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School of Performing Arts

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.

Students in the History and Technology of Musical Instruments class taught by Matias Homar at RIT got the chance to take a discarded harpsichord and bring it to life, juicing it up with electricity, connecting it with a computer and monitors, and adding sensors, microphones, and even lights to it.

With its five extra-large classrooms, seven makerspaces, performing arts studios, and glass box theater, the $120 million SHED complex is made for a new generation of RIT students who see themselves as makers and doers, performers, and active learners.

The inaugural production in the newest building on the RIT campus, AstroDance II: Across the Universe, premiered Dec. 1 to 3 and featured a variety of dance, aerial and circus arts, and augmented reality. 

The inaugural production in the newest building on the RIT campus, AstroDance II: Across the Universe, premieres Dec. 1 to 3, featuring a variety of dance, aerial and circus arts, and augmented reality, which will be presented in the new state-of-the-art Sklarsky Glass Box Theater.

From hockey games and performing arts presentations to receptions and reunions, RIT’s Brick City Homecoming and Family Weekend has more than 100 events planned from Oct. 13 to 15.

Thy Name is Woman, an immersive and site-specific adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, will be presented by NTID’s Department of Performing Arts and the School of Performing Arts. Shows are 7 p.m. Nov. 9-11 and 2 p.m. Nov. 11-12.

Hundreds of people attended a performance by an RIT-related act during the first week of the 12-day Rochester Fringe Festival, with students, faculty, and staff contributing music, dance, comedy, poetry, photojournalism, in downtown Rochester. And nearly 20 other RIT-related performances are scheduled later this week.

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.

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.

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.

Calling all potential cast members, stage managers, designers, dancers, costumers, theater technicians, and more: RIT’s first “Full Season Audition Debut” is set for 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. Aug. 30 in Ingle Auditorium.