Joel Mejia Smith : It’s Been a While…
Saturday, September 26, 2026
Presented by UCRArts
Barbara and Art Culver Center of the Arts
University of California, Riverside
PROGRAM
7:00 PM - Part One: Film Series (Screening Room)
CLOSE (2019) - 18:00 minutes
a casebolt and smith film
Premiered at the Marsee Auditorium, Torrance, CA
Conceived by Joel Mejia Smith in collaboration with Liz Casebolt
Director, Joel Mejia Smith
Producer, Joel Mejia Smith
Writers, Liz Casebolt and Joel Mejia Smith
Director of Photography, Joel Mejia Smith
Camera Operators, Joel Mejia Smith and Liz Casebolt
Film Editor, Joel Mejia Smith
Production Designer, Joel Mejia Smith
Music - In order of appearance: Both Sides Now, Performed by Joni Mitchell, Written by Joni Michell;
Heaven, Performed by The Psychedelic Furs, Written By Tim Butler and Richard Butler; The Warrior, Performed by Scandal, Written by Nick Gilder and Holly Knight; I Say a Little Prayer, Performed by Aretha Franklin, Written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David; Waiting on a Friend, Performed by The Rolling Stones, Written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards; Jessie’s Girl, Performed by Rick Springfield, Written by Rick Springfield; Unloveable, Performed by The Smiths, Written by Steven Morrissey and Johnny Marr; I Wish You Were Here, Performed by Pink Floyd, Written by Roger Waters and David Gilmour
The copyrighted music for this film is covered by the University of California Riverside’s licensing fees to the following major performing arts organizations: ASCAP, BMI, SESAC & GMR
FADING (2020) - 10:30 Minutes
A film by Mike Esperanza and Joel Mejia Smith
Premiered at the InShadow Lisbon Screendance Festival, Lisbon, Portugal
Directed by Mike Esperanza
Produced by Joel Mejia Smith
Featuring Joel Mejia Smith
Edited by Mike Esperanza
Original Music by Mike Esperanza
SON (2026) - 11:30 Minutes
A film by Joel Mejia Smith and Mauro Sacchi
World Premiere
Directed by Joel Mejia Smith
Produced by Joel Mejia Smith
Featuring Mauro Sacchi
Edited by Joel Mejia Smith
Music/Sound/Voices by Steve Peters and Steve Roden
Recorded and Mixed by Doug Haire, Jack Straw Productions
Mastered by Taylor Deupree
11th Street Studio: A Film V.1 (2026) - 15:00 Minutes Est.
A film by Joel Mejia Smith
Work in Progress Premiere
Directed by Joel Mejia Smith
Produced by Joel Mehia Smith
Edited by Joel Mejia Smith
Sound Design by Joel Mejia Smith
Project Partner: Andrew Martinez
*Note about the Film
“11th Street Studio: A Film V.1”, an experimental docustyle visual collage unfolding like a chaptered journal or series of poems (or possibly a run-on sentence tbd), reveals a collection of creative practices that were generated from Mejia Smith’s downtown Los Angeles studio from 2020 - 2022 during the Covid-19 lockdown. Composed of digitally captured improvisational movement scores and sketches, erotic self-portrait photography, and sound designs, “11th Street…” looks at the relationship between improvisational dance, digital capture and editing techniques. A considerable part of this project was developed with scholar and artist Andrew Martinez (Los Angeles), who has contributed significant dialogue, captures, writing and comradery. Images, concepts and practices from our time together, exploring ideas around queer intimacy, collaboration and digital capture, have already been presented at the 2023 Association for Theatre in Higher Education conference in Detroit, at the 2025 Dance Studies Conference and for the 2026 Dance Research Colloquium Series curated by María Regina Firmino-Castillo in the Department of Dance at UC Riverside.
. . . I N T E R M I S S I O N . . .
8:00 PM - Part Two: Live Performance (Culver Atrium)
hopefully not my last… (2026) - Approximately 40:00 Minutes
Created and Performed by Joel Mejia Smith
World Premiere
Choreographed by Joel Mejia Smith
Music by Steven Roden
Prop/Object Design and Fabrication by Amelia Charter
ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES