THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN DEPARTMENT OF THEATRE AND DANCE NEWSLETTER FALL 2012
IN THIS ISSUE Discipline, it’s all about Discipline Celebrating Suzan Zeder and The Edge of Peace Faculty Honored by UT Board of Regents Alumni Accolades Coming to the Stage
utexas.edu/finearts/tad Catalyst, 2012
Hello to all our friends, supporters, parents, and especially alumni of the Department of Theatre and Dance. This is our twice yearly communiqué that strives to connect you with us, with each other, and that features the work of students, past and present who walked the Winship halls and created the rich legacy of this place. To all of you a big hello from all of us. Last year, I told you about the exciting new energy focused on our undergraduate mission. The most talented young actors, dancers, and design artists in the United States are in Texas. We have positioned the department to encourage more of these talented Texans to pursue their education and training at The University of Texas by creating a powerful series of undergraduate programs like no other in the country. Here are just two examples of this new energy. After an absence of nearly fifteen years, we have reclaimed and recharged our undergraduate actor-training program that produced such renowned artists as Todd Lowe, Kimberly Scott, Charlie Pollock, and many, many other tremendously talented Texans. Professor Jim Daniels, who built Western Michigan University into a national undergraduate acting powerhouse, has joined our faculty to provide leadership for our new BFA degree that (pending the official university degree approval process) will begin in fall 2014. This innovative acting program includes strong foundational training in stage acting, devised and solo performance, plus a full year of film and television experience. The four-year program culminates with an internship in Los Angeles at our UTLA campus. No other undergraduate actor-training program, of which we are aware, is as groundbreaking as this new degree plan. Also, the BFA in Dance has exploded in quality and national recognition. With the addition of new faculty members Charles O. Anderson and Grace Holmes, the dance program is intensifying its recruiting efforts throughout the region and enhancing its ability to attract the best students by providing exciting guest artist residencies. Last spring, we presented Minus 16 by famed Israeli artist Ohad Naharin (Batsheva Dance Company). This performance marked a historic first; as the Department of Theatre and Dance is the only university program permitted to perform Naharin’s famous work in its entirety. Next year, a Paul Taylor Company répétiteur will be in residence in the department, offering our students unmatched access to the company’s talent. The combination of great training and the opportunity to work alongside professional artists is helping to put our BFA in Dance on the map!
Dean, College of Fine Arts Douglas Dempster, PhD Chair, Department of Theatre and Dance Brant Pope, PhD Senior Associate Chair, Department of Theatre and Dance Susan Mickey To make a gift to the Department of Theatre and Dance Michele Baylor, Director of Development and Alumni Relations 512.475.6291 mbaylor@austin.utexas.edu To share your alumni news Cassie Gholston, Director of Marketing 512.232.5301 gholston@austin.utexas.edu
These are examples of the tidal wave of energy and innovation in the Department of Theatre and Dance. In future issues, I will tell you about equally exciting developments in our other programs.
The University of Texas at Austin Department of Theatre and Dance 300 E. 23rd Street D3900 Austin, Texas 78712
Please continue to stay in touch and send us your updates and news. We look forward to hearing from of you. Hook ‘em Horns!
Phone: 512.471.5793 utexas.edu/finearts/tad The ENCORE logo is the genius of Harvey Schmidt, artist and composer, BFA 1952.
Brant Pope Chair, Department of Theatre and Dance 2
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Photo: Oladotun Ayobade, Jeff Heimsath, Phillip Kreyche, J Elissa Marshall.
DISCIPLINE, IT’S ALL ABOUT DISCIPLINE Jean McFaddin (BFA 1964, MFA 1967)
When alumna Jean McFaddin (BFA 1964, MFA 1967) received a call from Macy’s in 1976, she thought the retailer was calling to offer her a credit card. Rather, Macy’s CEO and President Ed Finkelstein was on a mission to find a producer to direct the company’s events and public relations efforts. Jean had built a strong reputation for producing and directing large-scale, audience-integrated theatre, including Liquid Theatre in New York, London and Paris. Finkelstein’s charge to Jean was daunting, yet thrilling – design major promotional events to make Macy’s the number one store in the world. That initial call ignited Jean’s celebrated 25-year career at Macy’s. As producer/director of events, she developed Macy’s annual events, including their Thanksgiving Day Parade and July Fourth Fireworks, into multi-dimensional performance spectaculars that attracted worldwide media and audience attention for Macy’s, NBC and New York City. She pioneered dynamic creative promotional partnerships with the entertainment and licensing industries, including Broadway, to ensure state of the art excitement and fiscal success. Her work garnered more than a dozen Emmy Awards and serves as an iconic benchmark for others in the events industry. Upon her retirement as Macy’s senior vice president of public relations and events, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani proclaimed April 19, 2001 as “Jean McFaddin Day in the City of New York.”
