UTNT (UT New Theatre): Girls in Cars Underwater

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girls in cars underwater By tegan mcleod

April 22, 24 at 7:30 p.m.

April 16 at 2:00 p.m.

oscar g. brockett theatre F. Loren Winship Building

theatredance.utexas.edu

UTNT (UT New Theatre) is made possible through the generous support of the Michener Center for Writers and the College of Fine Arts’ Department of Theatre and Dance.

This production was created in collaboration by these artists: Lawrence Bennett – Technical Director • Kate Ducey – Lighting Designer Billy Henry – Sound Designer • E.L. Hohn – Costume Designer Bruno-Pierre Houle – Scenic Designer/Projection Designer • Tegan McLeod – Playwright Cara Phipps – Director • Allie Van Niman – Stage Manager Kyle Winkelman – Production Manager

cast (in order of appearance) Shelly ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� Cassie Reveles Anna ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ Jade Jackson Chelsea ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������Maddrey Blackwood Aubrey ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� Hope Higgins Bree ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������Izabella Arnold Dusty ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� Estrella Gonzalez Hue ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������Bria Washington Jamie �����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������Josh Fisher

There is no intermission.

Videography and photography are strictly prohibited.

a note from the playwright There is something about the nature of the drowning process; the literal drowning of a friend in my hometown and the figurative drowning of young women, young women of color in America working jobs that suffocate and debilitate, that continues to propel me as a writer.

Without a doubt, the time in my life when I felt most alive was working at Sully’s Saloon. I learned about intimacy from women who went home to cold houses; who had parents who were addicted to pills; women who worked three jobs in order fund nursing school even though they themselves couldn’t afford healthcare; who knew what to say at 4:00 a.m. when we all felt like quitting; who threw drinks in the faces of the men who got too handsy; who helped move an entire apartment so one of them wouldn’t have to watch her boyfriend hit her daughter one more time. I learned the intimacy of the good, the bad and the ugly every night and I will never be able to pay these women back for that. I can only dedicate this play to them and hope that they might be able to, one day, witness my utmost respect for them on stage.

a note from the curator At the heart of UTNT (UT New Theatre), now in its ninth year, is a simple notion: the present moment has not been written. While architecture has been called “frozen music,” the new play seeks not so much to capture the here and now as to explore/explode it. What we call the “theatre” is, in fact, the lingering, lasting legacy of previous “present moments” rendered in language and motion, ephemeral as the air.

Playwrights Lydia Blaisdell, Joanna Garner, Gia Marotta and Tegan McLeod, along with their dynamic student and professional collaborators, have met the moment we are in head-on. They have crafted plays of boldness, beauty, potency and ache. We are eager to preview these plays for you, our Austin community, before they move on to other cities and stages.

Multiple plays from UTNT’s past have found major productions in both the United States and abroad. We are deeply proud of this track record. However, they all started here, in the threadbare splendor of the Winship building, in that remarkable crucible of rigor, discovery and experimentation we call the Department of Theatre and Dance.

Any necessary art form tells new stories in new ways. Welcome to UTNT (UT New Theatre), where the new and necessary stories of tomorrow are being told on our stages today. Thank you for being here.

Steven Dietz, Curator

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.

cast

Cassie Reveles

Jade Jackson

Maddrey Blackwood

Hope Higgins

Izabella Arnold

Estrella Gonzalez

Bria Washington

Josh Fisher

DIRECTOR’S COUNCIL The Texas Theatre and Dance Director’s Council is a premier volunteer group designed to foster strong and collaborative connections between The University of Texas at Austin and the local community by supporting initiatives in fundraising and community relations. As advocates for the department, this group of alumni, parents and fine arts supporters play a key role in continuing to build a professional theatre and dance training program serving thousands of talented Texans for generations.

