David “Tug” Watson is a musical theatre artist from New York who most recently performed as a cast member in the Broadway revival of Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Watson joined the Broadway company of The Phantom of the Opera in 2018 after receiving his MFA. He also played the role of Munkustrap in the Worldwide production of Cats before becoming a swing and performing the role of Gus in the 2016 Broadway revival. He has also toured extensively with Chicago, Evita, Young Frankenstein, and Annie. Other favorite roles played are Jesus in Jesus Christ Superstar, Homer in Floyd Collins, Jerry in The Full Monty, and Whizzer in Falsettos.  

Watson has held faculty positions at Marymount Manhattan College and Nazareth University. He has also been a soloist with the San Diego Symphony where he served as the movement coordinator and associate director of its Broadway Summer Series. At the Royal Danish Ballet Summer School, he taught musical theatre dance repertoire as a member of the faculty.  (more…)

Clarinetist, composer, and educator Dr. Luke Ellard strives for art that continually reaches out, engages thoughtfully with communities, and values authenticity unapologetically. 

With a passion for finding intersections between the past and future, Ellard has drawn from their experience as a contemporary and interdisciplinary collaborator with groups such as Bang on a Can All Stars and Eighth Blackbird, their research as a historical performance specialist, and their experience as a chamber and orchestral musician with such regional ensembles as Mallarmé Music and the Winston-Salem Symphony. Their music has been internationally performed by ensembles such as HOCKET, the Lawrence Conservatory Wind Ensemble, the New Trombone Collective, the North Texas Wind Symphony, and the Toronto Youth Wind Orchestra, and consortiums like the New Works Project. Current projects include their book NEXTended Studies, solo electronic band LE, and commissioning projects as a performer and composer.  (more…)

College of Visual and Performing Arts Dean bruce d. mcclung has announced the appointment of Janinah Burnett as Assistant Professor of Commercial Voice. 

Janinah Burnett’s artistry has carved out a place for her as one of the most versatile and accomplished singers of her generation. Ms. Burnett has performed with many of the opera houses in the United States including the Metropolitan Opera where she was a soloist for eight seasons. Ms. Burnett also debuted roles in several notable international opera houses including the Teatro Dell’Opera di Roma, Deutsche Oper Berlin, and Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris. She also was a member of the company that opened the renovated Den Norske Oper in Oslo, Norway.  

In addition to the opera stage, Ms. Burnett has appeared on Broadway. She began her professional career in Baz Luhrmann’s La Bohème on Broadway, which won her the Los Angeles Theater Alliance’s Ovation Award, gave her a Special Tony Award recognition, and allowed for her to appear on the Tony Awards with the show. Years later, Ms. Burnett was a closing cast member in the iconic Phantom of the Opera on Broadway in which she made appearances as Carlotta Giudicelli. 

 During the Covid shutdown in 2021, Ms. Burnett released her debut recording project from her own label CLAZZ RECORDS entitled Love the Color of Your Butterfly. On this album, she broke fresh ground and transcended the traditional genres and parameters in marrying jazz and classical music styles in a term she calls “CLAZZ.” Through collaboration with some of the world’s finest jazz musicians, Ms. Burnett presents a recorded and live concert experience creating a compendium of the musical elements of her life and career. 

 Ms. Burnett holds a Master of Music (MM) in Voice from the Eastman School of Music and a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Music from Spelman College. 

College of Visual and Performing Arts Dean bruce d. mcclung has announced the appointment of Khristopher Smalling as Academic Professional: Assistant Professor in Music Production and Technology. 

Smalling is a second-generation Jamaican American, multi-instrumentalist, classically trained trombonist, electronic music producer, arranger, and educator. He has taught “Electronic Music Production,” “Studio Recording Techniques,” and “Overview of the Music Industry” as an Assistant Professor of Music Business at Winston-Salem State University. 

Throughout his career, Smalling has demonstrated versatility and an innovative approach to music. As a lead bass/baritone vocalist with the Bach Choir of Pittsburgh and an integral member of the Employees of Funk brass band, he left an impact on Pittsburgh’s music scene. In addition to his performances and educational appointments, Khristopher has explored electronic music, incorporating elements of old-school Jungle and Drum & Bass influenced by the global Jamaican diaspora. Often integrating sampled brass horns into his compositions, he reflects his cultural roots in his creative process.  (more…)

Assistant Professor of Theatre Robi Arce-Martínez poses a question, “Where else but at UNCG’s School of Theatre?” 

He’s talking about a new theatre work called [where-else] which opens April 5th at Elsewhere, an artist residency and museum in downtown Greensboro. Arce-Martínez and 19 students from all majors across the school developed the piece together. 

“The project is very much based in storytelling, and it serves as a forum for students to engage in collaboration and collective creation, while at the same time, sharing lived experiences and differences to find common ground, to then develop new material which is also influenced by the space.” 

The space is Elsewhere Museum. And while it has the word “museum” in its name, Elsewhere is probably nothing like what you might imagine a museum to be. For fifty-eight years, the three-story building on Elm Street was owned by long-time resident Sylvia Gray and housed a store that sold furniture, fabric, military surplus, and secondhand goods.  When she died, her grandson George Scheer inherited the building.  

“George and two friends from Michigan declared nothing for sale and named the space as we know it today, Elsewhere. He decided that this was going to be a place where artists come from anywhere in the nation or even abroad, and work with the objects that are already in there to create installations or artistic residencies,” explains Arce-Martínez. “The rule of Elsewhere is that everything created in the space needs to happen with the objects that are already in there. So, the rule is that nothing comes in, nothing goes out. There is this eternal cycle of destruction and creation that I think is beautiful and energizing.” 

Arce-Martínez has served on the board of Elsewhere since he arrived in Greensboro in 2021. He proposed it as a space to School Director Natalie Sowell because the school was looking for new opportunities for students while Taylor Theatre was closed for renovations, and because they wanted to add a community-based theatre project to the season.  

 “When you come to the show, you’ll see that elsewhere has a lot going on,” he laughs adding, “It will be immersive and you will not be sitting and watching a show, rather it’s more of an engagement. The audience will move through the space, too, and because the spirit of this work is collaboration, we’re making space for the audience to be a part of it. Yes, it’s scripted, but there is some looseness to it because we want to allow room for discovery and understanding that the work never ends.” (more…)