Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night Auditions
Tuesday, April 7, 5:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Tuesday, April 14, 5:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Black Box Theatre
Twelfth Night, one of Shakespeare’s most beloved plays, will be produced in the Fall 2026 semester with performances on October 23-24 and 30-31. All are welcome to audition!
Audition Requirements: Please choose a 10–25-line speech from the audition material available here.
Louis Massiah '77 A.D White Professor-at-Large Keynote: “The Importance of Place: Documentary as a Tool for Community Building”
Tuesday, April 7, 6:00 pm, Film Forum
e-Cornell livestream: bit.ly/eCornell_Massiah_2026
Join Louis Massiah ’77, founding director and current Executive Director of Scribe Video Center, for an evening exploring documentary as cultural practice, collective memory, and civic engagement. Featuring film excerpts and stories from the Precious Places series, this keynote talk centers community voices and local histories.
PMA 1183 Guest Performer and Speaker: DJ Quinnette
Wednesday, April 8, 11:40 am - 12:55 pm, Zoom
This event is presented by PMA 1183 FWS: Hip-Hop's Global Vibrations (NYC, LA, and Southeast Asia), and is free and open to the public. This session will include a short DJ turntablist performance, followed by a Q&A conversation.
Cornell in Los Angeles: Info Sessions
Wednesday, April 8, 2026, 5:00 pm, Room 220
Applications for Cornell in Los Angeles Spring 2027 semester is now open. Applications will be accepted April 1-May 1, 2026. Students from all Cornell colleges and majors are welcome to apply! Join PMA for one of the information sessions to find out more about the program and the applications details.
Cornell in Los Angeles is a new study away semester open to all Cornell undergraduate students! Spend the Spring 2027 semester in the global entertainment capital, earning Cornell class credits and having signature L.A. experiences offered by the Department of Performing and Media Arts! Join PMA for one of the information sessions to find out more about the program and the applications details.
Professional Directions: A Conversation with Choreographer Jenn Freeman
Thursday, April 9, 5:30 pm - 6:30 pm, Reading Room 124
The guest will join virtually over Zoom. Free and open to the public.
During this conversation, Jenn Freeman will share her journey as a dancer, choreographer, educator, and producer. This event will be moderated by PMA Assistant Professor of the Practice Danielle Russo, and will include a Q&A with students.
Chats with the Chair
Friday, April 10, 12pm, Room 220
"Chats with the Chair" invites PMA majors, minors, and those interested in the department to join the chair for food and fellowship. Come learn more about the department, give feedback, and talk about everything performing and media arts at Cornell and beyond! Lunch provided!
RSVP by April 8 to pma@cornell.edu.
Flamenco Vivo Carlota Santana Dance Workshop
Friday, April 10, 1pm, SB10
Registration Link
Learn more about Flamenco Vivo Carlota Santana and its live performance at Bailey Hall on April 11.
Louis Massiah '77 A.D White Professor-at-Large Special Event Screening: “TCB: The Toni Cade Bambara School of Organizing” (2025)
Friday, April 10, 6:00 pm, Cornell Cinema
Post screening talkback with Louis Massiah ’77, Mendi + Keith Obadike, and
Samantha Noelle Sheppard
A new documentary by acclaimed filmmaker Louis Massiah. "On the thirtieth anniversary of her death, Louis Massiah conjures the great Toni Cade Bambara back to life. Through archival footage and personal testimonies—most notably and eloquently by her friend, editor, and champion, Toni Morrison—this formidable writer and warrior for social justice blazes back into consciousness.… With its propulsive jazz soundtrack and deep historical knowledge, this film feeds a bone deep hunger for inspiration." — B. Ruby Rich, scholar & Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences member
Glitch Dance with Dr. Thomas DeFrantz
Sunday, April 12, 11:00 am - 3:00 pm, Ballet Studio 320
Lunch will be provided. Kindly confirm your participation by emailing drusso@cornell.edu
CNY Humanities Working Group MP28: Evolving Practices in Dance and Embodiment invites pedagogues, researchers, and scholars to attend Glitch Dance. Explore the glitch of dancing with critical theory, anti-colonial, queer-affirming phenomenologies of presence. How can you matter in your dancing beyond the improvised solo, towards the tiktokking flash of a distributed spirit, ready for Insta? What can it mean to care towards gesture in assembly, imaginary or virtual, or right here and right now?
