UTNT (UT New Theatre) 2023

A D D R E SS T H E B O DY !

BY ZACHARIAH EZER DIRECTED BY DOMINIQUE RIDER They’re listening. They’re learning. They’re lying.

V E RY B L U E L I G H T

BY DAPHNE SILBIGER DIRECTED BY KRISTEN OSBORN I was waiting for something spectacular... but UFOs are simpler than you expect.

HAROLD

MIRROR, MIRROR

BY JUSTINE GELFMAN DIRECTED BY SUSANNA WOLK

BY MIA GOMEZ-REYES DIRECTED BY SIMON SALINAS

FEBRUARY 18-26, 2023 | OSCAR G. BROCKETT THEATRE 1

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ADDRESS THE BODY!

BY ZACHARIAH EZER PG. 3

VE RY BLUE LIGHT

BY DAPHNE SILBIGER PG. 11

HAROLD

BY JUSTINE GELFMAN PG. 19

MIRROR, MIRROR

BY MIA GOMEZ-REYES PG. 19

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A NOTE FROM THE CO-PRODUCING ARTISTIC DIRECTORS Welcome to UTNT — University of Texas New Theatre: a showcase of new plays by graduating M.F.A.candidate playwrights. Now in its sixteenth season, UTNT brings together students from all theatremaking disciplines to develop new plays from script to stage. The final piece of each development process, whether it culminates in a production or a reading, is the chance to share the work with you, the audience.

This festival, you will be the first ever to encounter Address the Body! by Zachariah Ezer, Very Blue Light by Daphne Silbiger and Harold by Justine Gelfman. We are galvanized by these writers and their plays. We are eager to share them with you. We urge you to also read each of their program notes so you can learn about their processes and experience their prowess firsthand as you embark on their new works.

We expanded UTNT’s mission this season to include a play by a recent UT Bachelor of Arts alumna. Mia Gomez-Reyes focused on stage management while at UT Austin, but through the interdisciplinary nature of the B.A. curriculum, she found and nurtured her playwriting voice. We are pleased to showcase a reading of her play mirror, mirror to conclude our festival this year.

Co-Producing Artistic Directors, KJ Sanchez and Alexandra Bassiakou Shaw Associate Producer, Braxton Rae

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.

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ADDRESS THE BODY!

BY ZACHARIAH EZER DIRECTED BY DOMINIQUE RIDER FEBRUARY 22, 24-25 AT 7:30 P.M. FEBRUARY 18 AT 2:00 P.M. OSCAR G. BROCKETT THEATRE | F. LOREN WINSHIP DRAMA BUILDING

THEATREDANCE.UTEXAS.EDU Teresa Guerrero C. – Scenic Designer • Demian Gael Chavez – Sound Designer Bridgette Cliford – Properties Manager • Jackson Cobb – Assistant Projection Designer Katie Concannon – Costume Designer • Sydny DeMeyer – Properties Supervisor Zachariah Ezer – Playwright • Clarissa Garcia – Stage Manager • Andy Grapko – Intimacy Director Renita James – Community Engagement • Ryan K. Johnson – Choreographer Lauresther Medina-Jimenez – Assistant Costume Designer • Tobie Minor – Fight Director Michael Mobley – Dramaturg • Aria Morgan – Assistant Director Tenzing Ortega – Associate Scenic Designer • Leila Rabah – Assistant Stage Manager Braxton Rae – Associate Producer • Dominique Rider – Director Sydney Sousa – Projection Designer • David Tolin – Technical Director Rylee Vines – Production Manager • Donna Bonnelle Yancey – Lighting Designer Jacob Zamarripa – Assistant Lighting Designer

CAST (IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE) Dr. Timothy Wagner/William Taylor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Nolan Myers Epimetheus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Allen Porterie Rhodelle Grayson. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mackenzie “Mack” Thornton Cree Burnside . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lizzie Ufomadu Dr. Grace Levin-Kwan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Josephine Bonnington-Mailisi Blair Woodyard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Marissa Angel Barker Dr. Jim Cooper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jay Smith

The videography, photography or audio recording of this production is strictly prohibited.

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A NOTE FROM THE PLAYWRIGHT As a playwright, people ofen ask me to describe my writing. I’m never quite sure how to answer this question. The best thing I’ve come up with so far is that it’s kind of like a bunch of episodes of Scooby Doo, but when they pull the mask of of the monster, it’s slavery every time. My project as an artist (in this moment, if there can even be such a thing) is to aestheticize a philosophy known as Afropessimism. At its core, Afropessimism is the belief that slavery is a world-making event, so—seeing as we are still in the world—it categorically cannot be over and will not be over until this world is ended.

As an Afropessimist, each of my plays hopes to animate a diferent contention of this school of thought into a theatrical form. Address the Body! makes this attempt on multiple fronts, but the one that I have been most connected to as I have begun the UTNT process is the idea (full credit to Frank B. Wilderson III for it) that slavery is not merely horrific and sensational; it is banal and quotidian as well. As the show’s director, Dominique Rider, ofen says, “it happens in broad daylight.” Saidiya Hartman, in her seminal work Scenes of Subjection, among other things, exposes this truth, chronicling the minutiae and ephemera of the realities of slavery. This is the north star that I attempt to follow as I undertake my own work.

As a person, though, I am not nearly as unflinching as she is. Slavery, now and in the past, makes me fearful and enraged and despondent. To me, it is, in many ways, the sun: life-giving to the world, but we in that world are unable to look directly at it. As such, I must cut my sincere statement with genre and humor and some level of detachment. Hence the Scooby Doo of it all. If you’ve ever seen All the Presidents Men, this play pays loving homage to its sleuths who, workmanlike, uncover a grand conspiracy. If you’ve had any experience with midcentury absurdism, this play lightly borrows from many of the greats of the genre. And if you’ve ever been fortunate enough to really share a laugh with a Black person, this play will ideally remind you of some of those back-and-forths.

