Recent News

Alumna Veronica Boccardo (B.F.A. 2017) holds the lead role in "Ms. Anita," a short film about a dancer who struggles under the weight of her own self-criticism. The film, which has garnered multiple international awards, is available to watch on Amazon Prime.

Theatre and Dance students Andrea L. Hart, Anna Skidis Vargas and Zoey Crow created virtual performances for UT Orientation, providing incoming Longhorns with an introduction to the university despite being unable to attend orientation on the 40 Acres.

Alumna Christian Henley (B.F.A. 2017), who graduated as part of the initial cohort of the revived B.F.A. in Acting program at the Department of Theatre and Dance, was recently featured as a dancer in Toni Braxton's new music video for her song "Dance." 

Faculty member Charles O. Anderson has been selected to receive a 2020 Regents' Outstanding Teaching Award, an honor recognizing a select number of educators throughout the entire UT System for their dedication to students and the university.

Faculty member Leah Cox is a featured dancer and collaborator in Liz Lerman's upcoming work entitled Wicked Bodies. Inspired by the grotesque artistic depictions of women's bodies throughout history, Wicked Bodies will be presented by Jacob's Pillow featuring a discussion with Lerman on August 7, 2020.

Playwright and faculty member Lisa B. Thompson's play collection, entitled Underground, Monroe, and The Mamalogues, is now available for purchase. Thompson's work touches a variety of themes within the Black experience in America, including family, racial violence and motherhood.

Associate Professor of Practice Rusty Cloyes has been named the recipient of the 2020 Department of Theatre and Dance Teaching Excellence Award, a prestigious teaching accolade recognizing his contributions to student success within the department.

Recent graduate Audrey Loomis (B.A. 2020) has been selected to present her research at Utah Shakespeare Festival's Wooden O Symposium this August. She is one of the few undergraduate speakers chosen to present her thesis, entitled "Unsex Me: Exploring Gendered Adaptations in Shakespeare," at this year's virtual symposium, August 3-4, 2020. 

Austin's Salvage Vanguard Theater is presenting a new work by Taji Senior, directed by alumna Si Mon' Emmett (B.F.A. 2018), with dramaturgy by Tyler English-Beckwith (B.A. 2016) next month. Amendment: the making of an american myth, or the slow sipping of a peacock tea is a solo piece that critiques the American assumption that we formed "a more perfect union" through the eyes of an enslaved woman who has been put on trial.