Exploring Ethnographic Filmmaking
4:30 pm, Mondays February 9, March 9, April 20, April 27
Program 1: Scientific Cinema; Program 2: Reverse Anthropology; Program 3: Collaborative Filmmaking; Indigenous Media; Program 4: Sensory Ethnography
Cornell Cinema, Willard Straight Theatre
"Exploring Ethnographic Filmmaking" is a four-part film series that explores anthropology’s longstanding, complex engagement with visual media, asking how film has been used not only to document and render social life, but to categorize, analyze, theorize, and intervene in the world.
The series is presented in conjunction with the course "Ethnographic Film Theory and History" (ANTHR 4424/7424; PMA 4424/7424), which is cross-listed across the Departments of Anthropology and Performing & Media Arts, and is a pilot collaboration with Cornell Cinema to connect film-related courses and public programming on campus. Curated by Natasha Raheja, Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Performing & Media Arts.
Film Screening and Conversation: “The Culture Industry of War”
Tuesday, April 21, 5:00 pm - 6:00 pm, Film Forum
Free and open to the public. Tickets are not required.
In the 2013 essay-film The Culture Industry of War (27 min), art historian and filmmaker Hamed Yousefi explores the role of images in Iran’s modern political culture. Focusing on the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988), he argues that image-making was a central force behind the production of “an industry of martyrdom.” Other accounts of the war tend to focus on the centrality of religious iconography in the ideology of the Islamic Republic. This film, however, recenters the conversation around the modernity of the war's cultural industry, its use of technological modes of reproduction, and the adaption of avant-garde techniques of immediacy and spontaneity in war propaganda. Post-Screening Conversation with Hamed Yousefi (Near Eastern Studies) and Natasha Raheja (Anthropology and Performing and Media Arts)
From the Arctic to Broadway and Back: A Conversation with Playwright Carson Kreitzer
Wednesday, April 22, 5:00 pm, Reading Room 124
Free and open to the public. Tickets are not required.
During this conversation, Kreitzer will discuss her work as a playwright, including her ongoing series of plays related to the climate crisis, and bringing her musical, Lempicka, to Broadway. This event is part of the Professional Directions series. It will be moderated by PMA Associate Professor Beth F. Milles, and will include a Q&A with students.
Elemental Readings III: The Matter of Earth
This symposium spans three days and various locations from Thursday, April 23 through Saturday, April 25. Free and open to the public. First-come, first-served.
A performance of BIOphelia will take place on Thursday, April 23, from 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm, in Room 121, Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability. The Earth Symposium show will take place on Thursday, April 23, from 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm, in the Black Box Theatre, Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts. Click here to read a complete list of events, including guest speakers, panel discussions, art exhibitions, and workshops.
Honors Thesis Screening
Thursday, May 7, 5:00 pm, Kiplinger Theatre
Student Film Screening
Friday, May 8, 5:00 pm, Kiplinger Theatre
PMA Commencement
Friday, May 22, 2:00 pm-4:00 pm, Kiplinger Theatre
Past Events
Projects & Participation Kick-off
Wednesday, Jan. 21, 7:30 pm, Kiplinger Theatre
Join us for a general information session where you can explore various ways to participate in PMA's live and mediated productions. Meet faculty and student directors who will share insights about their projects and casting requirements.
Missed our Spring 2026 Projects and Participation Kick-off? Watch the recorded session on PMA YouTube channel.
Festival 24
Saturday, Jan. 24, 7:30 pm, Flex Theatre
Festival 24 features an array of plays written, directed, rehearsed, and performed by students in just 24 hours! Free and open to the public. Tickets are not required.
The Festival 24 team is looking for anyone interested in taking part in this awesome production! No experience is necessary for any role, and this is a great way to get involved with the performing arts on campus! The sign-up form for all positions can be found HERE. All positions are first-come first-served, so don’t wait to fill it out!
Cornell in Los Angeles: Info Sessions
Monday, Feb. 2, 5:00 pm, Film Forum
Wednesday, Feb. 4, 5:00 pm, Film Forum
Wednesday, Feb. 11, 5:00 pm, Zoom
Cornell in Los Angeles is a new study away semester open to all Cornell undergraduate students! Spend the Spring 2027 semester in the global entertainment capital, earning Cornell class credits and having signature L.A. experiences offered by the Department of Performing and Media Arts! Join PMA for one of the information sessions to find out more about the program and the applications details. Applications will be accepted April 1-May 1, 2026.
