This season boasts a diverse selection of eight events as the university hosts renowned guest speakers and performances.

Attendees can reserve tickets online via the Arts & Lectures website now.

Movement Mystics: Alchemy, Resilience and Transformation

Sept. 18, 7 p.m., Arts Building 111

This captivating dance performance celebrates the richness of Brazilian culture through timeless feminine stories and symbols. Inspired by Brazil's many dance traditions, it explores themes of strength, transformation and the wisdom carried within the body.

Drawing from world mythology, Yoruba beliefs, Jungian psychology, Clarissa Pinkola Estés' “Wild Woman” archetype and the vibrant rhythms of Brazil, the performance uses movement to honor the past, express the present and connect with something deeper.

More than a celebration of culture, this work is a personal journey. It explores how dance can help us navigate life's biggest challenges and reconnect with our inner strength.

CSUSM students: Free

Faculty/staff/alumni: $5

Community: $10

CHABSS Networking Night: Transformative Leadership and Social Change

Oct. 7, 5 p.m., USU Ballroom

Join CSUSM students, alumni, artists and community leaders for an evening of ideas, creativity and connection. The event will highlight how leadership emerges through the arts, media, public service and civic engagement.

Enjoy appetizers, drinks, live music and an inspiring panel of alumni and community leaders sharing how their work creates meaningful social impact. The evening will conclude with structured networking designed to foster meaningful conversations, explore career paths and build lasting connections.

Whether you’re seeking mentorship, expanding your professional network or discovering new opportunities, this event offers an engaging space to learn, connect and be inspired by those shaping the future of our communities.

CSUSM students: Free

Faculty/staff/alumni: Free

Community: Free

‘The Canary Code’: Designing Workplaces Where Different Minds Thrive

Oct. 12, 6 p.m., USU Ballroom

Our ability to thrive in the workplace is highly dependent on how we relate to one another. Ludmila Praslova, author of “The Canary Code: A Guide to Neurodiversity, Dignity and Intersectional Belonging at Work,” shares insights on how we can prioritize neuroinclusivity in the workplace to foster connection and a sense of belonging.

Praslova draws from her perspective as a first-generation academic and a neurodivergent woman. She is a professor of industrial-organizational psychology at Vanguard University in Orange County and a regular contributor to Harvard Business Review, Fast Company, Psychology Today and Forbes.

CSUSM students: Free

Faculty/staff/alumni: $5

Community: $10

‘You’re No Indian’

Oct. 26, 6 p.m., USU Ballroom

Come attend a screening of “You’re No Indian,” which is not just a film – it’s a call to action. At the heart of this 2025 documentary lies a battle for identity and justice, where militias storm casinos, graves are pillaged for DNA evidence and even proven lineage cannot save individuals from disenrollment.

More than 10,000 people have been disenrolled from their tribes in recent years, eviscerated from their communities and families. Research confirms disenrollment’s relationship to tribal gaming and even the corruption of tribal politicians. Not only does it result in financial ruin for the disenrolled, but immeasurable psychological harm when they are now told “you’re no Indian.”

This film exposes the dark intersection of power, greed and cultural erasure. It’s a powerful stand for those whose voices have been silenced, urging viewers to join a growing movement for truth and accountability.

CSUSM students: Free

Faculty/staff/alumni: $5

Community: $10

The Power of Transformation: From Gang Life to Community Leadership

Nov. 3, 6 p.m., USU Ballroom

Luis J. Rodriguez – an award-winning poet, acclaimed author and community activist – draws from his own life and shares how he overcame gang involvement to become a leading voice for hope, healing and social justice. His inspiring story reminds us that people can change, communities can heal and everyone deserves the chance to build a better future.

CSUSM students: Free

Faculty/staff/alumni: $5

Community: $10

Pasifika in Entertainment: Navigating Culture, Language and Performing Arts in Disney’s Live-Action ‘Moana’

Nov. 16, 6 p.m., USU Ballroom

The release of Disney’s live-action “Moana” film this summer involved local expertise and talent from CSUSM and the surrounding area. Attendees will learn about the making of the film through the perspectives of the Oceanic Cultural Trust, a group created by the film company to serve as cultural consultants on Oceanic language and performing arts. 

CSUSM professor Grant Muāgututi'a served as the lead cultural consultant for the film. His work focuses on the need for Oceanic language conservation efforts through mainstream popular media, independent documentary film, community partnership programming and higher education institutions both locally and abroad. He and others involved in the film will reflect on their roles in making the live-action film. 

Members of the Oceanic Cultural Trust and actors from the film will engage the audience with behind-the-scenes stories and live musical and dance performances to inspire everyone to reimagine how grassroots cultural arts education can shape more inclusive experiences of higher education and impact popular media representations.

CSUSM students: Free

Faculty/staff/alumni: $5

Community: $10

Capturing Complexity: Theater as a Means of Self-Exploration and Reconciliation

Nov. 17, 6 p.m., Arts 111

Join us for a staged-reading presentation of “Pride: Mortal BEINGS part 1,” a one-person play written and performed by Terrell Donnell Sledge, a San Diego actor, writer, director, advocate, empowerment coach and CSUSM theatre arts lecturer. The story is an alternative telling of the fall of Lucifer – from Lucifer's perspective – hinging on the questions of free will, love, loyalty, suffering, suicide, forgiveness and redemption.

After the performance, Sledge will be joined by Stephanie Sledge – an artist, associate clinical social worker and CSUSM alumna – for a conversation about narrative representation and creative expression for self-exploration and healing. Stephanie will interview Terrell about the process of writing the play as a form of self-preservation when he was navigating academic environments prone to stereotyping and erasure of Black male identity. Guests will depart with the building blocks for harnessing their own creativity as a therapeutic tool.

CSUSM students: Free

Faculty/staff/alumni: $5

Community: $10

Serenades, Fantasies and Songs: Camarada With Aaron Humble, Tenor

Nov. 19, noon, Arts 111

Camarada, a resident ensemble at The Conrad in La Jolla, will present a unique concert spotlighting the remarkable tenor of CSUSM professor Aaron Humble. This diverse and engaging program takes audiences on a journey through the history of music, spanning from the Baroque era to the 20th century.

The instrumental portion includes works by Baroque master Telemann, Romantic composer Robert Fuchs and contemporary composer Ian Clarke. Vocal selections will highlight lyrical and expressive works by Benjamin Britten, Italian opera composers Gaetano Donizetti and Ruggero Leoncavallo, and an exquisite French masterpiece by Georges Hüe. Performers include Beth Ross Buckley, flute; David Buckley, violin; Travis Maril, viola; and Dana Burnett, piano.

Join us for an inspiring midday concert as we explore the world of vocal chamber music and more.

CSUSM students: Free

Faculty/staff/alumni: $5

Community: $10

Media Contact

Brian Hiro, Communications Specialist

bhiro@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7306

The production, which was directed by “Manai” Alleluia Panis, featured six performances between April 17 and April 26.

“Burden of Proof” is inspired by the true story of Perez’s mother, Leonora, who – along with a second Filipina nurse named Filipina Narciso – was wrongfully convicted and incarcerated for the 1975 deaths of patients at a Veterans Administration hospital in Michigan. A judge later ordered their release due to the prosecutor’s “overwhelming prejudice.”

According to the website, the production “delves into the generational trauma inflicted by the American justice system and how traumatic experiences blur the line between memory and nightmare, told through the lens of the fictional Calinao immigrant family.”

The original score includes text drawn from the diary of Leonora Perez and the writings of Jason.

Perez has been on the faculty at CSUSM since 2019. In 2023-24, he served a two-year appointment as the poet laureate for the City of San Diego.  

Media Contact

Brian Hiro, Communications Specialist
bhiro@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7306

Kevane Coleman, an administrative support coordinator for the College of Humanities, Arts, Behavioral and Social Sciences, has been nominated for his role in “The Hot Wing King” at the Cygnet Theatre. Zack King, a lecturer in the School of Arts, has been nominated for his role in “To My Girls” at the Divisionary Theatre.  

“Several years ago, I made a conscious shift to center my work more fully in Blackness/Brownness and Queerness,” Coleman said. “I knew that choice might come with risk. I wondered if I would work less, if narrowing my focus would somehow limit my opportunities. Instead, the opposite has been true. I have continued to work just as consistently as I did when I was primarily performing in white-centered stories, if not more, and my heart is full because the art that I am making now is so much fuller and richer for me.” 

