Language and Theater at UC Santa Cruz

The use of theater productions in languages other than in English has been a long tradition at UCSC. In 1972, LE TRÉTEAU D'ESSAI (The Santa Cruz Stage) under the direction of Dr. Miriam Ellis, offered a program of theater and music in French during its first season. Almost every year since that time, students of French have performed fully staged productions in the language for campus and community audiences.

In 2001, several lecturers in other languages joined Dr. Ellis in creating the INTERNATIONAL PLAYHOUSE, with the first year's program consisting of pieces in Chinese, French, German, Italian, and Japanese. In 2002 students performed in Chinese, French, German, Japanese and Spanish; in 2003, Chinese, French, Latin, and Spanish were represented. The following year saw Chinese, French, Italian, Japanese, and Spanish and 2005 offered a program that included Chinese, French, Japanese, Russian, and Spanish. In 2007, a unique program of pieces in five languages was presented to the public.

Thus far, students of eight languages have performed in the IP project in works that range from medieval traditional pieces, to classical works of the 17th century, to modern plays from the theater of the absurd to original works written by faculty and students.

With Dr. Ellis, Sakae Fujita, Lecturer in Japanese and Dr. William Nickell, Lecturer in Russian have become co-producers of the IP, while other faculty who have participated in directing their students on stage are Jacqueline Ku (emerita, Chinese), Dr. Judith Harris-Frisk (German), Giulia Centineo (Italian), Professor Mary-Kay Gamel (Latin), Dr. Ana Maria Seara (Portuguese), and Dr. Paco Ramirez (Spanish). Translations of each language's segment are projected in English titles above the stage and DVD's of several of the programs are available.