Recent News

Rebecca Hewett (M.A. 2004, Ph.D. 2010) has been awarded a 2011 American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) Public Fellow at the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA) as a Cultural Programs Specialist. The Public Fellows program is an ACLS initiative placing recent Ph.D.s in staff positions at partnering agencies in government and the non-profit sector, aiming to demonstrate that the capacities developed in the advanced study of the humanities have wide application, both within and beyond.

Eric Vera (B.F.A., Theatre Studies, 2008) has just been named the Executive Artistic Director of The Camille Playhouse in Brownsville, Texas. It is a wonderful opportunity for Vera, as he returns to his hometown and leads the theatre that was integral to his early education.

Vera recently served on the Department of Theatre and Dance alumni committee for The Fantasticks 50th Anniversary. You can learn more about him on the alumni spotlight.

Fred Jones (B.A., Theatre and Dance, '08) and his acting partner, Paul Marino, were recently featured by The Wall Street Journal Online.  They are combing the subway lines underneath the streets of New York City in an interesting form of guerilla theatre – two-man scenes from Shakespeare.

Lisa D'Amour (M.F.A., Playwriting, '96) was one of three Pulitzer Prize finalists in drama for her play Detroit. Premiered at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theater in September 2010, Detroit is described by the Pulitzer jury as “a contemporary tragicomic play that depicts a slice of desperate life in a declining inner-ring suburb where hope is in foreclosure.” Detroit will be produced on Broadway in early fall of 2011 under the direction of Austin Pendleton. This marks D'Amour's Broadway debut.

Shaun Patrick Tubbs (MFA Acting ’10) was cast in The Book of Grace Written and Directed by Pulitzer Prize-winner Suzan-Lori Parks, at Zach. Opens June 2, 2011.

A South Texas family breaks through familial borders when a young man named Snake returns home, lured by his stepmother Grace, to reunite with his father, a border patrol agent. The prodigal son confronts his father, and fences are erected as everyday life erupts into a battle for personal survival. At once fiercely intimate and explosive, this surprising and truly original play finds three people bound together by longing, passion and ambition.

Lauren Williams (BA Theatre and Dance ’09) is a Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader.

Marie S. Brown (M.F.A., Directing, 2010) just completed a very exciting project directing a collaborative group of artists called TRIIIBE in a major exhibition at the 808 Gallery in Boston, MA. A selection of pieces from this show were then moved to the Dodge Gallery in NYC where they will reside for another few weeks. Since then, Brown has been collaborating with several artists from this group on two different new projects: the production of a stop animation film and a reproduction of The Nomadic Dream Project at the Prague Quadrennial, which was first created by an ensemble of UT students for the 2009 Cohen New Works Festival.

Marie S. Brown (M.F.A., Directing, 2010) just completed a very exciting project directing a collaborative group of artists called TRIIIBE in a major exhibition at the 808 Gallery in Boston, MA. A selection of pieces from this show were then moved to the Dodge Gallery in NYC where they will reside for another few weeks. Since then, Brown has been collaborating with several artists from this group on two different new projects: the production of a stop animation film and a reproduction of The Nomadic Dream Project at the Prague Quadrennial, which was first created by an ensemble of UT students for the 2009 Cohen New Works Festival.

MFA ’10 Talleri McRae is now an Education Associate for the acclaimed Stage One Children’s Theatre in Louisville, KY.

Catherine Rogers (M.F.A., Drama, ’93) will be in The Sudden Death of Everyone at the Manhattan Theatre Source on November 10th at 7 p.m. and Friday, November 12th at 7 p.m. Click here for tickets.