Jean McFaddin
At UT, Jean served as an assistant director for Professor Francis Hodge, who became a lifelong mentor and friend. During a frustrating rehearsal of Faust, Hodge turned to her and said “Discipline, it’s all about discipline! If I never, ever teach students anything else in this school, all I want them to learn is discipline!” For Jean, this lesson resonated throughout her career at Macy’s. Discipline, vision, and Dr. Hodge’s lesson on understanding dramatic action are the “tools used for every success in life.” Following her time at UT, Jean attended Yale University’s graduate theatre program, but chose to return to Texas to assist her aging parents while completing her master’s degree at UT. Hodge and Professor James Moll helped make her ambition reality by securing her the B. Iden Payne Scholarship for her studies at UT. Currently Jean serves as a consultant and speaker to the events industry and universities. In a recent meeting with UT theatre students, she remarked how her career connected with her early love of children’s theatre. The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is the “biggest children’s show in America and longest running show on Broadway,” and for Jean, its impact on the many thousands who have enjoyed it is her reward. Celebrated throughout the events industry as “America’s Parade Lady,” Jean is proud that she stepped off on “the right foot” from The University of Texas at Austin.
Originally from Lufkin, Texas, Jean’s passion for theatre and directing led her to The University of Texas at Austin Department of Drama (now Department of Theatre and Dance). Her training at UT proved to be invaluable to her career success. ENCORE FALL 2012
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PLEASE, CALL ME SUZAN. By Wendy Bable (MFA 2009) On the evening of my first day of grad school, I was staffing the front desk of the Winship Building. It was a little eerie as the day’s activity came to stillness and more than a little cold as the A/C overcompensated for the blazing heat of the day. I was shivering, knee-deep in syllabi, nerdily scribing critical due-dates into my planner, when this force of nature we know as Professor Suzan Zeder changed the energy of the whole space. What I remember most vividly about this moment is how tonguetied I was. Suzan can be an overwhelming experience.
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Our conversation was brief—she inquired about my first day and how I was settling in. What struck me later is that I felt like a light was shining on me. Dazzling. Brilliant. I can’t remember much of our exchange, but I do remember my final sentence: “Have a good night, Professor Zeder.” She turned back, took me in for a moment, and with her trademark amused twinkle said, “Please, call me Suzan.” My relationship with Suzan grew slowly. I didn’t have classes with her that semester but I found myself rearranging my schedule to be in the room wherever she was. It wasn’t her status as a playwright or her formidable list of professional accomplishments that drew me—it was her unparalleled ability to activate a space and the people in it. She is fire and wind and electricity. Everything she turns her gaze upon seemed to become more present, more vibrant, more alive.
In the spring of that first year, I served on the Cohen New Works Festival committee and watched Suzan’s inexhaustible energy nurture dynamic spaces of innovation and critical dialogue. That was also the semester she invited me to join her Playwriting Workshop—a class usually reserved for MFA playwrights and Michener Fellows. I was a real greenhorn as a playwright and Suzan didn’t pull any punches. I will be forever grateful for that, because in that short but rigorous semester, I crystalized my core values of theatre-making which have informed every artistic decision I’ve made since then. It was also during this semester that I truly understood why so many of us who create theatre for young people look to Suzan’s work as the catalyst that triggered a paradigm shift in our field. First and foremost, Suzan’s demand for excellence in an artist’s craft does not distinguish between young and adult audiences. In her early work as a playwright, this was a radical act. She is a living affirmation that making theatre for young people does not make you a secondrate artist. It makes you a courageous artist. It takes grit and legitimate theatre chops to put your work in front of an audience who will not sit quietly and clap politely if your play is not worth their attention.
