burst!

FEBRUARY 2021

Conceived and Directed by

GESEL MASON Photo by Lawrence Peart

Conceived and Directed by

GESEL MASON

FEBRUARY 25-27, 2021 AT 7:30 P.M. VIRTUAL PERFORMANCE THEATREDANCE.UTEXAS.EDU Yunina Barbour-Payne – Dramaturg • Kyle Evans – Livestream Engineer Eliot Gray Fisher – Video Designer • Matty Hall – Stage Manager Libby Jantz – Associate Lighting Designer • Ningmo Liu – Animation Designer Gesel Mason – Choreographer • Tifany Merritt-Brown – Production Coordinator Ashton Bennett Murphy – Technical Director

CAST Kelsey Bacic Lindsay Ball Evan Beek Shelby Fletcher Jordan Gilbertson Haley Hollingsworth

Lisette Hotz Sheila Jackson Josh Martinez Lexie Nelson Ellie Newton Brooke Shore

Ashley Stone Ashleigh Taylor Heaven Wilburn Camille Wiltz Gracyn Womeldorph Uwazi Zamani

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.

NOTE FROM THE DIRECTOR

burst /bərst/ verb

to break suddenly and violently apart, spilling the contents, typically as a result of an impact or internal pressure.

We find ourselves in a unique moment in history as we seek to emerge from a global pandemic, civic unrest, political division and a racial reckoning. What is “normal,” and is it really something we want to “get back to?”

I see this moment of rupture as an opportunity to see ourselves and our world anew.

What do you want to bring with you? What do you want to leave behind? What is on the other side?

burst! is both a physical practice and a curiosity about what might emerge from that practice.

Who would you be and what would you do if you could be your fullest self without fear or apology?

To “burst” might be abrupt and disorienting, but it can also be an opening and an opportunity: bursting with possibility; a burst of color; bursting into tears or laughter.

What would you create from this recalibrated place? How might you be in community with others?

There is nothing “normal” about this moment or this event. We are making socially-distant dances on Zoom and you are probably in your pajamas. And yet, we persist. burst! is a journey of undoing and exploring methodologies of transformation. We hold space for each other as we delve into the messiness and joy of “not knowing.” You are invited to do the same. Put down your pen. Watch another way.

To witness is also an intimate practice. We give you permission. We are training as dancers and artist citizens. We rehearse to be ready and available for what comes next. To listen and step pivot. To fall and get back up. It’s a process. If we can practice letting go of what no longer serves us and respond from the best parts of ourselves, then who knows what we can make together? Who would you be?

In solidarity…5-6-7-8,

– Gesel R. Mason

SPECIAL THANKS

The cast and crew of burst! For your vulnerability, creativity and willingness to not know.

The creative team for the extra hours, long emails and for helping me make sense of the messiness.

The friends, families, roommates, loved ones and pets of the cast and crew of burst! For the behindthe-scenes support and putting up with our shenanigans in all areas of the house.

Dawn Okoro for sharing her foundational design of the balloon dress.

Charles O. Anderson, Andrea Beckham, Erica Gionfriddo and members of the UT dance area for your continued support, generosity and flexibility.

The faculty and staf of UT Department of Theatre and Dance for helping us make art while still keeping us safe during a pandemic.

CREATIVE Yunina Barbour-Payne (Dramaturg) is a scholar and artist pursing a Ph.D. in Performance as Public Practice at The University of Texas at Austin. She has served as a K-12 arts educator in Texas. As a dramaturg, she has worked for the Contemporary American Theatre Festival. She currently works with The Ensemble Theatre in Houston, Texas as a teaching artist, actor, playwright and director. She is interested in work at the intersections of theatre, performance and Afrilachian aesthetics.

Kyle Evans (Livestream Engineer) is a new media artist, sound designer, educator and performer.

He is a founding board member and instructor at dadageek, a board member and composer at the art collective Rolling Ryot, founder of the tech-art creative organization dadaLab and instructor at the School of Design and Creative Technologies at The University of Texas at Austin. He holds a M.F.A. from School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Eliot Gray Fisher (Video Designer) is an interdisciplinary artist pursuing a Ph.D. in Performance as Public Practice at The University of Texas at Austin. His creative research focuses on performance that integrates emergent consumer technologies to explore their influence on individual and social realities. Recent credits with Texas Theatre and Dance include (Re)current Unrest (2020) and In the Ether (2020).

