Love and Information

April 13-24, 2022 Oscar G. Brockett Theatre

APRIL 13 AT 7:30 P.M. (PREVIEW) APRIL 14-16, 20-23 AT 7:30 P.M. APRIL 16, 23-24 AT 2:00 P.M.

OSCAR G. BROCKETT THEATRE F. LOREN WINSHIP DRAMA BUILDING

THEATREDANCE.UTEXAS.EDU Hsiao-Wei Chen – Costume Designer • Ron Collins – Lighting Designer John Erickson – Projection Designer • Daniel Geld – Technical Director • Inji Ha – Scenic Designer Dillon James – Composer • Lauren Mural – Stage Manager Molly Roy – Dramaturg/Movement Director • Mike Steele – Director Alex Titsworth – Sound Designer

ENSEMBLE (IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER) Pete Guadalupe Almaraz IV Macy Butler Mary Alice Carnes Megan Davidson Nicole Delarosa Grace Featherston Dominic Gross Alyssa Hernandez

Andrea Nuñez Mika O’Dwyer Esther Park Robert Pierson Jay Smith Juliana Smith-Etienne Madeline Rose Thompson Michael Williams Martinez

Videography and photography is strictly prohibited.

LOVE AND INFORMATION was first presented by The English Stage Company at The Royal Court Theatre in the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs, London, England on 6 September 2012. The U.S. premier was presented at New York Theatre Workshop, New York on 19 February 2014, directed by James McDonald.

“Love and Information” is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Samuel French, Inc. www.concordtheatricals.com

NOTE FROM THE DIRECTOR “We become what we behold. We shape our tools and thereafter our tools shape us.”

- Marshall McLuhan “How do I love thee, let me count the ways.”

- E.B. Browning

What is Love and Information? Numerically speaking it is one play made up of 64 scenes broken into seven sections featuring over 150 unique characters performed by an ensemble of 16.

On first glance, the play appears overwhelmingly huge. But when you look past the numbers, it’s a small show. It’s a show concerned with tiny intimacies, discoveries, connections, misinterpretations, betrayals and bliss. It’s about how we live. It’s about the strangeness of being human during a time of great advancement and equally great uncertainty.

Over the last century, our experience of the world has fragmented. Data-tracking, surveillance, terror, climate change, powerful new diseases, the constant shouting from screens and buzzing in our pockets has all created a sensory overload to which we are constantly reacting. I sometimes think being a person today is like trying to dance in a room full of fireworks – rather than expressing ourselves, we constantly move in an instinctive response to the new explosion or flash of light. In our interpretation of Caryl Churchill’s text, we’ve tried to put that dance onstage in all of its raw, weird, sublime, appalling, tender and uncomfortable splendor. Through such an experience, perhaps we may confront the systems responsible for determining our choreography.

THE VIDEOTAPING OR MAKING OF ELECTRONIC OR OTHER AUDIO AND/OR VISUAL RECORDINGS OF THIS PRODUCTION AND DISTRIBUTING RECORDINGS OR STREAMS IN ANY MEDIUM, INCLUDING THE INTERNET, IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED, A VIOLATION OF THE AUTHOR(S)'S RIGHTS AND ACTIONABLE UNDER UNITED STATES COPYRIGHT LAW. FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE VISIT: https://concordtheatricals.com/resources/protecting-artists

NOTE FROM THE DRAMATURG Our lives are engulfed in steady streams of information; waters muddied by the shifting lexicons of misinformation and disinformation. The platforms through which we routinely access, store, curate and disseminate information are primarily advertising companies, though they prefer to operate under the guise of different names. They vie for our rapt attention, with the impetus to anticipate, predict and suggest our next and every move. Our habits and fears, desires and motivations, algorithmically sorted and categorized for targeted content delivery.

We live in an information society, and information societies are always, in some regard, surveillance societies, both by default and design. The mass collection of information assumes intent to monitor—oversight toward a particular end. Clicks, likes, comments, searches, transactions, applications, locations—all aggregate into composites of us, often referred to as our data doubles. Data gathered for one purpose gets black-boxed into another. How might we imagine the relationship between our data doubles and our embodied selves?

As we burrow deeper into a “smart” networked landscape and our interpersonal interactions are increasingly mediated through computerized devices, previously held distinctions between cyberspace and the “real” world begin to blur. What happens in virtual spaces has real, material impact. The interfaces of our exchanges, the systems we are entangled and encoded in, register upon our bodies; the way we move and the ease of access we are afforded or denied.

The first English usages of the word “data” were carried over from the Latin, meaning something to be given, as in a gift. What information are we giving away, and what is being offered to us in return? What might we keep, what might we ask for, if we held data as a gift?

