Season Performance Archive

STOP KISS

by Diana Son
Directed by Jenny Cavenaugh 

October 3-5, 2024 | 7:30 PM

October 6, 2024 | 2:00 PM

Cousins Studio Theatre, Modlin Center for the Arts In Stop Kiss by Diana Son, Sara and Callie’s budding romance in New York City takes an unexpected turn when a simple kiss leads to a violent attack. As they navigate the aftermath, their friends and loved ones rally around them, forcing everyone to confront their own biases and the true power of love.

THE HOUSE THAT WILL NOT STAND

by Marcus Gardley
Directed by Lucretia Marie Anderson

November 21-23, 2024 | 7:30 PM

November 24, 2024 | 2:00 PM

Alice Jepson Theatre, Modlin Center for the Arts

A gripping examination of the intersecting captivities of enslaved and free women of color in 1830’s New Orleans, The House that Will Not Stand is a haunting tale of family drama told with humor and love. With quick-witted dialogue, playwright Marcus Gardley delivers the story of a widowed mother determined to provide a future of independence for her daughters only to be ensnared by social customs and their own desires.

UNIVERSITY DANCERS 40TH ANNIVERSARY CONCERT

Directed by Anne Van Gelder

February 28 - March 1, 2025, 7:30 PM

March 2, 2025, 2:00 PM

Alice Jepson Theatre, Modlin Center for the Arts

University Dancers celebrates 40 years of engaging dance with our annual concert that brings to the University of Richmond the work of three innovative guest choreographers from the US and Canada. San Francisco-based artist and educator Robin Dekkers’ work has been hailed as cerebral and cutting edge. Dekkers collaborative approach to their work seeks to break down barriers and cultivate deeper connections. Robin Dekkers is the founder and artistic director of Post:ballet, a San Francisco-based contemporary company founded in 2009. While on campus, Dekkers will create a dance for film project featuring both the beautiful campus and the talented dance students at Richmond. Vancouver-based choreographer Charlotte Boye-Christensen’s collaborative work challenges perceptions of what defines dance, while not rejecting tradition. Ms. Boye-Christensen is the founder of NOW-ID, an interdisciplinary contemporary performance company known for its site-specific work and its commitment to inventing unique forms. Jamaican-born dancemaker Christopher Rudd will create his first work for the company. Rudd, a 2019 Guggenheim Choreography Fellow, creates work that is informed by his experience as a queer Black man in dance and intersects with multiple movement genres including ballet, contemporary, and circus arts. In 2020, Rudd created the groundbreaking work TOUCHÉ for American Ballet Theatre. Aligning with the department’s mission, the creative work by Dekkers, Boye-Christensen, and Rudd utilizes contemporary dance to educate and engage community. The concert will also feature new works choreographed by Department of Theatre & Dance faculty Angelica Burgos, Alicia Díaz, Eric Rivera, and Anne Van Gelder. Outstanding adjudicated student choreography will be featured and department faculty members Johann Stegmeir and Maja E. White will design costumes and lighting respectively. Do not miss these talented dancers perform in a variety of contemporary works.

URINETOWN

by Greg Kotis
Directed by Dorothy Holland

April 17-19, 2025 | 7:30 PM

April 20, 2025 | 2:00 PM

Alice Jepson Theatre, Modlin Center for the Arts

Winner of three Tony Awards, Urinetown is a hilarious musical satire: a terrible water shortage has led to a government ban on private toilets and citizens have to use paid public toilets, owned by a single malevolent company. In this wickedly funny and delightfully intelligent comedic romp, Urinetown is an irreverent tale of greed, corruption, love, and revolution at a time when water is worth its weight in gold.

White Pearl

By Anchuli Felicia King
Directed by Dorothy Holland

October 5–7, 2023 | 7:30 p.m.
October 8, 2023 | 2 p.m.
Cousins Studio Theatre, Modlin Center for the Arts

In Singapore, Clearday™ has developed from a small startup into a leading international cosmetic brand in less than a year. But when a draft ad for the company’s latest skin whitening cream is leaked on YouTube, the video goes viral, gathering views and outrage. As morning nears in the U.S. market, views are in the thousands and climbing fast; Clearday’s all-female team hustles to contain the damage before Buzzfeed weighs in.

