PMA 10-Minute Play Festival set for Oct. 3-5

Animate grocery store items, a haunted 500-dollar bill, and the provocative case of actor Jussie Smollett are among the varied topics explored in this year’s 10-Minute Play Festival from the Cornell University Department of Performing and Media Arts (PMA) and the Graduate Researchers in Media and Performing Arts (GRMPA). The annual festival, now in its seventh year, serves as a laboratory for the development of student-written plays and presents students with a range of opportunities in theater.

Arts Unplugged event features Sundance film screening, masterclass

The second Arts Unplugged celebrates indigenous culture with talks, film, food and more. Thursday, Oct. 17 at 5 p.m. in the Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts.

New PMA film professor balances teaching with film release

<p>Before Jeffrey Palmer ever held a video camera or took a filmmaking class, he felt pretty confident that he would be a good at it. So he bought some good equipment, put together a DVD with a series of shorts and applied to the country’s top film MFA programs.</p><p>He got into all of them.</p>

Milstein program brings alumnus screenwriter, data visualization expert to campus

The sessions with screenwriter Howard Rodman '71 and digital storyteller Anna Feigenbaum are open to the public.

Dick Archer, man behind Cornell stage productions, dies at 71

<p>Associate professor of theater arts Dick Archer, who facilitated the creation of theater and dance productions at Cornell for 40 years and who was instrumental in the most critical design phases of the Schwartz Center, died Sept. 14 following a battle with cancer. He was 71.</p>

Podcast describes efforts to ‘decolonize the screen’

“The public is not hearing the stories that show a culture that is present and ever-changing," says Kiowa filmmaker and PMA professor Jeffrey Palmer.

PMA play reading explores future of climate change

What would the Earth look like if we banded together to counter the destructive forces of climate change? Writers Aoise Stratford and Toby Ault bridge science and art in the multimedia experience “Virtual Landscapes,” which offers audiences the opportunity to contribute to the play-in-progress.

Community-based play imagines future of climate change in Ithaca

“The Next Storm” (November 15–23, Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts) is a community-based play by the Cornell University Department of Performing and Media Arts (PMA), Ithaca-based theatre company Civic Ensemble, and playwright Thomas Dunn. Godfrey L. Simmons, Jr., Civic Ensemble co–artistic director and PMA senior lecturer, directs this wry comedy.

PMA film professor releases two short films

<p><a href="https://pma.cornell.edu/jeffrey-palmer">Jeff Palmer</a>, assistant professor in the Department of Performing & Media Arts, has released two new short films that continue his mission to capture untold stories.</p>

Sign of the times: American Sign Language thrives on campus

The new ASL classes meet the College of Arts & Sciences’ three-semester world language requirement.

Online cultural critic wins 2019-20 Nathan Award

<p>Soraya Nadia McDonald, cultural critic for The Undefeated, a website that explores the intersection of race, sports and culture, has been named winner of the 2019-20 <a href="https://english.cornell.edu/george-jean-nathan-award-dramatic-criticism">George Jean Nathan Award for Dramatic Criticism</a>.</p>

PMA Professor and Palestinian Playwright Win NEA Literature Translation Fellowship

<p>The National Endowment for the Arts has honored <a href="https://pma.cornell.edu/rebekah-maggor">Rebekah Maggor</a>, translator, theatre director, and assistant professor in the Department of Performing & Media Arts, with a Literature Fellowship in Translation. Her project is a collaboration with Mas’ud Hamdan, playwright, poet, and professor of Arabic literature and theatre at the University of Haifa.</p>

Spotlight: Victoria Pihl Sorenson

<p>Victoria Pihl Sorensen is a doctoral student in performing and media arts with a concentration on media and feminist studies. After earning her bachelor’s degree from the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom and her master’s degree from the City University of New York Graduate Center, she chose to pursue a doctoral degree at Cornell due to its faculty and welcoming community.</p>

Stratford wins essay award from Northeast Modern Language Association

<p dir="ltr"><a href="https://pma.cornell.edu/aoise-stratford">Aoise Stratford</a>, lecturer in the Department of Performing and Media Arts, recently won the CAITY (Contingent/Adjunct/Independent Scholar/Two-Year Caucus) <a href="http://www.buffalo.edu/nemla/awards/awards/caity-award.html">Essay Award</a> from the Northeast Modern Language Association.</p>

Paramount exec can manufacture explosions, but says story still makes the movie

Lee Rosenthal ’87 fell in love with filmmaking as an English major at Cornell.

“Transformation,” collaborations with guest artists inspire annual Locally Grown Dance

<p dir="ltr">Student dancers of the performing and media arts department will explore “the politics of expression in the dancer’s body” in this year’s Locally Grown Dance, according to the event page. Each of the four dance pieces will incorporate the idea of transformation — either literally, figuratively or both. </p>

Sci-fi thriller “The Nether” questions ethics in virtual worlds

<p><strong><em>Note: The Saturday, March 14, performance of "The Nether" has been cancelled. The Friday performance will take place at 7:30 pm as scheduled.</em></strong></p>

PMA prof. offers extra technology help for faculty, students

<p>Last month, as Cornell faculty learned they needed to move quickly to remote instruction, Sara Warner, director of LGBT Studies and associate professor in the Department of Performing and Media Arts, realized she had more technical skills than some of her peers.</p><p>“In our department, it’s hard to translate what we do to online teaching, especially the live, embodied participant experience,” she said. “I could see the look of concern on some of our faculty members’ faces.”</p>

Professor, physician continues urgent care routine

Theatre professor and doctor David Feldshuh is continuing his work at Cayuga Medical Center.

First-gen faculty use experience to mentor first-gen students

“We think a bit more about communities, instead of more narrowly focused disciplinary pursuits.”

Following curiosity leads students through A&S requirements

<p dir="ltr">A new system of requirements is simplifying the process for incoming students this fall in the College of Arts & Sciences. Many students find that the requirements expand their worldview and introduce them to topics and concepts they would not have encountered otherwise.</p>

International group of playwrights, actors combine for livestream

<p>An Ithaca theatre company is creating a live-streamed performance of a new work from six international playwrights, including a Cornell professor. The piece will premiere May 1.</p>

Students move annual film festival online

<p>As Cornell University shifts to remote instruction due to COVID-19, this year's <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://pma.cornell.edu/ciff&source=gmail&ust=1587657694383000&usg=AFQjCNElTfoBl2H34B7xbFk9fF9RiLJdqQ" href="http://pma.cornell.edu/ciff" target="_blank">Centrally Isolated Film Festival (CIFF)</a>, Cornell’s annual student-run film competition celebrating student filmmakers, will also move online.</p>

Student-run theater festival to appear online May 9

<p> Festival 24, the semiannual student-run theater festival from the Cornell University Department of Performing and Media Arts, is launching online under a new title, Festival 24.0. The Festival, which is normally held at the beginning of each semester, will happen on Saturday, May 9, at 8:00 p.m. EST via Zoom to provide a performance opportunity for students while in-person theater events are suspended.</p>

Asian American communities strengthen ties while apart

<p> Before the Ithaca campus closed in March <a href="https://www.cornell.edu/coronavirus/">due to the COVID-19 pandemic</a>, members of Cornell’s Asian American community enjoyed strong connections to each other.</p>