Matty Hall (Stage Manager) is a first-year B.A. in Theatre and Dance major with an emphasis in stage management at The University of Texas at Austin. Hall has a background in technical theatre and acting. Previous credits include poolboy00 (UTNT (UT New Theatre), 2020), among other projects.

Libby Jantz (Associate Lighting Designer) is 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 design credits with Texas Theatre and Dance include In the Ether (2020), the UTNT (UT New Theatre) (2020) productions of Sow and Suckling and A Fistful of Trespassing, multiple projects as a part of The Cohen New Works Festival (2019) and Evolution (2020). She is also currently a student lighting associate with Texas Performing Arts and a lighting staf member at the Hogg Memorial Auditorium.

Ningmo Liu (Animation Designer) is a secondyear M.F.A. in Design and Technology candidate with a focus in lighting design at The University of Texas at Austin. Liu is a theatre and visual artist with design experience in theatrical lighting, scenery, projection, costuming and animation. He completed his undergraduate career at Texas Christian University, where he worked on numerous productions including 42nd Street (projection designer, 2019); Bare (lighting and projection designer, 2018); Love, Loss, and What I Wore (costume designer, 2018); Sylvia (lighting designer, 2017) and Mister Major and the Minor Wife (scenic designer, 2017).

Gesel Mason (Choreographer) is artistic director for Gesel Mason Performance Projects and associate professor of dance at The University of Texas at Austin. She was a member of Liz Lerman Dance Exchange and Ralph Lemon/Cross Performance Projects. Mason recently received a NEH Digital Humanities Advancement Grant, with co-director Rebecca Salzer of the University of Alabama, in support of her digital archive project, NO BOUNDARIES: Dancing the Visions of Contemporary Black Choreographers. Recent

CREATIVE awards: 2019 Rauschenburg Artist Residency, 2019 National Performance Network Creation Fund, 2020 National Dance Project recipient and 2020 inaugural Texas Performing Arts/ Fusebox Festival Residency. geselmason.com.

Tifany Merritt-Brown (Production Coordinator) is a M.F.A in Dance candidate at The University of Texas at Austin. The 2019 Ann & Weston Hicks Choreography Fellow (Jacob’s Pillow), MerrittBrown holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her latest work, Therapié au Chocolat, will be presented at The Cohen New Works Festival (2021).

Ashton Bennett Murphy (Technical Director) graduated from The University of Texas at Austin Department of Theatre and Dance in 2018. Since graduating, she has been working full-time as assistant charge scenic artist and technical director at Texas Performing Arts. In addition to her work at TPA, Murphy freelances in and around Austin as a designer, content creator and scenic painter.

CAST

Kelsey Bacic

Lindsay Ball

Haley Hollingsworth

Lexie Nelson

Lisette Hotz

Ellie Newton

Heaven Wilburn

Evan Beek

Sheila Jackson

Brooke Shore

Camille Wiltz

Shelby Fletcher

Josh Martinez

Ashley Stone

Gracyn Womeldorph

Jordan Gilbertson

Ashleigh Taylor

Uwazi Zamani

CAST Kelsey Bacic (Performer), born and raised in Plano, Texas, is a fourth-year B.F.A. in Dance major also pursuing minors in arts management and administration, business foundations and communication studies at The University of Texas at Austin. During her time at UT, Bacic has not only cultivated her physical practice but has also expanded her creative interests to include both in studio and out of studio creative processes. This will be her final performance with Texas Theatre and Dance.

Lindsay Ball (Performer) is a B.F.A. in Dance major at The University of Texas at Austin.

She attended high school at Natomas Charter School’s Performing and Fine Arts Academy in Sacramento, California. Ball has trained at the San Francisco Conservatory of Dance, where she worked with choreographers Summer Lee Rhatigan, Courtney Mazeika and Tom Weinberger. She was recently seen in (Re)current Unrest (Texas Theatre and Dance, 2020) and In the Ether (Texas Theatre and Dance, 2020).

