In addition to performing, Bazán has taught classes with the Paramount Story Wranglers, taught literacy and diversity programs for Creative Action, and served as an acting/playwriting instructor for the Performing Arts School at ZACH Theatre. He spends his days working as an apprentice guide at Acton Academy.
Top: Ben Bazán Bottom: Sharon Benge, Eagleton Photography 9
utexas.edu/finearts/tad
KATIE BENDER’S (M.F.A. 2014) play The Fault was presented at Kitchen Dog Theater’s New Works Festival in June. Her play Still Now, first produced as part of UTNT (UT New Theatre), was recently presented by Shrewd Productions. SHARON BENGE (B.F.A. 1960) was honored this fall by the Arts Council of Fort Worth with their Lifetime Achievement in the Arts. Holding a M.F.A. from Texas Christian University, she’s a professor of theatre at Texas Woman’s University, where she served as the program director for 13 years. Having mounted over 90 plays at theatres throughout Texas, her work includes productions at Fort Worth’s Casa Mañana, Circle Theatre, Jubilee Theatre, Amphibian Stage Productions, Hip Pocket Theatre and DeSoto’s African American Repertory Theatre. The founder of Fort Worth’s Shakespeare in the Park, Benge has also served in artistic and administrative capacities at Casa Mañana, Arts Council of Fort Worth and Tarrant County and the Dallas Theater Center. As an arts broadcaster, she spent 25 years as co-host of “Art Matters” on WRR-FM Radio in Dallas. She has been honored by the Live Theater League of Tarrant County with their Award for Excellence and in 2010 was named as Arts Educator of the year. During her career she has also received accolades from the City of Fort Worth, the Arts and Business Connection, the Fort Worth Business Press and the Altrusa Club.
STEPHEN BLACKBURN (M.F.A. 1997) wrote the one-man play Douglass, one of three short plays comprising Lincoln Adjacent, which ran at the Hollywood Fringe Festival in June. Meanwhile, Fierce Backbone Theatre Co., of which Blackburn is a founding member, is in its seventh year of existence and presented four original plays at the Fringe Festival, all of which were developed in the company’s weekly workshops. CHASE BRINGARDNER (Ph.D. 2007) is the vice president for membership and marketing for the Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE). He is an associate professor at Auburn University’s Department of Theatre, specializing in the study of popular entertainments such as medicine shows and musical theatre, regional identity construction, and intersections of race, gender, and class in popular performance forms.
DIANNE ARP BUCKLEY (B.F.A. 1980) participated in the College of Fine Art’s spring commencement. Unable to attend her original commencement in 1980, Buckley celebrated with the Class of 2014 in May, receiving her diploma from mentor and former department chair Dr. Coleman A. Jennings.
Top: Stephen Blackburn Bottom: L to R: Dr. Coleman A. Jennings, Dianne Arp Buckley, Dr. Brant Pope at Commencement, 2014.