Vocal Performance alum Brian Manternach publishes first book
Vocal Performance alum Brian Manternach (MM 1999, Music) celebrates the publication of his first book, “Voices of Influence: The Journey of a Teacher and Student in the Voice Studio,” with Bloomsbury Publishing.
The novel is a memoir about Manternach’s relationship with his professor, Robert J Harrison, while studying under him at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, where he earned his Doctor of Music degree in Voice Performance and Literature. Manternach is currently an associate professor at the University of Utah Department of Theatre and research associate at the Utah Center for Vocology.
The Guardian calls documentary by Jesse McLean luminous and immaculate
Jesse McLean, Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Film, Video, Animation & New Genres, was recently featured in The Guardian for her experimental documentary Light Needs, which examines relationships between humans and their houseplants.
In a review by Leslie Felperin, The Guardian praises McLean’s precise and thoughtful approach, describing aspects of the film as “luminous” and “immaculate.” Felperin highlights McLean’s ability to weave sound and image into what she calls an “audiovisual collage of perspectives on plant-people relations,” noting the film’s gentle balance of “wonder and wit.” The review emphasizes how Light Needs gives equal consideration to human participants and plant life, allowing multiple viewpoints to coexist without hierarchy. To read the full review by Felperin, visit The Guardian.
Light Needs was also reviewed by Gazettely, which notes the film’s contemplative pacing and sustained attention to stillness and everyday domestic spaces. The review by Naser Nahandian highlights McLean’s use of careful observation to reframe human–plant relationships, calling the film “visually arresting” and “a poetic reminder of our interdependence with the natural world.” To read the full review by Nahandian, visit Gazettely.
Light Needs is available to stream on the True Story platform, where you can watch the trailer with no login required.
Great Lakes Listening Series issues call for submissions
Peck School of the Arts Department of Film, Video, Animation & New Genres is a partner on a new experimental film series called “The Great Lakes Listening Series,” which will be held at UWM’s Union Cinema. The showcase is co-sponsored by the Midwest Society for Acoustic Ecology and centers on acoustic sound as a method for storytelling.
To learn more about the event and call for submissions, visit Experimental Cinema.
Theatre lecturer featured on Arts Educators Save the World podcast
Jeffery Mosser and his mentee, Mizha Lee Overn, were featured on Arts Educators Save the World, a podcast that highlights the experiences and achievements behind art educators and their mentees.
On the podcast, Mosser and Overn discuss the mentorship process, the business side of the theatre industry, and Overn’s path from student to headlining shows in Chicago.
Multiple theatre students and alumni nominated for 2025 BroadwayWorld Awards
BroadwayWorld announced its nominations for the 2025 BroadwayWorld Milwaukee, WI Awards. The roster includes several theatre students and alumni.
Seniors Josh Thone and Serena Vasquez received nominations for Best Performer in a Musical for their roles in the H.M.S. Pinafore, produced by UWM in cooperation with Milwaukee Opera Theatre.
Ashley Oviedo (BFA 2020, Theatre), whose performance in Next Act Theater’s production of Sanctuary City was positively reviewed by BroadwayWorld earlier this year, received a Best Performer in a Play nomination for the same role.
Three alumni received multiple nominations: Bekah Rose (BFA 2017, Theatre) for Best Performer in a Musical and Best Performer in a Play, Andrea Buller (BFA 2021, Theatre) for Best Performer in a Play and Best Supporting Actor in a Play, and Dimonte Henning for Best Director of a Play and Best Performer in a Play.
Additional alumni who received nominations include Chloe Attalla (BFA 2021, Theatre) for Best Supporting Actor in a Play; Hope Reister (BFA 2021, Theatre) for Best Supporting Actor in a Musical, and Colin Gawronski for Best Lighting Design.
To cast your vote for the 2025 BroadwayWorld Milwaukee, WI Awards, visit BroadwayWorld.
Portia Cobb deepens artistic practice and international collaborations during sabbatical in Brazil
Professor Portia Cobb launched her fall sabbatical with a month-long residency in Bahia, Brazil. The experience expanded her research, deepened her multidisciplinary practice, and strengthened her ties to a growing network of international artists and scholars.
Cobb was invited to Balaio Fantasma, an artists’ residency hosted by Professor Paola Barreto from the Federal University of Bahia (UFBA). During her stay, she led workshops and collaborations with arts and humanities students, local artists, and community members.
She also immersed herself in Bahia’s cultural landscape, visiting museums, artist studios, and community events that informed and broadened her creative lens.
