Are you torn between going out to see a provocative performance or staying home and playing a video game? No need to choose.
As part of its upcoming season, UCLA’s Center for the Art of Performance (CAP UCLA) will present asses.masses on Feb. 7, 2026, at the Nimoy Theater in Westwood. The show, created by artists Patrick Blenkarn and Milton Lim, is described as “a custom-made video game played live by the audience.”
That’s not to say it’s escapist entertainment. The plot — a herd of unemployed donkeys fight to reclaim their jobs in a postindustrial world — has clear sociopolitical implications. Total running time will be seven hours, including breaks for food, included in the ticket price.
The experience is just one of the dozens of innovative performances announced for CAP UCLA’s 2025–2026 season, which includes plenty of world-class jazz and boundary-pushing classical concerts.
Those latter offerings include “From Ordinary Things” on Jan. 15, 2026. Soprano Julia Bullock, cellist Seth Parker Woods, and pianist Conor Hanick will perform music by 20th- and 21st-century composers and songwriters from Maurice Ravel to George Walker, Nina Simone, and Tania León.
Attacca Quartet and vocalist Theo Bleckmann will perform David Lang’s chamber opera note to a friend on Feb. 28, 2026. Based on three texts by Japanese writer Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, the work addresses themes of love, death, and family.
In addition, the ensemble Wild Up will present a three-concert series, with details to be announced, and Chicago-based Third Coast Percussion will perform music by Jessie Montgomery and the late Zakir Hussain on Dec. 6.
Jazz greats on the series include Arturo O’Farrill and his Afro Latin Jazz Ensemble on Oct. 3; Tyshawn Sorey, who will perform with his trio on April 10, 2026; and the duo of composer-pianist Vijay Iyer and trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith on May 16, 2026.
In addition, vocalist Luciana Souza will join with guitarist Marcel Camargo for “New Moon,” a program mixing traditional Brazilian sounds and new compositions, on April 25, 2026.
This season’s dance lineup includes a modern classic. On March 5, 2026, the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company will present Still/Here, which premiered 30 years ago in New York City as a response to the AIDS epidemic.
International director Tiago Rodrigues, who’s headed the Avignon Festival since 2022, will perform his international hit By Heart on Oct. 24 and 25. In the work, he invites the audience to spend an evening learning a poem — a practice inspired by his grandmother’s gradual blindness.
Most performances will take place at The Nimoy, but Still/Here will be staged at UCLA’s Royce Hall. For ticket information and the full season schedule, call 310-825-2101 or visit CAP UCLA’s website.