WHO SUPPORTED YOU? Suzan believes that children are interesting in and of themselves—that they are so much more than “the next generation of theatre-goers.” She believes that young protagonists should have full agency in their own stories to grapple with complex, conflicting emotions and ideas. This principle was also a radical departure from the existing canon of dramatic literature for young people in which adults usually solved the problem and the young protagonist was a passive participant.
I began this tribute to her legacy with “Please, call me Suzan” because that was the beginning of my knowing one of the most truthful, unpretentious colleagues I have ever encountered. Suzan has spent a lifetime planting trees whose shade she knew she may never sit in. Her legacy lives far beyond her work as an artist. Anyone who has had the privilege of working with her carries her fearless spirit, and we are forever changed in ways that we are only beginning to understand.
These elements were never clearer to me than when I directed the first public reading of her play, The Edge of Peace, for the 2009 Cohen New Works Festival. I had hoped to be a part of the creative team since the previous summer. I was housesitting for her and we were on the phone for our weekly check in. She was radiant with excitement, because she had just met an actual descendent of Clovis P. Eudy, the owner of the general store in her trilogy of plays, The Edge of Peace, Mother Hicks and A Taste of Sunrise. When I read the first draft of The Edge of Peace a few months later, I was deeply taken with her ability to capture a series of moments in a small town’s ordinary life to tell a story so much bigger than Ware, Indiana. As we worked together in rehearsal, I watched Suzan embody everything she’d ever taught me about working on a new play. She walks the talk—Suzan is the real thing.
Wendy Bable is the Producer for Arts Discovery Programs at People’s Light & Theatre Company. She has directed over twenty-five plays for both young audiences and adults, including Still Life with Iris, For Which it Stands, and Through the Darkness. Her play Mark Twain: Sacred Cows Makes the Best Hamburger premiered at People’s Light & Theatre this fall.
The Department of Theatre and Dance will present the world premiere of Suzan Zeder’s The Edge of Peace February 1-10, 2013. The final play of her acclaimed Ware trilogy, The Edge of Peace is produced in partnership with Seattle Children’s Theatre. Learn more at jointhedrama.org
Take a moment and reflect on who encouraged you to pursue your dreams. Who made a difference and supported your artistic training – your family, a teacher or professor, a scholarship donor? As a graduate of this program, you understand the importance of supporting emerging artists and performers, who will, in turn, inspire, entertain and educate future generations of arts patrons and students. We ask your help in promoting, supporting and training the next generation of theatre and dance artists. By making a gift to the TEXAS TALENT campaign, you will help provide scholarship resources for emerging artists to attend UT Austin. Learn more about Texas Talent and make your donation online at utexas.edu/finearts/tad/support Remember, every gift directly supports a young artist. Make a difference with your gift today.
Support a student by donating just $75/month! As the department plans for our 75th anniversary in 20132014, the success of our 75 for 75 Challenge will transform our scholarship and recruitment program. $67,500 in NEW scholarship funds will be directed to undergraduate students. Be one of 75 alumni who will be a part of this important effort! Pledge your monthly gift online at givetotheatreanddance.org, or by calling Director of Development and Alumni Relations Michele Baylor at 512.475.6291.
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PROFESSOR SUSAN MICKEY HONORED By Board of Regents for Outstanding Teaching Department of Theatre and Dance Professor Susan Mickey is among the twenty-seven UT Austin faculty members honored with the 2012 Regents’ Outstanding Teaching Award, the UT System Board of Regents’ highest teaching distinction.
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major regional theatres in the country. She has designed costumes for 15 seasons at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and has been an associate artist with the Virginia Stage Company. In addition, she has designed costumes for more than 50 productions over 30 years at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta working there with many of the great directors, designers and playwrights of the American Stage.
The award includes $25,000, and is considered among the nation’s largest cash prizes for higher education faculty members who exhibit outstanding classroom performance and innovation in undergraduate instruction.
In 2010 she won the Joseph Jeff Award for Best Costume Design for her work on the Chicago Shakespeare production of The Madness of George III. She is the winner of the 2010 College of Fine Arts Teaching Award and the 2008 Department of Theatre and Dance Teaching Excellence Award.
Mickey is an accomplished costume designer with over 30 years of professional experience. She joined the Department of Theatre and Dance in 2004, and now serves as the senior associate chair and head of the design and technology area. Mickey brings to the classroom a working knowledge of the discipline having designed at most
“Winning the Regents’ Outstanding Teaching Award is just the latest in a remarkable string of accomplishments by Professor Mickey,” said Chair Brant Pope. “She combines her internationally recognized design career with a deep and ongoing commitment to the teaching and mentoring of her students.”
