Chats with the Chair
"Chats with the Chair" invites PMA majors, minors, and those interested in the department to join the chair for food and fellowship. Come learn more about the department, give feedback, and talk about everything performing and media arts at Cornell and beyond! Breakfast-y things provided!
RSVP by Nov. 14th to pma@cornell.edu.
Tuesday, November 19, 9 am - 10 am, Room 220
Share In / Share Out: End-of-Semester PMA Dance Showcase
An end-of-semester showcase of predominately student-devised dance works, specifically featuring Cornellians in PMA Dance Studio courses this fall semester: PMA 3241: Site-Specific to Immersive Dance Theater: Choreography for Unconventional Formats and Spaces, PMA 2300: Dance Composition, PMA 2280: Dance Improvisation, and PMA 2221: Contemporary Movement Practices.
Friday, December 6, 7:30 pm - 8:15 pm
Saturday, December 7, 2:00 pm - 3:15 pm
Class of '56 Dance Studio Theatre
The Student Film Screening will feature unique, empathetic, and collaborative works from students in PMA 3570: Film and Video Production I, PMA 3571: Documentary Filmmaking, PMA 3580: Cinematography and Visual Storytelling, and PMA 1410: Media Production Laboratory. Let's come together and share a magical evening of storytelling through the language of cinema, 24 frames per second. This event is free and open to the public. First-come, first-served. (Tickets are not required).
For mature audiences only. Films contain material that may be triggering to some audience members.
Friday, December 13, 5:00 pm, Kiplinger Theatre
Past Events
Come explore the possibilities in the Schwartz Center, where film, theatre, dance and media studies intersect in exciting ways. Meet the passionate faculty, talented students, and dedicated staff from the Department of Performing and Media Arts.
Join us for engaging conversations, networking opportunities, and to savor delicious food and refreshments. Everyone is welcome to attend this Open House, so bring your curiosity and enthusiasm. We look forward to seeing you there!
Mark your calendar for PMA's Open House on Thursday, August 22, 2024, from 1:30 pm until 3:30 pm
Projects & Participation Kick-off
Join us for a general information session where you can explore various ways to participate in PMA's live and mediated productions. Meet directors and filmmakers who will share insights about their projects and casting requirements.
Watch the recording from our Projects and Participation Kick-off event on PMA's YouTube channel.
Wednesday, August 28, 7:30 pm, Kiplinger Theatre
Festival 24 features an array of plays written, directed, rehearsed, and performed by students in just 24 hours!
Saturday, August 31, 7:30 pm, Flexible Theatre
Chats with the Chair
"Chats with the Chair" invites PMA majors, minors, and those interested in the department to join the chair for food and fellowship. Come learn more about the department, give feedback, and talk about everything performing and media arts at Cornell and beyond! Lunch provided!
RSVP by Sept. 3rd to pma@cornell.edu.
Friday, September 6, Noon - 1 pm, Room 220
Participants will be asked to read the pre-circulated article “Brechtian Theatre and the Glocal South” (UNITAS 95.2, 2022) as a basis for the conversation.
Please be in touch with Associate Professor Sabine Haenni, sh322@cornell.edu, to register and get a copy of the article.
Loren Kruger is a Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of Chicago, and the author of Beyond the Internationale: Revolutionary Writings of Eugène Pottier, Communard (Chicago: Charles H. Kerr, 2024); A Century of South African Theatre (London: Bloomsbury, 2019), Imagining the Edgy City (OUP, 2013), and Post-Imperial Brecht (CUP, 2004; MLA Scaglione Prize 2005)..
Thursday, September 19, 5:00 pm, Room 220
PMA Presents: An Evening with Daveed Diggs, 2024 Heermans-McCalmon Distinguished Guest Artist
*While this event is fully reserved, we encourage you to come to the Schwartz on the day of show for the Wait List line. Our experience is that not all reservations for free tickets are redeemed.
Moderated by PMA Chair Samantha N. Sheppard.
Named for American journalist and writer Forbes Heerman and Professor of Drama George McCalmon, Heermans-McCalmon Distinguished Guest Artist Lecture honors the work of a prominent actor, dramatist, or director.