SDTCC is a nonprofit organization of professional writers in San Diego County. The Craig Noel Awards, named in honor of the late artistic director of the San Diego Old Globe Theatre and a champion of the arts nationwide, highlight the excellence of professionals in San Diego theater. Nominees were chosen by an all-volunteer membership of professional critics who write year-round for San Diego newspapers, magazines and online publications.

Media Contact

Eric Breier, Interim assistant director of editorial and external affairs
ebreier@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7314

The play, written by Pulitzer Prize finalist Sarah DeLappe, is a coming-of-age tale that follows a high school girls soccer team as players navigate degrees of adolescence, identity and growing up. Performances of “The Wolves” will take place in Arts 111 from Nov. 12-15 at 7 p.m. Tickets for students cost $10, while general admission tickets are $15. 

Through their interactions, rivalries and moments of vulnerability, the girls grapple with the nuances of teenage girlhood and the unspoken bonds that form within the team.

Set entirely during pregame warmups, the performance captures the chaotic, overlapping conversations between players as they discuss everything from global politics to personal anxieties.

To perfect the soccer moves in these moments, the actresses are being coached by Emily Mahmoud, a senior midfielder on the CSUSM women's soccer team.

Media Contact

Eric Breier, Interim assistant director of editorial and external affairs
ebreier@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7314

The play follows two men leading double lives under the alias “Ernest,” hoping to escape societal responsibility and captivate women. However, their lies only entangle them further as the women they attract begin to believe they are engaged to the same man.

One of Wilde’s most famous works, the play directed by Em Schweim, president of the theatre club, takes a comedic tone and uses witty dialogue to humorously critique the British upper class.

Media Contact

Eric Breier, Interim assistant director of editorial and external affairs
ebreier@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7314

So when she came across a script last year that delves into that very subject, she knew she had to make it her next stage production.

The result is “The Hispanic/Latino/Latina/Latinx/Latine Vote,” a play that will be performed at Cal State San Marcos on Wednesday night. Directed by Amon, the chair of CSUSM’s theater department, the show will take place at 7 p.m. in Room 111 of the Arts Building. Tickets are free.

“There’s often an assumption that different parts of the Latino community will all act the same,” Amon said. “There is an abundance of diversity within the community. There’s a variety of languages that are spoken, a wide array of racial identities that we hold, a diversity of religions we practice. In that way, it is overly simplistic to imagine that all Latinos vote in a single bloc. There’s such diversity within the community that our voting practices are often just as diverse as we are.”

“The Hispanic/Latino/Latina/Latinx/Latine Vote” centers on Paola Aguilar, a university professor who’s an expert in Latinx studies and who’s in debt from years of fertility treatments. Facing financial strain, she accepts a lucrative offer from a political party seeking to decode and capture the titular vote ahead of an impending election. As Paola navigates the party’s often superficial understanding of her community, the play satirizes the oversimplification of Latino identities.

The script was written by Bernardo Cubria, a Mexican playwright who lives in Los Angeles. Cubria based the story on his own experiences of volunteering for the Democratic Party and going through in vitro fertilization with his wife. Amon saw an early reading last January at The Old Globe’s Powers New Voices Festival and decided to produce it through TuYo Theatre, a San Diego company that specializes in Latinx narratives and for which she is co-artistic director.

The play opened on Jan. 3 at a high school in Chula Vista, and after the show at CSUSM, it also will be staged at High Tech High and San Diego State.

The 90-minute comedy features a cast of six, including Kevane Coleman, the administrative coordinator for the CSUSM art, media and design department who’s also a professional actor, singer and dancer. Coleman plays the role of Bernard, a political adviser who works with three other advisers to recruit Paola to help bolster the party's share of the Latino vote. Bernard and his partner have been on their own IVF journey, and he uses that as a way to befriend Paola after she has a miscarriage. 

“When audiences, especially our students, come to see this play, I know many of them will see themselves reflected on stage,” Coleman said. “That representation is powerful and vital to the work we do as artists, but also the work that we do within each of our communities. As the president of the Black Faculty and Staff Association on campus, this production has also been an extraordinary learning experience for me. To be immersed in the Latin community by doing this show, it has broadened my understanding of critical issues facing this community.”

Besides faculty in Amon and staff in Coleman, “The Hispanic Vote” also has CSUSM representation in the crew from Abby Chacon, a senior theater major who’s serving as assistant stage manager.

About 40 tickets for the show are available. To reserve a seat, email info@tuyotheatre.org.

“I think this play will resonate with our students and the larger campus community,” Amon said, “because we all want to live in a world where we spend more time thinking about the nuances of our world.”

Media Contact

Brian Hiro, Communications Specialist

bhiro@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7306

“It's one of those shows where I feel like a lot of people are going to be in the audience clutching their pearls because it's a play where they don't hold back,” Heard said.

“The Motherf**ker with the Hat,” a play by Stephen Adly Guirgis, will be showing Nov. 20-23 in Arts 111 from 7-9 p.m. each night. Tickets can be purchased online.

“Google will describe the show as a high-octane verbal cage match about love, fidelity and misplaced haberdashery,” Heard said. “That's the online Google definition or synopsis of the play. However, this play is a love letter to toxic couples everywhere. Couples who love each other so much, but every sign in the world tells you that you shouldn't be together.”

The play follows a Puerto Rican couple in their 30s who have been dating since eighth grade and struggle with addiction.

“It's a story that needs to be told, especially at a college level,” Heard said. “These types of plays are frowned upon because these are 18 and 19 year olds using curse words. But I'm so grateful that our department decided to do this play because these students are adults.”

Heard has been teaching theater at CSUSM for seven years, and the play is part of his course curriculum in his introduction to acting class. 

The course is a lower-level general education class and is usually full of students who have never acted before. Heard assigns students scenes and they do an in-class production, but this is the first time the play is being brought to the stage at CSUSM.

“I get a lot of nursing majors and business majors, and I introduce them to this play called ‘The Motherf**ker with the Hat,’ ” Heard said. “The play has cursing and it really helps students who are not theater people to let loose.”

Five students are featured in the play: Daniel Bjorn Huff, Lunna Mikhail, Arthur Morel, Cayla Munoz and Anthony Varon. For the first time, the theater department hired an intimacy coordinator to work with the student actors in rehearsal. 

“That was something that our department decided on through this particular season,” Heard said. “A season is a year's worth of plays. This year we’ve had four plays where actors interact physically.

“There are a lot of people interacting with each other, much more than friendship levels. They needed someone here to ensure they feel comfortable with all of this. Also, from a teaching standpoint, it's good for actors to work with a professional actor.” 

Heard hopes that when someone leaves the theater after watching the play, they will be open to different types of art forms and can reflect on their own relationships.

“I think the way the play was written and the way that I've directed it, there are no clear protagonists or clear antagonists,” Heard said. “It's one of those plays where everyone is flawed, and I hope everyone can look within. I want the audience to leave and think about humanity a little bit more. Give people the benefit of the doubt and understand that people do make mistakes.”

Media Contact

Eric Breier, Interim Assistant Director of Editorial and External Affairs

ebreier@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7314

She grew up in Vista in a household where music was the background noise of life. Her father’s side of the family is populated with music teachers and choir directors, and during the holidays especially, the whole clan would congregate to play instruments or sing hymns.

Davis attended an elementary school where music education was strongly emphasized, and she began to come out of her shell through musical theater.

“Music is something that brings my family together and gives me joy,” Davis said. “It’s something I’ve been surrounded with my whole life.”

When Davis enrolled as a student at Cal State San Marcos in 2018, however, she did so with the intention of pursuing a major in literature and writing studies. She wanted to become a teacher like those who had inspired her as a child, but English struck her as a far more plausible discipline than music, or the arts in general. Such jobs, she reasoned, don’t exactly grow on trees.

In California, though, suddenly they might. In November 2022, the state’s voters overwhelmingly approved Proposition 28, which will provide about $1 billion in funding each year to support arts education in public schools. Schools must spend 80% of that money on teachers and aides, which means that California has an overnight need for about 15,000 teachers in the arts, and San Diego County for about 500 such teachers.

This marks a sea change in the field of arts education, and CSUSM now is well-positioned to be a leader in the space. The university has received grants of $308,260 from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and $50,000 from the Clarence E. Heller Foundation to launch a program that will streamline the process for CSUSM students to become arts teachers.