As a propagandist, I want you to learn something from this play. It is the same thing you would learn from every story about a conspiracy: it goes higher and deeper than you ever imagined. As a repatriation activist, I hope you leave this theatre and look for the stolen bodies near you and you do something about them. As a playwright, I hope you think this play is very funny and very clever and very profound. As an Afropessimist, if you’re not Black, I don’t care what you think.

As a person, though, I am incredibly grateful to be able to work on this thing that is so harrowing in a place that made it so I could focus all of my eforts on it, with a group of actors and designers and laborers of all stripes who were united in a common purpose, and with my best friend, without whom this play and all of my others would be far worse.

Enjoy the show—even if you already know what’s under the mask.

SPECIAL THANKS Branden Jacobs-Jenkins Lisa B. Thompson Alexandra Bassett Kirk Lynn

Lee Kravchenko Hannah Ezer Frank B. Wilderson III & Saidiya Hartman Alan J. Pakula & William Goldman

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A NOTE FROM THE DIRECTOR "Thus all art is propaganda and ever must be, despite the wailing of the purists. I stand in utter shamelessness and say that whatever art I have for writing has been used always for propaganda for gaining the right of black folk to love and enjoy. I do not care a damn for any art that is not used for propaganda.” — W.E.B. Du Bois, “Criteria of Negro Art,” 1926 In a creative field that has long been dominated by a white imaginary wholly focused on maintaining the status quo and perpetuating anti-blackness, it is important to consider art as propaganda instead of pretending it exists in some neutral, apolitical space. If theatre purports to be an art of truth-telling, then we must tell it plainly, intrepidly and in as many diferent ways as we can: ways that challenge what we’ve been told, ways that retool familiar genres towards something greater, ways that reconsider what we think we know, ways that are honest about what we don’t want to see or say. This is where a writer like Zachariah Ezer enters the scene. Artists ofen talk about race and power without ever really talking about it. Zachariah demands that we think past the usual “good feelings” and instead analyze the way the world works and what we might need to do in order to obliterate its current order.

Address the Body! is propaganda for the present; a play that demands we reconsider institutions and their “solutions” to problems that they have helped to engender. In the wake of the bloody summer of 2020, many places made promises about what they would do to “help” Black people. Few of them have followed through with anything other than a few EDI training sessions. Address the Body! reminds us of the bodies that were forced to build and that are still held within places like the one you find yourself in tonight. Can a play raise the dead? Can it breathe life into a pile of bones? Can it raze an institution so that the bones hidden beneath it can finally see the light of day? Of course not, but maybe it can create the conditions for something akin to a revolution. We’ll see.

A NOTE FROM THE DRAMATURG “The clearer you understand where you came from, the better you know where you’re going. If you recognize your mistakes, you can avoid making them over and over again.” Those are lines said by the character “Rhodelle” in the play, Address the Body!. Zachariah Ezer has crafed a play where we see an educational institution, and the people who teach and learn at the institution, grapple—or to make as if they are grappling—with its participation in the slave economy. We have seen over the last few years American universities acknowledging and atoning for their ties to slavery. Georgetown University recently announced the Reconciliation Fund to support descendants of slavery. The University of Virginia built a $7 million dollar monument to honor the enslaved people that built and maintained the school. Also, Harvard University has recently published a 134-page report on their ties to slavery and has promised to create a $100 million fund to redress their participation. Of course, a few million dollars and a monument are not enough to atone for the irreparable damage of slavery, but it is a great starting place for these institutions to stop the cycle of denial and minimization they have responded with whenever the subject is brought to their institution, like you will see in Address the Body!

Not all is doom and gloom in this play. Address the Body! at its core is an edge-of-your-seat mystery. It is also about restoring a family’s legacy. The character “Rhodelle” is trying to take back what the institution has stolen from her family’s past and present. I hope when you leave the theatre you will wonder about any institutions you hold dear and find out what unacknowledged bodies helped establish those institutions.

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CREATIVE Teresa Guerrero C. (Scenic Designer) is a M.F.A. in Theatre (live design and production) candidate at The University of Texas at Austin. She has a background in theatre and film. Recent credits include production design for the short film A Woman Is Many Things… (2022), set dressing for the short film Fire In The Breeze (2022), art direction for the short documentary NaedeaN (2022) and assistant scenic design for Love and Information (Texas Theatre and Dance, 2022).

candidate. She earned her B.A. in Environmental Justice at Middlebury College and is interested in relationships between artificial and biological structures and how to create art in an era of environmental crisis. She began her career as a stitcher before finding her place in design. Credits with Middlebury College include assistant costume designer for She Kills Monsters and The Orphan Muses (2021) and lead designer for Botticelli in the Fire (2022).

Demian Gael Chavez (Sound Designer) is a second-year student at The University of Texas at Austin pursuing a B.A. in Latino Studies and a B.A. in Theatre and Dance with an emphasis in playwrighting and directing. Recent credits include sound design for …but you could’ve held my hand (Texas Theatre and Dance, 2022) and director for Evil Dead The Musical with the University Theatre Guild. Upcoming work includes sound design for The Jungle Book with Austin Scottish Rite Theater.

Sydny DeMeyer (Properties Supervisor) graduated in December 2022 with a B.A. in Theatre and Dance with an emphasis in design and technology. Past credits as a properties manager with Texas Theatre and Dance include In Sisters We Trust, or My F*cked Up American Girl Doll Play (2022) and Tiny Fingerprints (UTNT (UT New Theatre), 2022).

