Alumnus and Emmy Award-winning actor Rip Torn (B.S. 1953) passed away this week at age 88. Torn made his reputation as a gifted actor on film and both on and off Broadway. Most notably, portraying the role of "Artie" on the comedy series The Larry Sanders Show for which he received six consecutive Emmy nominations, winning the Emmy for Best Supporting Actor in a comedy series in 1996. 

With the 2018–2019 academic year and production season over, summer settles into the Winship Drama Building. No rest, however, for the artistic! Texas Theatre and Dance faculty, staff and students are making their way all around the globe for a range of creative and scholastic projects. In this two-part series, we give a brief glimpse into the whos, whats and wheres of Summer 2019. This installment: our notes for June.

Alumni Travis Tate (M.F.A. 2018) and Graham Schmidt (M.F.A. 2018) have teamed up for Theatre East's 5X5 Drama Series, presenting Tate's work Color at the End of the World. Theatre East is an official partner of NYC Pride and this year's 5X5 Drama Series features original, commissioned work celebrating the LGBTQ community remembering the 50th Anniversary of the Stonewall Riots. 

Current Michener Fellow Gursimrat Kaur is one of three playwrights recently selected for The Core Apprentice Program at the Playwrights' Center, which pairs student playwrights with professional mentors and offers full play development workshops at the Center. Previous recipients include George Brant, Ike Holter, Kimber Lee and Martin Zimmerman.