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Established in 2008, the Regents’ Outstanding Teaching Awards program recognizes educators who demonstrate a clear commitment to teaching and sustained ability to deliver excellence to the undergraduate learning experience. A panel of students, peer faculty members and external reviewers evaluates the award nominees’ teaching performance over three years. Faculty members are considered through a rigorous process based on a range of activities and criteria that include expertise, curricula quality, innovative course development and student learning outcomes. Past Department of Theatre and Dance recipients of the Regents’ Outstanding Teaching Award include Andrea Beckham, Charlotte Canning and Franchelle Dorn.
Susan Mickey
ALUMNI ACCOLADES Please share your story with us! Submit a brief summary of your life and career, related photos and information to share with your former classmates.
Submit updates online at uttadalumniupdates.org or by mail at: The University of Texas at Austin Department of Theatre and Dance ATTN: Alumni News 300 E. 23rd Street D3900 Austin, Texas 78712
Fall For Dance, 2011
KIM ADAMS (BA 2009) received the
REBECCA BLANDA (BFA 2012) is
2012 John Bustin Award for Exceptional Versatility from the Austin Critics’ Table.
a middle school theatre teacher at Birdville Independent School District, which serves Tarrant County, Texas.
HEATHER BARFIELD (PhD 2012) is the business director and operations manager at Austin Creative Alliance, an arts and creative industries advocacy and services non-profit organization.
DENNY BERRY (BFA 1973) is the new head of the University of Utah’s Musical Theatre Program. She has been an associate choreographer, production dance supervisor and the original Broadway dance captain for The Phantom of the Opera.
YVONNE BOUDREAUX (MFA 2007) served as a mentor for the 2012 South by Southwest (SXSW) Conference and Festivals. She is a production designer, art director and set designer for stop motion animation, television, and live action who has worked on over 30 films including Machete, Paranorman, and The Lying Game.
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LIBBA BRAY’S (BA 1988) latest novel The Diviners hit the shelves this fall. The story follows Evie O’Neill who has been shipped off to the bustling streets of New York City. Soon enough, Evie is running with glamorous Ziegfield girls and rakish pickpockets. The only catch is Evie has to live with her Uncle Will, curator of The Museum of American Folklore, Superstition, and the Occult– also known as “The Museum of the Creepy Crawlies.”
CHASE BRINGARDNER (PhD 2007) is the book review editor for Theatre Topics. He teaches at Auburn University.
MARTIN BURKE (BFA 1992) performed on stage at ZACH Theatre in The Laramie Project, The Laramie Project: 10 Years Later, The Santaland Diaries, and Fully Committed.
CLAIRE CANAVAN’S (PhD 2010) article “Created by Ensemble” was published in Theatre Topics in March. She is a lecturer at Texas State University-San Marcos.
MARY CHASE (MFA 2009) performed this summer in Stamping Zebra Dance Theatre’s Selkie Tides 8
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at the Santa Cruz Fringe Festival. She teaches for SpectorDance and Monterey Dance Collective, and choreographs for Monterey Peninsula College.
ABRA CHUSID (MFA 2012) is a high school theatre teacher at Lakes Community High School in Illinois.
GABRIEL JASON DEAN’S (MFA 2012) play The Transition of Doodle Pequeño has been published by Dramatic Publishing.
BLAKE DELONG (MFA 2009) starred this summer in Tiny Dynamite by Olivier and BAFTA award-winning scribe Abi Morgan at New York’s 59E59.
LINDA FISHER (BFA 1966) holds an
MICHELLE EBERT FREIRE (MFA
JEANNETTE CLIFT GEORGE (BFA
2000) has worked as a theatre artist and educator at MCC Theater, Theatre Development Fund, Young Playwrights Inc., ZACH Theatre, Teatro Humanidad, Seattle Children’s Theatre, Round House Theatre, and Performance Riverside. She is an associate professor at Cal State University, San Bernardino, and is the coordinator for their MA program in theatre arts. She is a member of the American Alliance for Theatre and Education and the National Association for Drama Therapy and conducts theatre and drama therapy workshops for several local organizations, including Rainbow Pride Youth Alliance and San Bernardino Juvenile Hall.