Daveed Diggs is a Tony, Grammy, and Lucille Lortel Award-winning actor, writer, producer, and musician, best known for his dual roles as "Thomas Jefferson" and "Marquis de Lafayette" in the Broadway hit Hamilton, earning him a Tony Award. He starred in and co-wrote Blindspotting, which garnered critical acclaim and an Independent Spirit Award nomination. Diggs has appeared in major films like Soul and The Little Mermaid and starred in TV series such as Snowpiercer and The Good Lord Bird. He is also a member of the experimental hip-hop group "clipping."
The event is free and open to the public. Tickets are required.
Wednesday, September 25, 7:00 pm, Get Tickets
Info Sessions by PMA Associate Professor Kristen Warner
If you’ve ever thought about attending the internationally acclaimed Sundance Film Festival, now’s your chance! Come to the info sessions to get the details. And then: Email Dr. Kristen Warner for the application at kristenwarner@cornell.edu.
Interviews will begin in the week of September 23. The info sessions are open to the public.
Tuesday, 9/17, at 2:30 pm and 5 pm; Thursday, 9/19, at 2:30 pm; Monday, 9/23, at 5 pm
New dates added! - Tuesday, 9/24, 11:30 am, 3:30 pm, and 5:00 pm; Wednesday, 9/25, 10:00 am; Thursday, 9/26, 10:00 am; Monday, 9/30, 5:00 pm
Room 220, Schwartz Center
Zoom Session: Friday, 9/20, at Noon https://cornell.zoom.us/j/98120122036?pwd=z82W8pIlQ1oWmaOyaIfitEXbY4udO3.1
Professional Directions with Filmmaker Hari Williams: What Exactly is a Multi-Hyphenate?
Not sure if you want to be a writer, actor, director, or producer? Not sure if you want to put on stage plays or produce branded content or start your own sketch show? Wondering how you can channel all your interests into an entertainment career? Then this is the space for you. Come chat with Writer/Director/Producer/Actor/Showrunner, Hari Williams about channeling his interests into his passions. The event will be hosted by PMA Visiting Assistant Professor of Screenwriting, Juanie Fowlkes.
Wednesday, October 2, 4:30 pm - 6:00 pm
Conference Room 220
"Me, my ghost and I / Together" and "Saturday Night [on Monday!]" with Christopher Matthews
PMA Dance in partnership with the Feminist, Gender & Sexuality Studies Program presents an evening with award winning choreographer, performer, and visual artist, Christopher Matthews. "If you say 'dance history, dance history, dance history' really fast, the legends will come down and into the studio to haunt you. This is my choreographic practice...to convene with these ghosts; totally gossiping! Find out who was with who! (And all the juicy details.) Then we will call upon our past queer elders to gossip some more but with criticality. Finally, we will dance to our favorite song 'all night long' when they will all disappear back to wherever queer people go to rest. That’s my choreographic process, and yes, it does sound just 'Saturday night!'"
Monday, October 7, 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
8:30 pm - 9:30 pm: Community Improvisation Jam
Class of '56 Dance Studio Theatre
Professional Directions: Q&A with Filmmaker Will Gluck
Will Gluck will join PMA to chat with students about his start in the TV business, how to write an undeniable script and how to get started in the industry. This will be followed by a moderated Q&A about his career and life as a writer and producer, focusing on works like Anyone But You, Friends with Benefits, Woke, and other films. Seats are limited and on a first-come, first-served basis. The event is free and open to the public.
Wednesday, October 9, 4:30 pm - 6:00 pm
Film Forum
BIOphelia: A Performance-Infused Scholarship Symposium
Ophelia & plants share a salient relationship within the playworld of Hamlet. In centering her botanical knowledge, agency, and biophilic ecological engagements to “hold the mirror up to Nature” this multidisciplinary symposium offers a mix of perspectives empowering an eco-feminist revival of the shared roles between Ophelia & her plants. Incorporating student-centered practice-based-research, performance workshops, scholar-led discussions, and communal engagement we will converge this fall.
