April 5-14, 2019
A showcase of creativity, innovation and collaboration
The fifth annual UCF Celebrates the Arts showcases performers and artists from across the university. Highlights include a Tony Award-winning musical, ensemble and chamber concerts, opera, kid and family events, living art and much more!
An extravaganza of theater, music, dance, art, literature, technology and more brings the creative power of the University of Central Florida to Orlando’s Dr. Phillips Center. This year’s theme is the resilience of humanity and the healing power of art.
Ongoing Exhibits
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Ongoing • Della Phillips Grand Lobby
CREATE Sculptures & Illustrations
Creative work including sculptures, displays and revolving exhibits fill the lobbies and staircase.
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Ongoing • Off-Site
UCF Student Book Arts Competition
An exhibition of winning entries from 13 years of annual book arts competition at the UCF Libraries.
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Ongoing • Della Phillips Grand Lobby
The Fashion of Harriett Lake
Explore costume pieces curated by UCF faculty member Kristina Tollefson for a behind-the-scenes look at what you see on-stage at Theatre UCF.
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Ongoing • Della Phillips Grand Lobby
Titanic-Inspired Sculptures
Creative work including sculptures, displays and revolving exhibits fill the lobbies and staircase.
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Ongoing • Lobbies and public spaces throughout the center
Station Eleven-Inspired Artworks
Advanced Painting students respond visually to Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel.
Scheduled Events
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Friday, April 5, 2019, 5:30 p.m. • Della Phillips Grand Lobby
Making it New Again: Modernism and Magazines
Student magazines created for Dr. Louise Kane’s Literary Modernism course are new versions of some of the vintage arts and poetry magazines from the 1910s and 1920s that students studied as part of the course.
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Friday, April 5, 2019, 5:30 p.m. • Della Phillips Grand Lobby
Tableaux Vivants
A festival favorite, “Living Art” returns to Dr. Phillips Center! 160+ students recreate famous artworks and model in life-size paintings.
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Friday, April 5, 2019, 7:30 p.m. • Walt Disney Theater
Titanic: The Musical
Yeston and Stone’s Tony Award-winning musical examines the lives of passengers – first class, middle class and steerage – aboard the famed luxury liner.
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Saturday, April 6, 2019, 1:00 p.m. • Seneff Arts Plaza
Creative City Project's Immersive Projection Installation
Enter a world of immersive art in this large-scale projection on Seneff Plaza. Use the motion of your body to transform the projected environment.
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Saturday, April 6, 2019, 1:30 p.m. • Alexis & Jim Pugh Theater
The Last Paving Stone
In this family-friendly performance, everyone is celebrating the covering of the last unpaved ground on the planet. Everyone except Ito, who risks everything to share what only she can hear.
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Saturday, April 6, 2019, 4:30 p.m. • DeVos Family Room
Why Write? Writing & Rhetoric as Dialogic Art
Faculty and students from the UCF Department of Writing and Rhetoric highlight the importance of writing and visual rhetorics to building community and promoting social justice. Contribute to our “Why Write?” board and hear from undergrad and graduate students about their research in writing and literacy.
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Saturday, April 6, 2019, 8:00 p.m. • Alexis & Jim Pugh Theater
Project Spotlight presents First Miss
This full-length performance follows Michele and Grant from their “emotionally sweaty” prom dance floor to the dumpster-fire days of their early twenties as they try to figure out why rom-coms make first kisses look so deceptively simple.
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Saturday, April 6, 2019, 8:00 p.m. • DeVos Family Room
Life/Ways
A personal interactive storytelling project where students create two short digital narratives.
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Sunday, April 7, 2019, 4:00 p.m. • Della Phillips Grand Lobby
Service Learning to Promote, Understand and Engage in the Arts
Students from the Nicholson School of Communication and Media and Burnett Honors College present their service learning projects.
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Sunday, April 7, 2019, 4:00 p.m. • Seneff Arts Plaza
Thriving Through the Arts
Through drumming, dancing, photography and other collaborative art-making projects, explore the intersectionality between the arts and wellness.
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Sunday, April 7, 2019, 4:30 p.m. • DeVos Family Room
Staged Reading: Scenes Inspired by Station Eleven
UCF students read scenes inspired by Emily St. John Mandel's novel Station Eleven.
