Dear TFDP Community,
As part of our ongoing commitment to education and imagination in the face of power, we are excited to announce our 2025-26 season. Our mainstage will feature a hilarious new take on Dracula aptly timed around Halloween, a classic from Spain’s “Golden Age” on galvanizing people against tyranny, and a whimsically queer contemporary play about unrequited love blending fairy tales with real life. We welcome the comedy, diversity, and urgency of these plays as well as the good energy of our collaborators across artists and audiences. In addition, we will spotlight our homegrown undergraduate and graduate storytellers through their original films, plays, and screenplays at the annual Smartphone Film Festival, TFDP Film Showcase, Playworks, and New Works Festival. Let us celebrate our students’ creativity and resiliency!
Presenting the Department of Theatre, Film, and Digital Production’s 2025-26 Season:
MAINSTAGE
DRACULA: A COMEDY OF TERRORS
by Gordon Greenberg and Steve Rosen
November 2025
This gender-bending romp blends Bram Stoker’s legendary vampire tale with the comedic spirit of Mel Brooks and Monty Python in a madcap hunt for the dangerously seductive Count Dracula, packed with clever wordplay, quick-change antics, and bloodcurdling screams - of laughter!
FUENTE OVEJUNA
by Lope de Vega, translated by Adrian Mitchell
February 2026
In Lope de Vega’s classic play, the villagers unite to overthrow their tyrannous overlord, reflecting its timeless political message that governments must never allow those in power to indulge their greed for control.
SOMETIMES THE RAIN, SOMETIMES THE SEA
by Julia Izumi
May 2026
This playful and quirky adaptation of The Little Mermaid follows a Little Rain Cloud who falls in love with a human while also unpacking Hans Christian Andersen’s personal history - though, as our narrator insists, it’s not The Little Mermaid at all.
FILM FESTIVALS
SMARTPHONE FILM FESTIVAL
Original short films shot entirely on a smartphone by students in UCR’s Department of Theatre, Film, and Digital Production
February 2026
TFDP FILM SHOWCASE
Featuring Original Short Films by UCR Filmmakers
May 2026
STAGED READINGS
PLAYWORKS
Featuring 10-Minute Original Plays by UCR Undergraduate and MFA Playwrights
May 2026
NEW WORKS FESTIVAL
Featuring Original New Projects by UCR MFA Playwrights and Screenwriters
June 2026
Finally, our deepest thanks to you—our extraordinary students, staff, and faculty—for helping to curate this season with attention to what our community needs in this moment. We truly hope that you will join us this season to laugh, think, and dream.
Donatella Galella, Artistic Director
Ben Tusher, Production Director for the Performing Arts