Aster Film Festival
Saturday, Feb. 21, 1:00 pm - 2:30 pm: Animated & Narrative Shorts
Saturday, Feb. 21, 3:30 pm - 5:00 pm: Narrative Shorts
Sunday, Feb. 22, 1:00 pm - 2:30 pm: Documentary & Narrative Shorts
Sunday, Feb. 22, 3:30 pm - 5:00 pm: Experimental & Narrative Shorts
Film Forum, Get free tickets
Formerly known as the Centrally Isolated Film Festival (CIFF), is organized by the Phi Chapter of Delta Kappa Alpha (DKA). The festival celebrates and connects emerging student filmmakers from the U.S. across various disciplines, including narrative, documentary, animation, and experimental films.
Content Warning: For mature audiences only. Films may contain material that may be triggering to some audience members.
PMA Open Auditions for the 2026-27 Academic Year
Open auditions: Tuesday, February 24, 5:30 pm - 8:00 pm
Additional auditions & callbacks: Thursday, February 26, 5:30 pm - 8:00 pm
Black Box Theatre
Open auditions are a great opportunity to get involved in upcoming theatrical productions directed, designed and built by our professional theatre faculty and staff. Auditions are open to all undergraduate students, graduate students, faculty, and staff of Cornell University. Read more about audition requirements.
SIGN UP for an audition.
Professional Directions: 95 and 6 To Go with Filmmaker Kimi Takesue
Carol B. Epstein Visiting Artist
Wednesday, February 25, 5:00 pm, Film Forum
Free and open to the public. Tickets are not required.
In 95 and 6 To Go, a resilient widower’s memories become intertwined with the fictional screenplay his granddaughter is writing, revealing the fine line between life and art, rumination and imagination.
After the screening, Kimi Takesue will participate in a talkback, moderated by PMA Associate Professor Jeffrey Palmer and Associate Professor Kelly Gallagher, Film and Media, Syracuse University.
CANCELLED: Chats with the Chair
Friday, February 27, 1:00 pm, Room 220
The Chats with the Chair session scheduled for Feb. 27 HAS BEEN CANCELLED. The next session will be held on Friday, 4/10, at noon, in Room 220.
Home and the Body: Multiplicities of Time and Memory, a Performance-Lecture with Kayla Farrish
Tuesday, March 3, 5:00 pm - 6:00 pm, Class of '56 Dance Studio Theatre (SB10)
Home and the Body: Multiplicities of Time and Memory is a performance-lecture in which Black American choreographer and director Kayla Farrish reflects on her interdisciplinary work and career merging dance-theater, filming, narrative, and sound score through the lens of BIPOC folk stories and marginalized perspectives.
Professional Directions: A Conversation with Kyle Abraham: Choreography as Practice & Profession
Thursday, March 5, 5:00 pm – 6:00 pm, Reading Room 124
Free and open to the public. Tickets are not required.
The guest will join virtually on Zoom.
MacArthur Genius Fellow and internationally acclaimed choreographer Kyle Abraham will speak about his career at the forefront of contemporary dance — from establishing and producing his prolific body of work as an independent choreographer and founding artistic director of A.I.M./Abraham.In.Motion, to tours and commissions for renowned companies and stages, including Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and New York City Ballet.
PMA 1183 Guest Speaker: Ladies of Manila Sound
Monday, March 9, 11:40 am - 12:55 pm, Zoom
This event is presented by PMA 1183 FWS: Hip-Hop's Global Vibrations (NYC, LA, and Southeast Asia), and is free and open to the public. This session will include a short turntables-DJ performance, followed by a Q&A conversation.
Acting for the Camera Workshops
Former PMA Faculty Carolyn Michelle Smith returns to Cornell to offer two on-camera workshops for student actors.
Workshop #1: Building the Solo Scene On-Camera; Thursday, March 12, 4:45 pm - 6:45 pm, Black Box Theatre; Open to all students currently or previously enrolled in PMA 2800 and above
Workshop #2: On-Camera Audition Technique; Friday, March 13, 3:00 pm - 5:00 pm, SB10 Dance Theatre; Open to all students who have completed PMA 2800, as well as students currently/formerly enrolled in PMA 3800 and above
Please register using this link: https://forms.gle/2bFC9LDrAVL6tDyc8. Important additional information will be provided in advance of the workshop.