Under the new CSUSM Art Credential Pathway, the university will be the first in the CSU system to create a pathway specifically for undergraduate arts majors who aspire to teach. Center ARTES, an organization dedicated to arts education and integration in K-12 schools that was founded by CSUSM music professor Merryl Goldberg in 2003, will partner with the university’s School of Arts and School of Education to develop and implement the pathway to prepare CSUSM arts students to reimagine high-quality arts education for the San Diego region and serve as a model for the state.

The future arts teachers will be recruited from CSUSM’s undergraduate arts and liberal studies students, as well as teaching artists and existing teachers in the San Diego community.

“We’re setting the course on this,” Goldberg said. “We’re not the only CSU that’s doing any work in this area, but we’re way ahead of the curve in terms of the partnering of the School of Arts and School of Education. That makes us a standout.”

To be able to teach in the arts, students typically need to earn a single-subject teaching credential in the arts, which CSUSM does not yet offer. What the new pathway will do is allow undergraduate arts and liberal studies students to complete a one-year multiple-subject credential program as long as they have accumulated 20 credits of arts classes, which could be dance, music, theater or visual arts.

“In the past, we haven’t really looked at that as a viable option for our students because there haven’t been jobs in the arts,” Goldberg said. “But now that there are probably 500 jobs alone in San Diego, this is such a no-brainer way to get our students into this career path.”

Working with Goldberg to institute the program is a team of faculty that includes education professor Christiane Wood, dance professor Cherie Hill, theater professor Judy Bauerlein and media arts professors Lucy HG Solomon, Kristin Moss and Julie Goldstein.

“This program is a game-changer for students looking to impact children’s lives through the arts,” Hill said. “I am excited that this pathway will cultivate future dance and arts educators.”

“Our on-the-ground efforts should translate to increasing the arts in schools and helping CSUSM students and area artists get jobs in the arts,” Solomon said. “In the not-so-distant future, we will be admitting new undergraduate students who have had classes in the arts throughout their education in the public schools. And it is likely that CSUSM alumni will have taught them. That’s exciting!”

“This initiative provides an opportunity to transform the arts education landscape by nurturing talent, igniting creativity and equipping future educators with the skills and knowledge to inspire the next generation of artists, serving as a blueprint for the state of California in support of Prop 28,” Wood said.

Planning and development of the pathway program started this semester and will continue in the spring. CSUSM also will seek to solidify connections with local arts organizations and teaching artists that will serve as partners in the program, including the Museum of Making Music, New Village Arts, The Old Globe, A Step Beyond and the Oceanside Museum of Art.

The first cohort of students pursuing a credential to teach the arts will launch next fall. Goldberg says the goal is to recruit 24 students for the yearlong program. The foundation funding will last for three years, meaning that there will be at least two cohorts.

Many of those two dozen future teachers were on campus Saturday, Nov. 4 when CSUSM hosted a workshop in the Arts Building that drew more than 75 people. The event introduced attendees to the road to becoming an elementary arts teacher in the areas of dance, theater, music, visual and media art. It featured activities, a panel with current arts teachers and an information session about the different ways to pursue a career in arts education.

“There was definitely a buzz of excitement there; it was just a really bright energy,” said Davis, one of the attendees. “A lot of the people on hand had no intention of being art teachers before Prop 28 passed. They just wanted to teach elementary education or maybe high school history or something. But now you can do both in the same program. I think that that's so wonderful, opening up these opportunities for people who might have never considered arts education.”

While she studied literature at CSUSM, Davis decided to take a couple of music classes just for fun, and she enjoyed them so much that she added music as a second major in 2020. She will graduate as a double major this month (though she’s walking in the spring) and take three pre-credential program classes next semester before joining the first arts pathway cohort in fall 2024.

When she’s not taking classes, Davis gives private voice lessons (she has sung at several CSUSM commencement ceremonies over the years) and teaches in after-school music theater programs at a couple of elementary schools in Escondido. Her goal is to teach both music and English at a school in San Diego County, preferably one where arts resources aren’t as bountiful and her skills are more needed.

“I've always been a huge advocate for arts teaching, especially in primary education,” she said. “I think it's so important to introduce kids to art at a young age. It inspires you to be a better person and motivates you; it's a great way to express yourself and to have a voice in the classroom. So I was really excited to hear that the state was pushing arts education a little bit more heavily.”

Media Contact

Brian Hiro, Communications Specialist

bhiro@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7306

As an actor himself, Heard seeks to perform roles that push his boundaries of understanding the craft and the last impression his performance can have on a wide audience. 

And as a lecturer at Cal State San Marcos, he knows that his job above all is simply to teach. 

It was with this wide grasp coupled with a history of change-making moments in America's complex history with race that Heard channeled his passion to bring “Detroit ’67” to campus. 

The play, written by Dominique Morisseau, opened Wednesday, Oct. 11 and will run through Oct. 14 in Arts 111. The curtain opens at 7 p.m. Tickets range from $7-10 and can be purchased here. 

“One thing that I love about this job is the teachers and the directors, we get a lot of freedom,” Heard said. “When it comes to choosing our seasons every year, of course we have to bring our suggestions to the table. We have to get the entire faculty to agree. But ‘Detroit '67’ is an amazing play. I try to do plays that are diverse. I wanted to bring that heritage in, bring that story and bring that culture to this program. That was one of the main reasons why I chose it.” 

The 1967 Detroit riot resulted in 43 deaths, nearly 1,200 injuries and 400 destroyed buildings. The confrontations between mostly Black residents and the Detroit police department amounted to the deadliest and most destructive insurgencies in this country since the Civil War (later surpassed by the Los Angeles riots of 1992). 

With the riots and the incomparable soundtrack of Motown in the background, the fictional story follows Chelle and her brother Lank, who have turned their basement into an after-hours club. A mysterious woman arrives and shakes up the lives of the siblings, already stressed by the family business and the social unrest outside. 

The subject matter, mixed with the dialogue and the rhythm of the language, struck a chord in Heard when he first opened the script. 

“Dominique Morisseau is just an incredible writer,” said Heard, an alumnus of the CSUSM theatre program. “The play is a page turner. I remember the first time I read it, I finished it in about 20 minutes because it's nonstop from start to finish. It's a really good read. And it’s a very difficult play.” 

The challenge for the 32-year-old Heard, a Black actor in Hollywood, in putting on a production with so many Black actors and crew was logistical. Simply put, he wasn’t sure he had the student population to do it. 

Once the creative team decided to take on the show, there were other challenges. One, they had to make sure they had enough committed students to do it. 

Then there was the matter of the language and rhythm of the play. The verbal landscape of Detroit in the 1960s is not one current college students are familiar with. 

Student actors normally put in close to 20 hours a week in rehearsals, but this group stepped up to train for much longer than that. 

“They’re struggling,” Heard said last month when discussing the progress of rehearsals. “It's been a test for them for sure. So one of the main reasons was to bring that heritage in, bring that story and bring that culture to this program. That was one of the main reasons why I chose it.” 

The events portrayed in the play took place more than 50 years ago. But some of the same issues remain today.  

How much race relations have improved is an ongoing debate. Law enforcement’s strained relationship with certain communities came to a crossroads – again – in 2020. 

“I want the audience to not only feel inspired and educated, I want them to also grasp the emotions and the passion people felt,” said Kiani Broom, who plays Chelle. “The play takes place in 1967, just a few years after segregation was banned. Black people were still trying to find their place in society. I want the audience to be able to feel as if they went back in time and experienced those times as if they were actually there. To be able to go home and think about the history of the world we once lived in and recognize the great lengths we have come to get to where we are now.” 

While Broom plays the heavy-hearted Chelle, Jaysean Ofoedu plays Lank, who seems pulled in different directions by his heart and his voice. Dwann Hicks is Sly, Lank’s best friend and a man with a heart for hustling and finding a good time. Caroline, the life of the party, is played by Morgan Harris. Natalie Mansfield plays Bunny, the mystery woman who sparks a chemistry with Lank. 

One of the roles of the arts is to bring to light what’s most affecting our communities. Art can be both a creative inspiration and a powerful spotlight shining on what most ills us. 

Heard knows that producing historically significant art can have the power to shape the world. 