The Department of Theatre and Dance is a world-class educational environment that serves as the ultimate creative incubator for the next generation of artists, thinkers and leaders in theatre and performance.

CREATIVE Hsiao-Wei Chen (Costume Designer) is an Austin, Texas and Taiwan-based visual storyteller, scenographer and artist. She is known for her diverse skill and broad aesthetic in both scenic and costume design. Chen’s works include film, music video, theatre, opera, musical theatre and dance. hsiaoweichen.com Ron Collins (Lighting Designer) is a M.F.A. in Theatre (live design and production) candidate from Nashville, Tennessee. Collins earned his B.S. in Theatre at Middle Tennessee State University. Before graduate school, he was an associate producer for Abel McCallister Abel.

His thesis investigates telling his story through installation centering on LGBTQ nightlife.

John Erickson (Projection Designer) is a M.F.A. in Theatre (integrated media for live performance) candidate. He holds a B.A. in Theatre with a minor in media studies from Colorado State University. Select design credits include: Less Than 50% (59E59 Theaters), Winners (Ensemble Studio Theatre) and Cracked Orlando (Juilliard). Select associate design credits include Be More Chill (Lyceum Theatre), The Magnetic Fields: 50 Song Memoir (International Tour) and UNTITLED DANCESHOW PARTYTHING (Virgin Voyages).

Daniel Geld (Technical Director) is a senior student associate at Texas Performing Arts and a third-year B.A. in Theatre and Dance major with an emphasis in design and technology at The University of Texas at Austin. Recent credits with Texas Theatre and Dance include the positions of assistant technical director and production lead for The Tasters (2021) and technical director for Radiance (UTNT (UT New Theatre), 2021).

Inji Ha (Scenic Designer) is a M.F.A. in Theatre (scenic design) candidate at The University of Texas at Austin. She received her B.F.A. in Theatre Design and Technology with a focus in scenic design and scenic work at Auburn University.

Recent design credits include The Elixir of Love (Butler Opera Center, 2021), sad women being sad (UTNT (UT New Theatre), 2021), In the Ether

(Texas Theatre and Dance, 2020) and The Theory of Relativity (Auburn University Theatre, 2019).

Dillon James (Composer) is a B.S. in Arts and Entertainment Technologies major at The University of Texas at Austin. James has had an aptitude for music and sound in the digital realm since childhood. Previous credits with Texas Theatre and Dance include Year of the Tiger (2021) and “Kimmy” (2021). He is currently working on projects for Texas Theatre and Dance, the Department of Radio-Television-Film and the School of Design and Creative Technologies.

Lauren Mural (Stage Manager) is a B.A. in Theatre and Dance major with an emphasis in stage management also pursuing a minor in social and behavioral sciences. This is her 25th production and will be her last at The University of Texas at Austin. She has an extensive background in theatrical design. Recent credits with Texas Theatre and Dance include del corazón nace el enjambre (2021), Charles O. Anderson’s (Re)current Unrest (2020) and The Tasters (2021).

Molly Roy (Dramaturg/Movement Director) is a dance artist, scholar, educator and Ph.D. in Theatre candidate with a specialization in performance as public practice, researching choreographies of surveillance. She holds a Masters in Information Studies from The University of Texas at Austin School of Information.

Mike Steele (Director) is a M.F.A. in Theatre candidate with a specialization in directing.

Recent directing credits include Lear by Young Jean Lee (Crashbox), And Away We Stared (Trap Door Theatre), OCD by Hee-Won Kim (UTNT (UT New Theatre), 2021), poolboy00 by Sam Mayer (UTNT (UT New Theatre), 2020) and The Killer by Eugene Ionesco (Trap Door Theatre).

Steele is the former artistic director of The Island Theatre Company of Chicago and holds a B.F.A. from Southern Methodist University.

Alex Titsworth (Sound Designer) is a B.A. in Theatre and Dance major with an emphasis in design and technology. Recent credits

CREATIVE with Texas Theatre and Dance include Sonnets for an Old Century (2021) and Community Garden (UTNT (UT New Theatre), 2021). She also served as a designer for Spells of The Sea (The Cohen New Works Festival, 2021).

