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Bruce A Levitt

Bruce Levitt has been a Professor in the Department of Performing and Media Arts at Cornell University since l986. He served as Chair of the Department from l986 to l995 during which time he oversaw the final phases of construction of the Schwartz Center for Performing Arts and, together with the faculty and staff, restructured the academic and productions programs of the department.

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Stories of the heart and the mind: a Film II student spotlight

A movie used to be just a bunch of rolls of film, and now it’s just a file. A collection of frames that bleed into one another, aided by sound bits that follow. But what does it mean to make a film? To go from nothing to something as small as a file, as regular as a story, as big as a world? Every filmmaker discovers that for themselves. At PMA,...

Karen Jaime

Karen Jaime(B.A., Cornell University; Ph.D.; New York University) is Associate Professor of Performing and Media Arts and Latina/o Studies. The recipient of a Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture Fellowship for 2023-2024, Karen is a former Mellon/HIDVL Scholar in Residence at the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics at NYU, a former Institute for Citizens & Scholars Career Enhancement Junior Faculty Fellow (*formerly the Woodrow Wilson Career), a former Rockefeller Foundation Research Fellow and Chancellor’s Post-Doctoral Research Associate at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Karen’s award-winning monograph, The Queer Nuyorican: Racialized Sexualities and Aesthetics in Loisaida (NYU Press, 2021) argues for a reexamination of the Nuyorican Poets Cafe as a historically queer space, both in terms of sexualities and performance practices. Her critical writing has been published, or is forthcoming, in Women and Performance: A Journal of Feminist Theory, e-Misférica, Small Axe: A Caribbean Journal of Criticism, ASAP/J, TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly, Performance Matters and in QED: A Journal in GLBTQ Worldmaking. Karen is also an accomplished spoken word/performance artist who served as the host/curator of the Friday Night Poetry Slam at the world-renowned Nuyorican Poets Cafe (2003-2005). She also co-edited an anthology celebrating the life and legacy of Nuyorican Poets Cafe co-founder, Miguel Algarín entitled Memorias de Miguel: The Hard Work of Love. Her poetry is included in The Best of Panic! En Vivo From the East Village, Flicker and Spark: A Queer Anthology of Spoken Word and Poetry, in a special issue of Sinister Wisdom: A Multicultural Lesbian Literary and Art Journal, “Out Latina Lesbians,” and in the anthology Latinas: Struggles and Protest in 21st Century USA.

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Cornell Cinema receives grant, announces spring lineup

"These awardees represent the best of what New York's vibrant communities have to offer," said Governor Kathy Hochul.

New York Times critic at large wins 2020-21 Nathan Award

Maya Phillips, a critic at large for The New York Times, has been named winner of the 2020-21 George Jean Nathan Award for Dramatic Criticism. The award committee comprises the heads of the English departments of Cornell, Princeton and Yale Universities.

Sabine Haenni

Sabine Haenni, Associate Professor in the Department of Performing and Media Arts and the American Studies Program, is an interdisciplinary scholar broadly interested in how cinema and media address and intervene in social issues. She is the author of The Immigrant Scene: Ethnic Amusements in New York, 1880-1920 (University of Minnesota Press, 2008), which looks at the roles immigrant (and foreign-language) theatres as well as early cinema played in mediating a major wave of migration to the United States. She is also co-editor of Fifty Key American Films (Routledge, 2009), The Routledge Encyclopedia of Films (2014), and of a special issue on “New Images of the City” of the journal The Global South (vol. 9.2, 2015). And she has published on a wider range of topics, ranging from American immigrant fiction in the early 20th century, animals in silent film, and Hamlet in film, to questions of intermediality, cinematic aesthetics after 1968, the city symphony aesthetic of Alexander Kluge, Martin Scorsese, and more. She also serves as a contributing editor to the journalNew German Critique,and serves on the advisory board ofMediapolis: a journal of cities and culture.

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Kent Lynn Goetz

Kent Goetz is an Emeritus Professor in the Department of Performing and Media Arts. He taught design and was the Resident Scene Designer at the Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts from 1991 - 2019. From 2002 -08 he served as Department Chair. In addition to his work at Cornell, Kent designed professionally at other institutions including: TheatreSquared, Asolo Theatre, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Florida Stage, Geva Theatre, Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, Madison Repertory Theatre, Madison Opera, Skylight Opera, Body Politic Theatre, American Musical Theatre, Maine State Musical Theatre, Heart of America Shakespeare Festival, Illinois Shakespeare Festival, Hangar Theatre and Kitchen Theatre Company. He has also served as a scenic artist at the Long Wharf Theatre, Hartford Stage, Goodspeed Opera and the Julliard School. Prior to Cornell Kent taught design at Illinois State University and Illinois Wesleyan University. His tutorials written for the CAD application, VectorWorks, have been widely used by theatre professionals and teachers throughout the United States and abroad.

