Culture Unbound
Hosted by the Department of Theatre & Dance
A theatre is just an empty space — until we fill it. In the light of our imaginations it becomes a place; in the rhythm of our expressions it becomes a moment. A time to witness, to engage with ideas, to feel alive, to experience culture in community.
Culture Unbound, the 2026–2027 Tucker-Boatwright Festival of Theatre, calls for an expansive understanding of culture as something not only inherited, but actively made, contested, and transformed through artistic practice, public dialogue, and collective imagination.
To be unbound is to orient toward horizons, to recognize culture as future-seeking, relational, and always evolving. Culture Unbound is a celebration of the many voices, histories, and practices that shape our lives. It is also a call to courage — to imagine boldly, to ask difficult questions, and to take part in building a more just world and a liberated future together through art.
Paul Tazewell
Weaving Stories: A Conversation with Oscar-Winning Costume Designer Paul Tazewell
Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2026, 7 p.m. | Free Tickets
Camp Concert Hall
Join us for Weaving Stories, a conversation with one of the most celebrated costume designers working today. From Broadway to film and television, Tazewell’s work demonstrates how costume design can shape storytelling and preserve cultural memory.
In this conversation, Tazewell will reflect on his creative process, the role of costume in expressing identity, and the responsibility of artists to engage with history and culture through their work. Together, we will explore how clothing becomes a language of storytelling that connects communities and celebrates the many ways culture continues to evolve.
Class Visits, Tours & Gatherings
As part of his residency, Paul Tazewell will engage with students, faculty, and campus organizations through a series of class visits and group gatherings. These sessions are designed to complement academic coursework and co-curricular programming, with opportunities to explore the intersections of costume design, storytelling, cultural identity, and the creative process through dialogue with one of the industry’s leading artists.
Departments and student organizations are invited to collaborate in shaping experiences that align with their learning objectives and areas of interest. These engagements will provide a unique opportunity for meaningful exchange and interdisciplinary exploration.
Please contact Johann Stegmir at jstegmei@richmond.edu to inquire about scheduling a class visit, organizational conversation, or other campus gathering with Paul Tazewell.
Photography: Emilio Madrid
The Thanksgiving Play
Staged Reading
Friday, Sept. 18, 7:30 p.m. | Free Tickets available starting Sept. 8
Saturday, Sept. 19, 2 p.m. | Free Tickets available starting Sept. 8
Cousins Studio Theatre
The Department of Theatre & Dance will present a staged reading of Larissa FastHorse’s The Thanksgiving Play.
What could possibly go wrong when a group of well-meaning theatre artists sets out to create the perfectly respectful Thanksgiving pageant? More than they ever imagined.
In Larissa FastHorse’s delightfully funny satire, four dedicated educators set out to create a school production that honors Native histories while navigating a maze of ideas, expectations, and questions about how stories are told. As their carefully laid plans unravel, what unfolds is a brilliantly awkward collision of good intentions, unexpected challenges, and hilariously escalating chaos — all rooted in our shared desire to get it right.
Filled with wit, warmth, and wonderfully awkward moments, The Thanksgiving Play reminds us that conversations about culture, identity, and representation are rarely simple, and that sometimes laughter opens the door to meaningful reflection.
Conversation Circles
In conjunction with the staged reading, the 2026–2027 Tucker-Boatwright Festival of Literature & the Arts will host Conversation Circles immediately following each performance. Guided by Courtney Elkin Mohler, associate professor of theatre at Boston College, theatre director, and dramaturg specializing in Native American theatre and performance, and dramaturg for Larissa FastHorse’s The Thanksgiving Play at Virginia Stage Company, and Kody Grant (Isleta Pueblo/EBCI), cultural educator and former actor and museum interpreter whose work centers on helping the public connect with American Indian history, culture, and representation. They will help facilitate conversations that invite us to reflect on the performance, consider the histories and representations it brings to the stage, and explore the questions it raises about who tells stories, whose voices are included, and how we represent cultures and histories in the theatre.
Reflection Brunch
Saturday, September 19, 12–1:15 p.m.
Carole Weinstein International Commons
Join us for brunch and conversation inspired by Larissa FastHorse’s The Thanksgiving Play. Guided by Courtney Elkin Mohler, associate professor of theatre at Boston College, theatre director, and dramaturg whose work focuses on Native American theatre, performance, and questions of representation, this facilitated gathering offers an opportunity to learn more about her work, explore some of the questions raised by the play, and consider the histories, perspectives, and ideas that audiences may encounter in the staged reading.
Whether you attended Friday evening’s staged reading and would like to continue the conversation, or you are joining us before the Saturday performance, we invite you to gather with us for a thoughtful exchange with members of the community.
Please contact Patricia Herrera, professor of theatre, at pherrera@richmond.edu to inquire about the Conversation Circles and Reflection Brunch.
Vivian Barnes ‘16 & Tosin Olufolabi ‘15
Fireside Chat: Making an Artistic Life
Wednesday, Oct. 21, 5:30 p.m.