“A bracingly funny corporate satire." — The Guardian

Fairview

by Jackie Sibblies Drury
Directed by Chuck Mike

November 16-18, 2023 | 7:30 p.m.
November 19, 2023 | 2 p.m.
Cousins Studio Theatre, Modlin Center for the Arts

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama

The Frasier family is preparing to celebrate grandma’s birthday, cooking dinner, drinking wine, and hiding secrets. But what starts as a sitcom about a Black family explodes into a raucously brilliant look at the insidiousness of white supremacy.

“FAIRVIEW is a series of perspective-altering surprises, and they keep coming at you even when you think [Drury] must surely have emptied [her] bag of tricks… a glorious, scary reminder of the unmatched power of live theater to rattle, roil and shake us wide awake.” — The New York Times

Moving Bodies | Bodies Moving

UNIVERSITY DANCERS 39TH ANNIVERSARY CONCERT

Directed by Anne Van Gelder

March 1–2, 2024 | 7:30 p.m.
March 3, 2024 | 2 p.m.
Alice Jepson Theatre, Modlin Center for the Arts

University Dancers celebrates 39 years of engaging dance with our annual concert that brings to the University of Richmond the work of three innovative guest choreographers, each of whom is based in New York City. Ephrat Asherie has trained her entire life in multiple genres of dance but identifies the styles of breaking, hip hop, and house as her choreographic vocabulary. Asherie’s artistic aesthetic utilizes urban social dance as a means to educate and engage community and we are delighted for her to create her second work for the company. Larry Keigwin is the founder and artistic director of Keigwin + Company, a troupe known for its electrifying brand of contemporary dance. Mr. Keigwin’s choreography is theatrical, witty, and smart, engaging audiences with his refreshing vision of dance. Take Ueyama draws creative inspiration from his Japanese heritage as well as his athletic prowess as a baseball player in his youth. His repertoire has been inspired by the beauty in nature, the duality of darkness and light in the universal human condition, and the humanity and compassion in day-to-day living. Aligning with the department’s mission, the creative work by both Ephrat Asherie and Take Ueyama utilize contemporary dance to educate and engage community. The concert will also feature new works choreographed by Department of Theatre & Dance faculty Angelica Burgos, Alicia Díaz, Eric Rivera, and Anne Van Gelder. Outstanding adjudicated student choreography will be featured and department faculty member Johann Stegmeir will design costumes. Do not miss these talented dancers perform in a variety of contemporary works.

Everybody

By Branden Jacobs-Jenkins
Directed by Julie Fulcher

April 18–20, 2024 | 7:30 p.m.
April 21, 2024 | 2 p.m.
Alice Jepson Theatre, Modlin Center for the Arts

Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, who the New York Times calls “one of this country’s most original and illuminating writers,” brings us an inventive 21st-century riff on the 15th-century morality play, Everyman. In this contemporary tale, Everybody (chosen from amongst the cast by lottery at each performance) goes on a compelling journey through our greatest mystery—the meaning of living.

​"Provocative and involving! Wildly funny!" — Huffington Post

​“Everybody fills the heart in a new and unexpected way.” — The New Yorker

Smart People

By Lydia R. Diamond

Directed by Chuck Mike
Costume Design by Heather Hogg
Light & Sound Design by Maja E. White
Scenic Design by Jason Ammons

September 29 – October 1, 2022 at 7:30 p.m.
October 2, 2022 at 2:00 p.m.
Modlin Center for the Arts, Cousins Studio Theatre

It is the eve of Obama’s first election. Four of Harvard University’s brightest; a surgeon, an actress, a psychologist, and a neuro-psychiatrist, are all interested in different aspects of the brain, particularly how it responds to race. But like all smart people, they are also searching for love, success, and identity in their own lives. Lydia Diamond brings these characters together in this sharp, witty play about social and sexual politics.

