Recent News

On stage now in Boston at Huntington Theatre Company, Quixote Nuevo retells one of literature's most vibrant and memorable characters. Directed by faculty member KJ Sanchez with voice and dialect coaching by interim chair Robert Ramirez, this piece transports audiences to a border town in Texas, where the eccentric, brilliant knight Cervantes embarks on a cross-desert quest to reunite with a long-lost love. 

2019 Waterloo Greenway “Creek Show” will conclude with an installation created by Texas Applied Arts, built through collaboration with 25 students from across the 40 acres. The Creek Monster Habitat is an illuminated, interactive, multisensory art installation that concludes the path that winds through downtown Austin, illuminated with works of conservation-centric artistry. 

Austin 360 recently interviewed Anna Skidis Vargas, M.F.A. in Directing candidate and director of Spring Awakening, in advance of the production's run this November. A punk rock adaptation of an 1891 German modernist drama, Spring Awakening tells a story of adolescent love, the trials of puberty and the friendships built in the face of an uncomprehending world.

Alumnus Rudy Ramirez (M.A. 2012) has led the charge for more visibility of Latinx voices on the Austin stage, culminating in Futurx Festival, a multi-day showcase of forward-thinking, Latinx-penned performances, including solo shows, plays, improv and a host of avant-garde work.

Under the artistic direction of Dorothy O’Shea Overbey and Gesel Mason, Dance Repertory Theatre returns to the stage in Fall For Dance, presenting new work of striking choreography from professional and student choreographers. Fall For Dance features work by guest artists Rena Butler (2019 Princess Grace Award), Manuel Vignoulle (veteran of Ballet du Grand Théâtre de Genève and Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet) and Elijah Alhadji Gibson (founder of Social Movement Contemporary Dance), as well as faculty members Dorothy O’Shea Overbey (Red Nightfall Productions) and Gesel Mason and student choreographers Mackenzie Lawrence (whose work what do you know about ghosts? features text by Libby Carr) and Khorii Tinson.

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Faculty member Adriana Serrano (Department of Theatre and Dance and Radio-Television-Film) served as the production designer for The Obituary of Tunde Johnson, which opened the 2019 Austin Film Festival last week. Written by Stanley Kalu and directed by Ali LeRoi, The Obituary of Tunde Johnson tells the story of a gay African American Teenager who is forced to relive, over and over again, the day he is shot and killed at the hands of the police. 

Winner of eight Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Spring Awakening explores the journey from adolescence to adulthood as a group of young people struggle with questions of morality, sexuality and self-identity, on stage at the Oscar G. Brockett Theatre November 6-24, 2019. Directed by Anna Skidis Vargas and set to a punk rock score, this groundbreaking musical personifies the struggles of growing up and finding your own unique voice.