Fall the House

Fall the House

BY NICHOLAS KAIDOO APRIL 6-7 AT 7:30 P.M. ON-DEMAND: APRIL 11-24, 2021 VIRTUAL PERFORMANCE THEATREDANCE.UTEXAS.EDU Harold Horsley – Costume Designer • Schivona “Schi the God” Johnson – Sound Designer Nicholas Kaidoo – Playwright • Braxton Rae – Director • Diamond Rector – Stage Manager Gladys Serafin – Video Producer • David Tolin – Technical Director Josiah Thomas Turner – Dramaturg • Amber Whatley – Lighting Designer

CAST (IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE) Alec . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Marissa Angel Barker Meg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ashley Bowen Tisha . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Makaila Heath Kara . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Deja Criston Ollie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Makaile Bishop Piano Man, Leroy, Gangbanger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Trinity Gordon Nessa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Indya McKnight Ghost . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . John R. Christopher

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 PRODUCING ARTISTIC DIRECTORS Welcome to UTNT Spring 2021!

It is an honor to present five new works this semester by our ascending third-year M.F.A. in Playwriting candidates in collaboration with second-year M.F.A. in Directing candidates: Radiance by Gursimrat Kaur, directed by Giana Blazquez; sad women being sad written and co-directed by Jenny Krick, codirected by Andrea L. Hart; Fall the House by Nicholas Kaidoo, directed by Braxton Rae; OCD by Heewon Kim, directed by Mike Steele and Community Garden by Renae Simone Jarrett, directed by Kristen Osborn.

Now in its fourteenth iteration, UTNT has consistently served as a launchpad for The University of Texas at Austin’s graduate and undergraduate theatre artists; artists who are continuing to change the American theatre landscape and influence hearts and minds around the globe.

More than any other year, these trailblazing projects called for unique production concepts, development processes and presentation styles. The works you are about to experience are the products of insight, collaboration, craf, dedication and innovations for how we share stories in this changed and changing world.

UTNT stands for UT New Theatre. Welcome to the launch of these inspiring works. Thank you for being the first!

NOTE FROM THE PLAYWRIGHT

… live treacherous, all the et ceteras To the death of us, me and my confidants, we shine You feel the ambiance, y'all n****s just rhyme By the ounce, dough accumulates like snow We don't just shine, we illuminate the whole show, you feel me?

— JAY-Z, “Dead Presidents II”

NOTE FROM THE DIRECTOR

This play is not about COVID-19, and yet it has to be because of the time we find ourselves living and making art in.

According to the CDC, “There is increasing evidence that some racial and ethnic minority groups are being disproportionately afected by COVID-19,” and factors they include to explain why this is are: discrimination, healthcare access and utilization, occupation, education, income, wealth gaps and housing. 1 According to Mayo Clinic, “COVID-19 hospitalization rates among non-Hispanic Black people and Hispanic or Latino people were both about 4.7 times the rate of non-Hispanic white people… Where you live and who you live with can make it challenging to avoid getting sick with COVID-19 and to get treatment. For example, racial and ethnic minority members might be more likely to live in multigenerational homes, crowded conditions and densely populated areas, such as New York City. This can make social distancing dificult.” 2 We could go on quoting facts, but the bottom line is that Black people are disproportionately afected

by COVID-19. This is nothing new; the systematic disenfranchisement and oppression of Black people is quite literally written into the founding code of this country.

Speaking of nothing new, Fall the House is a revisionist adaptation of The Oresteia trilogy by Aeschylus set in a mid 2000’s housing project. As is ofen the case, the people in these projects only have themselves to rely on, so new power structures develop. While we watch as more and diferent power structures fall into place, it is important that we also pay attention to the community building that happens in the project and in this play. Afer all, if we don't have our community, who do we have?