2015/2016 Director’s Council Members Carol Smith Adams Francesca Brockett and Jim Pedicano Barrett Bruce Jean Cheever Joanne and Jack Crosby Dee Dawson Laura Eastman

Gary Farmer JoLynn Free Missy Grimes Pam and Edmund McIlhenny Annie McKinnon Debbie Oliver Miriam Relyea

Diane Robinson Russ Sartain Nancy Scanlan Marc Seriff Laura Sheffield Karen Skolnik Leah Stolar Sharon Watkins

creative LAWRENCE BENNETT (Technical Director) hails from Houston, Texas by way of Chicago, Illinois. He received his B.F.A. from the Conservatory of Theatre Arts at Webster University and his M.F.A. from The University of Wisconsin in technical direction and theatre technology, respectively. Bennett has been the technical director and lighting designer at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls, as well as the technical director at the University of South Florida. He has worked at various summer stock productions across the country, including Williamstown Theatre Festival, Utah Shakespeare Festival and the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis.

KATE DUCEY (Lighting Designer) comes to Austin, Texas by way of Los Angeles, California after working in the television industry for the past six years. Recent productions include lighting design for William Glick’s play, Wilma and projection design for Texas Theatre and Dance’s production of Twelfth Night. Upcoming work includes lighting for Poor Herman at the Off Center this May. BILLY HENRY (Sound Designer) teaches sound design for theatre at The University of Texas at Austin where he has served as a sound designer for numerous plays and musicals including last season’s production, Refugia. His music can be heard before every football game at Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. Henry has received several awards for his compositions including multiple ADDY Awards and served as an engineer on the Grammy Award-winning album Los Super Seven. Henry has worked with numerous artists including Don Henley, Sheryl Crow, Neil Young and the Dixie Chicks.

E.L. HOHN (Costume Designer) is a second-year M.F.A. in Design and Technology candidate with a focus in costume design at The University of Texas at Austin. Her work was recently seen in Shrewd Production’s As You Like It, Rude Mech’s Fixing Timon of Athens and Texas Theatre and Dance’s production of

The Wild Party. Other Austin credits include Aye, No! (Teatro Vivo) and After: A Post-Gay Vaudeville, Emma When You Need Her and Teen Girl FANtasies (The Cohen New Works Festival, 2015). Hohn comes to Austin from Chicago where she worked with Piven Theatre Workshop, Red Theater Chicago and The Whiskey Rebellion, among others.

BRUNO-PIERRE HOULE (Scenic Designer, Projection Designer) is a second-year M.F.A. in Design and Technology candidate with a focus in scenic design. Recent designs include William Glick’s play, Wilma, The Great God Pan (Street Corner Arts) and The Wild Party (Texas Theatre and Dance). Originally from Montreal, Canada, Houle served as the production designer on numerous short films and music videos as well as the feature film Sarah Prefers to Run. TEGAN MCLEOD (Playwright) moved to the United Kingdom when she was six where she later studied English and literature at Oxford University. Upon graduating, McLeod was awarded a full scholarship to The University of Texas at Austin as a Michener Fellow in 2013. She has worked on numerous productions at Texas Theatre and Dance and recently workshopped her play Girls in Cars Underwater at Center Stage in Baltimore. She is currently completing her sixth full-length play Lover Think Lover.

CARA PHIPPS (Director) has recently directed The Wild Party (Texas Theatre and Dance) and An Accumpulation of Glorious KnickKnacks (The Cohen New Works Festival, 2015). Phipps served as assistant director for Refugia and was the co-curator of UTNT (UT New Theatre) in 2014. She has developed new work with several companies including Actors Theatre of Louisville’s A/I Company, Transient Theater and the ’06 Ensemble.

Phipps received the 2012 FringeNYC Overall Excellence in Directing award for her work on the world premiere of The Egg Play. B.A., University of Portland.

creative ALLIE VAN NIMAN (Stage Manager) is a fourthyear B.A. in Theatre and Dance student with an emphasis in stage management. She recently served as the stage manager for Three Decembers, At the Statue of Venus and Hänsel und Gretel (Butler Opera Center) and as the production manager for the groundswell playwrights conference.

KYLE WINKELMANN (Production Manager) is a fourth-year B.A. in Theatre and Dance student with an emphasis in stage management as well as a student at the McCombs School of Business with a focus in management.

As an active member of the department, Winkelmann has worked on several shows including serving as the stage manager for A Streetcar Named Desire and Advance Man and the co-technical director and an executive committee member for The Cohen New Works Festival (2015). He plans to graduate in

May before pursuing a career in professional theatre in stage or production management.

