Visual and Performing Arts Party Tomorrow!

Join us tomorrow on Youtube Live to learn more about our programs, get your questions answered, and celebrate making it through the semester! Open to all students. We can't wait to see you there!

Dramatic Arts Happy Hour!

Join us! Please email kstone@sdccd.edu for more info. See you there!

Anyone planning to transfer to UCSD for Fall 2020?

If so, please consider applying to the PATH Summer Academy for Summer 2020. 

PATH stands for Preparing Accomplished Transfers to the Humanities. It is a collaborative program between the San Diego Community College District (SDCCD) and UCSD to help provide guidance to transfer students studying arts and humanities. Five City College Drama students completed the PATH program in 2018 and 2019. 

PROGRAM SNAPSHOT:

• WHEN: June 29 - August 1, 2020 (5-weeks, during Summer Session 1)
• WHERE: This program will be held virtually, due to concerns with COVID-19.
• WHAT: Take 2 classes, attend workshops on campus resources like study abroad and financial aid, meet peer mentors, consult academic advisors and more!
• HOW MUCH? Due to a generous grant from the Mellon Foundation, the program is completely free – tuition and all others expenses are paid for. Upon program completion, participants receive a $1500 stipend!
• WHY: To earn 8 credits towards your degree, adapt to the quarter system, learn the campus, discover resources, receive mentoring and support, make new friends and meet future classmates, receive special internship opportunities and feel prepared to tackle life as a Triton! 

For more details on the classes and how to apply, please visit knit.ucsd.edu/path. You must accept your UC San Diego offer of admission by June 1 at the latest to be able to apply. You are encouraged to apply as soon as possible! 

Please contact Joelle Fusaro at jmfusaro@ucsd.edu or Laura Martin at lauramartin@ucsd.edu for questions about the Summer Academy.

For general questions, please contact Prof. Katie Rodda (krodda@sdccd.edu). 

Fall 2020 at City College Theatre

We hope this message finds all of our City College Theatre family healthy. We're all anxious to get back to doing what we do best: offering great classes and putting on terrific plays, but we need to be patient and wait until it's safe for us to gather in person again.

City College is planning to offer a full schedule of classes. We've been instructed to schedule for the fall like we alway do, but we've been told to prepare to move to an online format should the Coronavirus flare up again. We're all hoping that won't happen--theatre online just isn't the same as theatre in person.

For the fall we'll be offering classes in Introduction to Dramatic Arts, Study of Filmed Plays, Playwriting, Stagecraft, Beginning Acting, Intermediate Acting, Voice for Actors, Costuming, and Special Effects Makeup. We'll also be building the float for the annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Parade.

And we're producing two plays this fall! City College was five weeks into rehearsal for Urinetown in Spring 2020 when the coronavirus necessitated the shut down of the campus; however, we've rescheduled it for Fall 2020.

Urinetown by Mark Hollman and Greg Kotis
Directed by Katie Rodda
Choreography by Kristin Arcidiacono
Musical direction by Michael Farley
October 2 - 11
Saville Theatre

When a water shortage has led to a government-enforced ban on private toilets, the citizens must use public amenities, regulated by a single evil company that charges outrageous fees for people to take care of their most basic need. Hero Bobby Strong leads a revolution to overtake the evil empire and give everyone the right to pee freely. Urinetown is a musical satire of the legal system, capitalism, bureaucracy, and musical theatre itself. 

And our other show:

Mere Mortals by David Ives

Directed by Kate Neff Stone

October 30 - November 8

Black Box Theatre

Time Flies

In a wacky collection of six one-acts, Ives introduces us to three construction workers with secret pasts, two lonely mayflies on a schedule, a man who is pretty sure he is the artist Degas, and many more memorable and zany characters. In true Ives style, the jokes fly thick and fast, and there are madcap shenanigans aplenty. This entertaining evening of short plays promises to be mood-elevating feat of comedic timing and pizzazz.

Auditions will be Thursday, August 20--keep checking here for information. Please be aware that most of the roles in Urinetown have already been cast; the show will mostly be performed by the Spring 2020 cast members, although there will be some open roles.

So please don't forget about us! We'll be back, stronger than ever. And I know you will be starving for the opportunity to watch live theatre again, and we're looking forward to seeing you back at the theatre and in our classes.

Ryan Perkins

Metamorphoses, 2019
Photo: Manny Rotenberg

The Drama Program at San Diego City College is very sad to share the news that Ryan Perkins, an actor who performed in Metamorphoses, the 2019 New Play Festival, and credible, passed away last month. Ryan had moved to Los Angeles after Spring 2019.

Ryan had never been in a show before he was cast in Mary Zimmerman's Metamorphoses, directed by Lisa Berger. He played a variety of roles in that show, and went on to perform in the original play Growing Pains. He was also cast in a pivotal role in credible, Lily Padilla's play that was produced in partnership with the University of San Diego.

Ryan was a veteran of the US Military, and he leaves behind two daughters. Anyone who wants to write a tribute or share stories/photos is welcome to. 

So what are you up to??

Hi, everyone. Like all of you, everyone involved with City College Theatre is adjusting to the "new normal" of hunkering down and staying home due to the mandate by the governor, as well as common sense and decency to keep from contaminating anyone else.

We've had some disappointments in the last week. The fifth annual New Play Festival closed early, and the cast only got to do four of its six performances. And our spring production of Urinetown will not open in April. The cast had put in five weeks of incredibly hard work, and we're hopeful to be able to do the show in the fall. Stay tuned.

Theatre is a three-dimensional art form. Part of the joy of theatre is its ephemeral nature. No two performances are alike. That's why watching a filmed version of a play is just not the same as seeing it in person. Audience members are in communion with one another, all seeing the same show unfolding in real time.

Theatre without a live audience feels very strange, but it's what we're grappling with these days.

But we want to hear from you, our community members! What are you doing these days? Are you watching any great plays online? Reading great scripts? Practicing your monologues? Connecting virtually with other theatre friends? Please respond in the comments below.

In today's Union-Tribune, the Artistic Director of the Old Globe Theatre, Barry Edelstein, wrote a moving tribute to theatre all over the world during this challenging time; here is the link. 

Stay healthy--we'll be back soon!

Festival of New Plays this Thursday, Friday and Saturday!

Only three performances left-- join us this Thursday at 2:00 pm, or Friday and Saturday at 8:00 pm. Thursday's performance is FREE! Come see the outstanding work developed by City College student playwrights at our final weekend of performances. 

Tickets are on sale here:
https://www.eventbrite.com/o/san-diego-city-college-drama-program-8625432318