“As an actor myself, I have to remind myself that this is education,” said Heard, who has an ongoing role on the ABC show “Station 19.” “So as much as I want them to be brilliant actors, and as much as I want them to leave this campus and go pursue acting careers, it is my job to teach them a well-rounded education in theater.  

“So it's important for them to understand the American history, right? American history within theater and how it's all connected. Acting is about being truthfully, existing truthfully.”  

Heard knew he wanted to give CSUSM students of color the education of American history mixed with professional theater training. And there were plenty of tears born of both frustration about interpreting a difficult text and sadness over a heartbreaking topic.  

He has some comedies in his back pocket; his next show might have to be lighthearted. But for now, he's reveling in the challenge that the students met with eager anticipation. 

“Even though it's not a true story, it is written in the backdrop of mortality and a lot of historical events,” Heard said. “It's a lot of heaviness, which I don't think my students are used to tapping into, which was another reason why this play is such a good play for them to train with. It's very heavy, very beautiful. Lots of beautiful music, lots of laughter. It's a very funny play. And that's another thing I appreciate about the play is how you can go from laughter to tears back to laughter in the drop of a second, so it's wonderful.” 

Broom, a communication major, said it’s been difficult for the cast to deal with such intense themes. But she considers the opportunity to breathe life into a fictional story with the backdrop of historic events to be an honor. 

It seems Heard’s goal of teaching more than just how to put on a performance has been accomplished. 

“History is a big part of what makes people who they are,” Broom said. “We learn from it and incorporate it into our day-to-day lives. For me, it helps me to become more aware of where I come from and how far Black people have come. Roles like these don't come very often. The event of the Detroit riots alone isn't something that is taught in history books, and to be able to bring it to life and show the audience Dominique Morisseau’s vision is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.” 

Media Contact

Eric Breier, Public Affairs Specialist

ebreier@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7314

For most, that would have meant an acting class somewhere close by. For the Class of 2023 alumnae, however, it meant going straight to the source.

Soon after graduating in May, Harding and Rojas were accompanied by theatre professor Judy Bauerlein for a four-week Summer in London program through CSU Summer Arts.

“We focus on preparing students for either graduate school or the professional world with whatever they have, whatever they desire to do,” said Bauerlein, who recently chaired the department and is still active in the industry. “But I do feel like graduate school is a really good next step. There are so many more skills and opportunities that they need to learn before they go into the professional world. Not all of our students take advantage of it. We had two students do Summer Arts this year. What I hope to see is six or eight do it this coming year, and I hope it's something that most of our students can go and do.”

Harding and Rojas applied for the program and were accepted. Bauerlein followed the same path as an attendee and not a professional, even though she easily qualifies for both.

Harding, now in the Master of Fine Arts program at USC, was aided by a tuition scholarship, which made the other costs associated with traveling to England a lot more affordable.

“Nothing was holding me back from going on this trip,” Harding said. “I had just graduated from undergraduate school, and it felt like the best option for me as it kept me busy working on my craft. There were no downsides in taking a chance on this opportunity, and I knew I just had to do it.”

The three traveled from San Marcos to London, but Rojas remained there after the program. She was accepted in April to a master’s program at Kent University in Canterbury, England. She went to Germany right after commencement and has fit right into the Western European lifestyle.

“I thought I should try it out to get a taste of the country,” said Rojas, who will be studying physical acting at Kent. “Judy told me about this London ‘Acting in Accent,’ and said that I should try it out because she was going and wanted me to go with her. She said that it would be a great opportunity. The trip really prepared me to take advantage of things and just accept the opportunity even though I didn't feel exactly sure about it.”

CSU Summer Arts doubles as an international summer arts program of master classes and an arts festival. What started in the mid-1980s as a summer dance program at Long Beach State has transformed into one of the largest organizations of its kind, first adding a media arts festival and now being an educational environment where students live, work and learn alongside world-renowned professionals in their fields.

Now housed at Fresno State, the curriculum often includes international opportunities such as the one Harding, Rojas and Bauerlein attended. It was set up to meet the needs of CSU arts students, but now invites all students and faculty from public and private schools from California and beyond.

“The faculty and administrators who founded it wanted to create opportunities for students at some of the smaller campuses to work with renowned artists and to have time with people that might live in L.A. or San Francisco, for example,” Bauerlein said. “And the students in those smaller, more rural campuses might not have access to them.”

In addition to working on improving their British accents in master classes from 9-5, the group attended theater productions across London in the evenings, including visiting the West End, home to a world-famous theater district. Think England’s version of Broadway and add an ingrained cultural belief in the value of attending shows weekly.

“In the cultural scene in London, it's a regular thing for people to go to the theater, at least once a week,” said Bauerlein, who grew up in Philadelphia and attended Temple University before moving to New York City to embark on a 30-year acting career. “Where we were staying, we were right on the West End. It was like being near Broadway – you just go to a Broadway show every night. So getting out and going to see artwork, going to see performances, going to see plays, all that stuff is really important. And we want our students to do that. We're trying to figure out how we can make that happen.”

The British voice teachers used a Southern California-based accent training method during the program. It helped the students get in touch with their natural accent, too, because the technique requires starting with their own before building others.

“This trip helped me prepare for my future career by giving me a new set of tools to add to my knowledge,” Harding said. “I have new skills that can take me farther than what could have been. I just feel as though expanding my skill set helps me become more ready to do other kinds of work in theater that I haven’t done before.”

There are obvious benefits to introducing CSUSM students to the arts on the largest stages, so to speak. Many come to campus without ever seeing a show beyond a play in high school. On a local level, the North County theater scene is growing. CSUSM’s Arts & Lectures series offers students free admission to entertaining acts and thought-provoking discussions. The Old Globe theater also brings a Shakespeare production to campus every year in Arts 211.

“It's always just getting out, getting into new places and seeing new things,” Bauerlein said. “It's just so beneficial for the brain and the imagination and everything.”

Bauerlein lived in London for nine months while studying abroad as a 20-year-old undergraduate student. She liked it so much that she went back the following summer, securing a theater job.

She went to London last summer as a student, with one other attendee in her age group and the remaining 30 or so students in their early 20s. She won’t hesitate to do something similar in the future depending on the subject matter.

“It was fun to be around that kind of youth and energy, and it was also just delightful to experience them experiencing a different country and traveling,” Bauerlein said. “They went to a lot of plays, they saw a lot of artwork, they went to clubs, they traveled. A big group of them went to Edinburgh, others went to Paris, so they were kind of hopping all around while they were doing the class on our off days. I studied abroad when I was their age, too, so it was fun to kind of relive the newness and everything.”

Rojas is quick to name Bauerlein as a major factor in her development as an actor and student. A one-time transfer student, she leaned heavily on faculty and staff to guide her journey.

“I would describe my time at CSUSM as an awesome and amazing experience,” Rojas said. “I remember coming to this school in spring 2021 feeling very nervous, but I ended up meeting some really nice people. They were very welcoming and made me feel like I belong there. I really miss everyone there – my friends and my professors. I love Judy. She has been truly helpful to me because I almost didn't graduate this year, and Judy was there to help me to graduate on time. If it wasn't for her, I wouldn't be where I am today.”

Media Contact

Eric Breier, Public Affairs Specialist

ebreier@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7314

Truth be told, like most of her fellow theater students, Barron didn’t know much about what other jobs could even be pursued in the field.  

That all changed when the transfer student was a senior last academic year and enrolled in a course titled TA 403: Career Skills in Theatre. Each week, a different professional from the world of theater, film or television would join the class for a virtual lecture about their craft. One week it would be a costume designer. Then a casting agent. Then an artistic director.  

When the weekly guest was a producer, Barron sat up and took notice. 

“When you’re growing up and you hear that someone is a theater artist, you think actor or director,” Barron said. “You assume there’s not a lot of in between, even though there’s so much in between. Don’t get me wrong, I love acting, but it was definitely not something I wanted to do for a career.  

“Then in the career skills class, I started listening to all the different contracting artists and the array of things that people can do. I thought that the producer was the person with the money, but I learned that they’re the boss of the creative design process and hiring people and taking a project from idea to finality. And I loved that idea.” 

The idea of helping theater students discover career paths that perhaps they didn’t know existed was just what Judy Bauerlein had in mind when she and a couple of theater faculty colleagues dreamed up the concept for the class two years ago.  

