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PMA Ph.D. Alum Stephen Low ‘16 has written a new book called Theatricality as a Practice of Gay Culture. The book, published by Cambridge Scholars in December, 2025, argues that theatricality, not identity, is what defines gay culture. Gay culture is a practice, accessible to anyone with a flair for the theatrical.
PMA Professor Austin Bunn will screen his new short documentary about an upstate burlesque academy, Getting Almost Naked, at Liquid State Brewing on January 29, from 7:30 pm to 8:30 pm. The screening will be followed by a post-show discussion with the film's subjects and stars. The film is produced and edited by Austin Bunn, with cinematography by Karen Rodriguez and Fabio Morelli and created in collaboration with the students of Cornell's Spring 2025 Rural Humanities Seminar, "Documenting Local Lives".
From midcentury melodramas to speculative visions of technology and the human body—and even a French coming of age story about crafting world class cheese—Cornell Cinema’s spring season offers a varied plate.
The Obadikes have exhibited and performed their interdisciplinary work at The New Museum, The Studio Museum in Harlem, The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, and The Museum of Modern Art. Their projects include four books, two albums, and a series of large-scale public sound artworks.
Join the Department of Performing and Media Arts for the 13th Annual Aster Film Festival on Saturday and Sunday, February 21-22, from 1:00 PM - 5:00 PM on each day, in the Film Forum, Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts. Screenings will take place at 1:00 PM and 3:30 PM on each day. This ticketed event is free and open to the public. Get Your Free Tickets Here: https://cornell.campusgroups.com/dka/rsvp_boot?id=2296582
"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!
Internationally acclaimed Dancer, Choreographer & Princess Grace Awardee Babatunji Johnson began as a hip-hop dancer in Hilo, Hawai‘i, before dancing over a decade with Alonzo King LINES Ballet. His signature movement language blends ballet, contemporary, breaking, and hip-hop for live performance and multimedia, with film credits that include Rafael Casal and Daveed Diggs’ Blindspotting, and Flower with Misty Copeland. By enrolling in PMA 1611, participating students will have the opportunity to learn, rehearse, and perform original choreography by Babatunji and PMA Faculty for the Annual Spring Dance Presenting Series, taking March 21-22 on a PMA mainstage.
During her Yaddo residency, Danielle Russo developed a dance piece, enriching the work by drawing on ideas of ritual movement, personal memories and family history, and more.
In Spring 2023, PMA produced a 65-minute play titled ‘Mine.’ Set in Russia, the play is a family drama exploring themes of the past and the future, technology and humanity, and authorship in a time of catastrophe. ‘Mine’ cannot be staged in Russia due to strict censorship laws. Determined to make the story accessible, both to a general audience and to people in Russia, writer-director Anna Evtushenko (PhD '24) recorded the live performances. More than two years later, after extensive effort, a fully realized pro-shot is now available on YouTube. The Cornell Daily Sun called it "a harrowing exploration of personal collapse and societal decay.
Find out your role in PMA's vibrant projects and collaborations! Mark your calendar for Projects & Participation Kick-off on Wednesday, January 21 at 7:30 p.m. in the Kiplinger Theatre, Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts.
It's that time of the semester again... Festival 24! Festival 24 is a once-per-semester festival where Cornell students write, direct, and perform a compilation of 15-minute plays and films all within 24 hours! Join the Department of Performing and Media Arts on Saturday, January 24 at 7:30 p.m. in the Flex Theatre, Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts. This event is free and open to the public.
On December 14, PMA Ph.D. Alum Joshua Bastian Cole-Kurz ’22 participated in the virtual book launch for The Methuen Drama Book of Trans Plays, Volume 2. Cole-Kurz contributed a dramaturgical introduction and participated in a live Q&A conversation with one of the anthology editors, Lindsey Mantoan.
PMA Assistant Professor Juan Manuel Aldape Muñoz performed a new work entitled Fugitivity on October 25-26, presented by the Dance Mission Theater. Fugitivity is the latest iteration in the performance series “Dismantling: Tactic X" convened and directed by NAKA Dance Theater co-founders Jose Ome Navarrete Mazatl and Debby Kajiyama. Aldape Muñoz devised the work in collaboration with Amelia Uzategui Bonilla, Cristina Lopez Suarez, Krhistina Giles, Music Research Strategies (Marshall Trammell), Oka Ver, Jose Ome Navarrete Mazatl and Debby Kajiyama, with video and object design by Ian Winters, and lighting design by Jose Maria Francos.
