PRAXIS, INC: 2026

***** Please note that registration is required for this event. All attendees must complete the google registration form. Registrations will close at 12:00pm ET on Friday, October 23rd. 

PRAXIS, INC: Innovate, Network, Collaborate is the department's annual community event in which we invite current students, faculty and alumni to come together and share their skills in the field of Performance Studies, engage in important conversations, and stay connected with colleagues and peers..

This year's program will include sessions by: Is Ali (M.A. '20), Ellie Carrillo (M.A. '26), Asya Gorovits (M.A. '21), SJ Kim-Ryu (M.A. '26), Manion Kuhn (B.A. '19, M.A. '20), Erin Mee (M.A. '96, Ph.D. '04), Yuliia Linnik (M.A. Candidate), Makai Shields (M.A. '26), and  Yiran Shu (M.A. '26).

KEYNOTE: 
"DESPITE: News, Knots, and the stubborn conjunction of immigrant value"
Professor Michelle Castañeda, current PS students Amalia Uribe Guardiola and Luisa Alarcón Criales, and PS Alum Camila Falquez will offer a performance lecture exploring issues of value, labor, and immigration. Inspired by the recent journalistic embroidery work of artist-activist Cinthya Santos Briones, the lecture uses recent news headlines to think about knots, and knots to think about news. Audience members will be given needles and thread and invited to sew along.

SCHEDULE:

10:00-10:30 - Check in/ Breakfast

10:30-11:15 - Session 1 

Yiran Shu (M.A. '26) - Are We Making FIRE Yet? Storytelling in the Age of New Tools
Asya Gorovits (M.A. '21) - Who Moves Whom? A Hands-On Introduction to Bunraku Puppetry
Manion Kuhn (B.A. '19, M.A. '20) - Ergonomics of the Enduring Body

11:25-12:10 - Session 2

Is Ali (M.A. '20) - Black Thoughts: Black Study/ies as Social Media 
Yuliia Linnik (M.A. Candidate) - roll+move+explore contemporary theatre in Ukraine
SJ Kim-Ryu (M.A. '26) - Circular Nomadism and Astrosensual, (m)Other Chaos

12:20-1:20 - Alumni Career Panel -  John Betts (‘10), Elizabeth Koke  (‘08), and Sunmi Yong (‘19) moderated by Assistant Professor Jeannine Tang. 

1:30-2:30 - Networking Lunch

2:40-3:25 - Session 3

Ellie Carrillo (M.A. '26) - Read Between the Lines: A Look Underneath the Epstein Files
Erin Mee (M.A. '96, Ph.D. '04) - The Republic Of Užupis: A State of Mind
Makai Shields (M.A. '26) - Chicago Studies: A Movement, A Moment, A Drill

3:35-4:45 - Keynote - "DESPITE: News, Knots, and the stubborn conjunction of immigrant value" by Professor Michelle Castañeda, current PS students Amalia Uribe Guardiola and Luisa Alarcón Criales, and PS Alum Camila Falquez