“As part of our major, we wanted to make sure that our students were not only training in craft, but starting to gain knowledge in all fields of theater, film and television,” said Bauerlein, who’s chair of the department. “Very few programs have a professional development component. Knowing that our students are often first generation or financially negatively impacted, we designed this class as a way for them to get those skills on our campus.” 

Career Skills in Theatre is made up of two main elements. The first is the weekly guest lectures by professionals from different areas of the industry, such as the producer who inspired Barron. Because the course was first offered during the pandemic, those discussions took place virtually via Zoom, allowing guests from beyond just the local region to participate and impart their expertise. It worked out so well that the same format is in place this semester.  

The second element is instruction on skills and items that students will need to apply for and land jobs in the business. They are taught how to create a résumé. They are taught how to self-tape and submit an audition.  

And, perhaps most importantly, they are given an opportunity to get their own headshots, the ultimate calling card for any aspiring theater professional. Bauerlein invited Diana Toshiko, a well-established photographer from Los Angeles, to come to campus, and for a weekend in mid-October, she performed a series of 30-minute headshot sessions with students from the career skills class. Toshiko lowered her usual cost of $250 to $100 so everyone in the class could take part without being overly burdened, and even the $100 fee was offset by a student success grant from the College of Humanities, Arts, Behavioral and Social Sciences. 

“If you want to audition for La Jolla Playhouse or The Old Globe or Cygnet Theatre, they're going to say, ‘OK, please submit a headshot and résumé.’ That's the first step,” Bauerlein said. “So we want to make sure that if our students are right for something happening at those theaters, they don't have to do a selfie. They have a professional headshot. This class is really about student preparedness.” 

The course this semester is being taught by lecturer Shaun Heard, a CSUSM alumnus who’s living his dream of trying to become a working actor in L.A. Heard is the ideal choice to mentor the students, Bauerlein says, because he’s regularly going to auditions and bringing that knowledge back into the classroom.  

It's just the kind of industry knowledge that Bauerlein knows she would have benefited from when she was a young actor. As a student at Temple University in her native Philadelphia, she attended a regional theater audition that essentially served as a tryout for spots in the Master of Fine Arts programs at various institutions. Bauerlein recalls doing well and receiving more than a dozen callbacks. But she felt grossly unprepared for the ensuing interviews because no one had taught her how to do them.  

“A lot of actors say, ‘Yeah, I know my craft really well, but I don't have any idea how to get an agent or a manager,’ ” she said. “In the world of theater, they say craft is 10%, the business is 90%. And what you learn in the university is craft is 90%, the business is 10%. So I'm trying to even that out a little bit.” 

After discovering the job of producer in the career skills class, Barron wasted little time pursuing it. She graduated last May, then moved to Hollywood, where she’s in the first semester of a three-year MFA program at California Institute of the Arts.  

Most of Barron’s coursework consists of producing theater projects in L.A., and she aspires to run her own production studio for both theater and film.   

“As a working artist who’s going to be largely an independent contractor, you need to know the details of the industry and you need to know your options,” Barron said. “I think that a lot of theater departments don’t give many options to students, besides being a director, an actor or a costumer. You might know that there are other things out there, but you don't know how to get into these fields.  

“The career skills class taught me that, and I’m not sure I’d be where I am without it.” 

The next production of the CSUSM theater department is “The Revolutionists,” a comedic play by Lauren Gunderson. Performances will be Nov. 16-18 at 7:30 and Nov. 19 at 2 p.m., all in Arts 111. Learn more and buy tickets here. 

Media Contact

Brian Hiro, Communications Specialist

bhiro@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7306

Shaun Heard learned that bit of wisdom during an acting class somewhere along the line. But really, he has been applying it for most of his life, and continues to do so to this day.

As a high school senior in Pasadena, Heard was urged by his English teacher, who saw innate talent, to join the drama club, which would require him to arrive an hour late to football practice every day. Heard said yes.

As a freshman at Cal State San Marcos in 2009 planning to pursue a nursing degree, he spotted a bulletin board flyer seeking African-American students to audition for a campus play. He said yes.

As a master’s student in acting at USC, Heard was approached near the end of his program by his CSUSM mentor, dangling the opportunity to teach a class at his alma mater. He said no, then thought better of it and said yes.

And when that initial lecturing gig led to a chance to teach an acting workshop at Duke University this spring, Heard said yes again. The net result of all of those affirmations is that, as of this fall, the 29-year-old will be an artist in residence in Duke’s Department of Theater Studies, teaching acting full-time at one of the nation’s most esteemed universities. He will also find time to continue as an online lecturer at CSUSM and Sacramento State, and squeeze in gigs as an actor and writer in TV, film and theater.

Of his impending move across the country to Durham, N.C., where he’ll be teaching four classes in person this fall, Heard said: “It’s all new and scary, and I’ve learned throughout my career that most things that are new and scary are great for me. So I’m jumping in there and crossing my fingers, closing my eyes and hoping I land on my feet.”

As with many openings in Hollywood and Broadway, Heard’s job at Duke came as much from who he knows as what he knows. During his graduate studies at USC, he formed a tight bond with David Warshofsky, who’s the director of the Master of Fine Arts acting program in addition to being a veteran character actor, with “Captain Phillips,” “Lincoln,” and “Born on the Fourth of July” among his notable credits. Through industry connections, Warshofsky discovered that Duke was seeking African-American instructors as a means of diversifying its theater faculty.

This spring, with more than two years of teaching experience at CSUSM under his belt, Heard led workshops in introductory and advanced acting, but he says he felt like he was really giving a Black perspective on theater study. This fall, one of his four classes will be tailored to Black students and will focus on the works of Black playwrights.

“Doing the workshops, it was warming to see a lot of African-American students who seemed like they were longing for that connection,” he said. “In my time at CSUSM and USC, I never once had a Black teacher. So that was inspiring for me to see that things are changing. I commend Duke and I am really excited to get the ball rolling.”

Heard grew up in Pasadena as the youngest of four kids, but his siblings were all at least 11 when he was born, so in many ways his experience was that of an only child. He was a voracious reader who would retreat to his closet to devour the plays of Shakespeare. He would make up stories and get lost in his imagination.

None of his siblings nor his parents cared much for the theater. His father was a high school football and basketball coach who superimposed many of his own dreams of athletic glory onto his son. Shaun indulged his father and grew to be an imposing football player at 6-foot-3 and 250 pounds, but his passion had been for theater since he saw “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” at the Pasadena Playhouse at age 8.

“It changed my life forever, and I knew that I wanted to be on stage,” Heard said.

Everything came to a head during his senior year at John Muir High School, when his decision to join the drama club first caused him to be late to football practice before he ultimately chose to quit the team altogether. His father, and coach, took the news so hard that he cut off contact with Shaun for several years (they have since reconciled, and Heard says his dad has become one of his biggest professional supporters).

The first person in his family to attend college, Heard went to CSUSM on an academic scholarship with nine of his Muir classmates through the support of a regional nonprofit. He intended to study nursing because it was the most lucrative career he could think of that wouldn’t require graduate school, but theater kept inserting itself into the picture. That fateful flyer he happened upon led to the lead part in a play called “Just Passing Through,” the first of more than a dozen productions he acted in over the next five years.

Through it all, his muse was theater professor Judy Bauerlein, who met Heard through the CSUSM New Play Festival when he was a freshman.

“Shaun is a really good comedian; he’s truthful and funny and very reliable. I think that’s what I was most impressed with initially,” Bauerlein said. “Later, during our Acting Shakespeare class where he played Othello, I realized that he was a great dramatic actor, too.” 

Heard connected deeply with not only Bauerlein, but also her son Max, whom she and her husband adopted as a 2-year-old in 2010.  

“I would go to her office and babysit her son for hours, and I would read Shakespeare to him,” Heard recalled. “Our relationship formed through the theater, but it was the love of her son that really brought us together. Judy and I kind of became family. She’s everything to me.” 

It was Bauerlein who encouraged Heard to pursue his MFA, an idea he initially resisted before embarking on that path three years after graduating from CSUSM in 2013. And it was Bauerlein who recruited Heard to return to CSUSM as a lecturer in 2018.  

“Students need to see that acting is a process; it’s not something that just happens overnight without great effort and commitment,” she said. “It’s a lifelong pursuit, and it just keeps getting better if you keep doing the work. As a recent graduate of one of the best MFAs in the country, Shaun brings a wealth of knowledge to our program. He’s living his life as a young professional actor, and he shares his knowledge and experience with our students.” 

