Discover the world of performing and media arts as unique art forms at the Department of Performing and Media Arts (PMA). Whether you want to delve into one discipline or explore their exciting intersections, PMA is the place for you. Interact with the passionate faculty, talented students, and dedicated staff. Join us for engaging conversations, networking opportunities, and to savor delicious food and refreshments.
August 18th, 10:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m., Schwartz Center Lobby
Projects & Participation Kick-off
Join us for an 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.
August 23rd, 7:30 p.m., Kiplinger Theatre
Festival 24 features an array of plays written, directed, rehearsed, and performed by students in just 24 hours!
August 26th, 7:30 p.m., Flexible Theatre
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 and information packet at kristenwarner@cornell.edu.
Sept. 11 at 5 pm; Sept. 12 at 3:45 pm; Sept. 13 at 5:00 p.m.; Sept. 14 at 4:30 pm; Sept. 15 at 1 pm
Room 220, Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts
Performing and Media Arts Presentation Series (PMAPS) Colloquium
Dancing Communities of Another Kind: Performance, Intersectionality, and Violence Against Immigrant Women of Color by Assistant Professor Juan Manuel Aldape Muñoz
This event is co-sponsored by the Latin American and Caribbean Studies, Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies, Global Cornell, Migrations and Feminist, Gender, & Sexuality Studies.
September 22nd, 3:00 p.m., Film Forum
Arts Unplugged with Laurie Anderson
The College of Arts & Sciences is thrilled to host multimedia artist Laurie Anderson for our fall Arts Unplugged event, which brings research and creative works into the public sphere for discussion and inspiration. Please visit the Arts Unplugged page for more information
September 26th & 27th, Kiplinger Theatre & Flexible Theatre
A wickedly dark comedy about college admissions written by Jiehae Park
Directed by Angel Katthi '24
September 28th 7:30 p.m., 29th 5:00 p.m. & 30th 2:00 p.m., 7:30 p.m. Black Box Theatre, Get Tickets
Content warnings: discussion of attempted suicide, moments of violence, graphic and racially charged language, body shaming, fat-phobia, ableist slurs
“Peerless” is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Samuel French, Inc. www.concordtheatricals.com
Voices & Visions in Black Media: Centering New Directions in Nollywood
Voices & Visions in Black Media is an ongoing series that surveys the diverse and global landscape of Black media practices and scholarship, engaging and critically exploring the world of blackness on screen and/or behind the camera in film, television, and digital media. This year's screening series is curated by Rejoice Abutsa, a doctoral student in the Department of Performing and Media Arts. Organized by Samantha N. Sheppard, Associate Professor of Cinema and Media Studies, and generously supported by the Department of Performing and Media Arts, this year's Voices & Visions in Black Media series is dedicated to new directions in Nollywood.
October 3rd, 5:30 p.m. & 8 p.m., October 4th, 7 p.m., Cornell Cinema
Ithaca Department of Arts and Futures: A Coalition and Celebration for the World to Come
Co-hosted by the Performing and Media Arts Presentation Series (PMAPS) and the Soil Factory
A one-day performance action, colloquium, and outright dance party. By bringing together arts workers, sustainability specialists, land-centered stakeholders, and members of the public, we will envision what a more ecological culture might feel like for our performing arts community. All are welcome and encouraged to attend.
This event is co-sponsored by the Department of Performing and Media Arts, Media Studies, Rural Humanities, Cornell Council for the Arts and Feminist, Gender, & Sexuality Studies and Einhorn Center for Community Engagement.
October 14th, 10:00 a.m. - 8:30 p.m., Film Forum & The Soil Factory
Desdemona by Toni Morrison
The Department of Performing and Media Arts is thrilled to present Toni Morrison’s 2011 work DESDEMONA to honor the 30th anniversary of her Nobel Prize. A talkback will follow Saturday's performance.
Originally created in 2011 by Toni Morrison in collaboration with director Peter Sellars and singer-songwriter and activist Rokia Traoré, DESDEMONA is a poetic and intimate response to Shakespeare's OTHELLO. Morrison's work weaves dialogue, music, and song into a complex exploration of Shakespeare's famous and historically challenging work. Centering of the ill-fated character of Desdemona and her African nurse Barbary, Morrison's play exists in the imaginary space of the afterlife, interrogating the pain and trauma of race, gender, and class as well as the healing process and possibility of forgiveness across generations, locations, and characters. PMA's production of DESDEMONA facilitated by PMA Associate Professor Beth Milles will include student performers onstage alongside Malian singer Rokia Traoré in a dynamic performance that captures the words, music, and transformative power of love.
October 27th & 28th 7:30 p.m. Kiplinger Theatre, Get tickets
The event is co-sponsored by Office of the Provost, Performing and Media Arts, Africana Studies, Music, Literatures in English, American Studies, Romance Studies, Toni Morrison Collective, Institute for African Development.
The project has been awarded a Humanities Impact Grant and a grant from the Cornell Council for the Arts.
This event is part of “Freedom of Expression”
Content warning: Sexual abuse, violence, racism
*POSTPONED-Performing and Media Arts Presentation Series (PMAPS) Colloquium
*The PMAPS event on Friday, Nov. 3, has been postponed. It will be rescheduled in Spring 2024.
