Recent News

We recently interviewed 2020 Latino Media & Arts Studies Senior Thesis Award winner and recent B.A. in Theatre and Dance graduate Ariane Stier about her project “Mírame: Deconstructing Latina Representation and Empowerment in Performance.” Stier discussed her process and plans for the future of the project, as well as her inspirations and goals as a theatre artist eager to amplify the voices of those who have been historically silenced.

Gesel Mason was among five dance educators nationwide who spoke with Dance Teacher Magazine about last semester's transition to online courses. While universities nationwide are considering continued distanced learning, Mason and her fellow professors share what worked the ways assignments were adjusted in order to overcome the challenges of leading classes through a computer screen.

Each semester, members of the dance area have traditionally come together to present a showcase of student work known as the “Dance Area Performance Showcase” or DAPS. This year, with the shift to online learning amidst shelter-in-place protocols, faculty and students have had to adjust their plans to preserve some semblance of what a normal semester would look like. For our dancers, this included reinventing their DAPS showcase as a YouTube playlist; sharing videos of online classes and experiments as well as virtual performances of their final projects.

This August, Lisa B. Thompson will be amongst 26 playwrights presenting work at the Road Theatre Company's Summer Playwrights Festival. Thompson's play Dinner explores cultural and political differences between families as the parents of Joanna, an African American middle class woman, and her fiancé Jonathan, a wealthy Nigerian immigrant man, sit down to dinner. Her play will kick off the second week of virtual readings, streaming August 6, 2020. 

In a time filled with uncertainty, Dr. Charlotte Canning reflects on the profound hope and determination of her B.A. Honors junior seminar students as they plan for their senior theses. Their plans for the future expanded beyond collegiate assignments, encompassing the fears, passions and aspirations of an entire generation of theatre artists striving for a better, more inclusive world. Exploring topics including increased accessibility in performance spaces to broader representation of marginalized communities, these students are, as Canning says, "the people whose work is going to ensure the future of live performance in a post-COVID 19 world."

Chair of the Department of Theatre and Dance Robert Ramirez recently served as a commentator for Austin Shakespeare and Spectrum Theatre Company's Monologue Acting Workshops. The workshops, which took place on July 8, 2020, providing young Black artists a chance to get feedback from Ramirez and two other local theatre practitioners. President of Spectrum Theatre Company Marilyn Stewart shared that the goal of this workshop was to provide a "stepping stone for children to watch, enjoy and perform theater" and to equip them "with skills to understand the world we live in, and perhaps change it for the better by bringing stories and people from all walks of life, together.”

M.F.A. in Design and Technology candidate Bill Rios and alumna Ally Tufenkjian (M.F.A. 2019) have been selected for two separate awards from the American Alliance for Theatre and Education (AATE). This organization celebrates and encourages the work of theatre artists and educators through initiatives including workshops, awards and an annual conferences. Both Rios and Tufenkjian have been recognized for excellence in theatre for young audiences, earning them invitations to this year's AATE conference in July where they will be recognized for their achievements and have the opportunity to share elements of their research and design. 

The College of Fine Arts recently spoke with Theatre and Dance lecturer and scenic art supervisor for Texas Performing Arts Karen Maness about how her Scenic Art and Figurative Painting class coped with the transition to online learning. Maness adjusted coursework to enable students to complete projects using materials they had access to at home. The class met virtually twice a week, once for lectures and again for group drawing and painting sessions, providing students with connections and familiarity during an unprecedented semester.

Earlier this summer, a group of UTeach Fine Arts students, alumni and faculty presented a session entitled "Social Emotional Learning (SEL) through the Fine Arts" at a summit for teachers hosted by the Center for Educator Development in Fine Arts. The group examined new ways to foster human connections through Zoom, providing examples of fun activities to engage with their K-12 students. Among the students and alumni who helped with the presentation, led by faculty member Roxanne Schroeder-Arce, were Nathan Tran (B.F.A. 2020), Juan Angel Leyva (B.F.A. 2020) and UTeach Theatre students Indya McKnight and Deja Criston.

This week (June 30 - July 5, 2020), Performance as Public Practice professor and head of the Oscar G. Brockett Center for Theatre History and Criticism Dr. Charlotte Canning will be at the helm of the "Tweeting Historians" Twitter page. Each week, one historian from around the globe is selected to present their research and foster discussions through the page, giving Twitter users a view into the minds of many brilliant researchers. Dr. Canning will serve as the first theatre historian to take over the page.