Performing Arts News Stories Archive

Archive of news stories related to NTID Performing Arts

January 26, 2024

college students singing in an a cappella group.

Performing arts options tip scales in RIT’s favor

More than 500 incoming students this academic year received a performing arts scholarship, which were created to enable musicians, dancers, actors, and even students with experience in technical theater to continue to pursue their passion for performance while at RIT. To date, some 1,800 students have received scholarships in the five years they have been available.

September 11, 2023

13 male college students wearing black suits lined up on a stage, singing.

RIT well represented at 2023 Rochester Fringe Festival

RIT students, faculty, and staff will contribute music, dance, comedy, poetry, photojournalism, and more during the 12th annual Rochester Fringe Festival, which begins Tuesday, Sept. 12, and runs through Sept. 23 in downtown Rochester.

September 6, 2023

five people holding orange shovels at a ceremonial ground breaking.

RIT breaks ground for new music performance theater

In order to accommodate a surge in students engaged in performing arts, an official groundbreaking was held today for RIT’s new music performance theater, the first major theater project in the Rochester area in decades. The three-story, 40,000-square-foot building will consist of a 750-seat theater primarily to be used for musical theater productions.

August 24, 2023

a crowd of college students sitting in folding chairs in a field house.

More than 500 Performing Arts Scholars added to RIT’s cast of talented students

Nearly one in six of the more than 3,300 first-year and transfer undergraduates this year received a Performing Arts Scholarship from RIT. That brings the total number of scholars to more than 1,800 in the five years since the program began. The program encourages high school students involved in performing arts to continue their passions at RIT.

June 6, 2023

four actors on a stage, with two on top of a box labeled toys.

RIT/NTID and School of Performing Arts present 2023-2024 theatrical season

The 2023-2024 theatrical season featuring a partnership between RIT’s School of Performing Arts and NTID's Department of Performing Arts will include a celebration of Deaf rap and hip hop, an adaptation of Hamlet, a multimedia dance production, and several immersive theatrical performances, among others.

March 29, 2023

image of an ear with a brick textured overlay on it. On top of a black and white background.

RIT/NTID kicks off NEA Big Read project April 1

In Ilya Kaminsky’s Deaf Republic, villagers’ deafness becomes an act of revolt against a totalitarian government, and their use of sign language unites them as a community. These themes, along with others throughout the book, resonate with the contemporary experience of deafness in the United States.

February 27, 2023

artist rendering of a multi-level open makerspace.

SHED will showcase RIT maker community

Nearly 70 different RIT student teams and clubs are poised to move into the Student Hall for Exploration and Development (SHED) this summer in preparation for the building’s official opening in the fall semester.

January 24, 2023

three college students holding award certificates.

RIT students receive Kennedy Center awards

Three RIT students involved in last semester’s production of Everybody brought home awards from the Region II Kennedy Center College Theatre Fest, held Jan. 17-22.

September 9, 2022

group of 16 students dressed in various forms of drag.

RIT offerings at this year’s Rochester Fringe Festival

RIT students, faculty, and staff will contribute music, dance, comedy, poetry, photojournalism, and more during the 11th annual Rochester Fringe Festival, which begins Sept. 13 and continues through Sept. 24 in downtown Rochester.

August 19, 2022

RIT President Munson speaking at podium with a power point projection in the background.

President Munson calls on RIT community to reinvigorate the campus this academic year

RIT President David Munson welcomed the community for the start of a new academic year with a call to re-energize the campus’s atmosphere to its pre-pandemic level. During his annual President’s Address in Ingle Auditorium this morning, Munson encouraged all RIT faculty, staff, and students to make a new academic year resolution to spend more time face-to-face with one another.

July 29, 2022

poster for the play Everybody with a skull eating numbered lottery balls.

RIT/NTID and College of Liberal Arts present 2022-2023 theatrical season

RIT's 2022-2023 theater season will include Everybody, a morality play on death; a production celebrating Thomas Warfield’s 25th anniversary of dance at NTID; a musical on unexpected connections; a play of episodic poems on deafness, violence, and resistance; and a dance production of an extended 1970s progressive rock song.

May 2, 2022

woman conducting an orchestra.

RIT’s performing arts teachers come with impressive backgrounds

As RIT prepares to open a School of Performing Arts, the new instructors that will come with the school will join an already talented pool of faculty and staff members who have been helping students eager to pursue their passions of music, dance, and acting, for years.

April 29, 2022

three people making the American Sign Language sign for cheese.

Pioneering RIT and NTID collaboration garners the Coca-Cola Refreshing Films Grand Prize

Say Cheese, a pioneering, heartfelt film directed and produced by two RIT students, took home the top prize in the Coca-Cola Refreshing Films program announced during the final night of CinemaCon in Las Vegas late Thursday. The project featured the combined creative efforts of students, faculty, and staff in RIT’s School of Film and Animation and NTID.

April 8, 2022

seven dancers dressed in shades of blue and purple reaching out in various directions.