PMA faculty members Mendi Obadike, Bruce Levitt, and Austin Bunn have proposed media projects in the Summer 2026 Nexus Scholar Program and are looking for undergraduate researchers to apply. With a deadline of January 12, 2026, The Nexus Scholars Program in the College of Arts & Sciences (A&S) provides undergraduate students with paid, full-time summer research opportunities under the mentorship of faculty from all across the college (humanities, social sciences, and STEM). The program also includes a professional development course, career exploration opportunities, social events, and the chance to join a cohort of 100 students with diverse interests who are passionate about learning.
PMA Professor Mendi Obadike and AAP Professor Keith Obadike will participate in a marathon reading of the book Studies into Darkness: The Perils and Promise of Freedom of Speech, along with other contributors to the book. The event, organized by the Vera List Center for Art and Politics, will take place virtually from 9:00 am to 9:00 pm EST on November 21. Studies into Darkness was originally released in 2022, edited by Carin Kuoni and Laura Raicovich, and co-published by Amherst College Press and the Vera List Center. Mendi + Keith Obadike will read their work In the Mouth of This Dragon from 8:05 pm to 8:45 pm EST.
The David M. Einhorn Center for Community Engagement has released a new video series highlighting a decade of progress and impact in community-engaged learning across the university.
Cornell Alums Cynthia He ’20 and Matthew Campanella ’17 have received distinctions at this year’s Austin Film Festival. He, a Computer Science major with a minor in French studies, and Campanella, an Applied Economics & Management Major with a minor in Theater, were both former screenwriting students of PMA Professor Austin Bunn.
The program will place students in Hollywood for a semester of coursework, networking, and cultural immersion.
Cornell in Los Angeles is a new study away semester open to all Cornell undergraduate students! Spend the Spring 2027 semester in the global entertainment capital, earning Cornell class credits and having signature L.A. experiences offered by the Department of Performing and Media Arts! Join PMA for one of the following information sessions to find out more about the program and the applications details: • Monday, Feb. 2, 2026, 5pm, Film Forum, Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts • Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026, 5pm, Film Forum, Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts • Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026, 5pm, on Zoom
Join the Department of Performing and Media Arts to celebrate Jane Austen's 250th Birthday, on Friday, November 21st! The event will include a regency dance workshop beginning at 5:45, refreshments, and card games. All are welcome to attend! 🕰5:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. 📍Room 322, Schwartz Center for Performing Arts Co-sponsored by the Departments of Literatures in English and Performing and Media Arts.
Join the Department of Performing and Media Arts for Share In/Share Out: End-of-Semester PMA Dance Showcase. The showcase will take place in the Class of ’56 Dance Studio Theatre, Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts, on Friday, November 21, at 7:30 pm, and on Saturday, November 22, at 2:00 pm. Both performances are free and open to the public. Get your free tickets at pma.cornell.edu/tickets.
Ecology & Performance Event – Cornell Climate Action Month “Eco-Performance: Harnessing Dynamic Communication Skills to Meet the Times” Tue Nov 18th, 5:15-7pm in Fernow Hall G24
PMA Ph.D. candidate Jessie Taieun Yoon has published a performance review of the musical The Butterfly on the Bund 1939 in the September 2025 issue of Theatre Journal. Set in 1939 Shanghai, The Butterfly on the Bund 1939 is the first Chinese musical to be licensed in South Korea, and tells a lesbian love story of two women who were involved in different factions of anti-colonial movements during the second Sino-Japanese war. “The musical achieved a huge success in South Korea,” said Yoon, “which I suggest to be attributed to the audiences' enthusiasm for queer women's love story and the two countries' shared history of Japanese colonialism.” The book and lyrics are by An Hua and Xinyuan Zhao, with music by Yutong Zhang and Jianfeng Ye, and direction by Ki-Ppeum Lee. The musical premiered at the TOM Theater in Seoul, South Korea in July, 2024.