Bridgette Cliford (Properties Manager) is a third-year B.A. in Theatre and Dance major with an emphasis in design and technology, also pursuing a minor in primatology. She has worked on many Texas Theatre and Dance productions and Butler School of Music operas as a student fabrication assistant at the Texas Performing Arts Fabrication Studios. This is her first production as a properties manager.

Jackson Cobb (Assistant Projection Designer) is a third-year M.F.A. in Theatre (integrated media for live performance) candidate at The University of Texas at Austin. Recent design credits include …but you could have held my hand (Texas Theatre and Dance, 2022), Jinkies! or The Dog Play (UTNT (UT New Theatre), 2022) and the Song Reimagined series (Butler Opera Center, 2021). Assistant design and programming credits include Monsoon Wedding (Qatar Creates, 2022) and Thoughts of a Colored Man (Broadway, 2021). jacksoncobb.design Katie Concannon (Costume Designer) is a first-year M.F.A. in Theatre (costume design)

Zachariah Ezer (Playwright) is a playwright who animates theoretical quandaries through dramaturgical forms. Selected plays include The Freedom Industry (New York Stage and Film, The Playwrights’ Center), An Unclear World (Hi-ARTS) and Black Women in Tech (The Fire This Time Festival). Ezer is a James A. Michener Fellow for the class of 2023 and a Playwrights’ Center Core Apprentice, and he is currently under commission by Theater J. Clarissa Garcia (Stage Manager) is a secondyear B.A. in Theatre and Dance major with an emphasis in stage management. She has a background in stage management, scenic design and lighting design. Credits include stage management for In Sisters We Trust, or My F*cked Up American Girl Doll Play (Texas Theatre and Dance, 2022), assistant stage management for Alice's Wonderland (Summer Stock Austin) and wardrobe and special efects makeup for UTNT (UT New Theatre) (2022).

Andy Grapko (Intimacy Director) is a lecturer and resident intimacy director for the Department of Theatre and Dance. Her training includes Intimacy Directors and Coordinators, Theatrical Intimacy Education and Intimacy for Stage and Screen. Her credits include Anna in the 6

CREATIVE Tropics (Ground Floor Theatre), Pippin (McCallum Fine Arts Academy), …but you could’ve held my hand and The Tasters (Texas Theatre and Dance; 2022, 2021), Venus in Fur (Way Of Broadway Community Players) and the films Clock and RAPS. andygrapko.com Renita James (Community Engagement) is a second-year M.F.A. in Theatre candidate with a specialization in drama and theatre for youth and communities. Her most recent credits include community engagement and dramaturgy for ...but you could've held my hand (Texas Theatre and Dance, 2022), “Mel” in The Materials that Make Us (museum theatre project) and “Tasia” in “Kimmy” (Texas Theatre and Dance, 2021). She also works as a deviser, director and teaching artist.

Ryan K. Johnson (Choreographer) is a M.F.A. in Dance candidate at The University of Texas at Austin and founding executive artistic director of SOLE Defined Percussive Dance Company. Johnson’s performance credits include performing with Gregory Hines, Marvin Hamlisch, The Beatles LOVE and One Drop by Cirque Du Soleil, STOMP, Step Afrika!, resident tap dancer for The Washington Ballet and featured artist in Ayodele Casel’s Diary of a Tap Dancer. soledefined.com | @rkjdance Tobie Minor (Fight Director) teaches stage combat and movement at Texas State University. He has been a certified Advanced Actor Combatant with the Society of American Fight Directors for 22 years. He has choreographed violence at Texas State University, UT Austin, St. Edward’s University, ZACH Theatre, Austin Shakespeare, Austin Playhouse, Hidden Room Theatre and Penfold Theatre. He has been nominated and won several awards both locally and internationally, and his choreography has been featured at the Blackfriars Conference and at The Globe Theatre in London.

Michael Mobley (Dramaturg) is a first-year James A. Michener Fellow with a primary concentration in playwriting. His work has 7

been developed at Quick Silver Theater Company and Echo Theater Company.

Aria Morgan (Assistant Director) is a B.A. in Theatre and Dance major with an emphasis in playwriting and directing at The University of Texas at Austin. Recent credits with Texas Theatre and Dance include serving as assistant director for In Sisters We Trust, or My F*cked Up American Girl Doll Play (2022) and performing as "Young Colleen" in Community Garden (UTNT (UT New Theatre), 2021).

Tenzing Ortega (Associate Scenic Designer) was born and raised in Mexico City, where he has been a scenographer for over 10 years.

He holds a B.F.A. in Escenografía from the National School of Theatrical Arts (ENAT) in Mexico City. He is currently a first-year M.F.A. in Theatre (scenic design) candidate.

Leila Rabah (Assistant Stage Manager) is a firstyear B.A. in Theatre and Dance major with an emphasis in stage management at The University of Texas at Austin. Address the Body! is her second production with Texas Theatre and Dance, following her work as assistant stage manager for …but you could’ve held my hand (2022).

Braxton Rae (Associate Producer) is an artist whose creative work and scholarship is focused on blackness, queerness, womanism and marginalized identities more broadly. Additionally, Braxton is passionately pursuing the craf of intimacy work. Braxton’s artistic goals are to foster an arts community that focuses on diversity, equity and inclusion. Recently, Braxton directed Always…Patsy Cline at Great River Shakespeare Festival and …but you could’ve held my hand (Texas Theatre and Dance, 2022). braxtonrae.com Dominique Rider (Director) is a Brooklynbased director whose work seeks to answer the question: “What is a world unmade by slavery?” while attempting to analyze the layers of anti-blackness that maintain the world we live in. Deploying theatre and performance as tools of Afropessimism, Rider has developed

CREATIVE and staged work with the Park Avenue Armory, The New Group, New York Theatre Workshop, Roundabout Theatre Company, Atlantic Theater Company, Princeton University, The Shed, the National Black Theatre, Two River Theater and Portland Center Stage, among others.

