LAUNCH PAD at UC Santa Barbara

08/27/2026

READ ALL ABOUT IT!
LAUNCH PAD is in residence at Ensemble Theatre Company featuring FREE public readings of brand new plays by Julia Izumi and Megan Tabaque. TONIGHT at 4pm and 8pm, downtown Santa Barbara. Join us!

UCSB Department of Theater and Dance event moves to Downtown Santa Barbara at the New Vic.

08/26/2026

LAUNCH PAD and Ensemble Theatre Company come together for the LP 2026 Summer Reading Series. We are excited about this new and growing collaboration!
Thanks to Tom Jacobs at The Current for capturing the spirit of the UCSB/ETC partnership!

The campus theater program and the local company team to stage plays in progress in a first-of-its-kind event in downtown Santa Barbara

05/22/2026

Three more previews with seats available for STANDING STILL by Melinda Lopez. If you are not able to reserve seats online, please reach out to Jan Ruskin at [email protected] to see this funny, poignant, beautiful new play.

05/13/2026

A few more notes from director Risa Brainin before our first preview... TONIGHT, Wednesday, May 13, 2026, in the Performing Arts Theater on campus. Please enjoy the linked article about STANDING STILL by Melinda Lopez. https://www.montecitojournal.net/2026/05/11/standing-still-soft-launch-for-hard-play-at-ucsb/

05/11/2026

Thanks to Tom Jacobs for this great article about STANDING STILL by Melinda Lopez. This is LAUNCH PAD's 21st preview production. In the Performing Arts Theater starting this Wednesday through Saturday, May 23. Every show is a "first time ever" performance!

New ‘LAUNCH PAD’ preview production at UCSB explores the question of what constitutes activism. It opens Wednesday, May 13.

04/25/2026

04/25/2026

Rehearsals are well underway for STANDING STILL by Melinda Lopez. (When you see a colorful script you KNOW there are lots of new pages!)

Photo: Gia Sorine Harris, Annie Torsiglieri, director Risa Brainin, Vivian Oxley, McKenna Hill.

04/20/2026

When rehearsal doubles as your workout...

Christina McCarthy, Director of Performance, works with the cast of STANDING STILL by Melinda Lopez and directed by Risa Brainin. The play takes place during one day in a yoga studio where women are compelled to look at what it means to stay grounded in challenging times.

STANDING STILL is in previews May 13-23 in the Performing Arts Theater. Ticket link available soon!

UCSB Theater and Dance

04/10/2026

LAUNCH PAD is all about process. We began last summer with a week-long workshop of STANDING STILL by Melinda Lopez. By fall, our designers were living with the script and characters. Moving into this year, auditions were held in February and a script was delivered to all the actors to read over spring break. And here we are, two weeks in the production era...table work, blocking, and deepening characters. All the while, our playwright is giving us new pages almost daily. Scenes cut, moved, added. Dialogue in and out. The addition of a new character. It's the LAUNCH PAD way!

Photos:
Director Risa Brainin with actors Annie Torsiglieri and McKenna Hill.
ASM Khuyen Nguyen at the table. Risa with actor Gia Sorine Harris along with McKenna Hill and Annie Torsiglieri.

04/06/2026

And so it begins... LAUNCH PAD's 21st season! We are excited to present the Preview Production of STANDING STILL by Melinda Lopez, in the Performing Arts Theater May 13-23. Save the dates and keep following for much more to come!

Top row from left to right: Arpie Hakobyan, Veda Arndt-Schreiber, Director Risa Brainin, Playwright Melinda Lopez, Gia Sorine Harris, Kayla D**g Wuxiaoxiao, Yufei Liu.
Bottom row: Jan Ruskin, Vivian Oxley, Miracle Morris, McKenna Hill, guest actor Annie Torsiglieri.

(Please visit our website for more information.)