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ENSEMBLE

Pete Guadalupe Almaraz IV

Macy Butler

Mary Alice Carnes

Megan Davidson

Nicole Delarosa

Grace Featherston

Dominic Gross

Alyssa Hernandez

Andrea Nuñez

Mika O'Dwyer

Esther Park

Robert Pierson

Jay Smith

Juliana Smith-Etienne

Madeline Rose Thompson

Michael Williams Martinez

ENSEMBLE Pete Guadalupe Almaraz IV (Ensemble) is a B.A. in Theatre and Dance major with an emphasis in performer’s process at The University of Texas at Austin. Recent credits with the Department of Theatre and Dance include Things we can’t hear in silence (The Cohen New Works Festival, 2019) and Red Bike (director’s studio project, 2021). Other credits include Fade (Latinx Theatre Initiative, 2019) and The Bald Soprano. This is his final performance with Texas Theatre and Dance.

Macy Butler (Ensemble) is a second-year B.F.A. in Acting major at The University of Texas at Austin. Recent credits with Texas Theatre and Dance include sad women being sad (UTNT (UT New Theatre), 2021). She was also a part of the Department of Theatre and Dance director’s studio project Meek (2021).

Mary Alice Carnes (Ensemble) has worked as an actor and director with playwrights Raul Garza, Rupert Reyes, Roxanne Schroeder-Arce, Dolores J. Diaz and theatre companies Teatro Vivo, Different Stages, Zilker Theatre Productions and Austin Shakespeare, among others. She participated in the National New Play Network rolling premiere of Stephanie Alison Walker’s The Madres with Shrewd Productions in 2018.

Megan Davidson (Ensemble) is a first-year B.F.A. in Dance major at The University of Texas at Austin. She has an extensive background in dance, with a main focus in contemporary dance and ballet. Recent credits with the Department of Theatre and Dance include A Riverside Tale, presented as part of the M.F.A. thesis project Tales of WaterWomen (2022).

Nicole Delarosa (Ensemble) is a fourth-year B.A. in Theatre and Dance major with a focus in performer’s process at The University of Texas at Austin. She is from Dallas, Texas, where she appeared in Dallas College Richland Campus Drama Department’s performances of The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Fiction and directed the short play Accidental Actor. Recent credits

include assistant directing Meek (director’s studio project, 2021), This Is Life (The Cohen New Works Festival, 2021) and The Prozorovs.

Grace Featherston (Ensemble) is a third-year UTeach Theatre major at The University of Texas at Austin. Recent credits with the Department of Theatre and Dance include Red Bike (director’s studio project, 2021) and Tjipetir: A Search History (UTNT (UT New Theatre), 2020). Featherston has also had the pleasure of working on the sets for Walker and Fear the Walking Dead.

Dominic Gross (Ensemble) is a B.F.A. in Acting major at The University of Texas at Austin. He last appeared with Texas Theatre and Dance as "The General" in The Tasters (2021).

Alyssa Hernandez (Ensemble) is a thirdyear B.F.A. in Acting major at The University of Texas at Austin. Recent credits include Three Sisters (The Factory) and the short film Choices We Made (Carcosa Cabin).

Andrea Nuñez (Ensemble) is a fourth-year B.A. in Theatre and Dance major with an emphasis in performer’s process at The University of Texas at Austin. Her most recent credits with Texas Theatre and Dance include Sonnets for an Old Century (2021) and sad women being sad (UTNT (UT New Theatre), 2021). Nuñez is currently developing a final project which will examine the binaries of gender identities in performance.

Mika O’Dwyer (Ensemble) is a fourth-year B.A. in Theatre and Dance major with an emphasis in performer’s process. Recent credits with Texas Theatre and Dance include Come Winter’s End (The Cohen New Works Festival, 2021) and Tjipetir: A Search History (UTNT (UT New Theatre), 2020), as well as Critical Failures.

Esther Park (Ensemble) is a first-year B.F.A. in Acting major at The University of Texas at Austin. Recent credits with the Department of Theatre and Dance include the thesis project Cafeteria Formosa (2021).

ENSEMBLE Robert Pierson (Ensemble) is a performing artist, musician and educator. Stage work includes It is Magic, The Goat, or Who is Sylvia? and The Strangerer (Capital T Theatre); Toros and The Bigot (UTNT (UT New Theatre) 2020 and 2017); Catalina de Erauso (paper chairs); The Hotel Vanya, or A Metaphysical-Paradigm At The End of Everythingness (Natalie George Productions); Heddatron (Salvage Vanguard Theatre) and The B. Beaver Animation (Rude Mechs).

Pierson taught and directed productions at the Texas School for the Blind for over 30 years.

Jay Smith (Ensemble) is a first-year human development and family sciences major at The University of Texas at Austin. Smith has an extensive background in singing, acting and playing piano. This is his second production with Texas Theatre and Dance after performing in kin • song: ode to disability ancestors (2021).