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Sunday, April 7, 2019, 5:00 p.m. • Seneff Arts Plaza
Creative Clash
Teams of artists armed with black markers race against the clock to create large-format artwork. The theme will be announced seconds before the start of the event, so come cheer on the artists and help choose a winner at the end of the competition. The finished artworks will be displayed throughout the center for the duration of the festival.
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Sunday, April 7, 2019, 5:00 p.m. • Alexis & Jim Pugh Theater
UCF New Music Ensemble
Original music by UCF student, faculty and alumni composers inspired by documentary video, personal journeys and social bonds
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Sunday, April 7, 2019, 6:00 p.m. • DeVos Family Room
Author Talk with Emily St. John Mandel
Discuss Emily St. John Mandel’s audacious, darkly glittering novel Station Eleven with the award-winning author herself. Book signing to follow.
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Sunday, April 7, 2019, 7:30 p.m. • Walt Disney Theater
UCF Choral Concert: Building Bridges
UCF choirs return with an eclectic program of music and instruments centered on the theme of building bridges.
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Monday, April 8, 2019, 6:00 p.m. • DeVos Family Room
The Art of Puerto Rico
Learn about the art, artists and architecture of Puerto Rico. Aprenda sobre el arte, los artistas, la arquitectura de Puerto Rico.
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Monday, April 8, 2019, 6:30 p.m. • Della Phillips Grand Lobby
Jones High School Museum Digital History Exhibit
This virtual exhibit features artifacts from Jones High School, founded as the Orlando Colored School in 1895 during the time of Jim Crow.
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Monday, April 8, 2019, 7:30 p.m. • Walt Disney Theater
UCF Wind Ensemble & Symphonic Band Concert
More than 100 of the finest musicians at UCF perform together in a special concert.
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Monday, April 8, 2019, 8:00 p.m. • Alexis & Jim Pugh Theater
El Wiz
In a Latinx homage to the classic story, El Wiz is a heartwarming musical tale of faith and familia.
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Tuesday, April 9, 2019, 7:00 p.m. • Walt Disney Theater
Choir Invitational Concert
400+ elementary students are invited to learn from UCF Choral faculty, UCF Choral Music Education students, UCF Choir members, UCF alumni, and nationally‐known clinicians and retired faculty culminating into one performance.
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Tuesday, April 9, 2019, 7:00 p.m. • DeVos Family Room
Playback UCF
An interactive form of improvisational theatre in which audience members share stories from their lives and watch them "played back" using music and metaphor
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Tuesday, April 9, 2019, 8:00 p.m. • Alexis & Jim Pugh Theater
UCF Brass Ensembles
In various ensembles, UCF students present a concert celebrating significant musical works for brass.
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Wednesday, April 10, 2019, 6:00 p.m. • Lobbies and public spaces throughout the center
I Can Study Video Games?
Students and staff from UCF’s graduate game-development program present an interactive installation that demonstrates the technical and creative aspects of game development.
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Wednesday, April 10, 2019, 7:30 p.m. • DeVos Family Room
Creative Careers Alumni Panel
A diverse panel of UCF alumni with careers in animation, graphic design, game design and more speaks about their processes and careers, and answers questions from the audience.
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Wednesday, April 10, 2019, 7:30 p.m. • Walt Disney Theater
UCF Percussion with The Percussion Collective
This concert features “Seaborne,” a percussive art soundscape and visual celebration of our endangered oceans.
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Wednesday, April 10, 2019, 8:00 p.m. • Alexis & Jim Pugh Theater
UCF Woodwind Ensembles Concert
Features original music from different eras and performances by a variety of UCF student wind ensembles.
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Friday, April 12, 2019, 5:30 p.m. • Della Phillips Grand Lobby
Virtual Reality Experience: The Middle Passage
Witness, understand and empathize life as a captive African through the middle passage in this powerful virtual reality immersion project.
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Friday, April 12, 2019, 7:30 p.m. • Walt Disney Theater
Genius + Soul
UCF's Flying Horse Big Band plays Ray Charles with special guests Rob Paparozzi, Vance Villastrigo, Kenny Washington and more.
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April 12 – April 14, 2019 • Alexis & Jim Pugh Theater
UCF Opera presents The Tender Land
Set in Kansas in 1930, The Tender Land combines the charms of rural Americana with a tale of innocence lost.