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Carolyn Goelzer

Carolyn Goelzerwas a Minneapolis-based theater artist for more than 25 years, performing roles in most Twin Cities theaters (the Guthrie, Jungle Theater, Children’s Theatre, Illusionetc.)as well as stages on Kansas City, Milwaukee, Chicago, New York and L.A. She received a NY Innovative Theater Award for Outstanding Actress in a Lead Role for her portrayal of Clytemnestra in Theodora Skipitares’ IPHIGENIA at LaMama ETC in NYC. She is a three-time recipient of the McKnight Individual Artist Fellowship (in Playwriting; Interdisciplinary Arts; and Theater Arts categories) and a Core alumna of the Playwrights’ Center. An actor in Cornell’s RPTA program from 2005-2008, she now teaches acting in PMA.

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NYC, CU artists collaborate for “quarrelsome” opera production

The opera centers on a pivotal moment in French operatic history known as the “War of the Buffoons.”

J. Ellen Gainor

J. Ellen Gainor is Professor in the Department of Performing and Media Arts. A specialist in British and American drama of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and women's dramaturgy, she is the author of the award-winning studies Shaw's Daughters: Dramatic and Narrative Constructions of Genderand Susan Glaspell in Context:American Theater, Culture and Politics 1915-48. She is aco-editor of The Norton Anthology of Drama, co-editor of TheComplete Plays of Susan Glaspell, and the editor ofGitha Sowerby: Three Plays. She has also edited the influential essay collections Imperialism and Theatreand the co-edited PerformingAmerica: Culture Nationalism in American Theater. Her latest publications includetheeditedvolume,Susan Glaspell in Context,for the Literature in Context series from Cambridge University Press, andthe co-edited Routledge Anthology of Women’s Theatre Theory & Dramatic Criticism, which received the 2023 George Freedley Memorial Award Special Jury Prize from the Theatre Library Association. She previously served as a literary advisor to both the Mint Theater and the Metropolitan Playhouse in New York and has worked for the Shaw Festival in Canada and the National Theatre in England. She is an elected fellow of the College of Fellows of the American Theatre.

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Musics of Southeast Asian America, April 16

Join us on Saturday, April 16, at 7:30 p.m. for Musics of Southeast Asian America featuring Ruby Ibarra and Bochan Huy.Location: Kiplinger Theatre, Schwartz Center for the Performing ArtsDirect from the San Francisco/Bay Area, Cambodian American vocalist Bochan Huy and Filipina American hip hop artist Ruby Ibarra take the Kip Theatre stage in...

Bread & Puppet Cantastoria Workshop

Join us on Friday, March 25, from 2:00-5:00 p.m. for a Bread & Puppet Cantastoria workshop at the Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts, Room 322.One of the oldest non-profit political theater companies in the U.S., Bread & Puppet presents its famed hands-on Cantastoria Workshop. Participants will create theatre involving the narration...

Professional Directions: A Talk with Director / Cinematographer Rand Rosenberg

Join us on Friday, March 25, at 12:30 p.m. for a Professional Directions talk with director/cinematographer Rand Rosenberg on his artistic work and how to navigate the freelance media and film world in NYC.Location: Film Forum, Schwartz Center for the Performing ArtsRand Rosenberg is a director and cinematographer based in New York City. He has...

Heermans-McCalmon Dramatic Writing Awards Presentation

Congratulations to the 2022 Heermans-McCalmon Dramatic Writing Competition winners

The Department of Performing and Media Arts (PMA) is pleased to announce the 2022 winners of the Heermans-McCalmon Dramatic Writing Competition.The first-place winners of the Heermans-McCalmon Dramatic Writing Competition are (Don't) Tell Danny, a screenplay by Jack Muench '22Old Man and Boy, a play by Andrew Vincenzo Lorenzen '22Winning...