Watch the BIOphelia Trailer
Wednesday, October 16: Eco-Hamlet Preview Sessioin
10:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. Black Box Theatre
Curated discussion with Professor Michael Charles (Environmental Engineering)
The Anthropocene: “Hoist on our own petard” & Student Work-Sharings
Free & Open to the public – no reservation required
Saturday, October 19: BIOphelia Symposium
A Celebratory Scholarship & Performance Event
2:00 pm – 6:00 pm, Film Forum, Get Tickets
Performance sharings
Botanic Gardens plants curating
Expert helmed thematic investigations
Community oriented engagement
Co-sponsored by Performing & Media Arts and Literatures in English, Environment & Sustainability, the Society for the Humanities, CNY Humanities Corridor & Mellon Rural Humanities Grant Initiative.
PMA 1611: PMA Studios Info Sessions
Introducing…PMA STUDIOS, a new collaboration of students, faculty, staff and guest artists to write, produce and direct a professional movie production!
We want to make YOUR script into a MOVIE!
Learn more About PMA 1611: PMA Studios:
Tuesday, October 22, 5:00 pm - 6:00 pm, Film Forum
Wednesday, October 23, 5:00 pm - 6:00 pm, via Zoom
Learn more About PMA 1611: PMA Studios
Jill Johnston in Motion: Dance, Writing, and Lesbian Life: A Book Talk by Clare Croft
Performer, activist, and writer Jill Johnston was a major queer presence in the history of dance and 1970s feminism. She was the first critic to identify postmodernism’s arrival in American dance and was a fierce advocate for the importance of lesbians within feminism. In Jill Johnston in Motion, Clare Croft tracks Johnston’s entwined innovations and contributions to dance and art criticism and activism. She examines Johnston’s journalism and criticism—in particular her Village Voice columns published between 1960 and 1980—and her books of memoir and biography. At the same time, Croft attends to Johnston’s appearances as both dancer and audience member and her physical and often spectacular participation at feminist protests. By bringing together Johnston’s criticism and activism, her writing and her physicality, Croft emphasizes the effect that the arts, particularly dance, had on Johnston’s feminist thinking in the 1970s and traces lesbian feminism’s roots in avant-garde art practice.
Thursday, October 24, 5:00 pm, Film Forum
Chats with the Chair
"Chats with the Chair" invites PMA majors, minors, and those interested in the department to join the chair for food and fellowship. Come learn more about the department, give feedback, and talk about everything performing and media arts at Cornell and beyond! Lunch provided!
RSVP by Oct. 22nd to pma@cornell.edu.
Friday, October 25, Noon-1pm, Room 220
Professional Directions: So You Think You Wanna Produce?
Tyler Young, Bryant Lydell, and Maura Chanz will join virtually to discuss their work as producers. Come get the inside scoop on different kinds of producing and which paths might suit you! We'll cover everything from scripted to unscripted, game shows, docu-series, feature films, award shows, and more.
Monday, October 28, 7:00 pm: Join on Zoom
Introducing…PMA STUDIOS, a new collaboration of students, faculty, staff and guest artists to write, produce and direct a professional movie production! We invite you to join us on this exciting journey to movie magic!
We want to make YOUR script into a MOVIE!
Deadline: Thursday, October 31, 2024, submitted to Andrewd@cornell.edu
Read the full details at the link above.
All Cornell students are welcome to submit a script for consideration. The chosen script will be realized and fully produced in this exciting new project course.
Learn more About PMA 1611: PMA Studios
Only one performance style has dominated the lexicon of the casual moviegoer: “Method acting.” The first reception-based analysis of film acting, Imagining the Method investigates how popular understandings of the so-called Method—what its author Justin Owen Rawlins calls "methodness"—created an exclusive brand for white, male actors while associating such actors with rebellion and marginalization. Drawing on extensive archival research, the book maps the forces giving shape to methodness and policing its boundaries.
Thursday, November 7, 5:00 pm, Film Forum
Orlando’s Gift is a new play inspired by the novel, Orlando, by Virginia Woolf. It tells the love story of writer, Virginia Woolf, and her hero/heroine Orlando, a character who has too many selves to count. Orlando lives forever in a giddy world of fantasy, wit, surprise and theatrical adventure. Author and character discover the power of words to celebrate life and the ecstasy of the imagination at work.
