By: Michael French, UC Davis College of Letters & Science
With the goal of cultivating new voices for the stage, the UC Davis Department of Theatre and Dance presents a series of new one-act plays by undergraduate students. Written and Directed By features four short student works mentored under the guidance of Professor Jon D. Rossini and directed by student directors.
“This project gives students a platform to see their rich, multi-faceted storytelling come to life and inspire further steps on their creative journey,” said Rossini.
The works explore a variety of emotions and experiences that are heartfelt, human and sometimes humorous.
• To Kill a Certain Painter by Melanie Garcia, a third-year theatre and dance major, follows a group of crazed scientists attempting to build a time machine to go back in time and kill a certain painter (yes, it’s the one you’re thinking of) before he can do anything wrong.
• Blind Eyes Could Blaze by Ryan McKinney, a third-year English and theatre and dance double major, centers on a father who imagines a conversation with his son after a suicide attempt leaving the boy comatose.
• No que no by Simon Garcia Parra Jr., a third-year theatre and dance major, focuses on an actor who walks into an audition room and must grapple with the decision of whether or not he wants to portray a stereotype.
• The Wind by Yini “Lily” Qiu, a third-year theatre and dance and psychology double major, describes her play as “When love is often a show, can two people from different worlds ever truly belong together? Amelie and Derek, two actors, two worlds, two broken relationships with emotion and words, meet again as the wind blows.”
Each play will be directed by a student director. Doctoral student Diego Mitotli Martínez-Campos directs Simon Garcia Parra Jr.’s play, and undergraduate students Sabrina Chen, John Mosa’ati and Brianna Thomsett direct Lily Qiu, Ryan McKinney and Melanie Garcia’s plays respectively.
The performances are Oct. 30, 31 and Nov. 1 at 7 p.m. and Nov. 1 at 2 p.m. in the Wyatt Pavilion Theatre at UC Davis. Performances are free and open to all. Content warning: Adult language, themes and situations.
The 2025-2026 season continues in fall quarter with Control/Shift, a program of new choreography, in Nov. at the Vanderhoef Studio in the Robert and Margrit Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts. In the winter quarter, the department presents the Tony Award-winning musical comedy The Drowsy Chaperone in the Main Theatre for two weekends. In spring quarter, the annual large-scale dance concert takes place in the Main Theatre and The Odyssey in Shadow, a cinematic shadow play, in Wright Hall’s Arena Theatre.
The Department of Theatre and Dance is part of the College of Letters and Science at UC Davis. For information about other department productions, visit theatredance.ucdavis.edu.