“…a sexy, serious, and very, very funny modern-day comedy of manners.” — Variety

Miss You Like Hell

Book and Lyrics by Quiara Alegría Hudes

Directed by Drs. Patricia Herrera and Dorothy Holland
Costume Design by Nia Safarr Banks
Light & Sound Design by Maja E. White
Scenic Design by Jason Ammons

November 17-19, 2022 at 7:30 p.m.
November 20, 2022 at 2:00 p.m.
Modlin Center for the Arts, Alice Jepson Theatre

A revolutionary new musical by Pulitzer Prize winner (Water By The Spoonful) and Tony Award winner (In the Heights), Quiara Alegría Hudes, with music by singer-songwriter, Erin McKeown. A journey that is both personal and epic begins when a whip-smart, deeply imaginative, and troubled teenage blogger agrees to take a road trip with her estranged, free-spirited Latina mother. Chance encounters with an array of characters along the way bring them closer to understanding what sets them apart—and what connects them forever. With compelling original songs every bit as diverse and eclectic as America, Miss You Like Hell is a new musical that exudes the joy, love, and frustration of being a family in a changing country.

“Powerful and complex, a fresh take on the American road story, filled with people and ideas we rarely get to see on stage.” — New York Times

fast/FORWARD
University Dancers 38th Anniversary Concert

Directed by Anne Van Gelder
Costume Design by Karl Green
Light Design by Maja E. White

February 24 & 25, 2023, 7:30 p.m.
February 26, 2022, 2:00 p.m.
Modlin Center for the Arts, Alice Jepson Theatre

University Dancers celebrates 38 years of engaging dance with our annual concert that brings to the University of Richmond the work of innovative guest choreographers Charlotte Boye-Christensen and Stephanie Martinez. Vancouver-based choreographer Charlotte Boye-Christensen’s collaborative work challenges perceptions of what defines dance, while not rejecting tradition. Stephanie Martinez identifies as both Latina and indigenous and we are very excited to bring to campus an artist with such a unique perspective to work with our students and collaborate with our faculty. The concert will also feature new works choreographed by Department of Theatre & Dance faculty Angelica Burgos, Deandra Clarke, Eric Rivera, and Anne Van Gelder.

The Rivals

By Richard Brinsley Sheridan

Directed by Walter Schoen
Costume Design by Johann Stegmeir
Light & Sound Design by Maja E. White
Scenic Design by Reed West

April 13-15, 2023 at 7:30 p.m.
April 16, 2023 at 2:00 p.m.
Modlin Center for the Arts, Alice Jepson Theatre

The headstrong daughter of a wealthy family, the lovely Lydia Languish is fiercely determined to rebuff parental wishes and marry for love rather than money. Her romantic dilemma is complicated by the machinations of her aunt Mrs. Malaprop whose misapplication of the English language (“she’s as headstrong as an allegory on the banks of Nile”) has made her one of the most beloved comic characters of all time. An 18th century “comedy of manners,” The Rivals is Richard Sheridan’s masterpiece about the value of love and money that sparkles with theatricality, wit, exuberance, and fun.

Scapino, The Trickster

By Moliere
Adapted and translated by Matt DiCintio

Directed by Walter Schoen
Costume Design by Johann Stegmeir
Light & Sound Design by Robby Williams
Scenic Design by Vicki Davis

September 29 – October 2, 2021 at 7:00 PM
Jenkins Greek Theatre

In Moliere’s homage to the slapstick elements of the classic comedy form known as commedia dell’arte, Scapino “bamboozles” two crusty, old fathers to pave the path of true love for their children.

Les Blancs

By Lorraine Hansberry

Directed by Tawnya Pettiford-Wates, Ph.D.
Costume Design by Johann Stegmeir
Light & Sound Design by Maja E. White
Scenic Design by Vicki Davis

November 18-20, 2021 at 7:30 PM
November 21, 2021 at 2:00 PM
Modlin Center for the Arts
Alice Jepson Theatre