Sound, Structures, and Site by Mendi + Keith Obadike
In this presentation, Mendi + Keith Obadike will discuss recent site-specific sound installations and public art projects as well as new works in development.
The event is co-sponsored by the Department of Music.
November 3rd, 3:00 p.m., Film Forum
The Value Gap: Female-Driven Films from Pitch to Premiere
A book talk by Dr. Courtney Brannon Donoghue, Assistant Professor of Media Industries, Department of Media Arts, University of North Texas
The Value Gap examines gender inequity debates in contemporary Hollywood and the barriers female-driven films and their filmmakers face at each phase of the pipeline from development to distribution.
November 7th, 4:30 p.m., Film Forum
Choreographer and Artist Yvonne Meier Visits PMA
Artist Talk in the Film Forum — Tues, Nov 7 from 12:30pm - 1:15pm
Improvisation Workshop: Releasing into Scores in Studio 320 — Tues, Nov 7 from 4:50pm - 6:30pm
Performance: 'Physical Presents' in collaboration with Cornell's Experimental Sound Project & PMA Dance Improvisation Students at Willard Straight Memorial Hall — Wed, Nov 8 from 7:30pm - 8:30pm
Professional Directions: Screen Acting Panel and Q&A
Join us for a Professional Directions: Screen Acting Panel and Q&A moderated by PMA Visiting Assistant Professor Juanie Fowlkes on Monday, Nov. 13 at 5:00 p.m. in the Film Forum, Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts. The panel will be on a zoom setting but the event will be in person. The panelists are Novi Brown (Sistas), Tristen Winger (Insecure, So Help Me Todd), Chase Anthony (Bigger), Carolyn Michelle Smith (Cherish The Day, Russian Doll, The Chi), Gratiela Brancusi (1884), Bria Henderson (Mrs. America, The Good Doctor), D.K. Uzoukwu (Insecure, Clean Slate), and Gabrielle Ryan (Power Book IV).
Free and open to the public.
November 13th, 5:00 p.m., Film Forum
Professional Directions: Filmmaker Stewart Thorndike
Join us for a Professional Directions with Stewart Thorndike, visiting filmmaker / former PMA visiting assistant professor, on Wednesday, Nov. 15th in the Film Forum, Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts. A Professional Directions Q&A co-hosted by DKA will happen from 4:30pm - 5:15pm. A free screening of her new horror film BAD THINGS (87 mins) will follow at 7:30 p.m.
Free and open to the public.
November 15th, Film Forum
PMA Presents: Andrea Savage '94
A moderated conversation with Andrea Savage to discuss her career, life at/after Cornell, and other wisdoms.
Free and open to the public.
November 16th, 5:00 p.m., Film Forum
A Play by Caryl Churchill
A kaleidoscopic series of scenes that address the ways we seek, filter, process, dismiss, and question information and how this affects our human need, ability and capacity to love.
Get your free ticket at pma.cornell.edu/tickets.
"Love and Information" is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Samuel French, Inc. www.concordtheatricals.com.
Content warning: suggested violence, gunshot sounds, and suggested sexual content
November 17th & 18th 7:30 p.m. Flexible Theatre
The Wild Gather: On the Floor, Off the Screen & Through the Body
THE WILD GATHER is a 3-day call to move, honor, and celebrate the living lineages of Hip Hop dance and breaking. As part of Cornell’s yearlong mission for Freedom of Expression and in tribute of the 50-Year Anniversary of Hip Hop, PMA welcomes legendary B-Girl Rokafella for a PMA student showcase, All Style/Free Style Cypher, film screening, and more.
Thursday, November 30 from 7:30pm – 9:00pm, Class of 56 Dance Studio Theatre
SHARE IN/SHARE OUT: END-OF-SEMESTER PMA DANCE SHOWCASE
Friday, December 1 from 7:30pm – 9:30pm, Class of 56 Flex Theatre
7:30pm – 8:30pm: ALL STYLE/FREE STYLE CYPHER featuring Breaking and MC’ing by Legendary B-Girl Ana ‘Rokafella’ Garcia and DJ’ing by DJ ha-MEEN.
8:30pm – 9:30pm: Artist Talk: Ana ‘Rokafella’ Garcia in Conversation with Ben Ortiz, Curator of the Cornell Hip Hop Collection
*Interested participants are invited to reserve a place in the cypher by submitting information using the online form. https://forms.office.com/r/1tAAU6Hkup
Saturday, December 2 from 3:00pm – 9:30pm
3:00pm – 4:30pm, Class of 56 Dance Studio Theatre: SHARE IN/SHARE OUT: END-OF-SEMESTER PMA DANCE SHOWCASE
7:30pm – 8:30pm, Film Forum: HIP HOP DANCE ON SCREEN & FILM co-presented by Dance Films Association
8:30pm – 9:30pm, Class of 56 Flex Theatre: LESBIAN DANCE THEORY PARTY co-presented by Dance Studies Association
Fall 2023 Student Film Screening
In this film event, consisting of Film I, Documentary Filmmaking, Media Production Lab and Cinematography, film students aim to create a magical screening of unique, beautiful, and empathetic stories and ideas by composing one second into 24 photos.
Free and open to the public. First come, first served.
*For mature audiences only. Films contain material that may be triggering to some audience members.
December 8th, 5:00 p.m. Kiplinger Theatre