Sydney Sousa (Projection Designer) is a secondyear M.F.A. in Theatre (integrated media for live performance) candidate. She received her B.A. in Lighting Design and Technology from the College of Charleston. Before attending The University of Texas at Austin, she was a touring media technician for Feld Entertainment. Credits include assistant projection designer for The Tasters (Texas Theatre and Dance, 2021), projection designer for Sawubona (PIVOT - Texas Theatre and Dance, 2022) and Shakespeare Gala (Butler Opera Center, 2022).

David Tolin (Technical Director) was born and raised in Casper, Wyoming. He received his B.A. in Theatre with a concentration in design/ technology from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He received his M.F.A. in Theatre from The University of Texas at Austin before teaching at Westlake High School for seven years. Tolin works at Texas Performing Arts’ Fabrication Studios as the Project Manager and as faculty in the UT Live Design and Production area.

Rylee Vines (Production Manager) is a B.A. in Theatre and Dance and B.S. in Public Relations major at The University of Texas at Austin.

Recent credits include In the Heights (Summer Stock Austin, 2022), Alice's Wonderland (Summer Stock Austin, 2022), Jinkies! or The Dog Play (UTNT (UT New Theatre), 2022) and The Tasters (Texas Theatre and Dance, 2021).

Donna Bonnelle Yancey (Lighting Designer) is a 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 designing three dance performances as part of Fall For Dance (2022), assisting on Dance Repertory Theatre’s PIVOT (2022) and …but you could’ve held my hand (2022), in addition to Der Kaiser von Atlantis (Butler Opera Center, 2022).

Jacob Zamarripa (Assistant Lighting Designer) is a B.A. in Theatre and Dance major with an emphasis in design and technology at The University of Texas at Austin. He has an extensive background in lighting design in and around Houston, Texas. UTNT (UT New Theatre) is his first assistant lighting design credit with Texas Theatre and Dance. Recent assistant lighting design credits at UT Austin include Songs Reimagined (Butler Opera Center, 2022).

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CAST

Nolan Myers

Mackenzie "Mack" Thornton

Lizzie Ufomadu

Marissa-Angel-Barker

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Allen Porterie

Josephine Bonnington-Mailisi

Jay Smith

CAST Nolan Myers (Dr. Timothy Wagner/William Taylor) is a third-year B.A. in Theatre and Dance major with an emphasis in performer's process.

He has an extensive background in acting and singing. This is his first production with Texas Theatre and Dance. Other credits include several projects with the student organization Take the Wheel, including the staged reading of Hamlet in Space and their 10-minute play festival.

Allen Porterie (Epimetheus; he/they) is a second-year M.F.A. in Theatre candidate with a specialization in performance as public practice at The University of Texas at Austin. He was most recently seen as “Angel” in Kinky Boots with Uptown Players and as “Lance” in Fire in Dreamland with The Filigree Theatre. Porterie is represented by Collier Talent. allenporterie.com Mackenzie “Mack” Thornton (Rhodelle Grayson) is a B.A. in Theatre and Dance major with an emphasis in performer’s process at The University of Texas at Austin. She previously performed in the role of “Addy/Jordan” in In Sisters We Trust, or My F*cked Up American Girl Doll Play (2022), her first season production with Texas Theatre and Dance.

Lizzie Ufomadu (Cree Burnside) is a B.A. in Theatre and Dance major with an emphasis in performer's process at The University of Texas at Austin. She has an extensive background in acting and dance. This is her first production with Texas Theatre and Dance, with most recent credits in Summer Shakespeare (Collin Theatre Center) and various devised works and projects within and outside of the department.

Josephine Bonnington-Mailisi (Dr. Grace LevinKwan) is pursuing a B.A. in Theatre and Dance, a B.B.A. in Marketing and a minor in entrepreneurship and innovation. She has recently moved to Austin as an exchange student. Her favorite career highlight thus far has been performing as a soloist (aerialist, dancer and contortionist) at the Sydney Opera House. Her innovation and versatility as a performer have allowed her to perform and travel across the globe. @justdancejosie Marissa Angel Barker (Blair Woodyard) is a third-year UTeach Theatre major at The University of Texas at Austin. She has an extensive background in the arts. Recent credits with Texas Theatre and Dance include Jinkies! or The Dog Play (UTNT (UT New Theatre), 2022), Fall the House (UTNT (UT New Theatre), 2021) and …but you could have held my hand (2022).

Jay Smith (Dr. Jim Cooper) is a second-year B.A. in Theatre and Dance student with an emphasis in performer’s process also pursuing a degree in human development and family sciences at The University of Texas at Austin.

Smith has notable experience in singing, acting and piano. Past credits with Texas Theatre and Dance include kin • song: ode to disability ancestors (2021) and Love and Information (2022).

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VERY BLUE LIGHT

BY DAPHNE SILBIGER DIRECTED BY KRISTEN OSBORN FEBRUARY 18, 23 AT 7:30 P.M. FEBRUARY 19, 25 AT 2:00 P.M. OSCAR G. BROCKETT THEATRE | F. LOREN WINSHIP DRAMA BUILDING

THEATREDANCE.UTEXAS.EDU Kayla Alonzo – Assistant Stage Manager • Jacob Benaim – Costume Designer Avery Brooks – Assistant Director • Daniel Ruiz Bustos – Associate Scenic Designer Teresa Guerrero C. – Scenic Designer • Jackson Cobb – Assistant Projection Designer Hal Cosentino – Dramaturg • Sydny DeMeyer – Properties Supervisor Andy Grapko – Intimacy Consultant • Dillon James – Sound Designer Heekyung Kim – Projection Designer • Kristen Osborn – Director • Malena Pennycook – Dramaturg Yobany Pizano – Assistant Director • Stephen Pruitt – Lighting Designer Braxton Rae – Associate Producer • Natalia Martin Rodezno – Properties Manager Daphne Silbiger – Playwright • David Tolin – Technical Director • Rylee Vines – Production Manager Emma Winder – Stage Manager • Jacob Zamarripa – Assistant Lighting Designer

CAST (IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE) Magna . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Ozma Darling Angela . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Angel Hernandez Coleman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Hal Cosentino Michigan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mateo Hernandez

The videography, photography or audio recording of this production is strictly prohibited.