1 www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/health-equity/race-ethnicity.html 2 www.mayoclinic.org/coronavirus-infection-by-race/expert-answers/faq-20488802

NOTE FROM THE DRAMATURG Fall the House is an updated retelling of Agamemnon, part of The Oresteia trilogy by the Greek playwright Aeschylus. Written in the fifh century B.C., the plays feature tales of love and hate, death and war, gods and goddesses, justice and betrayal, all set against the backdrop of the Trojan War. The trilogy remains as the only fully in-tact example of an Ancient Greek theatre trilogy.

Agamemnon, the first of the trilogy, tells of the homecoming of the titular character, the King of Mycenae, afer a successful campaign against the Trojan army. While a great victory has been wrought, it comes at the price of sacrificing his daughter, Iphigenia, inflaming the rage of Agamemnon’s awaiting wife, Clytemnestra, who he finds awaiting him with murderous intent. But whereas Aeschylus’s androcentric original was interested in the King and his accomplishments, Kaidoo’s Fall the House speaks from a new perspective: that of the grieving, acrimonious mother who, afer the sacrifice of her child and marital indignity, is set on securing revenge for herself.

The largest public housing system in America, Section 8 housing or NYCHA (New York City Housing Authority), was politically smeared as blighted, dangerous and in need of the excessive policing that remains prevalent in American inner cities. As the gods and goddesses descend on this new setting, Kaidoo sets the stage for the final showdown between king and queen against the backdrop of a gang-war-torn neighborhood. By setting this Greek epic in project housing near the turn of the century, Kaidoo brings a new sense of urgency and immediacy to the The Oresteia and to this historic moment we find ourselves living in.

CREATIVE Harold Horsley (Costume Designer) is a secondyear M.F.A. in Design and Technology candidate with a focus in costume design at The University of Texas at Austin. Originally from Chicago, Illinois, Horsley earned a B.F.A. in Design and Technology with a concentration in costume design from Kent State University. Recent credits with Texas Theatre and Dance include Not Omaha (UTNT (UT New Theater), 2020), Fall For Dance (2019) and La Ruta (2020). For their recent work in costume design, Horsley received the 2020 Black Theatre Network’s Judy Dearing Student Design Award for costume design.

Schivona "Schi the God" Johnson (Sound Designer) can usually be found in the recording studio or in front of house engineering for local musicians, singer-songwriters and hip-hop producers including Just Blaze, Royal Forest and A. Sinclair. Inspired by the vibrations themselves, she has most recently completed projects with Wilson Marks and Frank Wo/men Collective.

Nicholas Kaidoo (Playwright) is a Brooklyn-born playwright and performer. His plays include PLANTATIONLAND, Sycamore, Severance and Fall the House. He has worked with the Atlantic Theater Company, The Movement Theatre Company, The Civilians, New Light Theater Project and Pipeline Theatre Company. He is the inaugural recipient of the Jim Anderson Outlaw Playwright Award and has been recognized for distinguished achievement by the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival, having received the Lorraine Hansberry Playwriting Award, the Rosa Parks Playwriting Award and the Mark Twain Prize for Comic Playwriting.

Braxton Rae (Director) is an early career director, deviser and creator whose creative work and scholarship is focused on Blackness, queerness, feminism and marginalized identities more broadly. Braxton is interested in the craf of intimacy work and how to stage intimate moments while prioritizing care and safety for everyone involved. Originally from Virginia Beach, Virginia, Braxton has had the opportunity to make and

present work throughout Maine, Massachusetts, Virginia and California, as well as in Europe.

Diamond Rector (Stage Manager) is a fourthyear B.A. in Theatre and Dance major with an emphasis in stage management at The University of Texas at Austin. Her recent credits with Texas Theatre and Dance include (Re)current Unrest (2020), Brutal Imagination (The Cohen New Works Festival, 2019) and Fortitude (2019).

Gladys Serafin (Video Producer) is a video producer with The University of Texas at Austin Liberal Arts Instructional Technology Services (LAITS). She has a B.S. in Radio-Television-Film and has enjoyed fulfilling a wide variety of roles within LAITS video services for over four years.

