2020-21 Season
This fall, Theatre UCF students are bringing the theatre into your home. See what they’re creating through free online readings including a series of plays about social justice and a modern translation of a Shakespeare classic.
Please note that as of September 24, the Amplify, Empower, Illuminate series has new premiere and streaming dates. This page has been updated to the new dates.
How to Watch
- All performances are pre-recorded and will be available on-demand for free starting at 7 p.m. on their premiere day.
- No need to reserve a ticket or register in advance. Log in and watch the current show using the link below at your convenience anytime during the dates listed below.
- Once you register to watch, you have 48 hours to watch the performance.
- To join us for the live talkbacks, watch along with the stream at the 7 p.m. premiere time and follow the link provided on the event page.
- Live Blood at the Root Talkback | Saturday, October 3 at 9 p.m. | Live talkback registration link available soon
- Live Mojada Talkback | Saturday, October 10 | Time TBD
- Live How to Catch Creation Talkback | Saturday, October 17 | Time TBD
- Live Kill Move Paradise Talkback | Saturday, October 24 | Time TBD
- Bookmark this page now and set calendar reminders for the premieres so you’re ready to watch every performance! Links to watch will be available on the premiere day of each performance.
Amplify, Empower, Illuminate: Four Plays, Many Diverse Voices
Theatre UCF presents four play readings highlighting the urgent push for racial equality and social justice that is at the heart of the current anti-racist movement. An artistic response to current events brings to life contemporary plays that address the issues of injustice, police brutality and systemic racism against people of color. Each play in this series will be followed by a talkback with the creative team and guest speakers.
Click each title below to learn more!
"Blood at the Root" by Dominique Morisseau
Directed by David Reed
Produced in association with the NEA-sponsored art exhibition Illuminating the Darkness: Our Carceral Landscape
Premiere with talkback on Saturday, October 3 at 7 p.m. EDT
On-Demand streaming through Friday, October 9 at 11:59 p.m. EDT
When racial tensions begin to arise, what was once a seemingly peaceful high school becomes the volatile and broken community whose racial issues and prejudice have been festering underneath the surface for a long time.
"Mojada" by Luis Alfaro
Directed by Ana Martinez Medina
Premiere with talkback on Saturday, October 10 at 7 p.m. EDT
On-Demand streaming through Friday, October 16 at 11:59 p.m. EDT
A modern retelling of the Greek tragedy Medea through the lens of the Mexican immigrant experience, the play follows the lives of an immigrant family surviving in Chicago during the Obama administration. It offers an in-depth look at the struggles that go into achieving the American Dream, and the cost of each step along the way. Murder, betrayal and brujeria abound in this human journey towards success and acceptance.
"How to Catch Creation" by Christina Anderson
Directed by Johann Robert Wood
Broadcast and talkback on Saturday, October 17 at 7 p.m. EDT
This performance will not have public on-demand viewing after the broadcast.
Two artists with their partners find their lives unexpectedly intertwined with the life of a Black queer feminist writer from the 1960s. This intergenerational portrayal of queer relationships of color challenges our definitions of family, love and the universal act of creation.
"Kill Move Paradise" by James Ijames
Directed by Be Boyd
Premiere with talkback on Saturday, October 24 at 7 p.m. EDT
On-Demand streaming through Friday, October 30 at 11:59 p.m. EDT
Four young African American men find themselves untimely ripped from the world they know. Trapped in a cosmic waiting room, they struggle to make sense of where they are, how they got there and why their names ended up on “the list.” The play was inspired by the ever-growing list of slain unarmed African American men and women and it is described by the playwright as “an expressionistic buzz saw through the contemporary myth that 'all lives matter.'”
The Amplify, Empower, Illuminate: Four Plays, Many Diverse Voices series is sponsored by
Following the Amplify, Empower, Illuminate series, Theatre UCF will present a virtual reading of Much Ado About Nothing with a new modern verse translation by Ranjit Bolt.
Much Ado About Nothing By William Shakespeare in a modern verse translation by Ranjit Bolt
Directed by Mark Brotherton
This performance is sponsored by John and Rita Lowndes
Premiere on Saturday, November 7 at 7 p.m.
On-demand streaming through Friday, November 20 at 11:59 p.m. EST
Details on how and when to watch will be available soon.
Two couples are brought together and whisked apart by the plotting of friends and enemies in this comedy of love and misunderstanding. Experience the drama and poetry of one of Shakespeare’s most famous works in a new light.
This translation of Much Ado About Nothing was commissioned by Play On Shakespeare and first given a reading at Classic Stage Company in New York City, June 2019, as part of a Play on Shakespeare marathon of translated plays. The translations were commissioned by The Oregon Shakespeare Festival (Bill Rauch, Artistic Director; Cynthia Rider, Executive Director) and Play On Shakespeare (Lue Douthit, Artistic Director) with a grant from Dave and Ken Hitz.
