The upcoming theater season at the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television includes the production of Bertolt Brecht's "The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui," the opera "Juana" — a collaboration with UCLA Opera and UCLA Philharmonia — and the seminal rock musical "Hair."
The season begins in November with "Arturo Ui," Brecht's allegory that satirizes the rise of the Nazi Party in pre-WWII Germany, placing the action in 1930s Chicago. Also in November, "Juana," based on the novel Sor Juana's Second Dream, by UCLA Professor Alicia Gaspar de Alba, tells the story of Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, a 17th-century feminist genius, theologian, poet, author, composer, artist and architect whose life was marked by repeated conflict with men of the Inquisition. The opera features designers from the UCLA theater department and performers from the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music. In May, the Ray Bolger Musical Theater Program at UCLA TFT presents "Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical," a celebration of counterculture and the sexual revolution.
The season also includes "La Victima," a collaboration between the Latino Theater Company and the theater arts department at East Los Angeles College. One of the most important plays of the Chicano theater canon, "La Victima," written in 1976, spans four decades and focuses on the Mendoza and the Villa families, who arrive in the United States with dreams of a better life. This production, which will tour throughout greater Los Angeles, is presented in response to the recent spate of deportations and separations of families. It is directed by Jose Luis Valenzuela, the artistic director of the Los Angeles Theatre Center, and features students from UCLA TFT and East Los Angeles College.
Other theater season productions include "The Last Living Gun," directed by Sara Lyons; William Shakespeare's "Troilus and Cressida," directed by Rob Clare; "Lydia," directed by Mark Anthony Vallejo; Aphra Behn's "The Rover"; and Henrik Ibsen's "Brand," directed by Jean Carlo Yunen.
Theater season productions (dates and locations):
- "The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui," directed by Angela Scott (Nov. 15, 16, 19–23), Little Theater
- "Juana," directed by Sara Widzer (Nov. 22 and 24), Freud Playhouse
- New Play Festival: "The Last Living Gun," directed by Sara Lyons (Dec. 5–7) Theater 1340 Magowan Hall
- "Troilus and Cressida," directed by Rob Clare (Feb. 21, 22, 25–29, 2020) Theater 1340 Macgowan Hall
- "Lydia," directed by Mark Anthony Vallejo (Feb. 28, 29, March 3–7), Little Theater
- "The Rover" (March 6, 7, 10–14), Freud Playhouse
- "Hair," directed by Jeremy Mann, musical direction by Dan Belzer, (May 22,23, 26–30), Freud Playhouse
- "Brand," directed by Jean Carlo Yunen (May 29,30, June 2–6), Little Theater
A full theater season schedule is available on UCLA TFT's website.