Heard’s first love remains the theater, but he understands that it doesn’t exactly pay the bills, so his team of representatives in Los Angeles and New York have been trying to secure roles in movies, TV and commercials. His IMDb page features 13 acting credits, with most of his work appearing in short films. He created two short videos during the pandemic that went viral, including one called “I Can’t Breathe” produced in the wake of the murder of George Floyd, and he also has written a TV pilot about a Black family and the supernatural that he’s currently pitching.  

Whatever the future holds, he expects to keep saying yes.  

“I want to be a creative, and I don't want to be limited,” Heard said. “I would obviously love to be an Oscar winner someday and I would love to still teach at CSUSM and I would love to still teach at Duke. I would love to direct plays like I have been doing at CSUSM the past couple of years. In a perfect world, I would simultaneously do theater and film and TV and teaching. As long as I’m being creative and inspired.”

Media Contact

Brian Hiro, Communications Specialist

bhiro@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7306

He was supposed to fall through the cracks. College, and the opportunities it provides, seemed like an impossible goal.

But Dwaine will be at graduation on May 18, the proud holder of a degree in visual performing arts and armed with a plan to go to graduate school for fine arts on the road to becoming an actor.

Dwaine is one of the success stories of this graduating class, but he’s far from the only one. CSUSM creates them every year through ACE Scholars Services, a program that’s designed to open doors to higher education for former foster youth.

“When I applied for colleges my junior year, I applied to four schools and was denied by all of them except for Cal State San Marcos,” Dwaine said. “That was because of ACE Scholars Services. That’s really the only reason I was able to get into college. I was never thinking of college until then. But once I was here, I definitely seized the opportunity I was given.”

That he did. Dwaine had started performing on stage as a senior at Olympian High School in Chula Vista, after he was forced to give up football because of torn labrum in his shoulder suffered during the final practice before the first game of the season.

He took it to another level at Cal State San Marcos, though. As a freshman, he earned the role of the Cat in the Hat in “Seussical” (he originally was disappointed that he couldn’t play Horton the elephant), and he went on to star in six other shows, including “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” Last summer, his first professional theater production was in “The Ballad of Emmett Till” at Ion Theatre in San Diego.

“I’m a Leo, and Leos love to be the center of attention,” said Dwaine, who also competed in the shot put and discus on the track team for two years and was part of the CSUSM student improv team. “Being on stage, there’s an energy I get, a goose-bumps feeling. The stage is one of the realest places you can ever be because you have one shot at everything. There’s a certain level of risk and adrenaline involved.”

Dwaine was so moved by what ACE Scholars did for him that, in the summer after his freshman year, he participated in a program in which current ACE Scholars on campus would mentor the next class of former foster youth.

“I have known Dwaine since the first day he stepped on campus,” said Jim Mickelson, the founder and director of ACE Scholars Services. “It was exciting to see him find his passion. The first time I saw him perform, I knew that was the career for him."

Dwaine was born in San Diego to a father who was a Crip and a mother who was a Blood, who somehow got together. He was removed from his parents at birth because of their drug addiction. After he had an unpleasant experience with two foster families, his life began to turn for the better when an aunt, Kim Collier, adopted him and his two younger siblings when he was in sixth grade. She emphasized the importance of education and put Dwaine on the straight and narrow.

Now he’s not only a first-generation college graduate, but he has a master’s degree in his sights.

“It’s been a long, five-year journey,” Dwaine said. “I pretty much had all the odds stacked against me when it comes to getting into college and actually completing it.”

Media Contact

Eric Breier, Public Affairs Specialist

ebreier@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7314

Ingrid has always been drawn to productions that help increase visibility or conversation about important topics.

And “Sisters in the System” certainly fits Ingrid’s criteria.

“It’s a wonderful opportunity to learn about the foster care system,” said Ingrid, a visual and performing arts major who will graduate in spring 2019.

ACE Scholars Services, which supports former foster youth at CSUSM, has teamed up with the University’s theater department and local nonprofit Playwrights Project to present a staged reading of “Sisters in the System,” which sheds light on the difficulties for foster youth trying to navigate the juvenile court system.

The play will be performed at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, April 17 in Arts 111 on campus. There will also be a post-performance discussion with the audience. Tickets are free, but must be reserved in advance online due to space limitations.

“The objective of the play is to educate students, faculty and the community a little bit more about the challenges that foster youth face,” said Jim Mickelson, founder and director of ACE Scholars.

This is the second time that ACE and CSUSM’s theater program have collaborated with Playwrights Project. They also staged a production focused on foster youth in 2011.

“We had such a successful collaboration the last time around and continued to work with ACE Scholars and CSUSM theater students long after the collaboration ended,” said Cecelia Kouma, executive director of Playwrights Project.

Kouma commissioned Tori Rice to write “Sisters in the System” as part of the James Irvine Foundation’s Exploring Engagement Initiative. The play focuses on the journey of two foster youth through different phases of their involvement in the juvenile court system while addressing issues of sibling separation, court appearances, reunification and group home placement.

The performance includes multiple techniques to engage the audience while helping them gain a better understanding of what foster youth experience.

“Sisters in the System” was originally performed in a mock courtroom at California Western School of Law in downtown San Diego in 2014 and was adapted for a theater production at San Diego State the following year. Rice interviewed myriad people in its development, including social workers, attorneys, judges, foster parents and mentors.

Playwrights Project has been working with CSUSM on the production since February, and Ingrid has had an opportunity to collaborate with Kouma and Rice on continuing to refine the play. Their collaboration has included input from ACE students.

“A lot of people know the term foster youth or know somebody who was in the foster care system, but they don’t really understand the whole complexity,” Ingrid said. “This is an opportunity for the audience to see something they wouldn’t otherwise fully be able to witness unless they were part of it.”

Said Kouma: “Each time the play grows stronger thanks to the foster youth and experts who have helped advise us and a flexible playwright who is passionate about voicing the stories of those who have experienced the foster care system.”

While there are no immediate plans for the next collaborative project, Kouma is looking forward to the possibility.

“Jim Mickelson and Judy Bauerlein are phenomenal partners,” Kouma said. “I applaud them for the opportunities they bring to their students and am grateful to be able to support the excellent educational programs at CSUSM.”

What: “Sisters in the System,” a staged reading that sheds light on the challenges foster youth face navigating the juvenile court system

When: 7 p.m., Tuesday, April 17

Where: Arts 111, California State University San Marcos

Tickets: Free; must be reserved in advance online due to space limitations

Media Contact

Eric Breier, Public Affairs Specialist

ebreier@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7314

Based upon a real case, Policy by Antonio Muñoz de Mesa recounts a spirited negotiation in which a clash of values, morality and monetary preoccupation form the substance of a conversation surrounding the Archdiocese insurance policy. Pitting ethics and practicality in an unexpected manner, Policy raises the question of how faith and ethics contradict the need to act on behalf of the powerless.

“The play is a series of conversations between a priest and the insurance agent of the Archdiocese in which the priest wants to include into the insurance policy every incidence of sexual abuse of a minor as a workplace incident,” said Marcos Martinez, a theatre professor in the School of Arts. “Within that conversation the play touches upon issues of morality and the role of the church in the daily life of a community. Ancillary issues include the manner in which the church spends money and the responsibility, or not, that the church is taking for the actions of its priests.”

Attendees can expect to see a well-written play handled competently by student actors in English at CSUSM and in Spanish at the California Center for the Arts in Escondido. The performance will run for approximately one hour.

“I chose this piece because it was well written and recently won an award in New York City at the Thalia Theatre in October,” said Martinez. “The play has been produced in Spain, where the author is from, as well as in Minneapolis and New York City last fall.”

This will be the west coast premiere of a new award winning international drama. The piece runs parallel to the recent Oscar winning film, Spotlight.

English Performances

What: Policy by Antonio Muñoz de Mesa

When: Wednesday, April 20 through Saturday April 23 at 7 p.m.

Sunday, April 24 at 2 and 7 p.m.

Where: California State University

Arts Building, Room 101

Tickets: Tickets for the Policy can be purchased online.

Spanish Performances

What: La Visita by Antonio Muñoz de Mesa

When: Friday, April 29 and Saturday April 30 at 7 p.m.