“My return to Brazil has been in development since 2023, based on connections I established with Paola Barreto, who teaches arts and media at the university. We continue to work collaboratively,” Cobb stated. “The residency was a great immersive experience, and having a month-long stay made all the difference.”
A featured performance artist and filmmaker at the Cachoeira Documentary Film Festival, Cobb premiered Performing Grace, an in-situ mixed-media performance staged in the historic railroad depot in Cachoeira’s town center.
The occasion was an opportunity to both share her work and explore new dimensions of what she refers to as “expanded cinema,” or cinema shaped through live performance.
“The most impactful part was the collaborative process and the reimagining of my work my for an unfamiliar audience in an unfamiliar space,” Cobb said. “I’ve taught film and video for 33 years, but I have had few opportunities to actualize it and actualize it as an extension of my cinematic practice.”
Cobb’s research also centers on identity, notions of home, and the critical examinations of forced forgetting. During her time in Bahia, Cobb felt a profound connection to aspects of cultural preservation, ancestral reverence, and continuums of these in artistic visual and performance practice.
“These images and experiences have a special appeal to tourists from across the globe and specifically to people descended from Africans trafficked across the Atlantic to the Americas,” Cobb explained. “Many from the Black diaspora are profoundly impacted when they meet these aspects of Bahian culture. It becomes an unexpected homecoming, a reflection of the familiar celebrated and preserved in the present.”
Bringing global connections to UWM
Cobb’s sabbatical also supports her longstanding commitment to global learning through Radical Cinema, a course she teaches on international cinematic movements and their social, political, and cultural contexts.
Her work in Brazil complements the study abroad program she helped spearhead, BLM: A Global Comparative Study, which has taken students to the U.K. and was proposed for Brazil but didn’t get enough enrollment.
“We’re always trying to get our students to see themselves in the mirror of other cultural landscapes,” Cobb stated. “I bring it into my classroom through the films I show and the discussion we have.”
This year’s iteration of the program, led by Assistant Professor Marquise Mays, will take interdisciplinary students from film & animation, global studies, and African and African diaspora studies to London to explore the Black British experience.
Cobb will join the program, continuing to expand the connections she has nurtured throughout her sabbatical and beyond.
Story by Payton Murphy ’27 (BFA Film)
Senior film student featured on Telemundo Wisconsin
Film BFA alum Julian Maldonado was featured on the CBS affiliate station Telemundo Wisconsin. Maldonado was invited to talk about his short documentary, “Maderas y Memorias,” which tells the story of his great grandfather, a renowned wood carver from Puerto Rico.
“He was my great grandpa from Puerto Rico that I never know,” said Maldonado, “He was kind of alluded in my head, the type of person I always wanted to get to know but can never know because he was gone.”
Maldonado created the film for his senior project while a Film BFA student.
Inspired by their mentor, classical guitar alumni return to teach at their alma mater
Recent classical guitar alums Kevin Loh ‘25 and Chandler Dillingham ‘25 have taken the next steps in their careers by returning to teach at their alma mater. Loh and Dillingham both discovered a passion for music education while studying under mentor René Izquierdo.
“It’s a great honor for any teacher to see their students succeed; I think it’s the dream of every teacher to be surpassed by their students,” Izquierdo said. “Kevin and Chandler are a wonderful addition to the Guitar Studio. I see them work hard with their students; I’ve seen them work hard since the beginning.”
Kevin Loh knew he wanted to study at PSOA after meeting Izquierdo at the Iserlohn Festival in 2014. Originally from Singapore, Loh studied classical guitar around the world before coming to Milwaukee in 2022 to pursue his master’s. He has built an international reputation through performances at major festivals and competitions.
“After meeting Rene, it became a question of not ‘if’ I would study under him in Milwaukee, but ‘when’ I would,” Loh recalls.
During his time in the Guitar Studio, Loh formed close connections with peers and now brings that experience into his teaching. Although he’s a lecturer, he continues to view his students as fellow musicians, collaborators, and friends.
“One of the distinguishing factors for me is the atmosphere at the guitar studio,” said Loh. “Everyone here feels like family.”
Chandler Dillingham came to UWM in 2022 to pursue a dual master’s degree, earning an MM in Classical Guitar and an MM in Music History & Literature. He takes a holistic approach to education, incorporating his background in musicology and theory into his lessons.
“Deep down, I think teaching is my greatest passion,” Dillingham said. “To be able to shape the hands and shape approaches to performance has been one of the most rewarding aspects of my career so far.”