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A NOTE FROM THE PLAYWRIGHT I read a book recently that talks about how in ancient times, people went to temples to hear gods talk. The gods, of course, were statues rigged with long hoses that allowed the voice of a hidden man to come out of the statue's mouth. I think ancient people were aware of this mechanism—but, I don't think they believed that what the god said was any less valid or holy.

This is the point that I find interesting. What happened if those ancient people began to question their god? What happened if their god said something controversial and a room of people had to fix their hearts or die? If those divine talking heads have been replaced by the unobscured talking people that are going to perform a play for you, Very Blue Light is interested in what happens when it appears that the gods cannot be believed.

I’m not implying that I, or anyone else, is a deity. But, when we gather to perform an act of faith and examine a fictional presentation for its relationship to our lived experiences, I feel that moments of disbelief and untruth cue us to look for metaphor, fable and allegory. And when we shout, “That’s not true!” at the person speaking, it usually means that those subterranean meanings have passed us by.

This play is tied up in our collective awareness of science fiction—of extraterrestrials, alien abductions and general UFO-related conspiracies. It uses that imagery to talk about gender transition. But, that’s not all it talks about, and I hope that you discover something not of this world hiding in the play’s West Texas mysticism (even if you’ve already figured out how it works).

A NOTE FROM THE DIRECTOR

Greetings: I am writing this note from far above you, (presuming, of course, that you are reading it inside the Oscar G. Brockett Theatre at UT Austin,) at a diferent time and in a diferent space.

It is dark. Looking down I can see many little specks of light. I see winding paths, like those that earthworms make when they wriggle through the mud, paths that the little humans and their little lights follow on their journeys to wherever they are going.

I get higher up in the air and those lights become even smaller, clusters amid total darkness. I see flickers that I can’t explain.

“I am beginning to understand the profundity of my insignificance,” Magna says in Very Blue Light. This phrase echoes in my head.

From where I am, 30,000 feet above planet Earth, I am struck by how small we really are.

And yet we go about our days, creating systems and plans and rules by which we navigate from point A to point Z of life, the centers of our own universes, stars of our own dramas and the guest stars of others.

This is why I am drawn to the theatre. It puts life, in the form of stories, onstage so we can marvel at it. It shows us ourselves and facets of humanity that exist beyond our own experiences. It brings us together.

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A NOTE FROM THE DIRECTOR (CONTINUED) Daphne Silbiger’s Very Blue Light does just this, illuminating the complexities of being human, of having relationships with others over time, of knowing and holding and embodying a truth that you cannot prove. Daphne shines a light on all of this and, of course, on what could exist beyond the Earthly, inviting us into the incredible universe onstage.

Welcome to Very Blue Light – we are glad you’ve landed here.

A NOTE FROM THE DRAMATURGS Some truths are knowable and provable by common understanding Like this play is being performed 429.1 miles from Marfa And Marfa is a town located in the Chihuahuan desert of Southwest Texas And “light” is a verb which means to come upon by chance, to discover unintentionally.

Some truths are knowable but unprovable by common understanding Like how one’s body feels in a vast, unbothered wilderness And the supernatural phenomena of glowing orbs referred to as the Marfa lights And who we are inside of these human skin suits, really. What we yearn for.

For us, Very Blue Light is an intimate meditation on the discovery of one’s own unprovable truths. On the cosmic solitude of light-ing onto oneself. And it explores what happens when limitations in “common understanding” (lack of imagination) disrupt our closest friendships.

The play is an invitation to suspend ourselves in the space between the knowing and the proving. Pull up a chair, it says, crack a beer. This is the place where friends come to talk.

We hope you will.

Hal Cosentino and Malena Pennycook Dramaturgy Team

SPECIAL THANKS Bea Kirk Annie

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Tyler Link Andrea L. Hart

CREATIVE Jacob Benaim (Costume Designer) is a second-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 Fall For Dance (2022) and Jinkies! or The Dog Play (UTNT (UT New Theatre), 2022).

Avery Brooks (Assistant Director) is a fourthyear B.A. in Theatre and Dance major with an emphasis in playwriting and directing. Brooks' recent credits include the role of “Lt. Sawyer” in The Tasters (Texas Theatre and Dance, 2021), assistant director for Love and Information (Texas Theatre and Dance, 2022) and writing and directing their own show for the student organization Take the Wheel’s 10-Minute Play Festival.

Daniel Ruiz Bustos (Associate Scenic Designer) is a Mexican M.F.A. in Theatre (scenic design) candidate. He received his B.S. in Computer Science with a concentration in filmmaking.

He has collaborated as a producer, writer, director, art director and production designer in several short films. Recent credits with Texas Theatre and Dance include Witchcraf, Failures in Holding the Multiple and Pop Refuge, all performed as part of Fall For Dance (2022). danrubu.com | @danrubu_design Teresa Guerrero C. (Scenic Designer) is a M.F.A. in Theatre (live design and production) candidate at The University of Texas at Austin. She has a background in theatre and film. Recent credits include production design for the short film A Woman Is Many Things… (2022), set dressing for the short film Fire In The Breeze (2022), art direction for the short documentary NaedeaN (2022) and assistant scenic design for Love and Information (2022).

