NOVEMBER 13 AT 7:30 P.M. (PREVIEW) NOVEMBER 14 AT 7:30 P.M. NOVEMBER 15 AT 2:00 P.M. NOVEMBER 19-20 AT 7:30 P.M.
OSCAR G. BROCKETT THEATRE F. LOREN WINSHIP DRAMA BUILDING
Theatredance.utexas.edu Choreographer
Dance Pulsars: Opening Line Dance Pulsars: Interlude I Almost Human Pulsars: Interlude II Inside
Gesel R. Mason Magdalena Jarkowiec Riley Gesel R. Mason Vershawn Sanders-Ward Gesel R. Mason Marjani Forté-Saunders/7NMS
Stage Manager: Gabriela Hernandez Assistant Stage Manager: Jo Molina Technical Director: Grace Mondy Archival Team: Rosie Adams, Caroline Buchhorn, Leili Givens, Cassidy Perry, Isabelle Taber, Zoë Van Osten
The videotaping, photographing or audio recording of this production is strictly prohibited.
NOTE FROM THE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR Pulse is an invitation to spend time together—to notice what moves us, surprises us and brings us into relationship in a rapidly changing world. The works you’ll encounter tonight each have their own personality. They can be strange, playful, tender and wonderfully idiosyncratic. They move through questions of community and belonging, body and machine, and the imagined lives unfolding inside us. There’s nothing you need to figure out. Let something catch your attention. Feel it. Roll with it. Your experience belongs here, too. Rather than a series of separate beginnings and endings, we’ve shaped the evening around a shared theme. Movement, film, projection, voice and sound weave between the dances, allowing one experience to ripple into the next. This concert has grown through collaboration among our dancers, choreographers, designers, staff, faculty and guest artists, including Haruka Weiser Commission and Texas Performing Arts residency artist Marjani Forté-Saunders. Their hard work and willingness to experiment have made Pulse possible. My hope is that you’ll feel welcome to meet these works on your own terms—with curiosity, with wonder, with whatever you bring into the room at this moment. Thank you for being here and becoming part of our world. Warmly, Gesel R. Mason Artistic Director
Haruka Weiser Memorial Commission The Haruka Weiser Memorial Commission celebrates the life and art of Haruka Weiser. This commission has been made possible through the Haruka Weiser Endowed Excellence Fund in Choreography, an endowment created by students, alumni and friends to honor her in perpetuity. This annual commission brings dance artists from around the world to campus to create a new work or dance art in honor of Haruka. The first commission, choreographed by Rennie Harris, was performed as part of Transcendence in 2018. Haruka Weiser was a B.F.A. in Dance major at The University of Texas at Austin at the time of her death in 2016.
Pulsars: Opening and Interludes Choreography: Gesel R. Mason in collaboration with the dancers Text and Narration: Gesel R. Mason Music: Opening music composed by Math Judson. Interlude music composed by Jonathan Um. Costume Designer: Yuheng (Kitty) Jiang Lighting Designer: Nait Bigler Sound Designer: Eva Jiminez Projection Designers: Cinthia Chen, Joe Morales Scenic Designer: Gustavo A. Hernández Assistant Costume Designer: Lourine Mokoro Assistant Lighting Designer: Joseph Crawford Assistant Projection Designer: Polina Pinchevsky Assistant Scenic Designers: Valeria Nuñez Estrada, Mason Ousley Rehearsal Assistant: Cassidy Perry Cast: Jeremy Benavides, Viviana Lopez-Stern, Cassidy Perry, Kendall Wenmohs, Bailey Whiteman
Line Dance Choreography: Magdalena Jarkowiec Riley in collaboration with the dancers Music: “Too Marvelous for Words” by Richard Whiting and Johnny Mercer; “Oberek Górecki” by Jan Wanat; “It’s a New Day” by Ineffie Woods and Skull Snaps Costume Designer: Amanda Geyer Lighting Designer: Nait Bigler Sound Designer: Eva Jiminez Scenic Designer: Gustavo A. Hernández Assistant Costume Designer: Lourine Mokoro Assistant Lighting Designer: Joseph Crawford Assistant Scenic Designers: Valeria Nuñez Estrada, Mason Ousley Rehearsal Assistant: Christian Ortega Cast: Rosie Adams, Olivia Asay, Andrea Bernal, Ariyana Bogan, Lauren Dorsett, Emma Flores, Audrey Friloux, Sydney Gladden, Bryli Lee Jameson, Marcel Johnson, Julia Leitner, Hannah Lunoff, Siah Maslo, Kelei Navejar-Eubanks, Braxton Nguyen, Christian Ortega, Hailey Potter, Julia Vickers
I
Pulsars: Interlude I
Almost Human Choreography: Vershawn Sanders-Ward in collaboration with the dancers Music: “Argument” by Ran Bagno, “Near Light” by Olafur Arnalds Costume Designer: Amanda Geyer Lighting Designer: Joseph Crawford Sound Designer: Eva Jiminez Projection Designer: Joe Morales Scenic Designer: Gustavo A. Hernández Assistant Costume Designer: Lourine Mokoro Assistant Lighting Designer: Nait Bigler Assistant Projection Designers: Cinthia Chen, Polina Pinchevsky Assistant Scenic Designers: Valeria Nuñez Estrada, Mason Ousley Rehearsal Directors: Gesel R. Mason and Jenny Fitzpatrick Rehearsal Assistants: Zoë Van Osten, Jalissa Vitalis Cast: Beatrice Anguiano, Madi Gonzales, Marcel Johnson, Giovanni Ledezma, Christian Ortega, Jalissa Vitalis, Bailey Whiteman
From the Choreographer Almost Human moves through the fragile space between body and machine, memory and data, belonging and exclusion. It asks what makes us human—and who gets to decide. Drawing from histories of bodies measured, classified, displayed and denied, the work turns toward an uncertain future, where the boundaries of personhood continue to shift, fracture and evolve.
