Arts and Culture

Into the Woods: Nature Works its Magic in Shakespeare in Yosemite

April 15, 2025

As Yosemite Likes It UC Merced performers

If Arden, the sprawling, wild forest in William Shakespeare’s “As You Like It,” were in the United States instead of the Bard’s imagination, it would certainly be a national park. Like Yosemite. That is why this light comedy is an ideal fit for the annual UC Merced...

Shakespearean Sustainability Gets Curtain Call in Yosemite

Unlike traditional theater productions, there was no red curtain, special lighting, microphone feedback or elaborate stage makeup at Shakespeare in Yosemite. Instead, squirrels scurried across the...

A Night of Community Art Showcases Principles of Community

Fourteen students, faculty and staff members drew upon their artistic skills to create an array of art pieces to showcase at UC Merced’s Night of Community Art on April 19. The event is the...

Devon Glover, The Sonnet Man, speaks to students at Gracey Elementary School in Merced.

Shakespeare Rapper Schools Students with Hip Hop Sonnets

In what world are Shakespeare and hip-hop related? Ask Devon Glover. Glover is The Sonnet Man, a Shakespeare-loving rapper who sets The Bard’s famous sonnets to hip-hop instrumentals. Using...

Yu-Han Chao, a former UC Merced faculty member, will be reading an excerpt from her new book, a collection of short stories, at the university's Write! Look! Listen! series.

Former Faculty Member to Read from New Book at UC Merced Author Series

UC Merced is a research institution and while groundbreaking work is done in its labs, that doesn’t mean the arts aren’t thriving, too. For the past 10 years, the Write! Look! Listen!...

Participants in this year's production of "As You Like It" include: UC Merced student Angel Nunez, Yosemite Park Ranger Jess Rivas, local English teacher Bethy Harmelin, UC Merced faculty member Tawanda Chabikwa and UC Merced student Maria Nguyen-Cruz.

‘All the World’s a Stage’ with Shakespeare in Yosemite’s 3rd Annual Production

William Shakespeare’s plays are meant to be enjoyed by a live, theater audience and there is no better place to experience The Bard than Yosemite National Park. For the third year, UC Merced...

UC Merced Holds First Arts Week to Showcase Students, Faculty, Staff and Community

Some people have the idea that the arts are being shortchanged as UC Merced grows. The Global Arts, Media and Writing Studies (GAMWS) Program is here to correct that perception with its...

A clip from a film produced by new Global Arts Studies Program Professor Yehuda Sharim. The film is part of the 13th annual Human Rights Film Series at UC Merced.

Human Rights Film Festival will showcase two films from UC Merced Professor

The finale of the 13th annual Human Rights Film Series at UC Merced will feature two films from new Global Arts Studies Program Professor Yehuda Sharim. Sharim’s films “We Are In It...

Master Arts Plan Will Play on Campus’s Beautiful Spaces

In some ways UC Merced is still a blank canvas, even 13 years after opening. But that just gives this year’s artist in residence Otto Rigan more room to dream as he helps devise a master...

UC Merced Gets Into the ‘Act’

Shakespeare wrote “the play’s the thing.” Of course, he was referring to using a play to catch a murderer, but in Shakespeare’s day, people believed the theater had the power...