Juliana Smith-Etienne (Ensemble) is a B.A. in Theatre and Dance major with an emphasis in performer’s process. Smith’s background includes vocal performance and acting. Recent credits with Texas Theatre and Dance include kin • song: ode to disability ancestors (2021).

Madeline Rose Thompson (Ensemble) is a third-year B.F.A. in Acting major. Hailing from the great state of Wisconsin, she trained and performed with the Stella Adler Studio of Acting in New York City before attending The University of Texas at Austin. Recent credits include Three Sisters (The Factory) and "Viola '' in Jeremy Lee Cudd's “Classical Vlogues” web series.

Michael Williams Martinez (Ensemble) is a fourth-year B.A. in Theatre and Dance major with an emphasis in performer’s process. He has an extensive background in acting, directing and writing. Most recently, he directed The 40th Annual Madrigal Dinner (Campus Events + Entertainment: Creative Arts + Theatre, 2021).

Select acting credits include the roles of “Dad” in Spells of the Sea (The Cohen New Works Festival, 2021) and “Shoebill” in Wyeth Airlines Flight Thirteen (UTNT (UT New Theatre), 2020).

CREW

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR AVERY BROOKS ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGERS RODRIGO ESQUIVEL HERRERA HALEY JOHNSON ASSISTANT COSTUME DESIGNER LEAH HUMMEL ASSISTANT LIGHTING DESIGNER ARI JAMIESON ASSISTANT PROJECTION DESIGNER HEEKYUNG KIM ASSISTANT SCENIC DESIGNER TERESA GUERRERO C. PROPERTIES SHOW MANAGER TAYLOR LAINE ABS INTIMACY CONSULTANT BRAXTON RAE ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR, TPA* FABRICATION STUDIO J.E. JOHNSON ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR, TPA* FABRICATION STUDIO KAREN MANESS TPA* SENIOR TECHNICAL DIRECTOR SCOTT BUSSEY PROJECT MANAGER, TPA* FABRICATION STUDIO DAVID TOLIN OPERATIONS MANAGER, TPA* FABRICATION STUDIO JASON LEE HUERTA PROPERTIES MANAGER, TPA* FABRICATION STUDIO CAROLYN HARDIN LEAD FABRICATOR, TPA* FABRICATION STUDIO HANK SCHWEMMER PROJECT SPECIALIST, TPA* FABRICATION STUDIO ASHTON BENNETT MURPHY GRADUATE PRODUCTION ASSISTANTS TERE GUERRERO CARDOSO INJI HA HELEN SOHYUN PARK ALEXANDER ROCKEY

ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT MADISON SHERIDAN

FIRST HANDS EMMA DICKERSON CALIFORNIA THORSON

TPA* SUPERVISING ELECTRICIAN SARAH CANTU

PRODUCTION LEADS TAYLOR LAINE ABS LEAH AUSTIN ZOE BIHAN GRACE FEATHERSTON DANIEL GELD DAVID HERNANDEZ RODRIGO ESQUIVEL HERRERA ISABELLA HOLLIS MAJED JOSEPHI MIKAELA KELAREK BRITTNEY KOOPMANN ROXOLANA KRYWONOS AUSTIN LUCHAK JONAH MAUGHAN JULIO MUÑOZ JORDYN PAUL MIA RAMIREZ MADISON SHERIDAN ANNA SOUTHERN CHRISTOPHER TAYLOR REBECCA WOOLLS JULIA YELVINGTON

STITCHERS HAROLD HORSLEY KATIE MILLER CAMRYN PATTERSON

TPA* LIGHTING SUPERVISOR SEB BOONE

FABRICATION PRODUCTION ASSISTANTS SE’AN BOATNER SAMANTHA CORTEZ NICOLE DELAROSA SYDNY DEMEYER MICAH HERNANDEZ BROOKLYN HINDERER RUSAMA ISLAM JAKE JOSEPHI AUSTIN LUCHAK DAIJHA MAINOR MELISSA MARTIN HANNAH NELSON EMILY PEREZ SKYLER QUAIT ISABELLA RAY KOBE WILLIAMS PROP ARTISANS GRACE FEATHERSTON ROXOLANA KRYWONOS MICHAEL WILLIAMS MARTINEZ HELEN SOHYUN PARK JULIE WEBB PROP STOCK MANAGER HELEN SOHYUN PARK COSTUME PRODUCTION DIRECTOR NANETTE ACOSTA COSTUME FABRICATION STUDIO PRODUCTION ASSOCIATE DESIREÉ HUMPHRIES DRAPERS SARAH BARBOUR POUA YANG

