Performing Arts

An expansive multimedia exhibition showcasing five decades of East Los Angeles music history is still on view at LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes, in downtown Los Angeles, but closes after Aug. 23.

As the theater faculty at fictional Riverbottom College brainstorm ways to shore up their department’s faltering budget, some interesting proposals emerge. These include issuing a departmental meme coin, creating a faculty boudoir calendar, and selling blood plasma.

In a black-box theater with dark walls, bright lights, and an empty stage, student actors relied solely on their voices and expressions to bring a series of 10-minute plays to life at UC Riverside's 19th Playworks event. Covering topics ranging from the impacts of ICE and AI to experiences with grief and love, the stage readings took place in the Studio Theatre of the Arts Building. A small stage surrounded on three sides allowed the audience members and actors to observe each other in an intimate setting. 

In March, “Golden” from the film “KPop Demon Hunters” became the first K-Pop song to win the Oscar for Best Original Song. Celebrating that moment at the 98th Academy Awards was DaEun Jung, a UC Riverside assistant professor of dance, who participated in a live performance of “Golden” as a Korean cultural consulting choreographer and dancer. 

A spirited new multimedia exhibition at the Smithsonian Institution tells the story of salsa with the help of a UC Riverside associate professor of music.