Creative Writing and Writing for the Performing Arts

New Works provides artistic platform

kelvin — Sat, 03 Jun 2023 03:13:34 +0000

New Works provides artistic platform kelvin Fri, 06/02/2023 - 20:13 More Press Releases Alejandra Prado, Student Writer/Marketing and Communications June 03, 2023

The New Works Festival at UC Riverside is all about highlighting new voices and stories in the arts. This year’s New Works Festival, to be held in person June 7-9 in the Arts Studio Theatre (ARTS 113), will feature plays and film scripts by three graduate students at UCR’s MFA program of Creative Writing and Writing for the Performing Arts.

Formerly known as the Play Works Festival, the New Works Festival is an opportunity for second-year MFA students to showcase their work and written art to a live audience in a production joined by actors and directors.

MFA students Aaron Higareda, Karly Thomas, and Ava Fojtik—collectively known as AKA Productions—will have their works read to a live audience by actors in this special production.

Higareda is the graduate student coordinator of the New Works Festival who rallied up his cohorts, Thomas and Fojtik, in preparation for the festival. He will present his play, “The Legend of the Rhino,” an experimental work that navigates themes of war and generational trauma within gang violence and family through the life of a rhino.

“What is most exciting to me is to hear my cohort’s work and to see how far we have come in the program and how much our voices have been developing and being able to share that with others,” Higareda said. “Although this is like a culmination, it is also the beginning.”

“The Legend of the Rhino” will be read aloud by undergraduate actors and directed by Lillyana Lopez, a fourth-year student in the Department of Theater, Film, and Digital Production.

Second-year playwright Karly Thomas will present a modern version of an Ancient Greek play in her work, “Lizzy: A Totes Woke Rendition of Lysistrata,” directed by TFDP Professor Rickerby Hinds. Her rendition follows the aftermath of the leaked Dobbs v. Jackson Supreme Court case that altered the legal landscape of abortion rights and centers on Capitol Hill intern Lizzy who launches a campaign of abstinence for reproductive justice.

“We are very interested in presenting to our community, people who have known this was point A for us and for AKA as an entity, and now here is where we are at the end of our two years,” Thomas said. “It feels kind of monumental in that sense.”

“The New Works Festival is particularly exciting because we are all sharing our thesis scripts for the first time,” said Fojtik, who will present her screenplay, “Troop 415.” It centers on a young girl, Koko, struggling to make friends in her new town of Oshkosh, Wis., and later finds herself joining the local Girl Scouts troop.

“‘Troop 415’ is about discovering the identity and learning to value the people who care about you the most, and it would be wonderful if the film reminded audiences of what's most important to them,” Fojtik said.

Fojtik’s screenplay will be directed by Kimberly Guerrero, a professor of Theater, Film, and Digital Production at UCR, and will be read aloud by undergraduate actors, mostly former students from classes in which Fojtik has served as a Teacher’s Assistant.

“Knowing that we are presenting our most authentic creative selves with the priority of working together, regardless of the professional trajectory that may come after that, is something I hold really near and dear to my heart about New Works,” Thomas said.

“The New Works Festival is a great time to share what we've been working on for the past few years,” Fojtik said. “It's important for the public to have access to new voices in the theater because theater can be a unique opportunity for audiences to empathize with and understand experiences that they never would be exposed to otherwise.”

Following New Works, Aaron, Karly, and Ava hope to expand AKA Productions by staging three full productions in the summer and transitioning their creativity and collaboration into TV and film.

Fojtik’s “Troop 415” will kick off the start of the New Works Festival on Wednesday, June 7, at 7 p.m. with each work scheduled on a different performance day.

On Thursday, June 8, Higareda’s “The Legend of the Rhino” will be read followed by Thomas’ “Lizzy: A Totes Woke Rendition of Lysistrata” reading on Friday, June 9.

All New Works Festival performances will start at 7 p.m. in the Arts Studio Theatre (Arts 113), are free to attend with a ticket reservation, and are open to the public.

To learn more about the New Works Festival, please visit https://events.ucr.edu/event/new_play_festival_by_ucr_mfa_playwrights_1156.

FEATURED PHOTO. (From left to right) Aaron Higareda, Karly Thomas, and Ava Fojtik.

‘I want students to know that we’re all invested in seeing them succeed’

kelvin — Sat, 09 Jan 2021 01:04:46 +0000

‘I want students to know that we’re all invested in seeing them succeed’ kelvin Fri, 01/08/2021 - 17:04 More Press Releases Karen Gudino-Flores, Student Writer/CHASS Marketing & Communications January 09, 2021

Beginning with campus closure in March 2020, UCR departments and programs have been challenged to find different ways to support students and faculty.

