UConn’s Department of Dramatic Arts is proud to present the Jerry Rojo Festival of Original Student Work
January 25-28, 2024
This inaugural festival of new works is a celebration of our UConn dramatic arts students’ boundless creativity. Named in honor of the late Jerry Rojo, who served on the UConn faculty from 1961 to 1990 and designed the unique Mobius Theatre, the festival was born out of a desire to create a celebratory home for the creative writing, devising and theatre crafting our amazing students are constantly generating. The (First Annual) Jerry Rojo Festival of Original Student Work will run January 25-28 in multiple UConn drama spaces. The festival will feature two MFA Puppet Arts projects by Abigail Baird and Carrie Fowler, and six additional student-generated performances. We hope you will join us for one or many! All performances are FREE and open to the public. Check out the lineup below and reserve your seats. Reserve your free seats.
Festival sponsors: Connecticut Repertory Theatre, Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry
ROJO FESTIVAL SCHEDULE:
Thursday, January 25th
7:30pm, Nafe Katter Theatre
Hazel’s Hands, by Carlos Fruzzetti
An ensemble project with heightened language, that brings to light the things that haunt us.
9:15 pm, School of Fine Arts Atrium
Reception and Honoring Festival Namesake, Jerry Rojo
An informal welcome reception to kick off the festival.
Friday, January 26th
6pm, Harriet S. Jorgensen Lobby
WOW, by Sydney Dubistky.
This palindrome performance (which reads the same from the end to the beginning as it does from the beginning to the end) explores the story of two characters primarily through choreographed movement.
8pm, Harriet S. Jorgensen Theatre
Nothing Really Matters, by Abigail Baird.
This one-woman show combines puppetry, aerial work, and digital animation about confronting fear of the thing you need the most. Nothing Really Matters is offered in fulfillment of the MFA Puppet Arts masters project.
10pm, Nafe Katter Hallway
A Shorter Scottish Play, by Danny Kelly.
A radical distillation of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, using movement-based storytelling in a site-specific space.
Saturday, January 27th
2pm, Harriet S. Jorgensen Theatre
Nothing Really Matters, by Abigail Baird.
This one-woman show combines puppetry, aerial work, and digital animation about confronting fear of the thing you need the most. Nothing Really Matters is offered in fulfillment of the MFA Puppet Arts masters project.
4pm Ballard Institute & Museum of Puppetry
A Double Bill!
Not My Grandmother’s Daughter, by Harley Walker.
A one-woman shadow puppetry show exploring family and identity.
and
Paloma and the New Death, by Tom Tuke.
A multi-performer hand puppet piece that explores aging, death, and the triumphs of friendship through an absurdist lens.
8pm The Studio Theatre
Perfect Christmas Cookies, by Carrie Fowler.
A hand puppet musical about the best-loved holiday treat, and all the characters whose lives it changes. Perfect Christmas Cookies is offered in fulfillment of the MFA Puppet Arts masters project.
Sunday, January 28th
2pm The Studio Theatre
Perfect Christmas Cookies, by Carrie Fowler.
A hand puppet musical about the best-loved holiday treat, and all the characters whose lives it changes. Perfect Christmas Cookies is offered in fulfillment of the MFA Puppet Arts masters project.
4pm, Nafe Katter Theatre
Alice’s Adventures, by Evan Wolfgang.
Built on the Lewis Carroll classic, this project will feature a flexible ensemble of performers with puppets and masks.