COSTUME CRAFTS ARTISAN TANYA OLALDE COSTUME CRAFTS ASSISTANTS HAROLD HORSLEY JULIE WEBB COSTUME FABRICATION STUDIO ASSISTANT RACHEL GREEN COSTUME FABRICATION CREW SUPERVISORS HSIAO-WEI CHEN KATIE MILLER COSTUME FABRICATION CREW KATRINA ESPINOZA ABIGAIL GERRON CECILIA GONZALES ALYSSA HERNANDEZ ESTRELLA MARTINEZ MIKA O’DWYER SEBASTIAN OJEDA JADZIA PADILLA RICHARD PRATCHETT AIMEE RAMOS SIMON SALINAS FRANCES SMITH ASHLEY SPEIGHT REBEKAH URBAN JOYLIN WEI WARDROBE SUPERVISOR DESIREE TOWNES WARDROBE CREW CHIEF MEAGAN BEATTIE WARDROBE CREW SAADA DIGGS JALANI MILLER LINDSEY SURLES GIULIANA VELEZ MAKENNA WALLACE CHLOE WHITEHEAD COSTUME STOCK SUPERVISOR DESIREÉ HUMPHRIES COSTUME STOCK ASSISTANTS JACOB BENAIM LEAH HUMMEL 324P LIGHTING FACULTY SUPERVISOR JEDIDIAH ROE

SENIOR LIGHTING TECHNICIANS SARAH ELLIOTT ARI JAMIESON NINGMO LIU TEXAS THEATRE AND DANCE LIGHTING CREW FEDOR AGLYAMOV PETE GUADALUPE ALMARAZ IV HAYLIE BOYD SAMANTHA BROWN BRIDGETTE CLIFFORD ISAAC GARCIA ZACHARD MARTIN MICHAEL WILLIAMS MARTINEZ ANDREA NUÑEZ JUAN PADRON FATIMAH QURAISHI LORIANN RATLIFF SIMONE THOMAS MADELINE THOMPSON MORIAH DEL TORO TPA* LIGHTING CREW SARA CHANEY LIBBY JANTZ SADIE KLOS ZACKARY READ MATTHEW E. SMITH SHELLY UPHAM LIGHT BOARD OPERATOR KORI SCHWARZ TPA* AUDIO SUPERVISOR DREW MILLAY TPA* ASSOCIATE AUDIO SUPERVISOR KENNY KUYKENDALL TPA* AUDIO CREW CHEYENNE CHESTER CODY HANCOCK ISABELLE GILMORE LUCY KULZICK BRYCE RIGGLE ALEX TITSWORTH AUDIO BOARD OPERATOR PARKER MANNING INTEGRATED MEDIA SHOP SUPERVISOR EARNEST MAZIQUE

CREW

MEDIA GRADUATE ASSISTANTS JACKSON COBB ZOEY CROW JOHN ERICKSON HEEKYUNG KIM SYDNEY SOUSA MEDIA SHOP CREW JEREMY CANALES CHRISTIAN COFFEY AMBER HUTCHTON ANDREW LIMAS MIRANDA LUNA ISABELLA MORGART SYDNEY ROKAS NICOLE RUDAKOVA SOPHIA SAVELLOS AGUSTUS WHEELER MEDIA OPERATOR AVA NIELSEN

STAGE MANAGEMENT ADVISOR RUSTY CLOYES DIRECTING ADVISORS KJ SANCHEZ ALEXANDRA BASSIAKOU SHAW COSTUME DESIGN ADVISOR RAQUEL BARRETO COSTUME TECHNOLOGY ADVISOR JAMES GLAVAN LIGHTING DESIGN ADVISOR MICHELLE HABECK INTEGRATED MEDIA DESIGN ADVISOR SVEN ORTEL

FOLLOW SPOT OPERATORS CATHERINE DISHINGTON ELIZA MOLDAWER NOLAN MYERS STEPHANIE SHAW

SCENIC DESIGN ADVISOR JOSAFATH REYNOSO

CREW SWINGS PRESLEY GOUGE GABRIELLA MACHADO MAKENNA WALLACE

TPA* DIRECTOR OF FABRICATION AND ACADEMIC PRODUCTION JEFF GRAPKO

SOUND DESIGN ADVISOR PHILLIP OWEN

PHOTOGRAPHER THOMAS ALLISON GRAPHIC DESIGNER JEFF GRAY SPECIAL THANKS NORA LISE ULREY KJ SANCHEZ ROBERT RAMIREZ SHAWN SIDES KIRK LYNN MALENA PENNYCOOK ALEXANDRA BASSIAKOU SHAW JENNY LAVERY BRAXTON RAE DAVID AND TERRY STEELE *TPA = TEXAS PERFORMING ARTS

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