For Bryan Bradford, it's also meant taking on more responsibilities.

“We’ve had to make departmental adjustments due to the pandemic, and Bryan has always been willing to lend a helping hand,” said Erika Leon, HR Business Partner in the CHASS Dean’s Office. “I don’t know what we would do if we ever lost him. He is such a positive team player.”

In addition to his position as coordinator for UCR’S MFA program in Creative Writing and Writing for the Performing Arts, Bradford has served as the graduate coordinator within the Department of Dance, since April 2020.

Despite his busy schedule, Bradford recently made time for an interview to talk about his new role, share advice with students, and talk about his newest personal obsession.

Tell us about your current position/role at UC Riverside.

I’m the graduate coordinator for the MFA program in Creative Writing and Writing for the Performing Arts, which is comprised of two departments: Creative Writing, and Theatre, Film and Digital Production (TFDP). I’ve taken the graduate coordinator role on an interim basis with the Department of Dance.

In addition, I’m the administrative coordinator for TFDP, which means I handle general administrative duties for the department. My graduate coordinator duties are very much the same across the programs, although Dance has a Ph.D. program, and I’ve only worked with the MFA program, so I've had the opportunity to learn about the Ph.D. processes.

My role is more bureaucratic, helping to explain policies and procedures to the students and making sure they’re on track to graduate. I like to think of a graduate coordinator as the Virgil to the students' Dante if Virgil had a program handbook and used the phrase "wet-ink signature" too much.

But I do try to make sure that the students are comfortable in the program and ensure that they’re getting the support they need. I want students to know that we’re all invested in seeing them succeed, and we’ll do what we can to make that happen.

How have you found that the Theater and Dance programs have adapted to switching over to an online platform?

TFDP and Creative Writing have found ways to adjust to remote learning. TFDP had a greater challenge because they had to adapt their productions and filmmaking classes, which are obviously very hands-on. The production staff has done a great job producing the department plays on Zoom, with the student actors performing from their own homes and the crew providing music and sound effects. Our students have generally told me that they’re holding up well, and I hope that’s the case. I’ve encouraged students to check in on each other because I think the therapeutic benefit flows both ways.

Working with multifaceted and creative individuals, do you find that when checking in or meeting with students/faculty/staff, that there is an air of uncertainty across the board, or do you find that everyone is collectively making attempts at staying positive with all the new changes?

I’ve gotten the impression that most of our students and faculty are pulling together and making the best of the circumstances. We all bemoan the situation, but there also seems to be the sense that the act of learning, that doing the work, is a touchstone to normalcy, even if it is occurring in a different format. For my part, I’ve tried to relax my tone in emails and strike a balance between personal and professional so that a part of me is present when I contact people. When someone asks me how I’m doing in an email, rather than saying, “I’m fine,” I might mention how we’re trying to keep my daughter interested in Zoom classes, or how I’m trying to type with our dog’s head resting on my keyboard. I want our students to know that I understand we’re all stuck in this awkward space between our private and professional lives, and I hope to signal that they shouldn’t stress about it when one bleeds into the other. We’re all dealing with similar challenges, and we’ll get through it with a good dose of empathy.

How has it been for you to adjust to working from home?

The adjustment of working from home was difficult because we have a six-year-old daughter who suddenly had to adapt to online learning, and my wife and I found we had become the teacher’s aides. Like so many other people, my family and I are taking up projects we can do from home. We’re currently doing get-out-the-vote work for the Sierra Club, writing letters to voters. We get our six-year-old daughter involved by having her put drawings or stickers on the letters. The most relaxing thing we’ve done is to take up bird watching. I’ve counted as many as 9 different species in our yard at once. I’ll often work on our patio with my computer on my lap and my birding books and binoculars within reach. When 2020 began, I never would have foreseen how often I would be catching myself staring into the distance and thinking about warblers.

“So many of us are working with distractions or limited technology, and it feels as though everything takes longer to do. Extending some grace and patience to everyone – students, faculty, and staff – feels very important right now.”

"When 2020 began, I never would have foreseen how often I would be catching myself staring into the distance and thinking about warblers."

FEATURED PHOTO. Photos courtesy of Bryan Bradford.
Bird by Bird: Since he started working from home, Bradford has taken up bird watching to relax. "I’ll often work on our patio with my computer on my lap and my birding books and binoculars within reach."