Creative Arts Across Disciplines
Every summer, several Vassar students collaborate with faculty members on research projects exploring aspects of the creative arts through partnerships with other initiatives, programs, departments, and projects. Creative Arts Across Disciplines (CAAD) serves as an experimental laboratory for trying out new models of research, pedagogy, practice, and community engagement.
“It was a true joy to see the students present on their work with faculty over the summer,” said Dara Greenwood, Associate Professor of Psychological Science and Co-Director of the CAAD program. “They took pride in their collaboration and accomplishments, which included a vibrant range of topics and modes of inquiry: Assessing equity in the justice system; examining the history of the Cuban migration experience; analyzing the cultural significance of Buddhist temples in Russian culture; interviewing creators of the recent wave of male same-sex romance media in Japan; and writing/performing personal essays reflecting on ‘what happens when a letter cannot reach the person it longs for.’”
CAAD is funded by a generous donation from Henry Wendt III and Holly P. Wendt ’57. Following are brief vignettes about two of this year’s CAAD projects.
Exploring the Wave of Storytelling Focused on Male Same-Sex Romance
Irene Chun ’27 and Jeffrey Schneider, Professor of German Studies and Women, Feminist, and Queer Studies, and Faculty Director for Institutional Equity
“Boy Love” (BL)—an adult male same-sex romance genre that originated in Japan—is a complex storytelling technique rooted in 1970s manga (comic books) written by women for female readers. Recently, however, the genre has also extended to television shows in Asia, the United States, and elsewhere. One example is Heated Rivalry (HBO, 2025), the story of two professional hockey players who maintain a secret, long-term romantic relationship while playing for rival teams. The show has generated a large fandom here in the U.S. and around the globe—many of those enthralled are women.
To investigate this burgeoning genre, Chun and Schneider traveled to Japan this summer to interview screenwriters, producers, directors, actors, and representatives of LGBTQ organizations. “The goal of this project was to analyze the many iterations of the genre and learn how they play a role in the entertainment industry,” said Chun, a native of Korea who lives in Tokyo. “Japanese culture is traditionally conservative, and this genre runs counter to that.”
Schneider, who is planning to write a book on the phenomenon, said Chun conducted background research on its origins and other aspects of Japan’s social fabric, and acted as a translator for most of the interviews they conducted this summer. “Irene’s contributions to this project were invaluable,” he said. “She was an ideal co-investigator.”
Chun said the experience has been encouraging on several levels. “It definitely made me more optimistic about Japanese culture by being exposed to people who care about producing good media on this subject,” she said.
Chun added that she hoped the growing popularity of the genre, especially among straight women, would serve to influence the Japanese Supreme Court later this year when it considers a ruling on the constitutionality of restricting marriage to heterosexual couples. “I can only hope that the popularity leads to an alliance between women and gay men and others who enjoy [the genre], and that it will serve to politically support LGBTQ rights,” she said.
At the Intersection of Playwriting and Cuban History
Oliver Hollmann ’27 and Peter Gil-Sheridan, Associate Professor of Drama and Chair of the Department of Drama
Hollmann, a drama and psychological science double major from New York City, spent the summer compiling research for two plays by Professor Peter Gil-Sheridan that focus on the playwright’s Cuban-American heritage. Hollmann started research on Marielitos—a musical about the Mariel boatlift, a mass exodus of about 125,000 Cubans from Cuba to the United States in 1980 during the 2025-2026 academic year. The play was adopted as part of the Powerhouse Theater’s reading series during the summer of 2026.
Hollmann spent this summer conducting research for Sheridan’s new play, Landfall/Moonfall, which draws on the playwright’s experience as the son of a Cuban immigrant who fled the Castro regime in 1969. “The current idea for the play is a two-act structure—one in 1969, when the new Americans arrive, and one in present-day Tampa, FL, as a major hurricane is about to make landfall,” Gil-Sheridan said. He asked Hollman to consider issues such as the difficulties of arriving in a new country in the 1960s compared to the present day, and why many Cuban-Americans resent recent immigrants.
“The topics underlying the development of [Landfall/Moonfall] led me in many directions,” Hollmann said. “I created timelines with information on the 1969 moon landing and on the complex history of U.S.-Cuba political relations that included some of the work I did researching the Mariel boatlift for Marielitos.”
Hollmann said he had thoroughly enjoyed his CAAD experience. “As an actor, it was great to be able to get inside the head of a playwright,” he said.
Gil-Sheridan said he was consistently impressed with the work Hollman did for the CAAD project: “Who knew that a drama major would become an expert in Cuban migration?”