Recent News

Associate Professor Kirk Lynn, one of the five artistic directors of the Rude Mechs theatre collective, will perform in his own one-man show The Cold Record as part of the Public Theater's Under the Radar Festival in January 2019. 

Associate Professor Charles O. Anderson has been awarded a 2018-2019 Research & Creative Grant from the Office of the Vice President for Research for his project (Re)current Unrest. The evening-length piece is an immersive performance installation ‘ritual’ investigating legacy, authorship and the history of black art and protest through the lens of the erasure of the Africanist presence inside of Steve Reich’s compositions.

Assistant Professor Quetta Carpenter has been announced as the director the Illinois Shakespeare Festival's 2019 production of Julius Caesar. Her adaptation will offer a media-saturated, modern take on Shakespeare’s classic tragedy, set on the battlefields of social media and the 24-hour news cycle. 

Professor Susan Mickey recently received the Jeff Award in Costume Design for her work on The Taming of the Shrew at Chicago Shakespeare Theater (2017). The Jeff Awards honor outstanding theatre artists in the Chicago area and celebrate excellence through its recommendations, awards and honors.

Matawan Dramaturg Kristin Perkins outlines the history and truth behind the 1916 shark attacks in Matawan, New Jersey and details the state of a nation gripped by fear of disease and war. 

Alumnus J. Quinton Johnson (Hamilton) has joined the cast of Tarell Alvin McCraney's Choir Boy in the role of "Bobby Marrow," set to premiere on Broadway in January 2019. This music-filled play debuted in 2013 and details the hopes of a group of young singers at the Charles R. Drew Prep School for Boys. 

Meet the cast of Matawan, a new play by Dan Caffrey that tells the story of the summer of 1916 when a series of fatal shark attacks terrorized the New Jersey Shore. Featuring an all-star cast of Texas Theatre and Dance students under the direction of Alice Stanley, Matawan takes the stage October 2018.