Sunday, May 1 at 2 p.m.

Where: California Center for the Arts, Escondido

340 N Escondido Blvd, Escondido, Calif. 92025

Theater 1

Tickets: Tickets for La Visita can be purchased online.

Directions and Parking

CSUSM is located at 333 South Twin Oaks Valley Road in San Marcos. For more information or directions to the campus, visit http://www.csusm.edu/guide. Visitors may purchase a daily or timed permit in any general parking lot utilizing the daily permit machines.

Set in 1838 in the Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill, Kentucky, the play explores issues of faith through the eyes of nine women. The Shakers are a religious sect founded in 18^th century England, after branching off from a Quaker community. Shakers settled in colonial America and were known for their simple living, architecture and furniture. At the Shaker movement’s height between 1820 and 1860, the sect had expanded to the Midwestern states of Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio.

As it is in Heaven offers a fascinating glimpse into a turbulent time in Shaker history, when the Shaker’s orderly, Puritan modes of worship were being transformed into something more visionary and ecstatic. In the play, when a newcomer to the community begins experiencing visions, the older members begin to question their own devotion to “the Way,” as they haven’t had any such visions themselves. Alternately dramatic and comic, the play reflects the simplicity of the lifestyle it depicts and is punctuated by Shaker songs.

Admission is $12 for the general public and $10 for CSUSM students. Tickets can be purchased online.

Performance times are:

Wednesday, March 9, at 7 p.m.

Thursday, March 10, 2016 at 7 p.m.

Friday, March 11, 2016 at 7 p.m.

Saturday, March 12, 2016 at 2 p.m. & 7 p.m.

Sunday, March 13, 2016 at 2 p.m.

All attendees must purchase or reserve tickets online via the Arts & Lectures website at www.csusm.edu/al. Complimentary parking is available for all events in specified lots.

---------------------------------------------SCHEDULE OF EVENTS----------------------------------------------

The Sand Dog Cometh featuring Mary Pearson

Tuesday, February 2 at 7:30 p.m.

CSUSM, Arts Building, Performance Hall 111

• CSUSM Students: Free with online ticket
• CSUSM Faculty/Staff: $6
• Community Members: $12

This multi-disciplinary solo is written, directed and performed by dance and performance artist Mary Pearson (UK). It pays homage to the avant-garde, to kitsch, shtick, snobbery, trash and easy laughs.

Inspired by 'high' and 'low' culture, the 70’s, unintelligible academic language, classic crooners, Rihanna, musicals, Scouse female fashions, dereliction and shopping centers, The Sand Dog Cometh offers: Virtuosity? Intellectual stimulation? Distraction? Provocation? Catharsis? Dear Audience: What is it you care about? To learn more about this artist, visit her website here.

Las Cafeteras at the California Center for the Arts in Escondido

Friday, February 19 at 5 p.m.

California Center for the Arts in Escondido

340 North Escondido Boulevard

Escondido, CA 92025

• CSUSM Students: FREE with online ticket
• CSUSM Faculty/Staff/Alumni: $9
• Community Members: $18

Las Cafeteras fuses the unique sound of East LA with Afro-Mexican rhythms, zapateado and powerful lyrics. Born in the streets of Los Angeles, the group merges roots music and modern day stories with what the LA Times has called a “uniquely Angeleno mishmash of punk, hip-hop, beat music, cumbia and rock … Live, they’re magnetic.” Their songs tell stories of a community seeking love while fighting for justice in the concrete jungle of LA. To learn more about this artist, visit their website here.

Project Brainwash: Why Reality TV is Bad for Women (...and men, people of color, the economy, love, sex and sheer common sense)

Wednesday, February 24 at 6 p.m.

CSUSM, University Student Union, Ballroom

• CSUSM Students: FREE with online ticket
• CSUSM Faculty/Staff/Alumni: $5
• Community Members: $10

Using clips from some of the most popular TV shows of the decade, media critic Jennifer Pozner takes a fierce, funny and in-depth look at how reality television warps our ideas about gender, race, class and sexuality. How do The Bachelor, Keeping Up with the Kardashians and other reality TV staples impact our beliefs, behavior and culture? Pozner reveals who is profiting from this pop cultural backlash against gender and racial justice - and how you can become a critical media consumer while still enjoying your favorite shows. To learn more about this speaker, visit her book website here.

Diversity’s Promise for Higher Education: Making it Work with Daryl G. Smith

Tuesday, March 1 at 6 p.m.

CSUSM, University Student Union, Ballroom

• CSUSM Students: Free with online ticket
• CSUSM Faculty/Staff: $6
• Community Members: $12
• Kids 12 & Under: Free with online ticket

Dr. Daryl G. Smith is a nationally renowned expert in diversity and inclusive excellence. She is a Professor Emerita of Education and Psychology at the Claremont Graduate University. Her research and publications have been in the areas of organizational implications of diversity, assessment and evaluation, leadership and change, and faculty diversity. Dr. Smith will discuss how to build capacity and leadership to achieve diversity and inclusion goals under the new diversity plan. To learn more about this speaker, visit her website here.

Co-sponsored by the CHABSS Engaging Diverse Dialogues Initiative.

Who We Be: The Colorization of America

An evening with Jeff Chang, Co-Founder & Executive Director of the Institute for Diversity in the Arts, Stanford University

Tuesday, March 15 at 6:30 p.m.

CSUSM, University Student Union, Ballroom

• CSUSM Students: FREE with online ticket
• CSUSM Faculty & Staff: $6
• Community Members: $12

Jeff Chang has written extensively on the intersection of race, art and civil rights and the socio-political forces that guided the hip-hop generation. He brings fresh energy and sweep to the essential American story, offering an invaluable interpretation at a time when race defines the national conversation. His new book, Who We Be, is a powerful, challenging and timely cultural history of the notion of racial progress, tackling pertinent themes of multiculturalism, student and political activism, the state of the arts and the politics of abandonment.

Co-sponsored by: Cross-Cultural Center, Co-Curricular Funding, USU Activities Board, College of Education, Health & Human Services, Extended Learning, Associated Students, Inc., Latin@ Center, Office of Diversity, Educational Equity & Inclusion and Ethnic Studies.

Techno-Folklorico

Tuesday, March 29 at 6 p.m.

CSUSM, Arts Building, Performance Hall 111

• CSUSM Students: FREE with online ticket
• CSUSM Faculty/Staff/Alumni: $5
• Community Members: $10
• Kids 12 and under: FREE with online ticket

Native American Artist-Scholar Cristobal Martinez will discuss and perform Techno-Folklorico, a re-imagined indigenous ceremony that includes music, dance, narrative, and moving images, and brings together electronic tools (such as hacked electronic musical instruments and computers) and traditional ceremonial implements (such as indigenous flutes, rattles, and animal calls). The purpose of this cultural work is to encourage community dialogues and build local literacy capacities to critically engage increasing technological velocities and their implications for daily life. To learn more about this artist, visit his website here.

Cultivating a Creative Mind: Nurturing 21st Century Skills
Presented by Simón Silva 

Wednesday, April 6 at 6 p.m.

CSUSM, University Student Union, Ballroom

• CSUSM Students: FREE with online ticket
• CSUSM Faculty/Staff/Alumni: $6
• Community Members: $12

Simón Silva shares an insightful view of the arts and creativity, while telling a compelling story of struggle and hope. He connects with the audience in a powerful manner, and sends a positive message about perseverance and determination to succeed. This inspirational keynote clarifies the importance of the arts and creativity, in order to give all individuals a greater degree of success in the 21st century. To learn more about this speaker, visit his website here.

No I am Not a Terrorist 

Wednesday, April 13 at 6 p.m.

CSUSM, University Student Union, Ballroom

• CSUSM Students: FREE
• CSUSM Faculty/Staff: $5
• Community Members: $10

Are all Muslims terrorists? What does Islam say about “terrorism”? What is behind the veil? Over 50 percent of Americans have no basic understanding of the Muslim faith, which causes discrimination and intolerance on campuses. Using humor and personal experiences, Zohra educates others about diversity. Her programs promote dialogue and foster tolerance towards people of all races, religions and backgrounds regardless how tough and sensitive the subject matter. To learn more about this event, visit the website here.