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Saturday, April 13, 2019, 6:00 p.m. • DeVos Family Room
Exodus|Pilgrimage: UCF Honors Lo Nuestro
In this performance art procession, award-winning interdisciplinary artist Wanda Raimundi-Ortiz examines forced migration due to the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Puerto Rico.
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Saturday, April 13, 2019, 7:30 p.m. • Alexis & Jim Pugh Theater
Film Night
An evening dedicated to incredible stories captured on film and the premieres of animated shorts by UCF students.
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Sunday, April 14, 2019, 12:30 p.m. • Walt Disney Theater
National Young Composers Challenge Composium
See the next generation of America’s most talented composers ages 13 to 18 have their original pieces performed, discussed, rehearsed and recorded in front of a live audience by the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra led by maestro Christopher Wilkins.
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Sunday, April 14, 2019, 12:30 p.m. • DeVos Family Room
Pip-Squeak
Using comedy, magic tricks, juggling and costumes, Tony Brent teaches children how to cope with being bullied.
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Sunday, April 14, 2019, 3:00 p.m. • DeVos Family Room
When Pigs Fly
A multisensory story experience for very young audiences (0-6) and their grown-ups!
ABOUT THE FESTIVAL
UCF Celebrates the Arts, a festival showcasing creativity, innovation and collaboration from Orlando’s hometown university, occurs annually at Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts in April. The event is hosted by the UCF College of Arts and Humanities and features the faculty and students from the School of Performing Arts and the School of Visual Arts and Design, as well as work from the humanities departments and other units from around the university. Partnership, one of UCF’s long-standing values, is brought front-and-center at UCF Celebrates the Arts, with many events showcasing the collaborative nature of the university and demonstrating how UCF is both in and of the Central Florida community.
Festival Artwork
The artwork for UCF Celebrates the Arts features the work of conceptual artists Elizabeth/Sidebotham.
ELIZABETH/SIDEBOTHAM
Can We Skip To The Good Part, 2017.
Acrylic, cake, frosting, sprinkles, gold leaf, and resin on CNC scrim board, 36 x 36 inches.
Image courtesy of the artist.
Steering Committee
- Michael Wainstein, chair
- Gary Brown
- Hannah Estes
- Heather Gibson
- Thomas Harrison
- Maureen Landgraf
- Paul Lartonoix
- Julia Listengarten
- Scott Lubaroff
- Claudia Lynch
- Rudy McDaniel
- Steven Risko
- Jeffrey Rupert
- Azela Santana
- Bert Scott
- Debi Starr
- Keri Watson
- Krissy Yagel
Production Supervision
Provided by SenovvA
- James E. Cleveland
- Amy Hadley
- Arianna Knapp
- Lindsay Child
Entertainment Management Students
In partnership with Rosen College of Hospitality Management
- Thomas Harrison, advisor
- Layne Altmark*
- Adys Elejalde*
- Ashley Edwards*
- Cecilia Falcon*
- Ashley Faulkner*
- Jamie Hugler*
- Zachary Hyland*
- Janay Jamison*
- Lia Korzeniewski*
- Devon Mitchell*
- Elizabeth Stought*
- Sheneil Thomas*
- Mariana Vivas*
Company Managers
- James Neal*
- Anthony Sulvinski*
Stage Managers
- Claudia Lynch, advisor
- Brittany Alvord*
- Danielle Borenstein*
- Emma Carbone*
- Lauran Conran*
- Natalie Hoefling*
- Sabrina Hutcheson*
- Natasha Junkermeier*
- Lauren Koval*
- Bobby Malke*
- Madisen McKenzie*
- Sarah Nicholson*
- Sophie O’Sullivan*
- Zachary Perez*
- Sarah Simone*
- Sydney Whittaker*
- Jazlynne Williams*
Marketing & Front-of-House
- Quwade Bretch*
- Tanesha Bridenback*
- Elisa Castillo*
- Sarah Chaplin*
- Matthew Dunn
- Hannah Estes
- Arielle Feldman*
- Heather Gibson
- Kalonte Jackson-Tate*
- Traveon Olden
- Bridget Parry*
- Alexandra Ramey*
- Melissa Rivera*
- Steven Risko
- Germán Salazar*
- Victoria Weston
- Krissy Yagel
*denotes UCF student
Program Book
Browse the program book or download with the link below.