Header Image

End-of-semester events announcement with bright text and colorful design

Content

The Johnny Carson Center for Emerging Media Arts will host multiple exciting end-of-semester events to showcase the work of Emerging Media Arts majors.  

  • Explore Capstone projects created by Emerging Media Arts seniors including VR experiences, animatronics, and games. 
  • Attend The Nebbys (short for Nebraska), our annual screening and awards celebrating the achievements, talents and course work of Emerging Media Arts majors. This screening showcases Capstone films and screen-based work submitted for consideration. 
  • Finally, step behind the scenes and meet EMA student creators during Open Studios to experience their in-progress and completed works from the Spring 2026 semester. 

All events are free and open to the public.

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

All events will take place at the Johnny Carson Center for Emerging Media Arts located at 1300 Q Street, Lincoln, Nebraska unless otherwise noted. 

Events

Capstone150dpi

April 30 | Capstone Showcase | 4 to 7 pm

Senior emerging media arts students will showcase their capstone projects to the public.
More info below.

 

 

Nebbys150dpi

April 30 | Screening at The Ross Media Arts Center | 313 N 13th St | 7:30 pm

Seating is limited, so please reserve your tickets in advance. https://go.unl.edu/nebbystix
Reception to follow across the street at the Johnny Carson Center for Emerging Media Arts 1300 Q Street

 

OpenStudios150dpi

May 1 | 5 to 8 pm

Explore in-progress and Capstone projects by Emerging Media Arts students. 

Story Lab II - The Whispering Crane Night Market, Sheldon Museum of Art Parking Lot (451 N 12th Street, Lincoln, NE 68588) 
A transient bazaar where one can encounter a variety of mysterious lounges, theaters, galleries, cafés, installations, and other establishments, all situated within seemingly ordinary box trucks. 

TIMED PERFORMANCES (subject to change)

Computation & Media Studio II VJ Performances (5:00 - 6:30 pm) 

Game Engines for Real-time Performance

  • 5:30 pm - Do You Wanna Fight a Girl?
  • 6:15 pm - Debby Takes a HIt
  • 7:00 pm - Out of This World 

Spatial & Interactive Audio  (6:00 - 6:45 pm)

VJ Club (6:30 - 8:00 pm) 

 

 

Capstone Showcase

Nick Langford Capstone

Purple furry puppet "Delmar" faces cardboard character on a wooden surface, warm orange background.

Delmar Makes it Worse  

By Nick Langford and Calvin Doerr (advanced project)

Location: SW Storefront Gallery

Delmar Makes it Worse is a fabrication and film project that uses puppets and physical sets to prove that you can make anything with anything. You should be anything with anything, please make more things with your soul and your friends.  

Noah Trumble Capstone

Poster for Do Not Attune. Open door in dark room with silhouetted figure, bright orange background, bold black text overlapping.

Do Not Atune   

By Noah Trumble 

Location: Room 205

Do Not Attune invites movement. Step in front of the TV and you meet a mirage of colors, video, and your own reflection in the display. Play a CD, and your silhouette brightens, interpolating with the colors flashing across the screen. Move with the music and watch your silhouette, the background, and the sound itself overtake the room. Still yourself, and the piece responds in kind—tightening, settling, growing as controlled as you are.

Cazun, Sidwell, Vieau Capstone

Dark doorway view of a misty forest, red text overlay, Nebraska Theatre & Film logo at bottom.

The Final Draft

By Sam Vieau, Ana Cazun, Rain Sidwell

Location: First Floor

The Final Draft is a first-person horror game in which the player is terrorized by an unseen force. Explore a fully interactive house, the setting for the game, across both day and night. The project aims for immersion in setting, sound, and experience, and invites players to share feedback with the development team via a ballot box.

Peter Schmit Capstone

Art for the Pan-Phonemic Garble Blaster. Text at the top of the page "CUCOUP ERRATA". Minimalist line art with intersecting vertical and horizontal lines and a curved line on a white background. Text at the bottom of the page reads "The Grand Inquisitor"

The Pan-Phonemic Garble Blaster

By Peter Schmit

Location: Second Floor Raceway (north side)  

A voice-scrambling audio effect for use in music production and demonstrated with an original piece of progressive metal music. Audiences will be able to try the effect themselves or stream the music in their own time. 