David Tolin (Technical Director) was born and raised in Casper, Wyoming. He attended the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, where he received his B.A. in Theatre with a concentration in design/ technology. In 2006, he interned with Cirque du Soleil’s Mystère (Treasure Island) and served as a stagehand for Desert Entertainment for several concerts, productions and events across Las Vegas. He received his M.F.A. in Scenic Technology from The University of Texas at Austin before teaching at Westlake High School for seven years. Tolin joined the staf of the Department of Theatre and Dance in 2017.

Josiah Thomas Turner (Dramaturg) is a M.F.A. in Playwriting candidate at The University of Texas at Austin. For his full-length play, Uncle Tom's Nephews, Turner received the 2019 National Undergraduate Playwright Award from the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival and was named runner-up for the Lorraine Hansberry Playwriting Award. The piece was also a semifinalist for The Playwrights Realm Scratchpad Series (2019). Turner’s short play George, Jesse and Mary was named a finalist for the John Cauble Award for Outstanding Short Play. He was also the recipient of the 2019 Ken Ludwig Playwriting Scholarship.

CREATIVE Amber Whatley (Lighting Designer) is a thirdyear M.F.A. in Design and Technology candidate with a focus in lighting design at The University of Texas at Austin. She earned her B.F.A. in Production Design with a concentration in lighting from Savannah College of Art and Design in 2018.

Her most recent design credits include poolboy00 (UTNT (UT New Theatre), 2020), Marcus; or the Secret of Sweet (Texas Theatre and Dance, 2020) and Next to Normal (Ground Floor Theatre, 2019).

CAST

Marissa Angel Barker

Ashley Bowen

Makaila Heath

Deja Criston

Makaile Bishop

Trinity Gordon

Indya McKnight

John R. Christopher

CAST Marissa Angel Barker (Alec) is a first-year UTeach Theatre major at The University of Texas at Austin. She has an extensive background in theatre and dance. This is her first production with Texas Theatre and Dance.

Ashley Bowen (Meg) is a fourth-year B.A. in Theatre and Dance major with an emphasis in performer’s process also pursuing a B.A. in Government at The University of Texas at Austin.

Recent credits with Texas Theatre and Dance include A Fistful of Trespassing (UTNT (UT New Theatre), 2020), 12 Ophelias (a play with broken songs) (2019) and 30 Floods (UTNT (UT New Theatre), 2019), as well as The Battlefields of Clara Barton. She is currently working on Videoessay as a part of The Cohen New Works Festival (2021).

Afer graduating, she will be pursuing her M.F.A. in Acting at University of Missouri – Kansas City.

Makaila Heath (Tisha) is a first-year B.F.A. in Acting major at The University of Texas at Austin. This is her first production with Texas Theatre and Dance.

Deja Criston (Kara) is a third-year UTeach Theatre major also pursuing a minor in arts management and administration at The University of Texas at Austin. Her most recent credits with Texas Theatre and Dance include "Woman of Juárez" in La Ruta (2020),"Lady Middleton" in Sense and Sensibility (2020), "Anna" in Spring Awakening (2019) and a role in Michael J. Love's DOPE FIT! (The Cohen New Works Festival, 2019).

She has a background in musical theatre and has also appeared in many student film productions and local commercials. This is her fourth mainstage production with Texas Theatre and Dance.

Makaile Bishop (Ollie) is a B.A. in Theatre and Dance major with an emphasis in performer's process at The University of Texas at Austin. Bishop has an extensive background in theatre and choir. This is his last semester at UT Austin and his first production with Texas Theatre and Dance. He is currently represented by the Brown Agency in Austin, Texas.

Trinity Gordon (Piano Man, Leroy, Gangbanger) is a UTeach Theatre major at The University of Texas at Austin. She has a background in acting and devised work. She was most recently seen in Commencement (Theatre Brookhaven), The Shadow Box (Theatre Brookhaven) and Babel (Cry Havoc Theater Company).