Les Blancs by Lorraine Hansberry is an epic story that embraces generations, legacy, time and both the ancestral and spiritual planes. It uses ritual, music, dance and story to weave a passionate and heroic tale. The story takes place in a fictional African nation called Zatembe where an old European Mission sits at the center of the activities for the native village people and the mission’s residents in around the mission compound. Hansberry’s work explores themes of honor, duty, family, dignity and loss as Tshembe Matoseh returns to his ancestral home to ceremonially bury his father with his three brothers, and encounters Charlie Morris, a white American journalist come to do an expose’ on the exalted Reverend Nielsen, who founded the mission so many years before. Charlie’s article is supposed to be somewhat of a tribute to the work and “sacrifice” of the missionary life. He is most particularly focused on the honorable Reverend Nielsen who dedicated himself and his life to living and working in and amongst the native people. Upon meeting Tshembe, all of Charlie Morris’ plans and assumptions about the mission, the Reverend, and the villagers come into question and the play dives deeply into an interrogation of colonialism, white supremacy, and rebellion. In returning home to Africa, Tshembe is faced with his own doubts, fears and contradictions about his identity and his legacy as an African man whether of the past, the present or the future to come. Hansberry’s play is bold and fiercely honest as it interrogates the cost of liberation and freedom measured against the rising tide of resistance, the rejection of imperialism, and the blind allegiance to God and country.

Perfect Arrangement

February 10, 2022 at 7:30 PM
February 11, 2022 at 7:30 PM
February 12, 2022 at 7:30 PM
February 13, 2022 at 2:00 PM

Inspired by the true story of the earliest stirrings of the American gay rights movement, madcap classic sitcom-style laughs give way to provocative drama as two “All-American” couples are forced to stare down the closet door.

MOVE!
University Dancers 37th Anniversary Concert

Directed by Anne Van Gelder
Costume Design by Johann Stegmeir
Light Design by Maja E. White

February 25 & 26, 2022, 7:30 PM
February 27, 2022, 2:00 PM
Modlin Center for the Arts
Alice Jepson Theatre

University Dancers celebrates 37 years of engaging dance with our annual concert that brings to the University of Richmond the work of innovative guest choreographers Juel D. Lane and Peter Pucci. Juel D. Lane’s choreography fuses West African, contemporary modern, hip-hop, and ballet, resulting in a unique movement vocabulary. Mr. Lane pushes the boundaries of contemporary dance through choreography that, in his own words, “strips labels and shows humanity.” Whether he examines political concepts, gender roles, or his own intimate experiences, Lane stays unapologetically true to his singular perspective. Peter Pucci will create his first work for the University Dancers during a week-long residency. Former performer and rehearsal director for Pilobolus Dance Theater, Pucci has received numerous awards for his work that combines athleticism, humor, and integration of music and dance.

The concert will also feature new works choreographed by Angelica Burgos, Eric Rivera (both former dancers with Ballet Hispánico), Starrene Foster (founder/artistic director of Starr Foster Dance), and Department of Theatre & Dance faculty Alicia Díaz, and Anne Van Gelder. Outstanding adjudicated student choreography will be featured and department faculty members Johann Stegmeir and Maja E. White will design costumes and lights, respectively. Do not miss these talented dancers perform in a variety of contemporary works.

Standing Together, 6 Ft Apart

Company Created

Directed by Chuck Mike
Costume Design by Heather Hogg
Light & Sound Design by Maja E. White
Scenic Design by Vicki Davis

April 14-16, 2022 at 7:30 PM
April 17, 2022 at 2:00 PM
Modlin Center for the Arts
Alice Jepson Theatre

Dubbed “theatre for the people by the people and with the people,” Standing Together, 6 Ft Apart is a theatrical collage of stories gathered from individual experiences within the Richmond community during two pandemics: COVID-19 and the urgent demand for racial justice mobilized by the death of George Floyd. Evocatively woven with music and imagery the presentation is drawn from live interviews, written stories and improvisation. An eclectic ensemble re-enacts the courageous personal narratives of Richmonders’ encounters with fear, sadness, confusion and anger against a tapestry of resilience, hope and re-awakenings. Often haunting, sometimes humorous, always compelling Standing Together, 6 Ft Apart celebrates the indomitable strength of the human spirit and its ability to thrive in the face of grave adversity. Co-created and directed by Chuck Mike.