RIT to create a School of Performing Arts

RIT is creating a School of Performing Arts to offer additional creative opportunities for thousands of students who wish to pursue their passions in performance while majoring in a range of other fields. The new school will be housed within RIT’s College of Liberal Arts beginning July 1, and a national search is underway for a director. 

March 30, 2022

performers on stage rehearsing In the Heights.

RIT/NTID Performing Arts presents ‘In The Heights’ April 15-17

NTID’s Department of Performing Arts presents its production of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Tony Award-winning musical In The Heights, April 15-17, at Panara Theatre, Lyndon Baines Johnson Hall. Directed by Principle Lecturer Luane Davis Haggerty, NTID’s production features deaf, hard-of-hearing, and hearing actors performing on stage simultaneously.

March 15, 2022

Gabriel Ponte-Fleary, Anna McClanahan and Shanti Thakur on set for Say Cheese.

RIT, NTID make history with Coca-Cola-sponsored film

Film and Animation students Anna McClanahan (BFA) and Gabriel Ponte-Fleary (MFA) are finalists in Coca-Cola's Refreshing Films program. They are producing what is thought to be the program's first finalist film dealing with deaf and hard-of-hearing themes.

February 10, 2022

Daniel Durant '11, actor and RIT/NTID alumnus.

NTID alumnus stars in Oscar-nominated film ‘CODA’

RIT/NTID alumnus Daniel Durant ’11 (applied computer technology) is undoubtedly celebrating the latest accolades for the 2021 film CODA. Durant plays a major supporting role in the newly Oscar-nominated comedy-drama, a coming-of-age film.

February 8, 2022

dance students rehearsing.

NTID Performing Arts, Dance at RIT present IGNITE showcase

A variety of RIT performing artists will showcase their talents at IGNITE, organized by NTID's Department of Performing Arts and Dance at RIT. IGNITE will have four shows Feb. 11-13 at Robert F. Panara Theatre in Lyndon Baines Johnson Hall.

January 31, 2022

dance instructor looks on as students practice.

Garth Fagan Dance partnership opens with a spirited first act

RIT students are already benefitting from a new partnership with Garth Fagan Dance. RIT Performing Arts Scholars Program students are taking master classes and students are working on a semester-long arts management capstone project to deliver suggestions for the internationally known dance company to potentially implement.

January 31, 2022

student performing traditional Indian dance.

Performing artists take center stage at RIT

RIT is well on its way to developing the leading performing arts program in the nation for non-majors, attracting talented and creative students who can continue their passions for music, dance, theater, and other performing arts.  

January 20, 2022

man speaking at podium.

RIT’s annual Let Freedom Ring event rescheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 1

RIT’s annual Let Freedom Ring event has been rescheduled to take place from 12-1 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 1, in Ingle Auditorium. The event was originally planned to commemorate Martin Luther King Jr. Day, but was rescheduled when RIT closed due to a powerful winter storm.

October 21, 2021

group of masked people learning a dance.

RIT/NTID partners with Garth Fagan Dance

RIT students are already benefitting from a new partnership with Garth Fagan Dance, with RIT Performing Arts Scholarship students taking master classes downtown and students working on a semester-long arts management capstone project to deliver suggestions for the internationally known dance company to potentially implement.

June 23, 2021

environmental portrait of Jill Bradbury.

RIT/NTID names Jill Bradbury chair of performing arts department

The Department of Performing Arts at NTID has named Jill Bradbury as chairperson and professor. Prior to her role, Bradbury was a member of the English department faculty at Gallaudet University. She also taught at RIT/NTID in both the Department of Liberal Studies and Department of Cultural and Creative Studies.

April 9, 2021

side-by-side portraits of Luane Davis Haggerty, Bhuvish Mehta, Thomas Warfield, and Clirim Sheremeti

Double celebration will honor 2020 and 2021 Davis Award recipients

This year’s recognition of RIT’s Alfred L. Davis Distinguished Public Service Award winners will be a double celebration, as faculty and student recipients from 2020 and 2021 are honored April 13. Luane Davis Haggerty will receive the 2021 Four Presidents Distinguished Public Service Award, and Bhuvish Mehta will receive the 2021 Bruce R. James ’64 Distinguished Public Service Award. Thomas Warfield was awarded the 2020 Four Presidents Distinguished Public Service Award, and Çlirim Sheremeti was awarded the 2020 Bruce R. James ’64 Distinguished Public Service Award.

April 9, 2021

several students filming a student in front of a green screen.

‘She Kills Monsters: Virtual Realms’ premieres April 16-18

RIT/NTID presents “She Kills Monsters: Virtual Realms,” for four performances, next Friday through April 18. While the audience will watch virtually, the actors will be performing live in several “actor stations” in Lyndon Baines Johnson Hall and its Robert F. Panara Theatre.

March 10, 2021

flier for Broadway Comes to RIT.