Indya McKnight (Nessa) is a third-year UTeach Theatre major with a minor in communication studies at The University of Texas at Austin. Recent credits with Texas Theatre and Dance include Tjipetir: A Search History (UTNT (UT New Theatre), 2020) and DOPE FIT! (The Cohen New Works Festival, 2019).

John R. Christopher (Ghost) is an Austin native trained in the Acting Conservatory at the Los Angeles Theatre Academy. Recent credits include four plays at ZACH Theatre (Jungalbook, Tortoise and Hare, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast and Rude Mechs’ Fixing Troilus and Cressida). He also recently performed in It Is Magic (Capital T Theatre) and The Brothers Size (Capital T Theatre), for which he won an Austin Critics Table award for Outstanding Performance by an Individual.

CREW

ASSISTANT LIGHTING DESIGNER DONNA YANCEY

GRADUATE PRODUCTION ASSISTANT HARRISON HAYES

ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER CALLIE BLACKSTOCK

ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT MADISON SHERIDAN

GUEST DRAMATURG LIZ ENGELMAN

PRODUCTION LEADS ZOE BIHAN GABBY CLEMENTE DANIEL GELD JAKE JOSEPHI EVAN MCCLAIN JULIO MUÑOZ

VIDEO MANAGER BUG DAVIDSON CAMERA OPERATOR AND EDITOR JACOB DOHERTY CAMERA OPERATORS HANNAH ELCAN J.P. HITE AUDIO MANAGER JACOB WEISS AUDIO ENGINEERS EAN HERRERA JARED MARXUACH SCENIC STUDIO SUPERVISOR J.E. JOHNSON SCENIC ART SUPERVISOR KAREN MANESS ASSOCIATE SCENIC STUDIO SUPERVISOR JASON LEE HUERTA MASTER CARPENTER HANK SCHWEMMER ASSISTANT CHARGE SCENIC ARTIST ASHTON BENNETT MURPHY

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

PROP SHOP SUPERVISOR CAROLYN ALLINGHAM HARDIN

TEXAS PERFORMING ARTS LIGHTING CREW CHARLOTTE BRUMBELOW LIBBY JANTZ BRISA SHAW

PROP MASTER CAROLYN ALLINGHAM HARDIN

ASSOCIATE AUDIO SUPERVISOR KENNY KUYKENDALL

PROP ARTISAN MORGAN RIDDLE

TEXAS PERFORMING ARTS AUDIO CREW CHEYENNE CHESTER CODY HANCOCK POLLYANNA O'HAIR WILLA SNOW

PROP STOCK MANAGER INDIRA RAMPERSAD COSTUME PRODUCTION DIRECTOR NANETTE ACOSTA COSTUME PRODUCTION ASSOCIATE DESIREÉ HUMPHRIES DRAPERS SARAH ALDRIDGE POUA YANG COSTUME SHOP ASSISTANTS EMMA DICKERSON KATHRYN MILLER CALIFORNIA THORSON

MEDIA SHOP SUPERVISOR EARNEST MAZIQUE MEDIA GRADUATE ASSISTANTS JACKSON COBB BENJAMIN RANDALL PRODUCTION CREW SUPERVISORS EMMA CRAIG ZOEY CROW AURORA KENYON NINGMO LIU COURT ROGERS

STAGE MANAGEMENT ADVISOR RUSTY CLOYES DIRECTING ADVISORS KJ SANCHEZ ALEXANDRA BASSIAKOU SHAW COSTUME DESIGN ADVISOR RAQUEL BARRETO COSTUME TECHNOLOGY ADVISOR JAMES GLAVAN LIGHTING DESIGN ADVISOR JEDIDIAH ROE INTEGRATED MEDIA DESIGN ADVISOR SVEN ORTEL SCENIC DESIGN ADVISOR WILLIAM BLOODGOOD SOUND DESIGN ADVISOR PHILLIP OWEN ACADEMIC PRODUCTION MANAGER JEFF GRAPKO GRAPHIC DESIGNER JEFF GRAY