Department of Theater

A Place of Rage: Women and Anger on Screen

“Every woman has a well-stocked arsenal of anger potentially useful against those oppressions, personal and institutional, which brought that anger into being.”—Audre Lorde, “The Uses of Anger,” Sister Outsider Post-#MeToo, films and television — many by women — have redefined female anger not as pathology or threat but as, in Lorde’s words, “loaded with information and energy.” Inspired by the work of scholar and UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television Professor Kathleen McHugh, this series explores how women’s rage, long silenced, has been and is being reclaimed through feminist filmmaking, challenging familiar tropes and reframing women’s anger as purposeful. Titled after Pratibha Parmar’s A Place of Rage (screening November 14), the series examines anger as a site of clarity, resistance and transformation and considers how genres once hostile to female subjectivity have become platforms for feminist disruption. This collection of shorts, television episodes and narrative and documentary features serves as a visual conjuring of the uses of anger: when wielded with precision, on women’s own terms, our rage can move beyond catharsis to radical change.   October 31, 2025 – 7:30 p.m. Sudden Fear November 14, 2025 – 7:30 p.m. An Evening of Films by Pratibha Parmer November 16, 2025 – 7:00 p.m. I May Destroy You November 23, 2025 – 7:00 p.m. Born in Flames / Stranger Inside December 6, 2025 – 7:30 p.m. Our Father, the Devil   Series programmed and notes written by UCLA Professor Kathleen McHugh and Public Programmer Beandrea July Special thanks to our community partners: UCLA Center for the Study of Women | Barbra Streisand Center, Women in Media

Bruin Fringe Festival 2025

November 6-8, 13-15 & 20-22, 2025

Bruin Fringe Festival (BFF) is a festival of short student-generated pieces directed by and featuring department undergraduate students. This workshop setting is modeled after fringe festivals around the world that celebrate new and innovative performance.

Faculty Advisor: Professor J. Ed Araiza

Free entry. First come, first-served. Performance schedule:   Bill One: November 6-8 November 6 & 7 – 7:00 p.m.; November 8 – 1:00 p.m. Bobby’s Ear Worm, written and directed by Brooke McCree Akospithecus (ah-kos-PITH-eh-kuss), written and directed by Lia Gonzalez The Real Wenches of Shakespearia, written and directed by Sam Jones John & Betty, written and directed by Kimmy Miller   Bill Two: November 13-15 November 13 & 14 – 7:00 p.m.; November 15 – 1:00 p.m. SQUIRRELVOLUTION, written by Zen Rame and directed by Surya Uniyal Matter of Time, written and directed by Dorothy Guo MEAT, written by Cypress Cai and directed by James Stutts   Bill Three: November 19-21 November 19 & 20 – 7:00 p.m.; November 21- 1:00 p.m. A Dictionary Dissection, written by Qianqian Ren and co-directed by Quinquin Ren and Joy Lei Alligator: A New Play, written and directed by Eve Morri Date with Death, written by Janaya Cataquis and directed by Sophia Manzur The Nativity Play That Goes Wrong, co-written and co-directed by Chelsea Silver and Oliver Cooney

Film Screening: “Behemoth” with Director Zhao Liang

Please join us for a special screening with award-winning documentary filmmaker Zhao Liang, who will revisit his 2015 film “Behemoth” in dialogue with CCS Director Michael Berry. About the film: BEHEMOTH (2015 · Feature Film · 90 min.) Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey, Where wealth accumulates, and men decay; — Oliver Goldsmith, The Deserted Village (1770) Over two centuries ago, British poet Goldsmith wrote down these words, and they describe our present day so perfectly. Human behavior has always performed itself with lunacy and absurdity, and we have never been able to rid our body of greed and arrogance. The spiral journey of civilization is thus filled with deviations and regressions. It seems as if we are taken by a force, monstrous, invisible and unconquerable. However, we created this invisible beast ourselves. It is our desire. We are the victim and the victimizer. In The Divine Comedy, Dante travels in his dreams through Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. In BEHEMOTH, I borrow this idea and depict an enormous industry chain: coal mining – iron mining – iron manufacture – architectual reinforcing bar manufacture – the construction of “ghost town” in Erdos. The colour of red, grey and blue represents respectively Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. Through the contemplative gaze of this film, I investigate the living conditions of industrial workers as well as the short-sighted urban development. It is my critique and meditation on the modern civilization. For trailer and additional information, see: http://zhaoliangstudio.com/work/behemoth