As the theater faculty at the fictional Riverbottom College consider how to shore up their department’s fluctuating budget, some interesting proposals come to the fore.
These include issuing a department meme coin, creating a faculty boudoir calendar, and selling blood plasma.
“You can get $85 for plasma if you weigh over 175 pounds,” says Burt (Seth Morris), bursting with unwelcome ideas in “The Cuts,” a new short film made by a faculty member and postdoctoral fellow at UC Riverside. (Morris was a scandalous congressman on “Veep” and the voice of Greg Glaser on the animated series “Big Mouth.”)
Annika Speer
“The Cuts” is a darkly humorous look at the financial challenges facing liberal arts programs nationwide. It premieres August 11th at the 30th annual LA Shorts International Film Festival. The Oscar-winning festival will show more than 400 short films and expects around 10,000 visitors.
Annika Speer, an associate professor of theater, film and digital production at UCR, wrote the script in the summer of 2025, as the Trump administration began aggressively targeting federal funding for the humanities and arts.
“It addresses the real crisis of appreciation for the arts amid the DOGE designation of arts and humanities programs,” she said, referring to the Department of Government Efficiency, a controversial Trump administration initiative that led to layoffs, buyouts and retirements of hundreds of thousands of federal employees.
Noah Arjomand (MFA ’25), Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellow in Media and Cultural Studies at UCR, directed the film. (Arjomand earned a PhD in sociology from Columbia University in 2018.)
Noah Arjomand
“There is something special about this moment under the second Trump administration that drew me to direct the film,” said Arjomand, co-director of the Emmy-winning documentary “Eat Your Catfish.” “The administration has moved to cut the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities and attack disciplines that are supposed to help us understand the human experience and think critically — things not valued by a real estate developer-turned-president.”
Academic parody
“The Cuts” not only highlights the financial woes of the arts in the United States, but also takes a humorous look at academic culture. Most of the film takes place in a windowless conference room where the tweed-wearing department head Walter, played by Miles Anderson (“La La Land,” “The Tragedy of MacBeth”), is leading a lengthy faculty meeting. He informs attendees that their unit’s budget outlook is “bleak” and that the dean wants college departments to submit fundraising plans.
As ideas are floated, another faculty member, Diane (Bella Merlin, distinguished professor of theater, film and digital production at UCR), regularly suggests tapping the college’s endowment funds, which Walter says are earmarked.
“Intended for what?” Diane asks.
“Nobody knows,” Walter replies.
Burt (Seth Morris) considers fundraisers in “The Cuts.”
Other cast members include Esther Banegas Gatica (MFA ’22) as a faculty member who spreads anti-capitalist rhetoric; Rachel Millar (BA, ’24) as Cherry, a department chair who is understandably wary about including some faculty comments in the meeting minutes; Dan Jablons (“Curb Your Enthusiasm”) as vape building manager Carl; and Josiah Alpherr (BA ’25; “Charmers”) as an actor who engages in heavy-handed product placement.
The students learn on set
The production team includes current UCR students in various behind-the-scenes roles such as associate producer, script supervisor and artistic assistant. Working with the filmmakers is an opportunity for students to network with professionals as they pursue careers in the performing arts, Arjomand said.
Speer agreed. “It moves students’ learning beyond the classroom,” she said. “There is something valuable about the intimacy of a set where students can practice what they are learning academically in real time.”
She added: “It is another common thread in their educational experience at UCR and it shows them that this work is not just hypothetical or theoretical – they see a project from start to finish and contribute to it, creating their roles and CVs.”
(Photos courtesy of Annika Speer and Noah Arjomand)
https://news.ucr.edu/articles/2026/07/22/money-problems-vex-theater-department-new-short-film