Set in late 1990’s New York City, STOP KISS follows Callie, a traffic reporter and Sara, a public school teacher in the Bronx. Their friendship deepens, their feelings grow and then they must grapple with the aftermath of a brutal assault. The play examines the struggle for identity and commitment with which so many twenty-somethings wrestle. “Do you know who I am?” Callie asks Sara.

“I chose the play for CSUSM because it deals with identity,” Heil said. “Our students are in the process of creating their adult selves. In the play Callie has stumbled into adulthood without ever having to make a hard choice. She is existing, but not content. Sara enters her life and begins to ask difficult questions—questions that might require change in her very identity. I think many of our students deal with those questions every day.”

The play offers an interesting companion piece to Naomi Izuka’s Good Kids, presented at CSUSM earlier this semester. Good Kids also deals with assault (based on the Steubenville rape of a young woman by high school football players).

“Judy (Bauerlein, the director of Good Kids) and I chose our plays independently, but quickly realized that they complemented each other,” Heil said. “Both have an assault as a key plot point, but are really about the characters and how they respond to the adversity.”

Please note that this play contains descriptions of physical assault and violence which may be triggering to survivors.

Admission is $12 for the general public and $10 for CSUSM students. Tickets can be purchased online.

• What: CSUSM theatre performance of STOP KISS
• When: Wednesday, Nov. 18 at 7 p.m.; Thursday, Nov. 19 at 7 p.m.; Friday, Nov. 20 at 10 a.m. and 7 p.m.; Saturday, Nov. 21 at 7 p.m.; Sunday, Nov. 22 at 2 p.m.
• Where: CSUSM Performance Hall: Arts Building, Room 111.
• Tickets: Tickets are $10 for students and $12 for members of the general public and are available for purchase online or at the door.

Directions and Parking

CSUSM is located at 333 S. Twin Oaks Valley Road in San Marcos. Parking is available in campus lots with fees depending upon length of stay. Parking Structure 1 is the closest lot to the Arts Building, at the corner of Campus Way and Campus View Drive. For more information or directions to the campus, visit http://www.csusm.edu/guide.

The CSUSM performance, directed by Associate Professor Judy Bauerlein, is based on actual recent events in Steubenville, Ohio when a high school girl was publicly and repeatedly sexually assaulted by members of the local high school football team, several of whom documented the acts in social media. Set in the American Midwest in a world of Facebook, Twitter, smart phones and YouTube, Good Kids explores a case of sexual assault and its very public aftermath, asking the questions: Are these good kids? Who's telling the truth? Whose version of the story do you believe? And what does that say about you?

“When I first read this play I knew immediately that I wanted to direct and produce it at CSUSM,” said Bauerlein. “I was drawn to the social environment that the characters live in, the familiar and harrowing nature of the theme of sexual assault, and the beautiful portrayals of the characters—all good, all flawed and all blindly balancing bravado and vulnerability.”

Brianna Dodson, a third year theatre major, plays the role of Skyler, a lonely outsider who calls 911 to report the rape of Chloe, the lead character who wakes up in the morning without any memory of the party she attended the night before.

“All the characters are relatable people—the jocks, the mean girls, the outsiders,” said Brianna. “It’s interesting to see how everyone reacts to the situation. Some characters victim-blame while others speak up and do the right thing. Skylar is ahead of her years in terms of maturity—she’s bold and doesn’t want to deal with mediocrity.”

Good Kids tackles many pressing themes, including rape culture and the often prevailing notion that it is the responsibility of a woman to take precautions against sexual violence, rather than questioning how contemporary discourse gives permission to men to act as predators. The play also reflects what many point to as a national obsession with football, where players are upheld as heroes in an environment of entitlement and “boys will be boys.”

Tickets are now available online for the six performances, $10 for students and $12 for members of the general public. Please note that this performance includes adult language and content as well as information about sexual assault and violence, which may be triggering to survivors.

What: CSUSM theatre performance of Good Kids

When: Wednesday, Oct. 14 at 7 p.m.

Thursday, Oct. 15 at 7 p.m.

Friday, Oct. 16 at 7 p.m.

Saturday, Oct. 17 at 2 and 7 p.m.

Sunday, Oct. 18 at 2 p.m.

Where: CSUSM Performance Hall: Arts Building, Room 111.

Tickets: Tickets are $10 for students and $12 for members of the general public and are available for purchase online or at the door.

Directions and Parking: CSUSM is located at 333 S. Twin Oaks Valley Road in San Marcos. Parking is available in campus lots with fees depending upon length of stay. Parking Structure 1 is the closest lot to the Arts Building, at the corner of Campus Way and Campus View Drive. For more information or directions to the campus, visit http://www.csusm.edu/guide.

According to the play’s website (www.frederickdouglassplay.com), Self-Made Man takes the audience on a journey with this American legend, the father of our civil rights movement. Frederick Douglass was born a slave and ultimately found his true freedom in forgiveness. Actor Phil Darius Wallace portrays 14 characters who influenced Douglass’ life, reconstructing the complexity and radiance of Douglass’ spirit on his path to becoming the leader who inspired President Lincoln and thousands of others who thronged to hear him speak. Wallace’s Douglass captures Douglass’ essence, his humor, outrage and charisma, bringing this self-made man alive like never before.

Self-Made Man is sponsored by several CSUSM organizations including the College of Humanities, Arts, Behavioral and Social Sciences; the Departments of Communication, Sociology, History, Literature and Writing Studies; the Global Studies and Ethnic Studies programs; the Office of Diversity, Educational Equity and Inclusion; Student Life and Leadership; Associated Students, Inc.; and the Engaging Diverse Dialogues Initiative.

• What: Self-Made Man: The Frederick Douglass Story, written and performed by Phil Darius Wallace and directed by Melania Levitsky.
• When: Thursday, April 9 from 6 – 9 p.m.
• Where: CSUSM, University Student Union, ballroom
• Tickets: Free and open to the public on a first come, first serve basis.
• Directions and Parking: CSUSM is located at 333 S. Twin Oaks Valley Road in San Marcos. Parking is available in campus lots with fees ranging from $3 to $9 depending upon length of stay. For more information visit: www.csusm.edu/guide.

For more information, please contact Dr. Michelle Holling at mholling@csusm.edu or 760-750-8576.

For almost 20 years, Joki has worked in the California prison system where she delivered arts programs to inmates through the Arts-in-Corrections program, which she helped start in the early 1980s. “Prison Boxing” is a journey that negotiates the convoluted etiquette of prison subculture through the eyes of an unlikely guide. Joki gives audiences a compassionate glimpse of complex characters that reflect humanity in all its forms—from the humorous to the utterly horrifying.

Joki is also the author of “Juilliard to Jail,” a non-fiction account of her eighteen-year career as a teacher, performer and administrator inside the California state prison system. “Prison Boxing” will premiere at the Beverly Hills Playhouse Lab on March 14, produced by the Skylight Theatre Company.

For more information about this performance, contact the CSUSM School of Arts at 760-750-4137.

What: Prison Boxing: A New Play by Actor/Writer Leah Joki

When: Wednesday, February 25 at 7 p.m.

Where: CSUSM, Arts Building, Performance Hall 111

Tickets: Free and open to the public

Directions and Parking

CSUSM is located at 333 S. Twin Oaks Valley Road in San Marcos. Parking is available in campus lots with fees ranging from $3 to $9 depending upon length of stay. For more information visit: www.csusm.edu/guide.

What: CSUSM theatre performance of Seussical the Musical (TM)

When:  

Friday, Apr. 11 at 7 p.m. 
Saturday, Apr. 12 at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.  
Sunday, Apr. 13 at 2 p.m.   
Thursday, Apr. 17 at 7 p.m.   
Friday, Apr. 18 at 7 p.m.   
Saturday, Apr. 19 at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.

Where: CSUSM Performance Hall: Arts Building, Room 111.

Tickets: Buy tickets online or at the door. $5 for general admission.Directions and ParkingCSUSM is located at 333 S. Twin Oaks Valley Road in San Marcos. Parking is available in campus lots with fees depending upon length of stay. Parking Structure 1 is the closest lot to the Arts Building, at the corner of Campus Way and Campus View Drive. For more information or directions to the campus, visithttp://www.csusm.edu/guide.

Seussical™ is presented through special arrangement with Music Theatre International (MTI). All authorized performance materials are also supplied by MTI. 

421 West 54th Street, New York, NY 10019

Phone: 212-541-4684 Fax: 212-397-4684

www.MTIShows.com