Pulsars: Interlude II
Inside Choreography: Marjani Forté-Saunders/7NMS in collaboration with the dancers Music: “Every Color in Blue” by Brittany Amber Howard Costume Designer: Yuheng (Kitty) Jiang Lighting Designer: Joseph Crawford Sound Designer: Eva Jiminez Projection Designer: Cinthia Chen Scenic Designer: Gustavo A. Hernández Assistant Costume Designer: Lourine Mokoro Assistant Lighting Designer: Nait Bigler Assistant Projection Designers: Joe Morales, Polina Pinchevsky Assistant Scenic Designers: Valeria Nuñez Estrada, Mason Ousley Rehearsal Director: Gesel R. Mason Rehearsal Assistant: Paulina Cuenca Cast: Andrea Bernal, Paulina Cuenca, Bryli Lee Jameson, Viviana Lopez-Stern, Kate Mooney, Grace Pittman, Madeline Rodriguez, Natalie Vargas From the Choreographer Inside chronicles an imaginative journey of cells, at work and in love with their home–the body and most especially, its holder. The cells rally and admonish, as needed. They expand and burrow. They emerge from the flesh to tend to urgent matters. Imaginatively, these cells animate in a dimension of opposites, bravely becoming both/and in the wake of change and evolution. Inside was sprouted from the research, choreographic score and sonic worlds of float.: Phase I, being developed in residence October 24-31, 2026 with Texas Performing Arts. Marjani Forte-Saunders’ is the 2026/2027 Haruka Weiser Memorial Commissioned artist. Additionally, her visit is made possible through a collaboration between UT Austin’s College of Fine Arts and Texas Performing Arts. It is supported through the Visiting Artists Chair in the College of Fine Arts.
Meet the cast and creative team behind Pulse.
Scan the QR code to view dancer and creative team bios.
https://theatredance.utexas.edu/pulse-cast-and-creative-team CREW TEXAS PERFORMING ARTS FABRICATION STUDIO ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR KAREN MANESS TECHNICAL DIRECTOR JASON LEE HUERTA LEAD FABRICATOR HANK SCHWEMMER PROPERTIES MANAGER ASHTON MURPHY ASSISTANT PROPERTIES MANAGER LEAH AUSTIN CHARGE SCENIC ARTIST BRIDGETTE CLIFFORD EMERGING ARTS PROFESSIONAL – TECHNICAL DIRECTION GRACE MONDY SENIOR TECHNICAL DIRECTOR W. SCOTT BUSSEY GRADUATE PRODUCTION ASSISTANTS ALIK CLAY ALLISON JOHNSON GUSTAVO HERNANDEZ PINZON PATRICK SCHOEN AVA SETTOON ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANTS GABI HERNANDEZ MADISON JACKSON PRODUCTION LEADS JUNO ADAIR VALERIA NUNEZ ESTRADA ZOE SALDAÑA FABRICATION STUDENT ASSISTANTS TEX CANTU BENWARE SARAH EWING