Mac O'Brien Capstone

Text at the top of the page reads "Row VR, Senior Capstone by Mac O'Brien" Man wearing VR headset rows red kayak on calm water under blue sky.

RowVR

By Mac O'Brien

Location: Room 247

RowVR is a virtual reality rowing simulator that combines exercise with gameplay to put the player in the middle of a boat race. Data is sent from a Concept 2 ERG rowing machine to a virtual reality game dictating the player's speed, while a custom-made oar rig transmits rotational data to match up with the player's movements. These systems combine to create the most realistic VR rowing simulator to date. This capstone project not only teaches players how to row; it lets them experience a sport that they otherwise may not be able to explore. 

Nathan Smiley Capstone

Text reads "Scrimbo's". image: Bald man with a thick mustache in front of a red circle, with "Scrumbo's" in bold yellow text below.

 

Scrumbo the Animatronic Man

By Nathan Smiley

Location: Atrium

Scrumbo is an animatronic performer straight out of the 1980s. Sit back and watch the show. Built from 3D-printed parts reinforced with PVC pipe, he's large, lightweight, and lovingly modeled on the classic animatronic characters of the era.
 

Brown & Gram Capstone

Text reads "Seabridge, Capstone by Haley Grams. Advanced project by Ansley Brown" Lighthouse on rocky shore under moonlit night sky, with beams illuminating clouds and ocean waves.

Seabridge

By Haley Grams and Ansley Brown (advanced project)
with help from Devon Williams, Mirabella Kundhi, Charleigh Bradfield, and Liang Endacott

Location: Room 205

Seabridge is a narrative-driven mystery game where players take on the role of an investigator sent to a remote coastal town plagued by unexplained shipwrecks and eerie supernatural activity. As they uncover clues surrounding a missing ship and a growing number of disappearances, players must navigate tense relationships, make meaningful choices, and piece together a hidden conspiracy involving smuggling, local legends, and a haunting presence tied to the sea itself. Blending grounded investigation with psychological horror, Seabridge challenges players to decide what, and who, to trust as the line between the living and the dead begins to blur. 

Laynie Berkley Capstone

Still from seven doors. Three people sitting outdoors in a wooded area, faces blurred; sunlight filtering through trees.

Seven Doors

by Laynie Berkey

Location: First Floor

Seven Doors follows Eve as she navigates life with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, drawing the audience into a world where imagination and reality blur. Each door she passes through embodies an intrusive thought, fear, or compulsion — and with every threshold, the disorientation deepens. What begins as a controlled experience spirals into a confrontation with her own mind, until Eve recognizes the cycle holding her and refuses to be consumed. Intimate and unsettling, Seven Doors is a portrait of OCD and the strength it takes to break free.

 

Carlson, Hill, Richmond & Roesch Capstone

Green abstract design with text "Squirrel Game" and names listed below.

Squirrel Game

By Drew Carlson, Simone Hill, Liv Richmond, and Gabrielle Roesch

Location: North of Entrance

Squirrel Game is a cozy, narrative-driven RPG. It follows Fig, a young squirrel on a mission: to bake a delicious acorn pie for her grandma's welcome home party! But to get her paws on the ingredients, Fig will need to help her neighbors with their own dilemmas. Squirrel Game uses humor and charm to highlight the impact a single person can make on their community... and just how important community is.

Eva Kramer Capstone

Red thread loops across a white background above sepia-toned portraits of three women. Text reads " A technology-powered fashion collection exploring the stories of women making clothes at the turn of the century and today. Thread and Roses, Eva Kramer's Capstone, Johnny Carson Center for Emerging Media Arts. 4/30/26 4-5pm and 1/5/26 5-8pm.

Thread and Roses

By Eva Kramer

Location: Room 244 

Thread and Roses is a small fashion line tracing the history of women in the American textile and garment industries at the turn of the twentieth century. Marrying couture with technology, its garments move, glow, and transform on the body, a tribute to the women who stitched our clothing then and stitch it still. By drawing a thread between the sweatshops of the 1910s and the supply chains of today, the collection asks us to remember that every garment carries the labor of the hands that made it.