PMA Alum L M Feldman’s new play Another Kind of Silence premiered at Pittsburgh’s City Theatre this fall. As part of its National New Play Rolling World Premiere, the play will also be staged at Denver’s Curious Theatre Company in March, and THE VORTEX in Austin in May. During its premiere, the play received a glowing writeup by Emma Diehl for American Theatre magazine.
Student Film Screening Fall 2025
Theo Black led two Eco-Macbeth events in the UK in October, including a performance workshop at Cambridge University's drama studio, and an invited guest lecture at The Shakespeare Institute in Stratford-upon-Avon.
PMA Ph.D. Alum Kelly Richmond ‘24 has written a new publication called ““Forever Unliving and Yet Never Dead”: The Queerly Ecological Hauntings of Nathalie Claude’s The Salon Automaton.” The essay appears in the September 2025 issue of the journal Modern Drama, published by the University of Toronto Press. Richmond is Assistant Professor in Michigan State University’s Residential College in the Arts and Humanities.
Professional Directions: A Conversation with Jillian Holch '16
Join the Department of Performing and Media Arts for Professional Directions: Journeyman of Storytelling with Lee Sternthal, Writer/Director of TRON: Legacy (2010) and The Words (2012) on Wednesday, Nov. 5 at 5:00 PM in Room 220, Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts.
Rejoice Abutsa, a Ph.D. candidate in Performing and Media Arts, moderated a fireside chat with Nollywood icon Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde at the Silicon Valley African Film Festival (SVAFF) in San Jose, California. A day after the premiere of Jalade-Ekeinde’s directorial debut feature film, Mother’s Love, the actress/filmmaker was conferred the Trailblazer Award during the festival’s closing night ceremony. As she took to the stage, Abutsa was invited to moderate a fireside chat which explored the actress/filmmaker's career, the evolution of African cinema, and the global impact of Nollywood. In an article published by The Guardian, Nigeria’s independent newspaper, Segun Akinleye writes that the significant exchange between the two “radiated creative galaxies.”
Join the Department of Performing and Media Arts for Professional Directions: The Business of the Performing Arts with Talent Manager Lakey Wolff on Thursday, November 6, from 5:30 pm – 6:30 pm, in Schwartz 220. The guest will join virtually on Zoom. The event will be moderated by PMA Assistant Professor of the Practice Danielle Russo and is free and open to the public.
Eco-Macbeth: Nature Fights Back on Friday, Nov. 7 from 1pm - 5pm in the Black Box Theatre, Schwartz Center
Join the Department of Performing and Media Arts for Professional Directions: From the Ground Up: Producing & Curating Live Performance with Jason Collins, the curator of the Spiegeltent at Bard Summerscape and producer at the Fisher Center at Bard on Thursday, Nov. 13, at 5:30 PM in Room 220, Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts. The guest will join virtually on Zoom. This event is moderated by PMA Assistant Professor of the Practice Danielle Russo and is free and open to the public.
Join the Department of Performing and Media Arts for Professional Directions: Setting Your Own Stage: The Choreography of Organizing a Life in the Arts with Antuan Byers, Founder/Director of Black Dance Change Makers and Vice President of Dancers at the American Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA) on Thursday, Oct. 30, from 5:30 PM on Zoom. The event will be hosted by PMA Assistant Professor of the Practice Danielle Russo and is free and open to the public.
On October 5, NYC art house cinema Metrograph held a screening and Q&A for the 2013 film Kill Your Darlings, which was co-written by PMA Professor Austin Bunn. The Q&A featured director John Krokidas, actors Daniel Radcliffe, Dane Dehaan, and Ben Foster, and producer Christine Vachon, and was moderated by filmmaker Ira Sachs. Bunn, who was in attendance, spoke to us about the original idea for his screenplay and the experience of seeing the film 12 years later.
To be a PMA Major/Minor in 2025 is to enter a creative world where you receive training and opportunities that equip you to become responsible, ethical creative professionals. But one of the many problems with entering in the media industries of film, television, and theater lies with the lack of clear pathways to careers and gainful employment. In this series we call “What’s Next?!”, PMA faculty Dr. Kristen Warner will lead 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.