Broadway veterans host workshops for RIT students

RIT students have the opportunity this spring to learn from professional artists in a series of free virtual workshops with Broadway performers and dancers. The “Broadway Comes to RIT” series will be held on Sundays, from 3 to 4:30 p.m. via Zoom.

November 20, 2020

seven dancers performing on a stage.

‘Spoon River Anthology’ finds life at RIT

A story written 100 years ago featuring epitaphs from dozens of deceased individuals is finding life this week as Spoon River Anthology premieres Saturday virtually on YouTube for the fall production from NTID.

July 27, 2020

woman playing violin.

Performing Arts to continue this fall at RIT

The show must go on – even if it means virtually. While performing arts offerings at RIT may look and feel differently from how they normally operate, RIT is committed to making sure they are available in a healthy and safe manner.

June 25, 2020

students performing a play in a set that looks like a college dorm room.

RIT theater production receives Kennedy Center award

I and You, a collaborative production between NTID's Department of Performing Arts and the College of Liberal Arts Theatre Arts Program, has won a 2020 Outstanding Production Ensemble award from the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival.

February 14, 2020

students rehearsing fight scene for a play.

RIT/NTID’s ‘Dial M for Murder’ runs Feb. 28-March 1

The Alfred Hitchcock classic Dial M for Murder has a new twist as NTID Performing Arts translates the play into American Sign Language, making it accessible to deaf audiences. Deaf and hard-of-hearing audience members can also experience cutting-edge closed-captioning technology using smartglasses developed by Vuzix Corp.

February 13, 2019

actors dressed in 1930s cabaret attire pose on stage

RIT announces 2019-2020 theatrical season

Mystery, murder, dance, a look at deaf life, and the struggle to survive Nazi Germany are all part of a new collaborative season by RIT’s National Technical Institute for the Deaf Performing Arts program and College of Liberal Arts Theater Arts program.

November 13, 2018

Members of the cast practice a group dance, their arms linked together as they move around in a circle.

RIT presents ‘Cabaret’ Nov. 30–Dec. 2

The unique blend of deaf, hard-of-hearing and hearing students performing on stage together will guarantee theater-goers a one-of-a-kind experience at the debut of the Tony-award winning classic Cabaret at RIT.

September 18, 2018

An action photo of the cast performing the show "How I learned to Drive." Six people sit and stand around a dinner table while five others dressed in black stand on a raised platform behind them.

RIT announces 2018-2019 theatrical season

Four performances presenting an array of cultural, political and social issues are part of a new collaborative season by RIT’s College of Liberal Arts Theater Arts Program and RIT’s National Technical Institute for the Deaf performing arts program.

May 24, 2018

RIT building with text saying, "A shining beacon, fifty years of the national technical institute for the deaf."

History book highlights first 50 years of NTID

Published by RIT Press, A Shining Beacon: Fifty Years of the National Technical Institute for the Deaf highlights the first 50 years of the world’s first and largest technological college for deaf and hard-of-hearing students at RIT.

March 19, 2018

Lady Bird Johnson shaking hands with Bill Ingraham.

NTID celebrates 50 years

Since its establishment in 1968, NTID has become a catalyst for diversity and inclusion on the RIT campus, creating a post–secondary learning environment never before seen in this country.

January 24, 2018

Yellow glittery flat shoes with bows on them.

The Wonderful World of Oz comes to RIT/NTID

The performing arts department at NTID presents The Wonderful World of Oz, April 19-22, with encore performances June 28-July 1 in celebration of NTID's 50th-anniversary reunion celebration.

March 29, 2017

Two people balancing props on hand

A bright new day for NTID's Sunshine 2.0

RIT/NTID alumnus Fred Michael Beam finds connections where others may not. As the coordinator of RIT/NTID’s traveling performance troupe Sunshine 2.0, Beam connects performing arts and science, technology, engineering and math—or STEM—themes, for deaf, hard-of-hearing and hearing children and adults around the country.

January 19, 2017

Picture of person eating leaf with blindfold on

Dyer Arts Center opens 2017 with three exhibits

The Dyer Arts Center hosts “(Re)Invention,” a traveling exhibition from the Kennedy Center; an exhibit with works from the personal collections of faculty artists from RIT/NTID’s Visual Communication Studies Department; and an exhibit on “Shakespeare in American Deaf History.”

March 10, 2016

NTID forms performing arts advisory committee

The committee will engage in community outreach, promote greater community involvement in theater, increase opportunities for student participation and promote ASL theater.

January 21, 2016

poster for the production Tribes, written by Nina Raine, directed by Jerry Argetsigner, 7 30 p m February 4 through 6 and 2 p m February 7.

RIT/NTID presents 'Tribes' Feb. 4-7

The College of Liberal Arts and NTID present Tribes, a comedy/drama about family conflict that arises when a son brings his deaf girlfriend home to meet his parents.

April 19, 2013

People dancing on stage

AstroDance blends art and physics

The innovative multimedia performance that uses dance to tell the story of black holes and gravitational pull of particles in the universe will be performed at Imagine RIT.