Jackson Cobb (Assistant Projection Designer) is a third-year M.F.A. in Theatre (integrated media for live performance) candidate at The University of Texas at Austin. Recent design credits include …but you could have held my hand (Texas Theatre and Dance, 2022), Jinkies! or The Dog Play (UTNT (UT New Theatre), 2022) and the Song Reimagined series (Butler Opera

Center, 2021). Assistant design and programming credits include Monsoon Wedding (Qatar Creates, 2022) and Thoughts of a Colored Man (Broadway, 2021). jacksoncobb.design Hal Cosentino (Dramaturg) is a M.F.A. in Theatre candidate with a specialization in playwriting.

Recent credits include Everybody (Brown Paper Box Co.), Family Reunion (Steppenwolf LookOut Series) and 13 Love Songs (Adult Children/Hot Kitchen Collective). Cosentino is a company member with The Syndicate, which produces plays by women, trans+ and queer artists. He holds a B.S. in Theater from Skidmore College.

Sydny DeMeyer (Properties Supervisor) graduated in December 2022 with a B.A. in Theatre and Dance with an emphasis in design and technology. Past credits as a properties manager with Texas Theatre and Dance include In Sisters We Trust, or My F*cked Up American Girl Doll Play (2022) and Tiny Fingerprints (UTNT (UT New Theatre), 2022).

Andy Grapko (Intimacy Consultant) is a lecturer and resident intimacy director for the Department of Theatre and Dance. Her training includes Intimacy Directors and Coordinators, Theatrical Intimacy Education and Intimacy for Stage and Screen. Her credits include Anna in the Tropics (Ground Floor Theatre), Pippin (McCallum Fine Arts Academy), …but you could’ve held my hand and The Tasters (Texas Theatre and Dance; 2022, 2021), Venus in Fur (Way Of Broadway Community Players) and the films Clock and RAPS. andygrapko.com Dillon James (Sound Designer) is a B.S. in Arts and Entertainment Technologies. He specializes in electronic music production and composition. James has worked on multiple projects with Texas Theatre and Dance, with past credits including “Kimmy” (2021), Love and Information (2022), Fall For Dance (2022) and a few plays at past UTNT (UT New Theatre) showcases.

Heekyung Kim (Projection Designer) is a second-year M.F.A. in Theatre (integrated media for live performance) candidate. She earned 14

CREATIVE her B.F.A. in Theater Directing at Chung-Ang University and then began exploring media design. She has an immense background in the live performance industry. Recent credits include The Orchard (Baryshnikov Arts Center, 2022), …but you could’ve held my hand (Texas Theatre and Dance, 2022), This Little Light of Mine (Santa Fe Opera, 2022) and the Beetlejuice The Musical tour in Korea (2021-2022).

Kristen Osborn (Director) is an Austin-based director and storyteller who is passionate about nurturing human connection through embodied gathering. She has worked in Chicago, Los Angeles and New York with the Gefen Playhouse, Daryl Roth Theatre, Rivendell Theatre Ensemble, Northlight Theatre and Ojai Playwrights Conference. She is a graduate of UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television, a M.F.A. in Theatre candidate with a specialization in directing at UT Austin and an explorer with the Texas Immersive Institute. kristenosborn.com Malena Pennycook (Dramaturg; she/they) is a writer-performer pursuing a M.F.A. in Theatre with a specialization in playwriting. Their plays include Diving Board (Eugene O’Neill National Playwrights Conference Finalist; CRASHBOX Austin); Two Apprentices (KCACTF Latinx Playwriting Award, Rosa Parks Playwriting Award) and their solo show Am I Busy Yet? (Cosmic Cherry Arts Festival; Oregon Fringe Festival). Pennycook has been a New Harmony Project resident, a Richie Jackson Artistic Fellow and a Santa Cruz Shakespeare Acting Fellow. B.F.A.: NYU Tisch School of Arts. malenapennycook.com Yobany Pizano (Assistant Director) is a UTeach Theatre major at The University of Texas at Austin. This is his first production as part of UTNT (UT New Theatre). He was previously involved with the director’s studio project 9/10 beds in the Department of Theatre and Dance and is currently working as a project lead for The Cohen New Works Festival.

Stephen Pruitt (Lighting Designer) has been making work as an artist, designer and performer 15

for over thirty years and has designed and collaborated with many of Austin’s most innovative performance companies as well as nationally and internationally. He is currently the resident production designer with Forklif Danceworks, Tapestry Dance, Kathy Dunn Hamrick Dance Company and A’lante Flamenco; a company member with the Rude Mechs and consulting designer for Austin’s Blue Lapis Light, Honolulu Theatre for Youth and London’s Old Kent Road Tap Company.

Braxton Rae (Associate Producer) is an artist whose creative work and scholarship is focused on blackness, queerness, womanism and marginalized identities more broadly. Additionally, Braxton is passionately pursuing the craf of intimacy work. Braxton’s artistic goals are to foster an arts community that focuses on diversity, equity and inclusion. Recently, Braxton directed Always…Patsy Cline at Great River Shakespeare Festival and …but you could’ve held my hand (Texas Theatre and Dance, 2022). braxtonrae.com Natalia Martin Rodezno (Properties Manager) is a B.A. in Theatre and Dance major with an emphasis in design and technology at The University of Texas at Austin. She is a third-year student with a background in scenic fabrication and design. She is also pursuing a minor in business.

Daphne Silbiger (Playwright) is a third-year M.F.A. in Theatre candidate with a specialization in playwriting. Credits with The University of Texas at Austin include 9/10 beds (director’s studio) and O, the Humanity (M.F.A. Salon Series), in addition to Dirtbag Stacks (CRASHBOX). Their other plays include Call Me Venus (Time Capsule Project), Six Years Old (Corkscrew Theater Festival) and Pound (Relentless Award SemiFinalist, 2019.) They play in the bands Go Home and Mothercat and release music as sa_phne.

