2023 Faculty Creative Work Highlights

2023 was a busy year for UB Theatre and Dance faculty in creating performance work across many stages-local, regional and national. Faculty contributions to the vibrant Buffalo, NY arts scene are a point of pride, with much more to come in 2024. Here’s a look back at some of the creative activities of our talented faculty in 2023.

Associate Professor of Theatre Dr. Lindsay Brandon Hunter had an eclectic year, including coaching, writing, and performance. In April-May she was the Intimacy Choreographer for D'Youville Kavinoky Theatre’s production of Network. https://www.kavinokytheatre.com/network On December 10^th she was both a performer and writer for The Infinite Return, presented by The New York Neo-Futurists at The Kraine Theatre, New York, NY. https://www.nyneofuturists.org/tiw

Hunter also starred in D'Youville Kavinoky Theatre’s fall 2023 production of What the Constitution Means To Me, which ran from September 8–24, 2023. https://www.kavinokytheatre.com/constitution Directed by Theatre and Dance PhD candidate Robyn Lee Horn, Hunter portrayed Heidi Schreck, a fifteen-year-old who has earned her college tuition by winning Constitutional debate competitions across the United States. Per the show description, "In this hilarious, hopeful, and achingly human new play, Heidi resurrects her teenage self in order to trace the profound relationship between four generations of women and the founding document that shaped their lives. This boundary-breaking play breathes new life into our Constitution and imagines how it will form, and inform, future generations."

Clinical Professor of Dance Jeanne Fornarola, was Choreographer for Starring Buffalo’s June production of Hello Dolly at 710 Main, Buffalo, NY, which also featured many current and former THD students in the cast. https://www.starringbuffalo.org/ Fornarola was also Coordinator for the Developmental Movement Lab of Tiananmen A Brave New Musical. The production ran from Oct 4-29, 2023, at Buffalo’s Phoenix Theatre. https://phoenixtheatre.com/the-season/tiananmen-new-musical.

Directed by Darren Lee, Tiananmen is described as "an epic love story set against a moment in time that should not be forgotten. Set in China, 1989, hundreds of thousands of young university students realized the time was now to cry out for democracy and fair treatment for all. A student revolution began, led by a university student and her comrades, resulting in the crackdown known as the Tiananmen Square Massacre. Through the months leading up to the final hours, love was found, friendships torn apart, political figures fell from grace, and the world was transfixed by the universal struggle for freedom. Years later, the sister of the student leader returns to Tiananmen Square to commemorate this brave moment and retell the story to never forget their sacrifice. Conceived by Tiananmen Square protest leader, Wu’er Kaixi, Tiananmen: A New Musical is a vital reminder of the fragility of human rights and the importance of bravery and self-determination in the face of totalitarianism."

In an effort to share scholarship in a new, innovative way using social media to engage new audiences and readers, Assistant Professor of Theatre Dr. Danielle Rosvally co-created Yassified Shakespeare with Professor Trevor Boffone (University of Houston) for TikTok. “What happens when we remix the early modern and the digitized trendy? What does it say about audiences, popular culture (both historical and contemporary), and adaptation? Two scholars are on a journey to find out. Dr. Trevor Boffone and Dr. Danielle Rosvally call this ‘Yassified Shakespeare,’ a genre of Millennial and post-Millennial appropriation of Shakespeare’s name, persona, and/or work that queers itself in the process of adaptation. It remixes Shakespeare’s cultural capital with a sexy, genre-specific, hyper-contemporary aesthetic. Think & Juliet, RuPaul’s Drag Race, Renaissance faire performers who become Shakespeare, and Shakespearean remixes and appropriations on TikTok (for example).” https://www.tiktok.com/@yassifiedshax; http://www.yassifiedshakespeare.com