For Dillingham, performing is also about sharing the historical and cultural significance behind the music. Helping audiences understand the impact of classical guitar is central to his work.
“A part of my concerts is dedicated to helping my audience understand—even just briefly—what the music is about, why I’m playing it for them, why it matters to the concert, and why it’s important in history,” he explained. “I think my ultimate goal as a performer is to help people appreciate music more through a variety of avenues, and that comes through the playing itself.”
“I think the addition of Chandler and Kevin to the faculty will improve the program as a whole,” Izquierdo said. “They have been very dedicated and focused on music from early on in their lives and were lucky enough to find their calling.”
Payton Murphy (BFA Film, ’27)
UWM alum and multi-disciplinary artist displays work at Chicago art gallery
UWM alum and multi-disciplinary artist Michael J Miller (BFA 1987, Art; MA 1991, Art) is currently displaying his work at SoNa Chicago, a venue for contemporary art. A lifelong artist, Miller’s recent exhibition focuses on his life as an artist, how he has changed over time, and how this shapes his worldview.
In the announcement published by Chicago Gallery News, Miller reflects on his practice, encompassing mediums like woodworking, painting, drawing, and music.
“I have been very fortunate that much of my working life has been spent creatively in the service of, and alongside many other amazing and talented individuals,” Miller said. “As a woodworker and furniture builder, an art instructor, or as an exhibition designer/builder, creating and installing exhibitions for museums and galleries, I have had the opportunity to share ideas, problem solve countless issues, and explore a multitude of materials, all while expanding personal horizons of art making.”
Graduating seniors share powerful stories through movement in New Dancemakers
New Dancemakers is a senior capstone project in which eleven graduating students research and choreograph a dance performance representative of what they have learned during their time at the Peck School of the Arts.
Students spend months focusing on a research topic of their choosing, often utilizing historical documentation and connecting with community members.
Brooke Allison Parkinson
Brooke Allison Parkinson is a double major graduating with degrees in dance and American Sign Language. Parkinson wanted to make a statement about accessibility in dance and how it relates to Deaf culture in her piece, Open Your Eyes.
“My piece is really exploring how hearing individuals can be allies to the deaf community via listening to their needs and wants and immersing ourselves in the culture so we can meet halfway,” Parkinson explained. “It’s an educational piece and an enlightening piece to share the deaf perspective and their stories.”
As part of their ASL degree, Parkinson spent time with residents of Water Tower View, a senior housing complex for the deaf and hard of hearing. During that time, they were moved by residents’ stories.
“For this project, I asked some of the residents if they would be comfortable being interviewed,” Parkinson said. “The recordings of the interviews will be projected on stage with the dancers so their performance can give depth to the residents’ perspective.”
Maia Rose Correia-Fill
Maia Rose Correia-Fill is completing a BFA in dance performance and choreography. Her piece centers on the use of artificial intelligence and how technology can be used in the dance field.
“Last semester, I went to a dance conference and attended a workshop called Chero-GTP, which was about how to use ChatGPT to come up with choreographic scores,” Correia-Fill said. “It’s where I first got my idea for my senior project.”
Correia-Fill began her research on campus in collaboration with the UWM Connected Systems Institute, one of two AI research labs in the United States. As part of an R1 university, she was able to utilize resources within and beyond PSOA, exploring topics related to AI development and dance composition.
“I hope that my project will get the audience to think about the impact that AI systems have on their community,” Correia-Fill said.
Lina Conchi
Lina Conchi’s piece, the birds (of color) have to fly, takes audiences through the experiences of a Mexican American immigrant family spanning three generations.
“It portrays what living life is like being discriminated against and facing racism. Throughout this piece, each generation has a moment where they face what is happening,” Conchi said. “I found myself drawing parallels between birds and humans. The central idea of this piece is about people trying to find a better place, a place like home.”
When Conchi began her studies at PSOA, her main form of dance was Ballet Folklorico, a form of Mexican folk dance rooted in Indigenous, African, and Spanish cultures.
Over time, she began incorporating elements of ballet, African diasporic movement, modern, and contemporary dance into her practice. In addition to her evolving style, Conchi was inspired by stories of hardship shared by her older relatives.
“Both sides of my family are full of immigrants. My grandma and grandpa on my mother’s side were immigrants in their own land as Indigenous Mexican people, and my father is from near the Gulf of Mexico,” said Conchi.
“Seeing and hearing their stories inspired me to make this piece, and I hope I am able to truly tell my story to the audience.”
New Dancemakers runs November 19–22 at Mitchell Hall Studio 254. Tickets and more information are available at the PSOA Events Calendar.