Evan Beek (Performer) is a B.F.A. in Dance major at The University of Texas at Austin. Recent credits with Texas Theatre and Dance include (Re)current Unrest (2020), among others.

Shelby Fletcher (Performer) is a UTeach Dance major at The University of Texas at Austin. She has an extensive background in dance. This is Fletcher’s first production with Texas Theatre and Dance. She will be performing this spring as part of The Cohen New Works Festival (2021).

Jordan Gilbertson (Performer) is a B.F.A. in Dance major at The University of Texas at Austin. She has a well-rounded dance education that began before high school. Recent credits with Texas Theatre and Dance include (Re)current Unrest (2020), In the Ether (2020) and numerous student-run projects.

Haley Hollingsworth (Performer) is a second-year UTeach Dance major at The University of Texas at Austin. They have extensive dance training in various tech-

niques. Recent credits with Texas Theatre and Dance include In the Ether (2020).

Lisette Hotz (Performer) is a B.F.A in Dance major at The University of Texas at Austin. Recent credits with Texas Theatre and Dance include Charles O. Anderson’s (Re)current Unrest (2020) and Erica Gionfriddo’s In the Ether (2020).

Sheila Jackson (Performer) is a B.F.A in Dance major at The University of Texas at Austin. She has training in both ballet and modern dance with Ballet Austin and Oregon Ballet Theatre.

This will be her third production with Texas Theatre and Dance, following involvement in Charles O. Anderson's (Re)current Unrest (2020) and Erica Gionfriddo's In the Ether (2020).

Josh Martinez (Performer) is a B.F.A. in Dance major at The University of Texas at Austin. He has a background in both dance and music. Recent credits with Texas Theatre and Dance include (Re)current Unrest (2020) and In the Ether (2020) in addition to works outside the university with Susannah Jofe and Metamorphosis Dance.

Lexie Nelson (Performer) is a B.F.A. in Dance major at The University of Texas at Austin. She has an extensive background in both dance and singing. Nelson’s recent credits with Texas Theatre and Dance include (Re)current Unrest (2020). She is currently participating in a collaboration with the Visual Arts Center for Madeline Hollander’s exhibition Score for 7 Solos.

Ellie Newton (Performer) is a B.F.A in Dance major at The University of Texas at Austin. She has an extensive background in dance that began when she was eight years old. Recent credits with Texas Theatre and Dance include Charles O. Anderson's (Re)current Unrest (2020) and Erica Gionfriddo's In the Ether (2020).

Brooke Shore (Performer), a native of Long Island, New York, is a fourth-year B.F.A. in Dance major also pursuing a creative writing certificate at The University of Texas at Austin. Through years of training in various

CAST dance forms, she has developed a diverse foundation for her movement vocabulary.

Ashley Stone (Performer) is a third-year B.F.A. in Dance major also pursuing a minor in social work at The University of Texas at Austin. Stone has had the opportunity to perform in Dance Repertory Theatre’s Fortitude (Texas Theatre and Dance, 2019) and Fall For Dance (Texas Theatre and Dance, 2019), where she worked with dance artists Kirven Douthit-Boyd, Stephanie Martinez and Manuel Vignoulle. Stone has also performed and choreographed for Dance Action’s S.E.E.D (2018-2020). She was recently seen in Charles O. Anderson’s (Re)current Unrest (Texas Theatre and Dance, 2020) and Erica Gionfriddo’s In the Ether (Texas Theatre and Dance, 2020).

Ashleigh Taylor (Performer) is a B.F.A. in Dance major at The University of Texas at Austin. She has a background in various dance styles that spans 13 years of study.

She has been seen in recent projects with the UT student organization Dance Action.

Heaven Wilburn (Performer) is a B.F.A. in Dance major at The University of Texas at Austin. Recent credits with Texas Theatre and Dance include (Re)current Unrest (2020), among others.