Written and directed by David Feldshuh
Friday, November 1, 7:30 pm
Saturday, November 2, 7:30 pm
Friday, November 8, 7:30 pm
Saturday, November 9, 2:00 pm
Saturday, November 9, 7:30 pm
Flexible Theatre
*While this event is fully reserved, we encourage you to come to the Schwartz on the day of show for the Wait List line. Our experience is that not all reservations for free tickets are redeemed.
*Please note that the opening night performance on Friday, November 1st, will be followed by a post-show discussion with Professor David Feldshuh and AD White Professor Oskar Eustis, Artistic Director of the Public Theater, followed by a reception sponsored by AD White Professor at the Large Program. The reception will be for the cast, crew, friends and audience members who stay for the discussion.
PMAPS Colloquium: Andy Colpitts and Lexi Turner
This talk will feature works by two PhD candidates in Performing and Media Arts, Andy Colpitts and Lexi Turner. One of Andy's dissertation chapters, entitled: "The Fool's Golden Age of Bread and Puppet Circuses", investigates the nostalgic framing and imagery employed in Bread and Puppet's yearly Domestic Resurrection Circuses to understand its political possibilities and pitfalls. In a section from Lexi’s dissertation chapter “Thanatology of the Photographic Image: Ritual and Redemption in the Cinematic Avant-Garde,” Lexi engages with Luther Price’s controversial queer video piece Sodom, re-editing degraded and discarded gay pornography together with religious iconography and his own sculptural mutilation of the film itself.
Friday, November 8, 1:00 pm, Reading Room 124
Submit your video to bit.ly/PMAStudios-Casting
Deadline has been extended to Monday, Nov. 11
Actors wishing to audition for PMA Studios for speaking or background roles, please upload one 3-minute contemporary dramatic monologue and one contemporary Comedic monologue of your choosing. Also in the audition video, please tell us what you can add to this project and what you wish to take away from the experience. Do you also have any interest in working in entertainment in the future and in what capacity?
Callbacks: Monday, November 18 in the Black Box starting at 5pm
Professional Directions: What is an Assistant Director?
Come find out what an assistant director does on set! Learn all about how to get started and what this job fully entails. The event is free and open to the public.
Monday, November 11, 4:00 p.m. EST: Join on Zoom
You’re a PMA Major/Minor: What’s Next?!
In this series we call “What’s Next?!”, PMA faculty Dr. Kristen Warner will lead four workshop sessions that begin to help answer that question. The focus of each session will address a range of topics from internships and graduate programs (MFAs, critical studies MA/PhD) to the dreaded art of writing cover letters/personal statements.
- October 30, 5:45 p.m. - 7:15 p.m.: Writing Cover Letters and Statements of Purpose for Creative Industry (Academia/Internships)
- November 4, 5:15 p.m. - 6:45 p.m.: Applying for MFAs (Film/Screenwriting)
- November 11, 5:15 p.m. - 7:15 p.m.: Internships—How to Get them and Why You Want One
- November 12, 5:45 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.: Applying for MA/ PhD programs/MFAs (Media studies/Design/Production)
Location: Conference room 220, Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts
Lee Rosenthal ’87 and Bob Clendenin ’87 met as college students, where they co-founded Whistling Shrimp, Cornell’s oldest improv comedy troupe specializing in long-form improvisation. Lee and Bob have gone on to lead prestigious careers in the Entertainment industry. Lee Rosenthal is the President of Worldwide Physical Production for Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Studios. Bob Clendenin has appeared in over 100 television shows and can currently be seen in Bad Monkey on Apple and Bookie on HBO. How did they get there? What can they share about their journeys? Their visit will coincide with the 40th Anniversary reunion of Whistling Shrimp at Cornell.
Friday, November 15, 5:00 pm, Film Forum
Professional Directions: A Conversation with Writer and Producer Duran Jones
THIS EVENT HAS BEEN POSTPONED. CHECK BACK FOR A NEW DATE SOON.
Writer and Producer Duran Jones will join virtually to discuss his work as a producer. Come get the inside scoop on writing and producing short films and feature films, and which paths might suit you!