HANNAH WOLF (Co-Curator) is a first-year M.F.A. in Directing candidate, originally from Juneau, Alaska. Her work has been seen at Perseverance Theatre, Superhero Clubhouse, The Vineyard Theatre, The Civilians, Culturebot, Conni’s Avant Garde Restaurant, Colt Coeur, Howlround, TerraNOVA Collective, New York University (NYU), Peppercorn Theatre, Writopia Lab, The Secret City and The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. She received a B.A. from Western Washington University, trained at the SITI Company Intensive and is the former literary resident at The Vineyard Theatre.

Member: 2012 Lincoln Center Theater’s Directors Lab, 2014/2015 Soho Rep. Writer/ Director Lab. Fellowship: Fulbright (Bucharest, Romania). hannahjwolf.com

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cast CASSIE REVELES (Shelly), originally from El Paso, Texas, is a B.A. in Theatre and Dance student with an emphasis in acting and creative writing. She previously appeared in UTNT (UT New Theatre) as “Exercise Teacher” in Abe Koogler’s Advance Man. Recent theatre credits include “Jean Michael” in Underbelly Theatre’s Church of the Passionate Cat and “Cora/Bear” in Diana Lynn Small’s Enter A Woman, Pretty Enough. She is also currently performing as “Mouse” in Alice in Wonderland at ZACH Theatre.

(The Cohen New Works Festival, 2015) and Talking at God by Emiliano Casiano.

JADE JACKSON (Anna) is a first-year B.F.A. in Acting major. She is originally from Houston, Texas where she graduated from the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts after studying theatre for four years.

ESTRELLA GONZALES (Dusty) graduated from The University of Texas at Austin in 2014 with a B.A. in Theatre and Dance. Most recently, she performed in Summer Jams Forever and Hold Me Well (UTNT (UT New Theatre), 2014).

Gonzales also works as a teaching artist for Creative Action.

MADDREY BLACKWOOD (Chelsea) is a B.F.A. in Acting student and a graduate of Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. She was recently seen as “Miss Madelaine” in The Wild Party, “The Witch” in Into the Woods (Butler Opera Center) and “Mrs. Gottleib” in Dead Man’s Cell Phone.

HOPE HIGGINS (Aubrey) is a second-year B.F.A. in Acting major. She has been seen in Refugia (Texas Theatre and Dance), Operation Istanbul

IZABELLA ARNOLD (Bree) recently performed as “Mrs. Frank” in The Diary of Anne Frank and was also seen as “Ramona” in Esperanza Rising (Texas Theatre and Dance) and in Operation Istanbul (The Cohen New Works Festival, 2015). She plans to graduate in May 2016 with a B.A. in Theatre and Dance and a dual degree in English before moving to the United Kingdom to continue her studies.

BRIA WASHINGTON (Hue), originally from Houston, Texas, is a third-year B.F.A. in Acting major at The University of Texas at Austin.

JOSH FISHER (Jamie) is a third-year B.F.A. in Acting Student at The University of Texas at Austin. Previous credits include roles in A Streetcar Named Desire, As You Like It and Rumors.

crew ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER JULIANNA ZUNIGA ASSISTANT COSTUME DESIGNERS LAURA GONZALEZ JENIFER MARGOS ASSISTANT SCENIC DESIGNER KIARA MCGEE ASSISTANT PROJECTION DESIGNER ROBERT MALLIN ASSISTANT SOUND DESIGNER TYLER CLARK ASSISTANT LIGHTING DESIGNER ALEX HANNA SCENE SHOP SUPERVISOR J.E. JOHNSON CHARGE SCENIC ARTIST KAREN MANESS MASTER CARPENTER KATE VAUGHN LEAD CARPENTER HANK SCHWEMMER ASSISTANT CHARGE SCENIC ARTIST KARA KONOP GRADUATE TEACHING ASSISTANTS BRUNO PIERREHOULE GRADUATE PRODUCTION ASSISTANTS CAMRYN DEWETT ELLIOT GARDNER PRODUCTION LEADS CHRISTINA JANSEN REED NEAL TAYLOR TRAVIS

PRODUCTION ASSISTANTS LIAM DOLANHENDERSON JOSH FISHER JESSICA FORTE HALEY LIBBEY KEITH MACHEKANYANGA JAKE MCDERMOTT ASHTON MURPHY BETH NOBLE DRE OLIVARES MIGUEL TAMEZ CHRISTIANA THOMAS JULES VIEAU

