The UWM Department of Theatre’s next production, “The Ballad of Maria Marten,” opens this week and was directed by Robin Mello (Professor, Theatre). Elizabeth Riley and Ambrose Schulte, both juniors, served as Assistant Directors. This experience included Mello connecting her student directors with Beth Flintoff, the playwright. Riley and Schulte are aspiring directors who came to PSOA with a love for theatre.
Last month, the UWM Symphony Orchestra performed in the Zelazo Center featuring clarinetist and first year master’s student Mauricio Franco. This concert served as the culmination of Franco’s achievement in the 2024-25 Concerto Competition held at the Peck School. Concerto …
Peck School of the Arts’ next theater production “Dames at Sea,” a pastiche on 1930s musicals, opens this Wednesday. The show is notable for its slew of quick changes that give students an experience that reflects professional theater. Throughout the process of preparing costumes for the show, Jason Orlenko and his long-time collaborator Dana Rochester (Teaching Faculty II & Area Head, Costumes & Stage Makeup), alongside their team of student costumers, have experimented with a variety of quick-change materials, including snaps, zippers, and magnets.
Elizabeth Lappano, a junior studying Theatre Production, has taken her ongoing research project on equity and inclusion in the arts to great heights. She will present her findings at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR) 2025 in Pittsburgh this April. This is the second consecutive year that Lappano’s research was accepted for the conference. Lappano’s project includes research on famous artists detailing their struggles and triumphs with their neurodivergence diagnosis. The project also interviews current students at PSOA who are living with neurodivergence including actors in the upcoming “Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” production, which Lappano’s research is focusing on.
The Department of Art & Design is currently hosting Fiber//Form, a two-week-long exhibition of artwork that students have made in fiber courses at PSOA. Fiber art, such as knitting and crocheting, has become increasingly popular recently. However, many are unaware of how fiber art fits into the professional art world. Fiber//Form is a prime example of how PSOA is trying to promote professionally made fiber art.
Winterdances: Perfectly Wild features the work of PSOA Dance faculty members with a special piece from Los Angeles-based guest choreographer Jackie Lopez. During the fall semester, Lopez visited UWM to work with PSOA dance students and choreograph her Winterdances piece, “Her-Story Her-Spirit.”
With the Fall semester nearing a close, Art & Design students took one last chance to showcase their most recent work to the campus community. Senior students got to display said work at the DVC Showcase and BA/BFA Exhibition with both events offering a wide array of work born out of thoughtful and diverse creative research.
During the fall semester, the Jewelry & Metalsmithing program hosted “Jewelry Speaks: The Voice of the Jill Wine-Banks Pin Collection,” an exhibition centered on the elaborate pin collection of distinguished attorney, former Watergate prosecutor, and MSNBC Legal Analyst Jill Wine-Banks.
Music Education student, vocalist, and multi-instrumentalist Bridget Koser was awarded the Richard G. Gaarder Award at the 2024 Wisconsin Music Educators Association conference in Madison. The achievement recognizes excellence in leadership, musicianship, and service to the music education community.
Students enrolled in Interactive Electronic Music classes will perform their final projects live at the third UW-MESS Interactive Electronic Music Showcase. In its early stages at PSOA, the UW-MESS program helps students fulfill an education focused on their passion for electronic music.
As the Fall semester winds down, many PSOA students have the opportunity to display their talents in public settings. For student musicians, this comes in the form of a whirlwind of concerts spanning nearly every evening during the final stretch of the semester. With the stress of finals in full swing, now is a time for music students at the Peck School to come together and support one another, reminding themselves and their peers of the power music has to uplift, inspire and foster strong communal relationships.
For the second consecutive year, Pilot Project Brewing, in conjunction with Milwaukee Athletics, is set to welcome its Panther beer this week – launched for the 2024-25 season with a new design. The “Panther Pale Ale,” an American pale ale …
PSOA Theater student and Arts Ambassador Josh Thone is competing this weekend in the American Pops Orchestra (APO) NextGen National Vocal Competition Semi-Finals.
Thone is one of 25 students competing out of 240 submissions. Viewers can watch Thone’s performance this Sunday, Dec. 1st, and vote virtually for Thone to advance to the live finals.
Senior dance students will present a wide variety of original works at “New Dancemakers: Emanation.” This marks a major moment in senior’s capstone projects, showcasing the skills they have developed in their education.
Art MFA candidate Corrigan Eckert is working alongside UWM partner WaterMarks to further develop the Milwaukee community’s understanding of water conservation and environmental activism. This project touches on these important subjects by using art to educate the city.