Camille Wiltz (Performer) is a second-year B.F.A. in Dance major at The University of Texas at Austin. She grew up in Plano, Texas where she trained at Dance Industry Performing Arts Center. Recent credits include In the Ether (Texas Theatre and Dance, 2020). Wiltz is also participating in a collaboration with the Visual Arts Center for the exhibition Score for 7 Solos by Madeline Hollander and will be seen in works as part of The Cohen New Works Festival (2021).

Gracyn Womeldorph (Performer) is a third-year B.F.A. in Dance major. Before coming to Austin, Womeldorph trained for many years in Dallas, Texas where she was a member of the Dallas Repertoire Ballet. Womeldorph has worked with choreographers Charles O. Anderson, Erica Gionfriddo and Dorothy O’Shea Overbey, among others. She was recently seen in (Re)current Unrest (Texas Theatre and Dance, 2020), Dance Repertory Theatre’s Fall For Dance (Texas Theatre and Dance, 2019) and Dance Action’s S.E.E.D. Uwazi Zamani (Performer) is fourth-year B.F.A. in Dance major at The University of Texas at Austin. Zamani has an extensive background in theatre and dance. Recent credits include projects with Fusebox Festival, Austin Dance Festival, Theatre Under the Stars (The Wiz; Dreamgirls), The Ensemble Theatre (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom; Fetch Clay, Make Man), Urban Souls Dance Company and the Visual Arts Center.

CREW

ASSISTANT LIGHTING DESIGNER ZOE O’BEIRNE

ASSISTANT CHARGE SCENIC ARTIST ASHTON BENNETT MURPHY

COSTUME PRODUCTION ASSOCIATE DESIREE HUMPHRIES

VISUAL ART CURATOR SKYLER TEPEDINO

GRADUATE PRODUCTION ASSISTANT HARRISON HAYES

DRAPERS SARAH ALDRIDGE POUA YANG

ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT MADISON SHERIDAN

COSTUME SHOP ASSISTANTS EMMA DICKERSON KATHRYN MILLER CALIFORNIA THORSON

SOCIAL MEDIA COORDINATOR KYLA PATTON COSTUME CURATORS RACHEL ERNAT AMANDA MOOGERFELD PRODUCTION ASSISTANTS LAUREN AKARD LILIAN COLLINS REHEARSAL ASSISTANT MAYA PARKER LIGHTING CONSULTANT MICHELLE HABECK SCENIC STUDIO SUPERVISOR J.E. JOHNSON SCENIC ART SUPERVISOR KAREN MANESS ASSOCIATE SCENIC STUDIO SUPERVISOR JASON HUERTA MASTER CARPENTER HANK SCHWEMMER

PRODUCTION LEADS ZOE BIHAN GABBY CLEMENTE DANIEL GELD JAKE JOSEPHI EVAN MCCLAIN JULIO MUNOZ PROP SHOP SUPERVISOR CAROLYN ALLINGHAM HARDIN PROP MASTER CAROLYN ALLINGHAM HARDIN PROP ARTISAN MORGAN RIDDLE

COSTUME CRAFTS ARTISAN TANYA OLALDE TEXAS PERFORMING ARTS SUPERVISING ELECTRICIANS SEB BOONE SARAH CANTU SENIOR LIGHTING TECHNICIANS ARI JAMIESON EMILY NOVACK

PROP STOCK MANAGER INDIRA RAMPERSAD

TEXAS PERFORMING ARTS LIGHTING CREW CHARLOTTE BRUMBELOW LIBBY JANTZ BRISA SHAW

COSTUME PRODUCTION DIRECTOR NANETTE ACOSTA

ASSOCIATE AUDIO SUPERVISOR KENNY KUYKENDALL

TEXAS PERFORMING ARTS AUDIO CREW CHEYENNE CHESTER CODY HANCOCK POLLYANNA O'HAIR WILLA SNOW MEDIA SHOP SUPERVISOR EARNEST MAZIQUE MEDIA GRADUATE ASSISTANTS JACKSON COBB BENJAMIN RANDALL STAGE MANAGEMENT ADVISOR RUSTY CLOYES LIGHTING DESIGN ADVISOR MICHELLE HABECK ACADEMIC PRODUCTION MANAGER JEFF GRAPKO GRAPHIC DESIGNER JEFF GRAY