stanford unveils new Presidential Residencies on the Future of the Arts and welcomes international guest artists

Artists from across the globe come to Stanford to perform, create and engage. The 80-plus guest artists visiting campus this fall are hosted by over 20 Stanford departments, centers and programs. Some of the artists will be at Stanford for a single public event and others will stay for an extended visit for deep engagement…

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Stanford Repertory Theater brings legendary women of ancient Greece to the stage

In a new adaptation of two plays by Euripides, the Stanford Repertory Theater presents the stories of women on opposite sides of the Trojan War – Hecuba of Troy, a fallen queen facing a life of slavery, and Helen of Sparta, a renowned beauty plotting a reunion with her long-lost husband. Video by Kurt Hickman Stanford Repertory…

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Primetime Emmy nominees include Stanford alumni

Stanford alums and television royalty STERLING K. BROWN, ’98, and ISSA RAE, ’07, have earned Emmy nominations for their roles in three hit television series. Brown, who earned Emmys in 2016 and ’17, is up for outstanding lead actor in a drama series for his portrayal of Randall Pearson on This Is Us (nominated for…

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Student Arts Grants: A Year in Photos 2017-18

This year’s Student Arts Grants supported a wide range of projects across the Stanford campus. The projects covered many genres including contemporary plays, documentary and fiction film shorts, musical theater, painting, photography, drag performance, and more. Many of this year’s grantees utilized Roble Arts Gym as a rehearsal/work space as well as a venue for their exhibits…

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Sterling K. Brown, award-winning actor, tells Stanford graduates not to be afraid to let their lights shine

At Stanford’s 127th Commencement, Stanford alum and multi-award-winning actor Sterling K. Brown told graduating students of the Class of 2018 that if they find that purpose in life that gives them access to maximum enthusiasm, trust it. Video by Kurt Hickman Before launching into his Commencement address, Brown confessed to the graduates that he must…

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Ram’s Head presents ‘Chicago’

Set in the mid-1920s, Broadway favorite Chicago follows the story of budding star Roxie Hart and veteran performer Velma Kelly as they vie for the spotlight in search of the American Dream: fame, fortune and acquittal from their death row convictions. According to Gabe Wieder, director and co-choreographer of the Ram’s Head production of the musical, “Chicago’s…

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Stanford’s spring quarter guest artists

Guest artists are all over campus this spring. Indie rock band Glass Animals play Stanford Stadium; the open-air literary celebration Stories of Exile, Reckoning and Hope takes place on the main stage in White Plaza; Mina Morita directs Bertolt Brecht’s The Good Person of Szechwan in Roble Studio Theater; and Stanford Live’s popular Cabaret series continues in Bing’s cozy…

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