As the blistering summer heat begins to fade into mild fall temperatures and autumn colors, Arizona Arts is gearing up for its 2026 lineup of arts, humanities and culture events. University of Arizona students and faculty across multiple departments, from Film and Theatre to Visual Arts and Dance, are inviting the community to take part in the festivities.
“You come into a theater and you share the darkened room with everyone at the same time and you’re in it for this one-chance-in-a-lifetime experience that will never be duplicated,” Theatre, Film and Television Artistic Director Christie Kerr said, speaking to the wonders of live theatre. “For an hour and a half or two hours, we all share this common thread of discovery on stage and that journey that we all make together — whether we’re up on our feet and we’re dancing or we’re all crying together.
“I think there’s something really special about the chance to escape everyday life, turn your phone off and turn your brain off of what you’re dealing with on the outside and just sit back, relax and enjoy.”
Through early January 2027, Arizona Arts is producing various art galleries and exhibits, performing arts shows and a collection of lectures and conversations for the community to enjoy. The offerings include, but are not limited to:
Christone “Kingfish” Ingram — Sept. 18
“Staged: The Art of Performance” — opens Oct. 10
“The Rocky Horror Show” — Oct. 11-25
“The 4th Witch” — Oct. 31
“Fall for Dance” — Nov. 12-22
“Orfeo ed Euridice” — Nov. 18-21
“Animality: 100 Years of Photographs” — through Dec. 12
In the School of Theatre, Film and Television, the fall season begins with a production of “The Rocky Horror Show,” directed and choreographed by Kerr. The original musical — later adapted into the equally beloved film starring the late Tim Curry — follows newly engaged couple Brad and Janet after a flat tire leads them to the home of Dr. Frank-N-Furter. There, the unsuspecting couple is swept into a night of increasingly strange encounters as Frank-N-Furter unveils his latest creation, Rocky. Kerr described Arizona Arts’ production as holding true to the source material while still making it fresh and interesting for viewers that are familiar with the works.
“We’re not looking to just recreate the movie on stage — we want to come up with a new spin on different things,” she said. “Maybe that means incorporating some filmed elements or projections and it might not look exactly like people expect ‘Rocky Horror’ to, but it is still the material.”
A large part of that creative process, the director said, involves working with the actors and seeing the ways in which their individual personalities might inform the way a character is portrayed.
Rehearsals for “The Rocky Horror Show” began on Aug. 24. Kerr said she instructed the student actors to review the lines over the summer, watch the film no more than once and “start to create who you are as a character.” After completing a read-through of the script, she said it’s time to identify the best path forward as the team continues to collaborate.
For the director and choreographer, the best part of working on any production is getting to see all of the elements come together after months of blood, sweat and tears. She said that since the beginning of this year, the team has been discussing the scenic elements, the costumes and all of the various other moving parts that make up the show.
While Kerr and her students are preparing to bring those elements together on stage, other branches of Arizona Arts are offering audiences opportunities to experience the arts outside the theater. The University of Arizona Museum of Art (UAMA) will run a new exhibition titled “Staged: The Art of Performance” from Oct. 10 through March 20 — including a reception on Oct. 15. According to Associate Curator of Exhibitions Violet Rose Armas, the show features approximately 44 works from the UAMA collection alongside loaned pieces from local artists and collectors.
“Staged: The Art of Performance” includes works from iconic artists such as Allison Miller, Henri Matisse and Andy Warhol. The exhibit also features a collection of work by Robert Priseman from his “Fame” portrait series — which Armas said explores the darker side of being a performer.
“They’re artworks that put well-known celebrities and performers into like religious, iconographic images and they speak to the hardship of performance and the pressures that can come with being in the spotlight,” she said. “It’s something that we didn’t want to shy away from having in this show.”
The exhibit will also have interactive elements, such as “On Stage: A Place for Play,” where visitors have the opportunity to listen to vinyl records. Various fabrics and props can be found around the gallery, Armas said, to allow guests to put on a performance of their own as well.
But the exhibit is not only about showcasing paintings, photographs and other works of art, Armas said. One of the major goals of the gallery is to showcase the intersection of visual and performing art.
“Performance is something that is often intangible, unless it is recorded or documented in some way, but it’s really a unique feeling to go to a performance and it’s hard to replicate in another form,” she said. “I think when an artist depicts it, it adds a whole other layer to the performance and creates a tangible object that captures a small moment in that performance forever.”
Different from taking a photograph, the curator explained, the artwork has a distinct and interesting way of freezing the moment in time.
On Sept. 18, the School of Music will honor one of the university’s own with “A Celebration of the Life and Discography of Wiley Ross.” Ross died April 18 after more than four decades with the University of Arizona School of Music, where he served as director of the Jeffrey Haskell Recording Studio, recording engineer, educator and mentor.
The concert features alumni recording artists and faculty musicians — including Brian Ralston and Craig Sharmat. According to School of Music Associate Director Brian Luce, both Hollywood film composers worked with and trained under the late recording engineer before going on to careers in the film industry.
Other performers include harpist Heidi Hernandez, guitarist Misael Díaz Baradas and flutist Victoria Hauk, along with current students and faculty. Luce said many of the participating alumni recorded with Ross or worked under his guidance during their time at the university.
The fall 2026 season brings with it a wide range of opportunities to experience the arts across disciplines. Whether through theater, music, visual art or the university’s other offerings, Armas said she hopes the fall season gives people both on and off campus opportunities to engage with the arts.
“The arts are where people go to escape, to enjoy, to learn and to be challenged,” Armas said. “It’s really an honor, I think, to be a part of that infrastructure, and I can’t imagine putting my career towards anything else other than trying to make the arts as accessible to the widest group of people as possible.”
