Collaborating Across Disciplines in Sunday in the Park with George

Sunday in the Park with George is a complex musical theatre piece that, at its core, asks an important question for all disciplines in PVA: what are you willing to sacrifice for the sake of your art?

In Spring 2026, students and faculty from across the College of Performing and Visual Arts (PVA) will come together to collaborate on a production of the well-loved musical Sunday in the Park with George. The work is written by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine and inspired by the pointillist painting A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte by Georges Seurat.

The UNC production will be co-directed by School of Theatre Arts and Dance Director and Professor of Costume Design Anne Toewe, Ph.D. and Professor of Musical Theatre Ryan Driscoll, with set design by Assistant Professor of Scenic Design DJ Pike.

Driscoll notes about musical theatre, “Academia is based on the idea of the free exchange of ideas and thought. I have always found that there is no greater opportunity for that than in musical theatre.” Sunday in the Park with George opens up such an exchange by asking for an original electronic music composition based on themes in the score for a scene in the second act.

Ryan Driscoll

Gabe Gonzales, Doctor of Arts in Music Composition student, volunteered to be part of the process.

“I’d been dying to collaborate on a theatrical production for quite some time,” Gonzales said. “The thing that really sealed it for me was learning that DJ Pike’s sculptural work would be part of the set design and that I’d be producing the sound for the Chromolume scene.”

A big part of Gonzales’ practice as a composer involves creating instruments out of found metallic objects, so designing sound for another artist’s sculpture seemed like an excellent fit.

Gabe Gonzales

The ideas that Gonzales has brought to the table are ones Driscoll says he could never have thought of on his own. In turn, these themes are now directly influencing Pike’s set design. Another part of the School of Music’s involvement is that orchestra musicians will be playing for the production.

In this instance, interdisciplinary collaboration between art history and theatre allows [everyone] to view the art and the artists in new ways.”

—Kiki Gilderhus, Associate Professor of Art History

Driscoll considers this interdisciplinary collaboration to be the next step after the success of working with the School of Music on the musical Titanic. The partnership had great outcomes for actors and musicians, and Driscoll has been hoping for an opportunity to also include colleagues from the School of Art and Design to make a full collaboration between all three schools in PVA.

The plot of Sunday in the Park with George sets the stage for this collaboration perfectly, and two professors from the School of Art and Design are taking part— Instructor of Drawing, Painting and Foundations Matthew McHugh and Associate Professor of Art History Kiki Gilderhus. McHugh will facilitate drawing lessons for the actor cast as George. Gilderhus will be an advisor for the production process and co-host a Q&A session for the audience at the musical’s performance on Saturday, March 7.

Gilderhus wanted to be part of the project because her research specialty is modern and contemporary art, and Seurat is an important figure in the development of modern art during the 1880s.

Kiki Gilderhus

“Seurat’s painting is absolutely French, and at the same time very American,” Gilderhus said. “It was acquired by the Art Institute of Chicago in 1924 and has been one of its most prominent, popular works since then. For me, the magic of the painting lies in the tension between the figures Seurat observed in the moment (the bathers, the couple, the monkey!) and the way they appear frozen, timeless.”

As a modern art specialist and fan of Sondheim’s musicals, Gilderhus says of the collaboration, “In this instance, interdisciplinary collaboration between art history and theatre allows [everyone] to view the art and the artists in new ways.”

Sunday in the Park with George is a complex piece of musical theatre that, at its core, asks a question important to all disciplines in PVA: what are you willing to sacrifice for the sake of your art? Driscoll hopes that this piece will offer a level of deep insight and thought for all involved.

The production takes place in Langworthy Theatre March 5-7 at 7:30 p.m. and March 8 at 2 p.m.