David Tolin (Technical Director) was born and raised in Casper, Wyoming. He received his B.A. in Theatre with a concentration in design/ technology from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He received his M.F.A. in Theatre from The University of Texas at Austin before teaching

CREATIVE at Westlake High School for seven years. Tolin works at Texas Performing Arts’ Fabrication Studios as the Project Manager and as faculty in the UT Live Design and Production area.

Rylee Vines (Production Manager) is a B.A. in Theatre and Dance and B.S. in Public Relations major at The University of Texas at Austin.

Recent credits include In the Heights (Summer Stock Austin, 2022), Alice's Wonderland (Summer Stock Austin, 2022), Jinkies! or The Dog Play (UTNT (UT New Theatre), 2022) and The Tasters (Texas Theatre and Dance, 2021).

Emma Winder (Stage Manager) is a secondyear B.A. in History major also pursuing a B.A. in Theatre and Dance with an emphasis in playwriting and directing. Recently, she directed the world premiere of A Queen’s Goodbye and RENT School Edition at the Abbey Theater of Dublin and served as stage manager for Matilda The Musical JR. with New Albany Youth Theatre. She is on the executive committee for the upcoming Cohen New Works Festival this spring.

Jacob Zamarripa (Assistant Lighting Designer) is a B.A. in Theatre and Dance major with an emphasis in design and technology at The University of Texas at Austin. He has an extensive background in lighting design in and around Houston, Texas. UTNT (UT New Theatre) is his first assistant lighting design credit with Texas Theatre and Dance. Recent assistant lighting design credits at UT Austin include Songs Reimagined (Butler Opera Center, 2022).

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CAST

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Ozma Darling

Angel Hernandez

Hal Cosentino

Mateo Hernandez

CAST Ozma Darling (Magna) is an artist living in San Marcos, Texas. Recent credits include TRANSom and Trans Lives/Trans Voices with Ground Floor Theatre, in addition to script readings with Austin Film Festival.

Angel Hernandez (Angela) is a B.A. in Theatre and Dance major with an emphasis in playwriting and directing. They have an extensive background in both movement and acting. Recent credits with Texas Theatre and Dance include Tiny Fingerprints (UTNT (UT New Theatre), 2022).

Additional credits include Hamlet in Space (Take the Wheel), The 40th Annual Madrigal Dinner: A Ballad of The Past & Future (Campus Events, Entertainment Creative Arts + Theatre) and some graduate projects.

Mateo Hernandez (Michigan) is a M.F.A. in Theatre candidate with a specialization in drama and theatre for youth and communities at The University of Texas at Austin. Acting credits include Luna (Filament Theatre), Back In The Day (UrbanTheater Co.), I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter (u/s Steppenwolf Theatre) and Billy To His Friends (Broken Nose Theatre). Hernandez is a member of FYI (For Youth Inquiry), a performance company making participatory experiences for youth around issues of reproductive justice.

Hal Cosentino (Coleman) is a M.F.A. in Theatre candidate with a specialization in playwriting.

Recent credits include Everybody (Brown Paper Box Co.), Family Reunion (Steppenwolf LookOut Series) and 13 Love Songs (Adult Children/Hot Kitchen Collective). Cosentino is a company member with The Syndicate, which produces plays by women, trans+ and queer artists. He holds a B.S. in Theater from Skidmore College.

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READINGS

HAROLD

BY JUSTINE GELFMAN DIRECTED BY SUSANNA WOLK READING FEBRUARY 26 AT 3:00 P.M.

Harold follows a college improv team that is disqualified from a national competition because of foul play. When a new member joins the team, she ofers an unconventional opportunity to compete. As the team rehearses, they struggle to agree on the same base reality. Harold is a play about long-form improv, consent, saying yes-and, and the thorny complications of saying no.

mirror, mirror

BY MIA GOMEZ-REYES DIRECTED BY SIMON SALINAS READING FEBRUARY 26 AT 5:30 P.M.

Girls will imitate, girls will learn. What are you teaching them? What have you learned? Stuck in the abstract (or is it?) of a no-woman's-land, the women in mirror, mirror must push you to the brink until you end up exactly where the world won't allow you: Angry.

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EMERGE Photo by: Thomas Allison

Dance Repertory Theatre presents

March 1-5, 2023 B. Iden Payne Theatre Information and Tickets Available at:

JoinTheDrama.org

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CREW

HAIR AND MAKEUP SPECIALIST (ADDRESS THE BODY!) DESIREE TOWNES

ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR, TPA* FABRICATION STUDIO KAREN MANESS

FABRICATION PRODUCTION ASSISTANTS LEAH AUSTIN NAHLA BELTRAN BENJAMIN CERVANTES BRIDGETTE CLIFFORD MARI DALTON GABRIEL GOMEZ REYES ESTELLE N ISAAC VICTORIA JEFFERSON AUSTIN C LIVINGSTON AUSTIN LUCHAK JONAH MAUGHAN FAITH C MITCHELL DEZMON B MYERS BEN NUNN HANNAH NELSON NATHAN JOSHUA RAMOS NATALIA RODENZO HANNAH SHEPARD VICTORIA V VARGAS CASSIDY MADALYN WEN JULIA YELVINGTON

TPA* SENIOR TECHNICAL DIRECTOR SCOTT BUSSEY

PROP STOCK MANAGERS EZRA-ROSE BOLENDER LEILA RABAH

PROJECT MANAGER, TPA* FABRICATION STUDIO DAVID TOLIN

SCENERY/PROPS CREW CHANTALL C. GONZALEZ KATIE JONES HUNTER SIMON JADEN WEST

ASSISTANT MAKEUP SPECIALIST (ADDRESS THE BODY!) LAURESTHER MEDINAJIMENEZ EQUITY, DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION FACILITATOR (VERY BLUE LIGHT) BEATRICE HIRSCH ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR, TPA* FABRICATION STUDIO J.E. JOHNSON

