There’s never a dull moment in Winship, and we wanted to take a moment to review the wonderful works of art and artistry of 2017 which included striking new works of choreography, the Cohen New Works Festival and the incredible work of our faculty and students around the world.
January
Welcome back to a new semester! We began January 2017 with preparations for the spring semester and New Works Festival, as well as the launch of the inaugural year of the UT Semester in Los Angeles Program (in collaboration with the Moody College of Communications’ Department of Radio-Television-Film), which takes upperclassmen to Los Angeles for their final semester in preparation for working in the industry.
February
Dance Repertory Theatre returned to the stage in Momentum. Under the artistic direction of Charles O. Anderson, Jeremy Arnold and Lyn C. Wiltshire, this showcase of new choreography celebrated the influence of African American culture upon contemporary dance in the twenty-first century. Featuring works including Lec/Dem or How Do you Spell Femaphobic (by Gesel Mason), Second to Khan (by Rennie Harris), Under the Asphalt (by Abby Zbikowski) and the second installation of (Re)current Unrest, In D’Nile (by Charles O. Anderson). Momentum also showcased student choreography, including A-peeling (by Gianina Casale) and black is the new black (by Oluwaseun Samuel Olayiwola).
March
Returning for its tenth iteration, UTNT (UT New Theatre) presented a series of new plays by graduate playwrights of Texas Theatre and Dance and Michener Center for Writers, including Gondal (by Kimberly Belflower), Slumber Party (by Elizabeth Doss), The Bigot (by William Glick) and Galactic Orphans (by Megan Tabaque).
April
It’s everyone’s favorite biennial tradition – The Cohen New Works Festival! The 2017 festival was the largest, most ambitious festival yet, featuring 38 creative works that ranged in everything from art installations to puppetry to new musicals and new choreography (and everything in-between). Highlights of the 2017 festival include TITLE LOADING (co-sponsored with Fusebox Festival) which explored how technology impacts our society; The Festival is Cock-a-Doodle-Now!, an examination of the Cocks Not Glocks protest; Bloodthirsty Fiends, a new version of the classic Beowulf (with puppets); and Hobo Salon, a participatory video installation which encourages dialogue about the accelerated growth of Austin’s homeless population.
May
We bit farewell to our 2017 graduates! After four years of hard work, artistry and determination, we say goodbye as undergrad and graduate students head out to share their creativity with the world!
June
Winship is mostly quiet during the summer months, but that does not mean that our Texas Theatre and Dance family isn’t hard at work around the world creating powerful, moving work. See what they were up to this summer: 2017 Summer Update: Part One and 2017 Summer Update: Part Two.
July
Every summer, The University of Texas at Austin plays host to the American Ballet Theatre Summer Intensive, a four-week program for dancers age 12-18. The ABT Summer Intensive curriculum includes both upper-level technique classes and lecture courses on subjects critical to the development of a well-rounded dancer. Classes include ballet technique, pointe, pas de deux, variations, men’s class, modern, jazz, musical theatre, character, choreography, meet the artist, pilates, yoga, injury prevention, dance history, music, nutrition and acting for dance/mime.
August
The 2017-2018 semester kicked off with Convocation, an annual welcome of our Theatre and Dance family as we begin a new year.
We began the semester with Robert Schenkkan’s Building the Wall, an incendiary political thriller that has seen a series of regional premieres across the United States in 2017. Written in “a white heat” fury following the November 2016 election, Schenkkan’s Building the Wall imagines a dystopia impacted by President Trump’s border and immigration policies. Described as “wisely look[ing] beyond Donald Trump’s authoritarian posturing toward the ordinary men and women willing to succumb to strongman leadership because of their own fears and resentments,” (Austin-American Statesman) Building the Wall was the regional premiere for Texas, directed by Dr. Brant Pope (department chair) and starring Franchelle Stewart Dorn and David Sitler.
Building the Wall included multiple community engagement events, including two panels, one on writing and producing new work in the American theatre and one on the role of the critic and scholar in assessing new work – as well as a talkback with playwright Robert Schenkkan.
September
The semester is off and the department is busy preparing for the season. New this year, our TD 301 class (Introduction to Theatre) is now available online, led by Charlotte Canning and Andrew Carlson.
October
We welcomed the 2017-2018 Season with Naomi Iizuka’s (under the direction of Sam Provenzano) Anon(ymous), the story of a young refugee searching for his family. Based on Homer’s The Odyssey, his travels take him through the United States, encountering a wide variety of people – some kind, some dangerous and cruel. From a sinister, one-eyed butcher to beguiling barflies, to a sweatshop, he navigates an ever-changing landscape searching for “home.”
November
November was a busy month in Winship as we staged both Fall For Dance, an annual performance by the award-winning Dance Repertory Theatre, and Arthur Miller’s The Crucible.
Fall For Dance was a celebration of identity, cultural experience and self-expression through contemporary ballet, technology and moving choreography. Works included In the Ether (by Erica Gionfriddo), a live experiment integrating dance and streaming technologies; the third installment of (Re)current Unrest, Clapback (by Charles O. Anderson and Jeremy Arnold) which explored the current state of “race relations” in the United States, centering specifically on the physicality of taking a knee as a means of protest; and Crone (by Dorothy O’Shea Overbey), an original cross-media ballet, created through collaboration involving the Butler School of Music and the Department of Radio-Television-Film and featuring a unique score composed by Samuel Lipman.
Originally written as an allegory for 1950’s McCarthyism and the House Committee on Un-American Activities, Arthur Miller’s masterpiece, The Crucible, is the story of accusations of witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts and the mob psychology of a community paralyzed by terror. Broadway World commended it, saying “The Crucible is powerful, infuriating and heartbreaking and the UT Department of Theatre and Dance does a mighty job of doing his script justice,” while the Austin-American Statesman said “UT Theatre and Dance’s production of the play brings out the show’s strengths while eliding its flaws, creating a powerful venue for many of the department’s students to highlight their great talents.”
December
We ended the year on a high note with The Drowsy Chaperone, a musical face that lovingly pokes fun at all the things we adore about the musical theatre genre.