PMA Ph.D. Alum Jayme Kilburn ‘23 has written a new essay called “Reshaping a Rural College Theatre Program” about theatre making and community organizing for HowlRound Theatre Commons. Kilburn is Assistant Professor of Theatre at Union Commonwealth University, Kentucky.
Join the Department of Performing and Media Arts for PMAPS Colloquium: The Black Nowhere: Sonic Architectures of Dispossession by Dr. Ola Mohammed, Assistant Professor at York University, on Friday, November 7, from 3:00 pm - 5:00 pm, in the Film Forum, Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts. This event is free and open to the public.
PMA Professor Bruce Levitt and Multidisciplinary Visual Artist Isaac I. Scott were featured in an interview called The Social Mirror: An Interview with Bruce Levitt and Isaac Scott in Little Patuxent Review. The interview was conducted by Ann Bracken for the review’s Summer 2025 edition, Issue 38, entitled “Exploring Literature and the Arts.”
Professor Debra Castillo, Stephen H. Weiss presidential fellow and Emerson Hinchliff professor of Hispanic Studies in the College of Arts & Sciences, died Oct. 5 at the age of 72.
In this episode, Christopher Christensen met with Samuel Buggeln to discuss his upcoming production of 'I Want a Country' written by Andreas Flourakis. In their conversation, they explored his role as visiting lecturer and director at the Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts and his role as artistic and executive director at the Cherry Arts located in downtown Ithaca. He offered insight into his ongoing work as director of the production, his collaboration with students and faculty at Cornell, and examined the core question presented by the play: when does a nation stop being a home?
If you're interested in a career in the international motion picture, event management, business, marketing, journalism, or hospitality fields, consider complementing your school curriculum with hands-on experience, direct access to industry professionals, and unparalleled networking opportunities at the world-renowned Cannes International Film Festival.
PMA/LSP Associate Professor Karen Jaime will give a talk called "Digital Poetics: HIDVL and Queer Nuyorican Performance" at Cornell’s Digital Humanities Colloquium Series. The talk will be on October 24, from 12:00 pm – 1:30 pm, in Olin 703 (lunch will be served).
The Cornell Swift Club will ring in a new Taylor Swift era with a late-night album release party for “The Life of a Showgirl.”
Join PMA for a production of I Want a Country, a play by Andreas Flourakis, translated by Eleni Drivas, and directed by Samuel Buggeln, Artistic and Executive Director of The Cherry Arts. The show will take place in the Flex Theatre, Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts, on Friday, October 24, at 7:30 pm; Saturday, October 25, at 7:30 pm; Friday, October 31, at 7:30 pm; and Saturday, November 1, at 2:00 pm and 7:30 pm.
Join the Department of Performing and Media Arts for Is a Hum a Warning? a performance-lecture and Q&A by accomplished choreographer Roya Carreras Fereshtehnejad on Wednesday, October 15, 5:30 pm – 6:30 pm, in the Class of '56 Dance Studio Theatre (SB 10), Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts. As a certified instructor in the American Ballet Theatre Method, Roya will also teach an open level ballet class on Thursday, October 16, 7:30 pm – 10:00 pm, in Studio 320, Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts. This event is free and open to the public; all dancing bodies welcome and embraced.
PMA Department Chair and Associate Professor Samantha Noelle Sheppard was quoted in an article from The Washington Times called “A football horror film? ‘Him’ brings gridiron violence to big screen.”
Cornell orchestras, vocal ensembles and the Center for Historical Keyboards plan performances.
Join PMA for PMA 1183 Guest Performer and Speaker: DJ Rhettmatic, presented by PMA 1183 FWS: Hip-Hop’s Global Vibrations (NYC, LA, Southeast Asia). This event will take place on Zoom on Wednesday, November 19, from 8:40am - 9:55am. Join on Zoom: https://bit.ly/pma1183
Join the Department of Performing and Media Arts for PMA 1183 Guest Speaker: Scholar/Musician Aaron Joseph on Wednesday November 5, 8:40am-9:55am, Hybrid: Eisner Pavillion Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts and on Zoom. This event is presented by PMA 1183 FWS: Hip-Hop’s Global Vibrations (NYC, LA, Southeast Asia), and is free and open to the public.