Spacer

NEBBYS Screening

Rori Johnson & Hannah Gish Capstone

Still from the film Circus City USA. Image of A monkey in clown attire holding a mallet next to a red cannon on a circus-themed background.

Circus City USA

Documentary | Color | Run time: 17:17

Capstone for Rori Johnson & Hannah Gish

TEAM

> Rori Johnson – Director, Editor

> Hannah Gish – 3D Animator, Modeler

Nicholas Langford Capstone

Test overlay reads: "Spring 2026. Capstone Project. Emerging Media Arts. Johnny Carson Center for Emerging Media Arts." Background image of a filming setup in a studio with silhouettes and text promoting a media arts capstone project.

Delmar Makes it Worse

Non-sync narrative | Color | Run time: 08:04

Capstone for Nicholas Langford

Advanced Project for Calvin Doerr

TEAM

> Nicholas Langford – Director

> Calvin Doerr – Director

Capstone for Karl Ring and Meredith Koehler

Still image from the film of a Woman in a white dress by a frozen lake, with a dock and figure lying motionless in the distance.

Where Are You Going?

Sync narrative | Color | Run time: 13:55

Capstone for Karl Ring and Meredith Koehler

TEAM

> Karl Ring – Writer, Director

> Meredith Koehler – Assistant Director

Capstone for Oriana Gentile

Test overlay reads: "Spring 2026. Capstone Project. Emerging Media Arts. Johnny Carson Center for Emerging Media Arts." Background image of a filming setup in a studio with silhouettes and text promoting a media arts capstone project.

The Thrill

Sync Narrative | Color | Run time: 12:55

Capstone for Oriana Gentile

Advanced Project for Lily Bloomfield

TEAM

> Oriana Gentile – Director, Writer, Editor

> Lily Bloomfield – Director of Photography

Capstone for Lauren Kohtz & Vivian Ostrander

Test overlay reads: "Spring 2026. Capstone Project. Emerging Media Arts. Johnny Carson Center for Emerging Media Arts." Background image of a filming setup in a studio with silhouettes and text promoting a media arts capstone project.

The Cost of Shoes

Sync Narrative | Color | Run time: 09:50

Capstone for Lauren Kohtz & Vivian Ostrander

TEAM

> Lauren Kohtz – Director

> Vivian Ostrander – Production Designer

Capstone for Gordon Tuomikoski & Joe Lacey

Text reads "MAHAR" with an image behind of two large tree stumps in a riverside setting at dusk with a bridge visible in the background.

Mahar

Sync Narrative | Color | Run time: 08:22

Capstone for Gordon Tuomikoski & Joe Lacey

TEAM

> Gordon Tuomikoski – Writer, Sound, Music

> Joe Lacey – Director, Director of

Photography, Editor

Capstone for Cooper Watkins & Cade Suing

Test overlay reads: "Spring 2026. Capstone Project. Emerging Media Arts. Johnny Carson Center for Emerging Media Arts." Background image of a filming setup in a studio with silhouettes and text promoting a media arts capstone project.

Chasing Rabbits

Sync Narrative | B&W | Run time: 10:00

Capstone for Cooper Watkins & Cade Suing

TEAM

> Cooper Watkins – Director

> Cade Suing – Director of Photography

Capstone for Annette Z. C. Foreman

Foreground text reads "One for Sorrow, Two for Joy". Image of a small black house between barren trees on a field, text arched above reads "One for Sorrow, Two for Joy."

One for Sorrow, Two for Joy

Sync Animation | Color | Run time: 06:09

Capstone for Annette Z. C. Foreman

Advanced Project for Mason Pfister, John

Horwath, & Jillian Rodgers

TEAM

> Annette Z. C. Foreman – Director,

Animation Lead

> Mason Pfister – Production Manager

> John Horwath – Modeling Lead

> Jillian Rodgers – Storyboard Lead, Editor

Capstone for Laynie Berkley, Aaron Burchill, & Brayden Adcock

Still from seven doors. Three people sitting outdoors in a wooded area, faces blurred; sunlight filtering through trees.

Seven Doors

Sync Narrative | Color | Run time: 12:00

Capstone for Laynie Berkey, Aaron Burchill,

& Brayden Adcock

TEAM

> Laynie Berkey – Director

> Aaron Burchill – Cinematographer

> Brayden Adcock – Sound