SCENERY/PROPS CREW DEVAN MAYS BONNIE MCENNIS TAYLOR TRAVIS TIFFANY WATSON EMILY VIALPANDO GEORGE VILLEGAS

SCENIC ART INTERNS DEVON BARLOW CATHERINE SWITZER

DRAPERS BETTY CHLYSTEK SARAH LANKENAU

PROPERTIES SUPERVISOR REBECCA SWITZER

1ST HANDS JUSTIN COLLINGS KRISTIN WOMBLE MARIKA WYNNE

PROPERTIES ASSISTANT SUPERVISOR CHAZ SANDERS PROP SHOP GRADUATE ASSISTANT DAVID MOLINAGARZA PROP MASTER KIARA MCGEE PROP ARTISANS KIARA MCGEE MORGAN STUART PROP STOCK MANAGER CHRISTOPHER MONTALVO PROPS ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT CHRISTOPHER MONTALVO PROPS CONSTRUCTION CREW JULIA BAUER LINDSEY DENNIS ELISE MARTIN MADISON PALOMO MAX TORREZ

COSTUME SHOP SUPERVISOR PATRICIA M. RISSER COSTUME PROJECT MANAGER DARCY WEBERG

WARDROBE CREW JORDAN BROWN ANNIE HARRIS EMMA HUFF ELISE PETERSON MEGAN TODD ABIGAIL VELA COSTUME CRAFTS ARTISAN TANYA OLALDE COSTUME SHOP OFFICE ASSISTANT MATTHEW HERNANDEZ

MEDIA PRODUCTION CREW HENRY CURTIS ROBERT DI DONATO KAIWEN FA JANICE FABUNAN CHRISTIAN HENLEY JORDAN MARANTO CAMERON MELLIN NATALIE PATTON BRADFORD RIZZO GAGE ROBINSON CHANCE STEWARD STAGE MANAGEMENT ADVISOR RUSTY CLOYES

COSTUME STOCK ASSISTANTS PJ KELLY RAMA TCHUENTE

COSTUME DESIGN ADVISOR SUSAN MICKEY

TEXAS PERFORMING ARTS SUPERVISING ELECTRICIAN MIKELA COWAN

COSTUME TECHNOLOGY ADVISOR JAMES GLAVAN

STITCHERS BILLIE GREEN AARON KUBACAK KRISTIN MELBERG HAILEY SELLARS

TEXAS PERFORMING ARTS LIGHTING SUPERVISOR JEFF ELLINGER

LIGHTING DESIGN ADVISOR AUSTIN SHIRLEY

COSTUME PRODUCTION CREW TEACHING ASSISTANTS ALISON REID JACQUELINE LANDSMEN

SENIOR LIGHTING TECHNICIANS YI-TAI CHUNG ALEX HANNA CIAN-ANN LU MERCEDES MCCLEARY PO-YANG SUNG

COSTUME CONSTRUCTION CREW MADDREY BLACKWOOD JOSHUA BROWN LAURA GONZALEZ BRENDALYS LEON JANIE MACKLIN KEVIN H. TRAN

THEATRE AND DANCE LIGHTING TECHNICIANS ADRIAN COLLINS JESSICA FORTE ALEX SANCHEZ BRIA WASHINGTON LIGHT BOARD OPERATOR JAKE BRINKS

WIG AND MAKEUP SPECIALIST ALLISON LOWERY

AUDIO SUPERVISOR MIKE MALAK

WARDROBE CREW SUPERVISOR ANANDA KEATOR

AUDIO BOARD OPERATOR MAX WESTLUNG MEDIA BOARD OPERATOR BENJAMIN CAMPBELL

INTEGRATED MEDIA DESIGN ADVISOR SVEN ORTEL DRAMATURG ADVISORS ANDREW CARLSON LIZ ENGELMAN SCENIC DESIGN ADVISOR RICHARD ISACKES ACADEMIC PRODUCTION MANAGERS RUSTY CLOYES RACHEL DURKINDRGA PHOTOGRAPHERS DANIEL CAVAZOS LAWRENCE PEART GRAPHIC DESIGNER MORGAN BATHE