Theatre & Dance Newsletter
2026 Theatre & Dance Newsletter
Message from the Program Head
Spotlight Stories
Faculty Kudos
Alumni Class Notes
Upcoming Events & Opportunities
Message from the Program Head
Greetings, CTAD Alumni and Friends!
Stepping into this role, I’ve been thinking a lot about my last seventeen years as a socially engaged artist and scholar, and I am so energized by where we are headed. When I look at the Corcoran’s Department of Theatre and Dance (CTAD), I don’t just see a training ground for performers. I see a dynamic performance laboratory. This is a space where the stage is a site for real action, and where our students learn to use their bodies as powerful tools for storytelling and vital social change.
CTAD is a proud, essential part of the Corcoran School of the Arts + Design family. Right now, we are focusing on deepening our roots here—re-imagining how we inhabit our creative spaces and building genuine, interdisciplinary connections across the entire school. We’re moving away from old silos and leaning into a model of integrated autonomy. That means we are fiercely protecting the unique, brilliant identities of both our Theatre and Dance programs, while finding natural ways to share resources, cross-pollinate, and collaborate.
Ultimately, we want to build a sustainable, supportive ecosystem where the creative process is valued just as much as the final curtain call. Over the next three years, we’re also focusing on bringing the outside world in by establishing deep, strategic partnerships with local community and fiscal partners.
We want to make sure CTAD is a place where students, staff, and faculty can lead with cultural competence and creative courage. By supporting the whole artist and the whole person, we aren't just preparing graduates for a career; we’re shaping the creative citizens and good neighbors our world really needs right now.
I’m honored to lead this collective effort, and I’d love for you to stay connected with us as we dive into this next chapter.
Warmly,
Sidney Monroe Williams
Program Head & Assistant Professor of Theatre
Spotlight Stories
Theatre Students Bring 24-Hour Festival to the Stage
Corcoran Theatre and Dance students brought creativity, collaboration and a little suspense to Building XX with the second “Get! Workin! 24-Hour Theatre Festival.” Co-produced by junior theatre majors Ally Fenton and Brandon Ogin, the student-led festival challenged writers, directors and actors to create and perform original one-act plays in just 24 hours.
This year’s horror-themed festival featured spooky stories ranging from murder mysteries to the ghost of George Washington. Playwrights began writing on Friday evening, directors cast their shows Saturday morning, and actors rehearsed throughout the day before the curtain rose at 6 p.m. The fast-paced format welcomed both experienced theatre students and newcomers, creating a low-risk, high-energy space for students to experiment, connect and perform.
Dance Capstones Explore Movement, Memory and Human Connection
This year’s Dance capstone projects highlighted the power of movement as a form of research, storytelling and inquiry. Olivia Earley, a senior Corcoran Scholar and double major in dance and political communication, brought together dance and narrative to explore memory, relationality, social justice and the human condition. Kelsey Kirker connected dance, psychology and cognitive neuroscience, translating neuropsychological research on major depressive disorder into embodied form and using choreography as a tool for education and reflection.
Emma Lang’s project, In the Movement of Many, drew from biology and anthropology to examine the collective intelligence of leafcutter ant colonies, transforming scientific observation into choreography about cooperation, interdependence and non-hierarchical organization. Kira Young, a dance and exercise science double major, brought her background in contemporary dance, global folk traditions and movement science to her work. Together, these projects showcased dance as a deeply interdisciplinary practice.
Faculty Kudos
- Anna Kimmel was awarded the Columbian Prize for Distinguished Mentoring of Advanced Undergraduate Students.
- John Traub was nominated by our students for the Morton Bender teaching award.
- Brendan Drake is the DC Dance Network's Innaugural Choreographer.
Alumni Class Notes
- Manasa Sharma '25, has will begin a MPH in Population and Family Health at Columbia University Fall 2026, following a fellowship in Nepal, and looks forward to continue her artistic practice (having presented work at World Pride 2025 following graduation) [Letter of Rec provided by Kimmel]
- Max Monson, ’25, Used a lot of their experience in the theater world of live production to land a job as a professional ASM and then a producer at SiriusXM MLB Network Radio! Live production experience you get in 1330 and working on actual CTAD productions is applicable outside the theater world!
- Violet Radmacher-Willis '24 will begin a Masters of Philosophy in Anthropology at Oxford beginning Fall 2026. [Letter of Rec provided by Kimmel]
- Michela Dwyer, enrolled Spring 2024, has completed her first year of an MFA in Dance: Embodied Interdisciplinary Praxis at Duke University [Letter of Rec provided by Kimmel]
- Madison Domanski '25 has received a year-long contract to train at DART Dance Company (Berlin) for the 2026-2027 season. She performed with Mark Caserta of BigKid Dance Company in April 2026, and has been selected to present choreography at Dance Place in Winter 2026.
- Hannah Cormier '25 will begin her second year of law school at GW, having received a Presidential Merit Scholarship (full tuition) [Letter of Rec provided by Kimmel]
- Ana Arledge '25 thesis mentor, Silas Reiner, was named a Guggenheim Fellow 2026. Arledge has been employed by Miami City Ballet 2025-2026.
- Kelsey Kirker '26 accepted a position as a Clinical Research Coordinator at Mount Sinai and will continue an artistic practice in NYC [Letter of Rec provided by Kimmel]
Upcoming Events & Opportunities
- GWU Get Workin’ 24-Hour Theatre Festival
- Blackbox in Building XX
- September 2026