Story by Payton Murphy ’27 (BFA Film)
By researching commedia dell’arte, students rediscover what makes us laugh in Scapino!
With bold characters, physical comedy, and a vibrant 1980s setting, the Peck School’s production of “Scapino!” offers a lively reimagining of the classic French farce “Scapin the Schemer” by Molière. The new staging honors commedia dell’arte while exploring what makes its humor resonate today.
The director behind “Scapino!” is Ralph Janes, whose vision for the production leans heavily into slapstick humor, rehearsed improvisation, and exaggerated expressions—all hallmarks of the early form of theatre.
Janes focused on preserving the roots of commedia dell’arte, even as some of the original themes and jokes feel dated today.
“We ask ourselves as a teaching institution: Does the commedia form still work, or can it still work,” Janes asked. “Can these stock characters, which we all recognize—the old man, the young lovers, the servants that get the better of their situations—be funny still in contemporary time?”
The cast spent time discussing what is considered appropriate and funny across different generations and cultures.
“I’m older than most of our actors, and I come from a different country. So, I had to ask my cast if the things I found funny were the things they found funny,” Janes explained. “We had lots of discussion about our favorite shows and what cartoons we found funny in order to find fertile ground and understand what it means to be funny in today’s age.”
Mikael Hagerstrand
While preparing for his performance, senior Mikael Hagerstrand focused on how humor can connect across generations.
“Throughout the summer, we looked at a lot of different commedia dell’arte and comedy pieces and compiled them,” Hagerstrand explained.
“To build up the rehearsal space, we worked with lots of different bits and used that to connect with each other as individuals.”
Natalie Gustafson, also a senior, plays the role of Giacinta, a newlywed whose ideal romance is interrupted by family turmoil.
Natalie Gustafson
Her favorite part of the production has been the thought and effort that went into building the world. Vintage costumes and elaborate set designs help bring “Scapino” to life, and she’s excited for audiences to experience them.
“I hope that people will have a good time,” Gustafson said. “I’ve been working on this show for two months now, and I still have fun every day. I hope the audience sees that.”
“Scapino!” runs through Nov 23 at the UWM Mainstage Theatre. For tickets and more information, visit the PSOA Events Calendar.
Payton Murphy ’27 (BFA Film)
UWM alum Trixie Mattel featured speaker at UW-Madison Event
Brian Firkus (BFA 2012, Theatre), also known as drag artist and multimedia personality Trixie Mattel, was featured in an article by Isthmus covering her recent appearance at UW-Madison.
Mattel participated in an open Q&A panel focused on queer identity and history, where she shared personal experiences, connected with attendees, and reflected on Wisconsin’s longstanding queer community.
“I just really think the younger people have, like, the magic, and they’re the most important thing,” Mattel said during the discussion. “I literally was a college student in Wisconsin from a small town in Wisconsin. I envisioned this the whole time…”
Sophomore music student wins multiple awards from the National Association of Teachers of Singing
Akira Harris (Sophomore BFA, Versatile Voice) was awarded at the Wisconsin Chapter of the National Association of Teachers of Singing. Harris won first place for the Classical Music category and second in the Commercial Music category.
Jesse Malmed celebrates a decade of Western Pole with Chicago exhibition
Assistant Professor Jesse Malmed (Film, Video, Animation and New Genres) marks ten years of his Chicago-based project Western Pole with the exhibition POST POST POST: A Decade of Western Pole at Patient Info, Chicago. Since 2015, Malmed has featured more than 300 artists through 8.5×11 works posted on a pole along Western Avenue. The anniversary show brings together two dozen artists presenting sculpture, video, drawing, and performance. POST POST POST runs November 8–December 13, 2025, with performances and a publication release closing the exhibition.
UWM lecturer’s short film explores Milwaukee’s Chinese immigrant history
Yinan Wang’s (Lecturer, FVANG) short film “From Section 48 to King Drive” explores Milwaukee’s “Chinese Laundry Era,” a time period starting in the late 1880s, when Chinese immigrants began opening laundry mats across the city. The film is inspired by the designation of a new state historical marker located at the YWCA, honoring the spot as one of the last laundries of this time.
In the WUWM article written by Eddie Morales, Wang speaks on the research behind the film and the importance of capturing these stories.
“I am an immigrant myself, so I feel like there is some sort of a connection,” Wang said. “I feel like that connection is very strong even though we live apart by maybe 100 years, but I still feel them. So that’s why I really wanted to make this film.”
