Events

Looking for Todd Talks?

Visit the Todd Talks page and join us for conversations with eminent theatre artists about work, creativity, and some of the most pressing subjects impacting the theatre of our times!
 
October 6, 2025: Arnulfo Maldonado
October 27, 2025: Daniel Fish
December 1, 2025: Baron Vaughn
February 9, 2026: Embeth Davidtz
March 2, 2026: Lucas Hnath

Saturday, August 23 at 1pm

Intro to the Performing Arts Banner

Intro to the Performing Arts!

First Years and Transfer Students!  Join us!

Discover all that the UR has to offer in the performing arts across the disciplines of Theatre, Music, and Dance!  Join us for Intro to the Performing Arts!

Saturday, August 23 at 1pm in the Smith Theatre (Sloan Performing Arts Center)

What: Discover everything you need to know about the Performing Arts at the University of Rochester, meet faculty and students, and learn how to get involved.  Followed by a dessert reception!

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Thursday, September 25 at 11.05am

Moses Man Finding Home

Moses Man Finding Home tells the story of Deborah's parents as they flee Austria during the Nazi occupation and the interconnections of current stories of displacement.  Join creators, Deborah Haber and Casey Filiaci, and director, Joe Calarco, to discuss the development process for this new musical.

Thursday, September 23 at 11.05am in Todd Theatre

[In Person only]

Designer Showcase

Wednesday, October 1 at noon

The Memo designers in conversation

Join The Memo designers talking about their work and crareers for an informal conversation!

Wednesday, October 1 at 12 noon in SPAC Green Room (lower level, Sloan Performing Arts Center)

Designer Showcase

Wednesday, October 1 at noon

The Memo designers in conversation

Join The Memo designers talking about their work and crareers for an informal conversation!

Wednesday, October 1 at 12 noon in SPAC Green Room (lower level, Sloan Performing Arts Center)
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Monday, February 23 at 5pm in Morey Hall, Room 321 (3rd Floor)

Write on! Write on! The Inevitable Discomfort of Dissent in Times of Peril and Plunder

What is to be done in the face of rising fascism and imperial violence at home and abroad?  Playwright Ismail Khalidi discusses the role of the writer in challenging those who speak the language of discrimination, domination and endless extraction - and the inevitable discomfort that arises from genuine dissent. 

Ismail Khalidi is a Palestinian/Lebanese American playwright, screenwriter and theater director, and also the co-writer (with URITP guest artist, Charlotte Brathwaite) of the UR International Theatre Program's upcoming production, THOUGHT/CRIME (inspired by George Orwell's 1984).  Khalidi's work tackles the history of Palestine and the modern Middle East, as well as wider themes of race, colonialism, displacement and war.

Co-sponsored by the UR Humanities Center and supported in part by the InstItute for the Performing Arts.

Monday, February 23 at 5pm in Morey Hall, Room 321 (3rd Floor)

Ayanna Thompson

Thursday, March 26 at 5pm in Sloan Auditorium, Goergen Hall (Goergen 101)

Distinguished Visiting Humanist lecture with Ayanna Thompson: Visible Parts: How to Watch Actors

How do we learn how to watch acting? This may seem like a naive question because many of us observe a lot of acting on big screens, small screens, and very small smart devices daily. Acting is probably the most widely enjoyed artform, and yet it is also the artform for which we have the least developed analytical vocabulary. It is almost as if there is an implicit belief that evaluating acting is so “natural” that viewers do not need to think about it, and/or that not noticing acting means that the acting is “natural” and, therefore, good. Naturally, I think there is a lot to unpack in those assumptions. I also believe that the many lacunae about how to gauge acting offer opportunities for a cultural reboot—an opening for new ways of viewing in the future.

Ayanna Thompson is an expert in Shakespearean studies specializing in Renaissance drama and race in performance. Unofficially known as the “Othello whisperer,” Thompson is the director of the Arizona Center for Medieval & Renaissance Studies and creator of the RaceB4Race symposium, an ongoing conference series and professional network community for scholars of color. Thompson is a Regents Professor of English and director of the Arizona Center for Medieval & Renaissance Studies. Thompson’s studies also include British literature, theatre, race and gender politics. She is the author of several books, including "Shakespeare in the Theatre: Peter Sellars," "Teaching Shakespeare with Purpose: A Student-Centred Approach," "Passing Strange: Shakespeare, Race, and Contemporary America," and "Performing Race and Torture on the Early Modern Stage.”

Thursday, March 26 at 5pm in Sloan Auditorium, Goergen Hall (Hajim)

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