1946) is the founder and artistic director of the A.D. Players, a Houston-based Christian professional theatre company.
MFA in costume design from Yale University School of Drama. She’s designed over 215 productions on Broadway, off-Broadway, in numerous regional theatres, dance, and movies. Her work as a costume designer in Texas includes the original Tuna shows, including Greater Tuna, A Tuna Christmas, Red White & Tuna, and Tuna Does Vegas, plus an HBO pilot of Greater Tuna.
Ted Gregory (MFA 2000)
TED GREGORY (MFA 2000) is making his mark across the globe. A director and Fulbright Scholar to Panamá, Gregory is the creator of an intercultural project entitled ELATE (Educational Latin American Theatre Exchange). He has recently worked with playwrights María Irene Fornés (Fango), Jorge Ignacio Cortiñas (Canto Jeannette Clift George (BFA 1946)
del Pozo Ciego), and Marisela Treviño Orta (Spanish language premiere of Braided Sorrow, the Chicano/Latino Literary Prize for Drama award-winner), presenting their work at the premiere ELATE Festival at the National Theatre of Panamá. His ELATE collaboration with playwright Elaine Avila was featured this year in American Theatre. Beyond ELATE, Gregory has directed premieres by award-winning playwrights including Romulus Linney, David Williamson, Kirk Lynn and Elaine Romero. He has directed workshops of new plays by fellow alumnus Robert Schennkan (The Dream Thief), Robert Langs (An Eclipse of the Son), and Dan Dietz (Body of Water).
(L-R): Dr. Heather Barfield, Dr. Marcus McQuirter, Dr. Omi Osun Olomo, Dr. Jaclyn Pryor, Dr. Kristin Leahey, Dr. Bukola Kpotie at spring 2012 commercement
received the 2012 Austin Critics’ Table David Mark Cohen New Play Award for her play River City.
been seen in theatre, dance and opera productions across the country. He is an associate professor of theatre design and technology at Randolph-Macon College in Ashland, Virginia.
BLADE HEALEY (BFA 2012) is a high
LAMEECE ISSAQ (MFA 2001) is the
school theatre teacher in Corsicana, Texas.
co-author and star of Food and Fadwah, which took the New York Theatre Workshop stage in June.
DIANA GRISANTI (MFA 2012)
GREG HILLMAR’S (MFA 1986) book Light Plot Deconstructed was published in March. The book provides an easy to follow look at Vectorworks Spotlight as an addition to the Vectorworks Manuals. Hillmar is a scenic and lighting designer whose work has
LAURA KIELER (BFA 2012) is a theatre teacher at Cedar Ridge High School in Round Rock, Texas.
BUKOLA KPOTIE (PhD 2012) is the
TODD LOWE (BFA 1999) was
executive director of the Lagos Museum and Research Centre in Lagos, Nigeria.
resident dramaturg at Northlight Theatre in Skokie, Illinois.
interviewed by Rolling Stone about his role as “Terry Bellefleur” on HBO’s True Blood. He recently worked alongside Will Smith on M. Night Shyamalan’s movie After Earth, slated to hit the screen in summer 2013.
NINA LENOIR (MFA 1993, PhD 1999)
J ELISSA MARSHALL (BFA 2010) resides
has been elected treasurer and chair for the Association for Theatre in Higher Education’s Finance Committee. She is the current chair of Chapman University’s Department of Theatre.
in Cartagena, Colombia and is performing with Periferia, a dance company created by Lobadys Pérez. Marshall and Pérez connected in 2010 as part of the cultural dance exchange between the Department of Theatre and Dance, Texas Performing Arts and El Colegio del Cuerpo.
KRISTIN LEAHEY (PhD 2012) is
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MICHAEL MCBRIDE (BFA 1967) is a
JOSEPH E. MURRAY (MFA 2001)
trustee of the United Scenic Artists Pension and Welfare Funds. During his extensive career, McBride served on the scenic staff of ABC, working in all phases of network production in New York and Washington, D.C. In 1995, he joined the staff of United Scenic Artists Local USA 829 and went on to serve as its National Business Agent.
recently played the role of “Atticus Finch” in To Kill a Mockingbird and “HR Haldeman” in Wedded: Richard Nixon and the Pentagon Papers. Television credits include Jon Benjamin Has a Van (Comedy Central) and The Young and the Restless (CBS). Among his several short film roles were “Dr. Patterson” in Faith, and “Alcoholic US Congressman Sam Eagleton” in Home to Roost. This spring, he completed filming of the lead role (“Harold”) in the SAG feature film The Sound and The Shadow. This fall he will appear as “John Proctor” in The Crucible.
