Student Stories

Faculty, students and local band come together to bring Bright Star production to life

Peck School of the Arts will kick off their 2024-25 Theater Season with “Bright Star,” a tale of love and redemption from the minds of Edie Brickell and Steve Martin. Director Raeleen McMillion (Teaching Faculty II, Voice, Speech and Dialects) offered first-hand experience to her students that helped shape this production. “Bright Star” is set in mid-20th century North Carolina through the Appalachian mountains, not too far from where McMillion was raised. Born into a family of strong storytellers, music lovers, and Steve Martin fans, McMillion still travels through the Appalachian mountains to stay connected with her roots.

Students travel abroad to immerse themselves in British life and theater 

Over the summer, a group of theater students spent two weeks traveling the United Kingdom including London, Sussex, York, and Stratford. Throughout this trip, they attended formal and self-guided tours, visited museums, and explored the culture of English life. View a slideshow of photos from their time abroad.

Guitar students and alumni win major festivals throughout North America

During the summer of 2024, PSOA guitar students took center stage at a variety of festivals throughout the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. Everywhere our students went, they found great success and brought accolades back to Milwaukee. Leonela Alejandro (BFA 2020, Music) took first prize at the Guitar Foundation of America, widely considered the biggest international guitar competition. Meanwhile, at Festival Internacional de Guitarra de Mexico, second-year master’s student Alberto Daniel Quintanilla walked away with first prize.

Creative research and collaboration key for upcoming MFA Dance concert 

MFA dance students get the opportunity to showcase their original, experimental choreography at UpStart 2024, an evening of diverse work from eight different students. The work showcased at UpStart is rooted in thoughtful creative research and strong collaboration between UWM students, alumni, and the Milwaukee community. These important facets allow choreographers to pose a multitude of questions and themes to those who attend. We caught up with three of the student choreographers to learn more about their process leading up to UpStart 2024.

Arts scholarship honors Summerfest icon and UWM alum Bob Babisch

For nearly 50 years, music fans and spectators from around the world benefited from the work of UWM alum Bob Babisch. As Summerfest’s top talent booker from 1976 to 2022, Babisch brought names such as The Rolling Stones, Lady Gaga, and Prince to Milwaukee’s—and perhaps the world’s—biggest music festival. Now in retirement, Babisch (’74 BFA Theatre) is being honored by his former employer, Milwaukee World Festival, Inc., and his alma mater with a named scholarship to support Peck School of the Arts students. Imanol Ruiz is one of those students. As a result, Ruiz graduated debt free, allowing him to explore opportunities in his field.

Musical theatre student branches out as dialect assistant

When an actor immerses themselves into a character, they sometimes need to develop an accent or dialect. Anyone who has heard a poorly executed accent knows it can be difficult to ignore. Luckily for most actors, they do not have to figure this out on their own, instead seeking help from those who specialize in this work. Recent grad Mason Shefchik (BFA 2024, Theatre Performance: Musical Theatre) is one of those individuals. He recently served as a dialect assistant for Renaissance Theaterworks while still a student.

PSOA students earn three competitive Distinguished Graduate School Fellowships

Three Peck School of the Arts students were selected for Distinguished Graduate School Fellowships for the 2024-25 academic year. The fellowships are awarded through one of the most competitive selection processes at the graduate level. The PSOA Department of Dance, Department of Music, and Department of Film, Video, Animation & New Genres each had one student selected to receive the support, which covers graduate tuition and provides an academic year stipend.

Research and collaboration set the stage for Once Upon A Mattress 

The Peck School of the Arts Department of Theatre is putting the finishing touches on their next production Once Upon A Mattress, a comedic and musical retelling of “The Princess and the Pea.” Through creative collaboration and dramaturgical research, students are achieving great heights as they fully immerse themselves in their roles. Here’s what several actors shared about their process.

Milwaukee Film Festival Roundup: Alumni and Student Edition

The 2024 Milwaukee Film Festival is underway, and Peck School of the Arts has a lot to be proud of. Nineteen alumni and a current MFA candidate will have their work screened across 15 unique works, including shorts, features, and music videos. The PSOA community of artists is excited to highlight the incredible work screening at this year’s festival. Check out the impressive list of films and filmmakers with strong ties to PSOA.

International art and media exhibition featuring work by PSOA artists on view at UWM 

Nine Peck School of the Arts students, recent alumni, and a faculty member are currently displaying their work in the Cross Connections 2024 International Exhibition and Competition of Visual Communication Design and Emerging Media Design. This juried exhibition is a global event that showcases top talent from higher education institutions worldwide, including the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee. The artworks represent a wide variety of visual art forms that transcend borders, cultures, and disciplines.

Film and animation students heavily featured at Nō Studios Filmmaker Showcase

More than 10 film students screened their work at Nō Studios’ inaugural Filmmaker Showcase in Spring 2024, highlighting the wide breadth of work being produced in Milwaukee. Across five nights, the showcase featured a range of genres including horror, experimental, documentary, music video, anime, and more. Unsurprisingly, some of the best and most memorable shorts came from PSOA students.

Director of Pipeline credits theatre students with bringing the play to UWM 

In early 2022, Peck School of the Arts students Ethan Hightire and Nahjee Robinson sat in Milwaukee’s Next Act Theater, immersed in Dominque Morisseau’s critical-acclaimed play Pipeline. Both were astonished by what they saw. Hightire recognized that the character Omari was the role he was born to play. Hightire and Robinson immediately went to Katie Avila Loughmiller (Lecturer, Theatre) insisting that Pipeline was a show she had to see. Their intention? Advocate for an eventual UWM production of the piece.