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 DANIEL RUIZ BUSTO TERE GUERRRO CARDOSO INJI HA TENZING ORTEGA ALEXANDER ROCKEY ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANTS KATHRYN CLARK MORGAN RANDALL PRODUCTION LEADS ZOE BIHAN SYDNY DEMEYER DANIEL GELD ISABELLA HOLLIS ROXOLANA KRYWONOS

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PROPS FINISH LAUREN HEAD MELODY LUNA COSTUME PRODUCTION DIRECTOR NANETTE ACOSTA COSTUME PRODUCTION AND FABRICATION STUDIO PRODUCTION ASSOCIATES SAMANTHA GASHETTE DESIREÉ HUMPHRIES DRAPERS SARAH BARBOUR POUA YANG FIRST HANDS LUCIA CALLENDER KATIE CONCANNON MARISA LAWRENCE STITCHERS JACOB BENIAM SOPHIE DIETERLEN RACHEL GREEN SAVANNAH HOLLOWAY RAYCE RISCH COSTUME CRAFTS ARTISAN TANYA OLALDE COSTUME CRAFTS ASSISTANTS ARIES LIMON JULIE WEBB

COSTUME PRODUCTION AND FABRICATION STUDIO ASSISTANTS MEAGAN BEATTIE AMANI TURNER COSTUME PRODUCTION AND FABRICATION STUDIO CREW SUPERVISOR CALIFORNIA THORSON COSTUME PRODUCTION AND FABRICATION STUDIO CREW LILY FALCONER DYLAN MARINEZ FIGUERO ANGEL HERNANDEZ MEGGIE HUNT KATYA LOPEZ MOLLY MASSON ERICKA PUGLIESE OLIVIA SALDANA

324P THEATRE AND DANCE LIGHTING CREW EDUARDO BENAVIDES MACY BUTLER SOPHIA CAMPBELL ADAM CORONADO REBECA FERGUSON ANDREW KUSMAN EDWARD LOPEZ-JIMENEZ MADDIE LOY KENNEDY MCLAGGAN STEPHANIE SHAW ABDOLHAY TALEBI AUSTIN TAYLOR TPA* LIGHTING CREW CARLA GARCIA GILBERT MARTINEZ ZACKARY READ MATTHEW E. SMITH SHELLY UPHAM JACOB ZAMARRIPA

WARDROBE SUPERVISOR DESIREE TOWNES

LIGHT BOARD OPERATOR SIAH MASLO

WARDROBE CREW CHIEFS ELLA GOTWAY KATIE MILLER

TPA* AUDIO/VIDEO SUPERVISOR ANDREW MILLAY

WARDROBE CREW VALENTINA REYES MORIA SMALL KATHERINE ST. JEAN CHLOE WHITEHEAD WYNTER WINSTON

TPA* ASSISTANT AUDIO/ VIDEO SUPERVISOR CHRIS BRAUDT

COSTUME STOCK SUPERVISOR DESIREÉ HUMPHRIES COSTUME STOCK ASSISTANTS MEGGIE HUNT LAYLA ISAAC TPA * LIGHTING SUPERVISOR SARAH CANTU TPA* ASSOCIATE LIGHTING SUPERVISOR MICHAEL SHANKS ASSISTANT SUPERVISING ELECTRICIANS REESE HERNDON MATTHEW SMITH SENIOR LIGHTING TECHNICIANS ARI JAMIESON GAVIN STRAWN ZACH YOUNG 324P TECH LIGHTING FACULTY SEB BOONE

TPA*AUDIO CREW DEMIAN CHAVEZ LUCY KULZICK ELIAS MERLO BRYCE RIGGLE AUDIO BOARD OPERATOR ZACH MARTIN INTEGRATED MEDIA SHOP SUPERVISOR EARNEST MAZIQUE MEDIA GRADUATE ASSISTANTS JACKSON COBB AJ HURTADO HEEKYUNG KIM SYDNEY SOUSA MEDIA SHOP INTERN AMBER HUCHTON MEDIA SHOP CREW FAITH BOUCHELLE ANA AYALA GASCA STEPHANIE KELLER CAMILA LLORENTE ZACK MARTIN CIELO ORTIZ ALEXANDRIA RODRIGUEZ JULIA SALAZAR MONSE SANDOVALMALHERBE KARINA TREJO

CREW

MEDIA OPERATOR VICTORIA LOPEZ CREW SUPERVISOR AUSTIN SHIRLEY STAGE MANAGEMENT ADVISOR RUSTY CLOYES DIRECTING ADVISORS KJ SANCHEZ ALEXANDRA BASSIAKOU SHAW

COSTUME DESIGN ADVISOR RAQUEL BARRETO COSTUME TECHNOLOGY ADVISOR DAVID AREVALO LIGHTING DESIGN ADVISOR MICHELLE HABECK INTEGRATED MEDIA DESIGN ADVISOR KATE FREER

BECOME A SEASON SUBSCRIBER

SCENIC DESIGN ADVISOR JOSAFATH REYNOSO

PHOTOGRAPHER THOMAS ALLISON

SOUND DESIGN ADVISOR PHILLIP OWEN

GRAPHIC DESIGNER JEFF GRAY

DRAMATURGY ADVISOR MADGE DARLINGTON TPA* DIRECTOR OF FABRICATION AND ACADEMIC PRODUCTION JEFF GRAPKO

WHAT’S ON STAGE

*TPA = Texas Performing Arts

LOCATION, DIRECTIONS, PARKING

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April 3-7, 2023

F. Loren Winship Drama Building

THE

utnewworksfestival.org

Where New Meets Now

COHEN NEW WORKS FESTIVAL