COOPER NEELY (BFA 2012) and CHELSEA PIERCE (BFA 2012) were highlighted in Ovation’s A Chance to Dance. The new reality series, produced by Nigel Lythgoe (So You Think You Can Dance), filmed Professor Charles O. Anderson’s class on the UT campus in the spring semester.
is a development associate for The University of Texas at Austin McCombs School of Business. Prior to returning to UT, she worked in development for the Washington Performing Arts Society (Washington, D.C.), ZACH Theatre (Austin, TX) and Center Stage Texas (Austin, TX).
J.R. NUTT (BA 2003) recently
LARRY PONTIUS (MFA 2005) is a
starred in CBS’s 2 Broke Girls and ABC’s The Middle. He’s appeared in over 40 commercials, including DiGiornos Pizza’s “It’s Like” series.
words of advice in his new book Being a Working Actor, an informative, brutally honest, and occasionally funny anecdotal discussion of what it’s like to live and work in the City of Angels.
playwright and screenwriter whose work has been seen around the world. He has written three serials, including Qaatil, Pakistan’s first tele-thriller, and most recently Neeyat, a 20-part drama set in New York City, as well as a number of episodes in the anthology series New York Stories. He and his wife Deepti Gupta (MFA 2007), have recently started Hamari Films, a company dedicated to creating content for the web, with the first project a short film called Happy and You Know It.
LINDSEY (LINZ) MORGAN (BA
JACLYN PRYOR (PhD 2012) is
KITTY MCNAMEE (BFA 1986) made her debut at the Los Angeles Ballet in May with a world premiere work.
MARCUS MCQUIRTER (PhD 2012) is professor of drama at Austin Community College.
GEOFF MEED (BA 1988) shares
Attended) has joined the cast of television’s General Hospital in the role of “Kristina Adela Corinthos Davis.” Other credits include recent episodes of Happy Endings and How I Met Your Mother.
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SIDNEY DAVIS PAN (BA 2006)
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a visiting assistant professor of queer studies and public practice at Hampshire College.
Left: Cooper Neely (BFA 2012) and Chelsea Pierce (BFA 2012) Right: Larry Pontius (MFA 2005)
RUDY RAMIREZ (MA 2012) recently directed Sing Muse, a devised ensemble work he conceived, produced by the VORTEX Repertory Company. He also directed Austin Bike Zoo’s production of Midsummer in Motion in June.
ALVIN RANGEL (MFA 2012) received the 2012 Austin Critics’ Table Award for his dance performance in Tango Vesre. He is an assistant professor at California State University, Fullerton.
RAY ELIOT SCHWARTZ (MFA 2006) is the coordinator of the dance program at the University of Americas Puebla. He recently participated as a guest teacher and judge on the Mexican reality show Ópera Prima, produced by Mexican National Public television Canal 22. He presented a class that explored the qualities of dance combined with the qualities of live music, as executed by a trio of musicians on piano, upright bass and percussion.
PAMELA RIBON’S (BFA 1997) latest novel, You Take It From Here, hit the shelves this summer to critical praise. Ribon has adapted her popular novels for both film and television, and developed original series for ABC, ABC Family, Sony, Warner Bros., and 20th Century Fox Productions. She’s currently developing an original television series with Jerry Weintraub Productions, in addition to writing an original feature script for the Disney Channel and creating a graphic novel for Oni Press. She’s known as a pioneer in the blogging world with her successful website pamie.com, which has been spotlighted for Lifetime Achievement from the Weblog Awards. You Take It From Here by Pamela Ribon
Alvin Rangel (MFA 2012)
RAMON RIVERA-SERVERA (PhD
KELLI SCHULTZ (BA 2012) received
2003) serves on the editorial board of Theatre Topics. He is on faculty at Northwestern University.
the 2012 Austin Critics’ Table Award for Acting in a Supporting Role for her work in ZACH Theatre’s Next to Normal.
ROBERT SCHENKKAN’S (BFA 1975)
ROXANNE SCHROEDER-ARCE’S
new play, All the Way, premieres this season as part of Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s 2012 season.