ERIN GLASSCOCK ALISA IRVIN CARLY KLEIN MASON OUSLEY ABIGALE REYNA HENGYU ZHOU 314Q/324P FABRICATION PRODUCTION ASSISTANTS LILIAN BATEY JALYSSE LEE MAUDEJANEI OMAGBEMI PROP STOCK MANAGERS JACKI MAI LAURA SOARES PRODUCTION PROPERTIES MANAGER LEAH AUSTIN PRODUCTION SCENIC ARTIST BRIDGETTE CLIFFORD COSTUME PRODUCTION AND FABRICATION STUDIO COSTUME PRODUCTION DIRECTOR NANETTE ACOSTA PRODUCTION ASSOCIATES DESIREÉ HUMPHRIES JONATHAN WATERS DRAPERS SARAH BARBOUR POUA YANG FIRST HANDS JENNIFER BALL REGAN SHAW STUDENT STITCHERS AMANDA ROSE GEYER ENRIQUE LANDA KENNEDY MARTIN
COSTUME CRAFTS ARTISAN TANYA OLALDE COSTUME CRAFTS ASSISTANT OLGA SHEVELKINA STUDIO ASSISTANTS MORGAN GARSAUD BELLE GARZA-OMAE KITTY YUHENG JIANG COSTUME PRODUCTION CREW SUPERVISORS CALLIE MCDONOUGH CALIFORNIA THORSON
EDGARDO CRUZ PJ JETTON ERIC RAMIREZ RYLIE WILSON ASSISTANT AUDIO VIDEO SUPERVISOR K. ELIOT HAYNES TEXAS PERFORMING ARTS AUDIO CREW EVER AGUILERA KALEB AZIZ NATALIE WATKINS RUN CREW
COSTUME PRODUCTION CREW TEX CANTU BENWARE BEVERLY FRANKENFELD AUDREY HOCH MEERA LASKAR MICAH MCDONOUGH KEREN ORTEGA
314P RUN CREW FACULTY SUPERVISOR AUSTIN SHIRLEY
MAKEUP, HAIR AND WIG DESIGNER STEPHANIE WILLIAMS
WARDROBE SUPERVISOR TANIA HERNANDEZ
MAKEUP, HAIR AND WIG ASSISTANT ANGEL MACIAS
WARDROBE CREW MICHAEL BERRY ALEXANDRA CASANOVA CHRISTIAN COFFEY AVRIL DOMINGUEZ CLARE FITZMAURICE KEREN SOFIA ORTEGA KAYLIE REDDING
COSTUME STOCK SUPERVISOR DESIREÉ HUMPHRIES COSTUME STOCK ASSISTANTS DEE FITZGERALD MICAH MEDELLIN LIGHTING/SOUND/MEDIA ACADEMIC PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGY MANAGER EARNEST MAZIQUE ASSISTANT LIGHTING SUPERVISOR MICHAEL SHANKS SENIOR ELECTRICS TECHNICIANS NAIT BIGLER CINTHIA CHEN JOSEPH CRAWFORD KAY CURRIER-GRAVES LUNA JONES POLINA PINCHEVSKY 324P LIGHTING FACULTY SUPERVISOR SEB BOONE 324P THEATRE AND DANCE ELECTRICS CREW AMANI EDMOND ELLIE HERR SETH HOLTON BRIAN KIM ARIEL LAGUNAS JADE LANG PRESTON MARK TEXAS PERFORMING ARTS LIGHTING CREW ABEL AGUILAR DOMENICA CALLARO MIYA CHAVIS
314P RUN CREW GRADUATE ASSISTANTS ALLISON JOHNSON JOE MORALES AVA SETTOON
SCENERY/PROPS CREW ALESSANDRA BEASLEY SAWYER CALLENS AVA DEVINEY ERIC RAMIREZ REMY ROBBINS SOPHIA STRAUS LIGHT BOARD OPERATOR JACKIE VASQUEZ AUDIO BOARD OPERATOR ALESSANDRO BRITO PRODUCTION ADVISORS STAGE MANAGEMENT RUSTY CLOYES DIRECTING KJ SANCHEZ ALEXANDRA BASSIAKOU SHAW COSTUME DESIGN RAQUEL BARRETO UNDERGRADUATE COSTUME DESIGN NANETTE ACOSTA COSTUME TECHNOLOGY DAVID AREVALO LIGHTING DESIGN MICHELLE HABECK
INTEGRATED MEDIA FOR LIVE PERFORMANCE KATE FREER
DIRECTOR OF PRODUCTION RUSTY CLOYES
SCENIC DESIGN JOSAFATH REYNOSO
TEXAS PERFORMING ARTS DIRECTOR OF FABRICATION AND ACADEMIC PRODUCTION JEFF GRAPKO
SOUND DESIGN PHILLIP OWEN DRAMATURGY RACHEL MERRILL MOSS RESIDENT INTIMACY DIRECTOR ANDY GRAPKO
FRONT OF HOUSE MANAGEMENT AND TICKETING DANA MCLAUGHLIN PR/MARKETING PEARL BHATNAGAR SYDNEY PATTILLO PHOTOGRAPHER SARAH ANNIE NAVARRETE GRAPHIC DESIGNER MONICA GRIFFIN MARZENA KRUPA
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