A photo of a scale model house being built in the Schwartz Center shop

Behind the scenes: Torching of a scale model house

This behind-the-scenes video shows how a scale model house went from concept to assembly in the Schwartz's shop to filming the final "burning" shot. PMA's Assistant Technical Director Savannah Relos, plus several PMA staff and students, collaborated to create this scale model house as part of a senior thesis film project soon to be released.

Heermans-McCalmon Dramatic Writing Awards Presentation, March 28

Heermans-McCalmon Dramatic Writing Awards PresentationMarch 28 5pmClass of ‘56 Dance TheatreSchwartz Center for the Performing Arts430 College Ave, Ithaca, NYThe presentation includes staged readings of the first-place winners, “(Don’t) Tell Danny” a screenplay by Jack Muench ‘22, “Old Man and Boy” a play by Andrew V. Lorenzen ‘22, and “A...

Empty theatre with lights and ladders on stage

Local Ithaca Theatre Company Meet and Greet

PMA will host a local Ithaca theatre company meet and greet in the Schwartz lobby on 3/17 from 4:30 pm-6:00 pm.Learn about cast and crew opportunities from local Ithaca theatre groups.Local Ithaca Theatre Companies to be in attendance:Hangar TheatreKitchen TheatreCivic EnsembleClockmaker ArtsCherry Arts

Screenshot for Kayla Bouazouni interview video

Meet Kayla Bouazouni '22: The artist behind the PMA green room mural

Meet Kayla Bouazouni '22, a PMA major, Fine Arts minor who created the mural in the Helen Ann Mattin green room. Kayla talks about working with PMA faculty and staff to create the piece. A transcript of the interview can be found below the video.Kayla:Hello, my name is Kayla. I'm a PMA major, Fine Arts minor. I'm a senior graduating in...

Professional Directions: A Talk with Actor/Writer/Director Ellie Foumbi

Join us on Sunday, March 27, at 3:00 p.m. for a Professional Directions talk with actor/writer/director Ellie Foumbi on how to survive as a filmmaker and make the first feature.Location: Film Forum, Schwartz Center for the Performing ArtsEllie Foumbi is an actor/writer/director from Cameroon whose work has screened at Venice, HollyShorts and...

Save the dates! A Chicano's Guide to Navigation, March 24-26

Save the dates! A Chicano's Guide to Navigation will run from March 24-26 in the Black Box Theatre, Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts.Performance dates:March 24 7:30 p.m.March 25, 5:00 p.m.March 26, 2:00 p.m.March 26, 7:30 p.m.Synopsis: The main character, Maria, is trying to develop a presentation where he shares his insight into...

Staged reading of "Dreams on Fire" by Cornell Alumni Dr. Jan Balakian

Jan Balakian, a Cornell Alumni, will have a staged reading of her play Dreams on Fire, which tells the story of the Armenian Genocide and the traumatic effects on future generations. When she was a student, Balakian won a Cornell playwriting prize for her play in 1989; this achievement sparked the creation of Dreams on Fire.Dreams follow the...

Photo of Mariela Ferrer Zequeria in ICG Magazine

Mariela Ferrer Zequeria '12 recently featured in ICG Magazine

ICG Magazine recently interviewed Mariela Ferrer Zequeria '12 about her journey as a Camera Assistant. In the interview, she states, "When I was at Cornell, I majored in film [and Italian]. That's where my interest in the film industry took off." Ferrer Zequeira is a San Juan, Puerto Rico native, and after being at Cornell, her passion blossomed...

Now hiring - PMA Video Production Assistant

The Video Production Assistant (VPA) is focused on assisting PMA's marketing and communications video productions in all aspects of preproduction, including attending production meetings, background research, casting, location scouting, planning, and scheduling shoots and video shoot preparation.The VPA will assist in prepping production...

Migrations Change Maker: Cherry Artists’ Collective

The 2021-22 season at the Cherry Arts highlights questions of racism, dispossession, and migration, while engaging the community.Learn more about the ongoing season of plays from Nick Salvato (PMA professor of Performing and Media Arts), Aoise Stratford (PMA lecturer), and Sam Buggeln, supported by the Migrations initiative.

Now hiring - Cinema Director for Cornell Cinema

The Department of Performing and Media Arts is seeking to hire a Cinema Director for Cornell Cinema.The Cinema Director is responsible for all activities of Cornell Cinema, Cornell University’s nationally renowned media exhibition program, which provides film education, entertainment, and cultural opportunities for the Cornell community and...