(MFA 2000) new play Mariachi Girl, a co-production of Teatro Vivo and ZACH Theatre took the stage this fall. She is an assistant professor at the UT Department of Theatre and Dance.
Mariachi Girl by Roxanne Schroeder-Arce ENCORE FALL 2012
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Kris Swift (BA 2000)
Timothy J. Verret (R) as “Iago” in Othello
KRIS SWIFT (BA 2000) was a contestant
CARSEY WALKER, JR. (MFA 2004)
on HGTV’s seventh season of Design Star. He’s working on two network pilots, and running his new Austin-based company Future Design Now.
starred in role of “Darel Jefferson” on NBC’s hit television series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.
TIMOTHY J. VERRET (BFA 1997)
busy since arriving in Los Angeles. She has a leading role in Key, an independent feature due out this year. She also has a recurring role in supernatural web series They Live Among Us and guest starred on an episode of the Discovery Channel’s The Exorcist Files. She can also be seen in Bunnyman 2 later this year.
received a 2011 Falstaff Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his performance as “Iago” in Othello, produced by the Austinbased company No’Az Productions. The Falstaff Awards recognize extraordinary achievement and honor the artists and theatre companies presenting the works of Shakespeare.
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JESSICA WEBB (BA 2010) has been Love’s Labour’s Lost, 2012
COMING TO THE STAGE:
All titles, dates and directors subject to change. Learn about 2012/2013 productions at jointhedrama.org
INTRODUCING THE 2012/2013 SUBSCRIPTION SERIES The Cataract By Lisa D’Amour October 19-28, 2012
Intimate Apparel By Lynn Nottage March 1-9, 2013
Set in Minneapolis in 1883, this poetic drama explores one week in the lives of Cyrus and Lottie Finch, a stalwart couple who take in two vagabond lovers from the South. The unlikely pairs’ intersection unearths their deep-seated desires – ones which they fight to keep buried.
It’s 1905 in Manhattan. Esther, a gifted seamstress, crafts lingerie for a variety of clientele. She dreams of marrying for love and longs to open a beauty parlor in Harlem. Through a series of letters, she meets George and her aspirations appear within reach.
The Scarlet Letter Adapted by Sarah Saltwick Based on the novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne November 16-December 7, 2012
Roots and Wings Artistic Directors David Justin and Charles O. Anderson April 19-21, 2013 Standing on a long tradition of excellence, UT’s award-winning ensemble Dance Repertory Theatre takes flight in Roots and Wings.
Sin. Guilt. Judgment. Love. Protagonist Hester Prynne comes to the stage in this world premiere reimagining of Hawthorne’s classic tale.
The Edge of Peace By Suzan Zeder February 1-10, 2013 A play for all ages, The Edge of Peace tells the touching story of Buddy, a young boy struggling to make sense of a world at war. This world premiere is produced in partnership with Seattle Children’s Theatre.
Love’s Labour’s Lost, 2012
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NEW WORK TAKES STAGE Fall For Dance Artistic Directors David Justin and Charles O. Anderson November 17-18, December 1, 2012
The Cohen New Works Festival Presented by the University Co-op March 25-30, 2013
Dance Repertory Theatre returns to the stage in Fall For Dance, a collection of vibrant and captivating works by nationally renowned choreographers.
Presenting over 30 new works to more than 8,000 attendees in six days. coopnwf.org
And Then Came Tango By Emily Freeman November 30-December 2, 2012 And Then Came Tango shares the sweet tale of the unlikely penguin family of Roy, Silo and their baby Tango.
UTNT (UT New Theatre) April 18-28, 2013 An annual presentation of newly developed work of emerging playwrights.
Ears, Eyes + Feet May 3-4, 2013 Collaborative works by composers, choreographers and video artists.
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STAY CONNECTED The Department of Theatre and Dance is on Facebook and Twitter! We want to brag about you to our alumni, students and faculty! Send us your latest news online at uttadalumniupdates.org.
GET INVOLVED Your support of the Department of Theatre and Dance is appreciated! You can make a difference by making a donation to the department’s Texas Talent campaign. To learn more, visit utexas.edu/finearts/tad/support or call Michele Baylor, Director of Development and Alumni Relations at 512.475.6291.
Fall For Dance, 2011
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