Professional Directions: Expand Your Scope: Working as a Creative in Entertainment with Carolyn Michelle Smith
Friday, March 13, 12:30 pm - 1:30 pm, Room 220
Open to all Cornell students. Lunch will be provided. RSVP to pma@cornell.edu by Wednesday, March 11
During this conversation, acclaimed actress, producer, and educator Carolyn Michelle Smith will discuss building a sustainable and empowered career in entertainment.
Professional Directions: A Conversation with Keri Putnam, A.D. White Professor-at-Large
Thursday, March 19, 2:00 pm, Film Forum
During this conversation, Putnam will discuss how she went from having a B.A. in Theater History and Literature to a career at HBO Movies & Mini Series, to President of Production at Miramax, to her key role at Sundance Institute. She will share advice on getting started, on how to find and make most of mentors, on how to fight barriers and inequities in the media industry, on how to nurture transformative storytelling, and more. Moderated by Roger Moseley (Music, Milstein Program) and PMA Professor Sabine Haenni.
An Evening with Nona Hendryx: A Conversation on Life, Music, and Creative Practice
Thursday, March 19, 5:15 pm - 6:30 pm, Milstein Auditorium, Milstein Hall
Followed by a Q&A conversation.
Free and open to the public. Tickets are not required.
Legendary artist Nona Hendryx will participate in a public dialogue with faculty members Mendi + Keith Obadike about her six-decade career spanning popular music, art, and technology. Widely known as a founding member of Labelle and the group’s chief songwriter, Hendryx went on to establish herself as an art rocker in the 1980s. In more recent years she has written music for theater and film and collaborated with visual artists like Carrie Mae Weems and Nick Cave. She has also presented multimedia performances at MoogFest and MASS MOCA. This event is part of the Black Sound Series, organized by Mendi Obadike and Keith Obadike.
PMAPS Colloquium with AE Stevenson: “'Oh My Fucking God, She Fucking Dead': Time in a Vine”
Friday, March 20, 5:00 pm - 7:00 pm, Film Forum
The talk centers around the case study of Kayla Newman who created the phrase “on fleek” on the now-defunct social media app Vine, which quickly became a major socio-cultural indicator for others to generate cultural capital from because it was not attributed back to its Black girl creator. Dr. Stevenson connects the way that time is elapsed on Vine to the way that Black women and girls on this app often could not find a way to own their creations. It has been only after Vine, and its loop, “closed” that these Black women and girls get to reap the nostalgic capital of their creations.
PENUMBRA: 2026 ANNUAL SPRING DANCE PRESENTING SERIES
Friday, March 20, 7:30 pm, Get Free Tickets
Saturday, March 21, 7:30 pm, Get Free Tickets
Flex Theatre
PENUMBRA presents two ensemble dance works that delve into the shadow self and the tensions between impulse, restraint, and the ego. Layers surface and recede as dancers move through the many selves they carry—some revealed, others concealed, held close or kept sacred as acts of survival during an era marked by fear, surveillance, and uncertainty. PENUMBRA is the culmination of DANCING HOME/LAND, which is a yearlong series of live performances and activations, guest artist residencies and symposia, and extra/curricular experiences.
HomeBody: I'm Still Here: A Performance-Lecture with Ingrid Kapteyn
Tuesday, March 24, 5:00 pm - 6:00 pm, Class of '56 Dance Studio Theatre
HomeBody: I'm Still Here moves through episodes in Ingrid Kapteyn’s career as an international performer and creator in dance-theater, honoring the body as refuge—a site for grounding, connection, and direction amid the onslaught of contemporary life.
Cornell in Los Angeles: Info Sessions
Wednesday, March 25, 2026, 5:00 pm, on Zoom
Applications for Cornell in Los Angeles Spring 2027 semester will open in April 2026. Applications will be accepted April 1-May 1, 2026. Students from all Cornell colleges and majors are welcome to apply! Join PMA for one of the information sessions to find out more about the program and the applications details.
Cornell in Los Angeles is a new study away semester open to all Cornell undergraduate students! Spend the Spring 2027 semester in the global entertainment capital, earning Cornell class credits and having signature L.A. experiences offered by the Department of Performing and Media Arts! Join PMA for one of the information sessions to find out more about the program and the applications details.
Call for Scripts: PMA Studios
The Call for Script Prompts
Genre: Horror
Script Length: 13 pgs. total
Setting: An Abandon Cabin in the Woods
Read full submissions requirements here.
Script Deadline: Friday, March 27, 2026.
Send Submission to: PMA STUDIOS SCRIPT