Recent News

We recently interviewed M.F.A. in Playwriting candidate Jaymes Sanchez about winning the prestigious Keene Prize for Literature (College of Liberal Arts, The University of Texas at Austin). Sanchez was recognized for his script The Cucuy Will Find You, a play that incorporates Mexican-American folklore to address the tensions between traditional and individual identity faced by Latinx millennials. The Keene Prize, awarded to an undergraduate or graduate student every year, earned Sanchez $50,000 for his creation of a work that exemplified the future of American literature and, as Mr. E. L. Keene said when establishing this prize, provided a “vital portrayal of the American experience in microcosm.”

The Austin Chronicle recently sat down with faculty member and head of the dance area Charles O. Anderson to discuss what he's calling his "social justice summer." This project aims to transform his recently completed work (Re)current Unrest, which was originally slated to tour this summer, into an immersive film. The piece has special relevance today as it addresses themes of racial injustice and, as Anderson says, "the ongoing cycle of Black oppression." He is also working to create a new production of his 2010 work Evidences of Things Unsaid/World Headquarters, inspired by the works of Octavia E. Butler.

The 2020 Roy Crane Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Arts has been given to four students, three of whom are students at the Department of Theatre and Dance. Doctoral candidate Khristián Méndez Aguirre (Portfolio: Mammoth by Adam R. Burnett; Mr. Burns, a post-electric play by Anne Washburn and Everybody by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins), recent B.F.A. in Dance graduates Mackenzie Lawrence (What Do You Know About Ghosts?, Reflects/Reflex, I Know You'd Be Asking and The Stamina of Joy) and Emily Tolson (Spillage). The award rotates annually between performing, literary and visual arts and celebrates achievement in the arts and performance. 

Faculty member Sven Ortel and UT Live Design candidate John Erickson were featured on Further Education and Apprenticeships News in an article about evolving performance technology and its impact on virtual classes. With this semester's transition to online courses, Ortel incorporated the software Notch to allow his integrated media students to continue experimenting with 3-D graphic design from their homes. The software allowed them to complete their project for this year's virtual Fusebox Festival.

Alumna Felicia Fitzpatrick (B.A. 2014) recently wrote an article for Playbill highlighting the work of playwrights who put queerness and Blackness at the forefront of their work. Among those listed are faculty member Branden Jacobs-Jenkins and Tarell Alvin McCraney, author of Marcus; or the Secret of Sweet, recently performed at Texas Theatre and Dance as part of the 2019/2020 Season and In the Red and Brown Water (Texas Theatre and Dance, 2016). The article focuses on artists who have used theatre to share Black LGBTQIA+ stories, an existence that Fitzpatrick describes as "vast and complex, with identities occupying their own spaces and offering their own perspectives. This community is not a monolith, but rather a tapestry of different experiences of being othered and oppressed."

Faculty member Lisa B. Thompson has created a list of plays by African American playwrights to serve as an aide to better understand our present moment and the cries for reform and racial equality heard across the nation.  Her list includes classical works as well as contemporary plays that explore varying forms of Black resistance, encourage social change and provide inspiration for those who continue to fight for an end to racial injustice. "In difficult times like these I find great solace and inspiration in the words and magic of Black theatre. Gather your people and share this magic." 

Alumna Tyler English-Beckwith (B.A. 2016) was recently awarded Leah Ryan's Fund for Emerging Women Writers for her play Mingus. This recognition--established to support and encourage the work of emerging women, trans and non-binary playwrights--has earned her a cash prize and a public reading of Mingus at Vassar & New York Stage and Film's Powerhouse Theater. English-Beckwith's piece was selected out of over 400 applicants and stood out among the other submissions as a "smart, dynamic, and moving play."

Tackling choreography in the style of contact improvisation seems nearly impossible in a time when physical contact is limited. In Dr. Rebecca Rossen’s Dance History II class, undergraduate students Ashley Stone and Lindsay Ball were tasked with exploring this style for a group presentation. As their class transferred to an online setting, the two had to find a way to incorporate aspects of contact improvisation, a form rooted in physical collaboration, while maintaining social distancing restrictions.

The members of The Fine Arts Diversity Committee (FADC) stand in solidarity with our students and colleagues of color.  We join Moody College of Communication’s Associate Dean of Diversity and Inclusion Ya’Ke Smith, who recently sent this call out to UT Administration: “As we move toward creating a more inclusive and welcoming environment for all, and continue toward our goal of affirming those that have been historically marginalized, we must take a stance that acknowledges the impact of this kind of violence and racial profiling on our community, and we must make it crystal clear that we understand the pain caused to those affected.” 

Alumnus Andrew Aaron Valdez (B.F.A. 2017) was recently recognized by the Cleveland Public Theatre in their "CPT Artist Spotlight Series." Valdez, a 2019/2020 Premiere Fellow, actor, playwright and stage manager, was recently seen in Teatro Público de Cleaveland's Marisol and his original work Coyote was performed in part at Entry Point 2020. The CPT Premiere Fellowship recognizes artists whose work centers on new play development and original works.