Though it premiered over a decade ago, [12 Ophelias (a play with broken songs)] has new resonance in a year when women worldwide are seeking a reckoning of their power via #MeToo and other movements. Under Jess Shoemaker's direction, the show is a moving, mysterious production that frees Ophelia at last from Hamlet's shadow.

Radio-Television-Film faculty Ben Bays and Deepak Chetty worked with Department of Theatre and Dance lecturers J.E. Johnson and Karen Maness to interconnect three courses. Bays taught advanced visual effects, while Chetty led a course on three-dimensional animation, both of which are seen as special effects in the subgenre of visual effects.

Playwriting and Directing faculty member KJ Sanchez was recently named a recipient of the University Co-op Hamilton Book Author Awards for her record of creative research, including three world premieres at three different renown venues: (dis)placed (Guthrie Theatre), Grandma’s Empanadas (Milwaukee Repertory Theatre), Cincinnati King (Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park), as well as her directorial role in Quixote Nuevo (Alley Theatre) and the world premiere of Knyum (Merrimack Repertory Theatre). 

Faculty member Kirk Lynn's The Cold Record tells the story of a 12 year old boy trying to set the record for the most days leaving school sick and in the process falls in love with the school nurse. Directed by faculty member Alexadra Bassiakou Shaw, The Cold Record was on stage at Harbourfront Centre in Toronto, Canada as part of Brave Festival 2019.  

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. 

Alumna Kimberly Belflower's (M.F.A. 2017) play John Proctor is the Villain was selected as one of 33 new plays on the 2019 Kilroys List, which includes un-produced and underproduced plays by women, trans and non-binary authors. Titles are selected by nomination through the New Play Exchange. 

Isaac Gomez's (B.A. 2013) monologue play the way she spoke will premiere at the Minetta Lane Theatre Off-Broadway in July 2019. Based on a series of intimate interviews, the way she spoke demonstrates the power of speaking truth. The story that unfolds details disturbing and haunting accounts of the murder of thousands of women in Juarez, Mexico, and one playwright’s journey of discovery and responsibility.

Recent alumnus Andrew G. Rodriguez (B.F.A. 2019) joins the Professional Training Company at Actors Theatre of Louisville. This program guides talented and motivated early-career theatre professionals to undertake a nine-month long training program that combines practical experience with professional development opportunities.

Alum Travis Tate (M.F.A., 2018) is one of five playwrights selected for the 2018-2019 5X5 Drama Series produced by Theatre East this June.

Andrew Aaron Valdez (B.F.A., 2017) is one of twelve inaugural recipients of the Arts & Culture Leaders of Color Fellowship awarded by Americans for the Arts, The Joyce Foundation and the American Express Foundation. The ACLC Fellowship is a one-year professional development program for emerging and mid-career arts leaders of color across arts disciplines in the Great Lakes region that aims to be a model for systemic national arts leadership change.

UTeach Theatre major Andrew Rodriguez gets the spotlight in the UT News series Into the World, Class of 2019.

An information affiliation of local arts critics have recognized the year's most exceptional achievements in dance, classical music, visual arts and theatre. The Department of Theatre and Dance productions, students, faculty, alumni and friends are well represented on this year's list of nominations, including three nominations for Dance Repertory Theatre's Fortitude (2019), three nominations for the fall 2018 production of Matawan and two nominations for the fall 2018 production of The Merchant of Venice.

Andrew Aaron Valdez (B.F.A., 2017) has been named one of Cleveland Public Theatre's 2019/2020 Premiere Fellows. The Fellowship includes a cash award, with additional funds available for projects, professional development and access to space, equipment and other assets.

Congratulations to alumnus Jacques Colimon (B.A., 2014), part of the ensemble of the new series The Society now streaming on Netflix.

Toni Bravo (M.A., 1987) is one of four inductees to be recognized at the Austin Critics Table's annual awards ceremony on Monday, June 3.

Texas Theatre and Dance is pleased to present the 2019/2020 Subscription Series, featuring a reimagining of Shakespeare's Ophelia, a punk rock musical for a new generation, Jane Austen's classic tale of good sense and emotional sensibility, captivating new choreography and the stunning conclusion of Tarell Alvin McCraney's award-winning trilogy. 

Assistant Professor of Instruction and UTeach Theatre faculty member Michael Avila is now the Treasurer-elect of the Texas Education Theatre Association.