Cousins Studio Theatre
Join playwright Vivian Barnes and deviser and sound designer Tosin Olufolabi for a conversation about their journeys from student artists to working professionals. They’ll share stories, lessons, and insights on finding your voice, building a creative practice, and navigating life as an artist beyond the university.
Page One: Devising through Memory
Thursday, October 22, 6 p.m.
Cousin Studio Theatre
What stories live in your body? What memories, sensations, and experiences shape the way you see the world? Step into the creative process of devising with artists Vivian Barnes ‘16 and Tosin Olufolabi ‘15 in a workshop that explores the powerful connections between memory, culture, and lived experience. Using sensory exploration, personal storytelling, and imaginative play, participants will experiment with movement, text, and storytelling to begin shaping a devised piece, and gain tools they can carry into future creative collaborations.
Class Visits
As part of Vivian Barnes and Tosin Olufolabi’s residencies, they will participate in class visits that provide opportunities to connect coursework and creative practice through conversation. Please contact Patricia Herrera, professor of theatre, at pherrera@richmond.edu to inquire about class visits.
Marc Bamuthi Joseph
Create Your Original Work
Thursday, Jan. 21, 6 p.m., The Acting Studio
Thursday, Feb. 4, 6 p.m., The Acting Studio
Tuesday, Mar. 16, 6 p.m., The Acting Studio
Thursday, Apr. 8, 6 p.m., Cousins Studio Theatre
Open to students across all disciplines. No previous experience is required. Only curiosity and a willingness to create.
What stories live within you? What histories, memories, questions, and experiences are waiting to become art?
Join artist, writer, and performer Marc Bamuthi Joseph for a series of creative workshops exploring how personal and collective histories can inspire original work. Whether you are a writer, performer, musician, designer, visual artist, filmmaker, choreographer, or simply curious about the creative process, these workshops invite you to experiment with form and discover the medium that best expresses your ideas.
Through collaborative exercises, conversation, and creative exploration, participants will investigate how stories we inherit, experience, and imagine can become the foundation for new artistic works. Participants will explore approaches to devising, storytelling, and making across disciplines, bringing together performance, writing, sound, movement, design, and other creative practices.
Please contact Patricia Herrera at pherrera@richmond.edu to inquire about Marc Bamuthi’s workshops.
Workshops
The workshops draw from six themes at the center of Bamuthi’s multi-year Richmond-based project, Remembering Empathy: An Art I Story Project.
MEMORY What the water remembers first… what the land remembers most
FOLKLORE Six things I saw with my own eyes and still couldn’t believe…
HISTORY What is the responsibility of the librarians before the libraries are burned down?
TRUTH Why I am ashamed… why I am sustained… why I am unhealed…
FACTS We hold these truths to be selfless evidence.
ERASURE Please notice, before I leave you rest…
Participants will use these themes as starting points for developing original pieces and creative responses. The workshops welcome makers of all kinds — actors, poets, musicians, dancers, designers, and students interested in exploring how ideas become art. Participants will have the opportunity to share their original creations in a culminating Creative Showcase. This gathering will celebrate the stories, ideas, and artistic expressions developed throughout the residency while offering a glimpse into the many ways we can transform the histories we carry into new forms of creative expression.
Come create. Come experiment. Come discover what stories, ideas, and forms are waiting to emerge.
The workshops are part of Marc Bamuthi Joseph’s residency with the Modlin Center for the Arts and the Bonner Center for Civic Engagement. Since 2023, Bamuthi has collaborated with University of Richmond students, faculty, staff, artists, historians, and community members to explore Richmond’s past and present and to imagine new possibilities for the future.
The residency will culminate in the world premiere of Remembering Empathy, a new orchestral work featuring Joseph’s spoken-word reflections and a score by composer Tamar-kali, performed by the Richmond Symphony on April 9 & 10, 2027.
David Henry Hwang
Cross Cultures: A Conversation with Tony Award-Winning Playwright & Screenwriter David Henry Hwang
Tuesday, Feb. 2
Wednesday, Feb. 3
Location TBD
David Henry Hwang is a Tony Award-winning playwright, screenwriter, and librettist whose work has shaped contemporary American theatre. His acclaimed plays, including Yellow Face, Chinglish, and FOB, explore themes such as identity, immigration, race, and belonging through nuanced writing. Spanning Broadway, opera, film, and television, Hwang’s work challenges the stories that define American culture while expanding representation on stage.
Join us for a two-day conversation with David Henry Hwang as we explore cultural storytelling across communities. Drawing from his decades-long career as one of America’s most influential dramatists, Hwang will reflect on his creative process, the evolving role of theatre in shaping public discourse, and the responsibility of artists to tell stories that resonate with different identities and generations.
Class Visits & Gatherings
As part of his guest visit, Hwang will engage with students, faculty, and campus organizations through a series of class visits. These sessions will provide students with opportunities to explore the creative process in a collaborative setting.
Please contact Johann Stegmir at jstegmei@richmond.edu to inquire about scheduling a class visit with David Henry Hwang.