UTNT (UT New Theatre) opens for its 17th season this Thursday, February 29. This festival exists as an incubator for new work, but that begs the question – how did these new plays come to be? What went on in the minds of these four playwrights that led them to collaborate with others to create the work seen on stage? To answer these questions, we spoke with the playwrights whose plays make up this year’s UTNT (UT New Theatre) festival.
The first night of UTNT (UT New Theatre) features Choreomaniac 1518, a play written by M.F.A. candidate Malena Pennycook and directed by M.F.A. candidate Caley Chase. Like the title might suggest, this play takes place during 16th century France and, well, everything is horrible! Major agricultural collapse, bubonic plague and corruption within leadership run rampant. When a new dancing plague breaks out, a group of potato farmers must band together to cue the strobe lights and reach towards hope.
“We’re thinking a lot about the way text and movement can kind of collide in new ways; that begins as a trickle and ends as just like a really loud splash,” shared Pennycook. “This is a theatre and dance show, which feels pretty distinct… [The play] starts in a state of mundanity and ends in a state of ecstasy and rapture,” adding that the ending state “feels like a real parable for our time.”
The production debuting on the second night of UTNT (UT New Theatre) comes from M.F.A. candidate playwright Emma Watkins and directing M.F.A. candidate Jenny Lavery. Pretend it’s Pretend follows Arthur, a playground architect; his daughter Clara; and Jen, an elementary school teacher. When Arthur is asked to build a bulletproof playground for Clara’s old school, what follows is a story about the endurance of care, even when dangers on and off the playground are overwhelmingly present.
Emma Watkins’ childhood was spent in the classroom – particularly her parents’ classrooms, who were both teachers. “The classroom has always been this innately magical place for me, but when I saw my parents teaching through the Covid Pandemic … it was really difficult to see this place that had held so much magic, become a sight of fear and frustration and anxiety for my parents and all teachers,” shared Watkins. “[The goal of this play is] to try and talk about the reality that teachers are facing right now in their classrooms across the country. But, also… honor the possibility that schools have in the magic of play and the importance of the imaginative environments.”
UTNT (UT New Theatre) also features two staged readings, starting with Taste Buds: The Adventures of Cake and Broccoli, written by M.F.A. candidate Claire Derriennic and directed by fellow M.F.A. candidate Renita James. This play for young audiences follows the story of Cake and Broccoli after they find out they have both been rejected by the humans and their quest to discover what it means to be good.
Though her interactive play is written for ages seven and up, Derriennic suggests that all ages should come see the reading. “I do think that anyone who’s ever experienced failure, or felt that they weren’t good enough or doubted themselves will hopefully connect to the story and find something in it,” Derriennic said. “The question of ‘what is good?’ – I think that question is really relevant… particularly to young artists who are just discovering their craft and asking themselves ‘what is good art?,’ ‘what does it mean to be good?'”
The second staged reading, spayce boys, is written by M.F.A. candidate Mateo Hernandez and directed by guest artist Diamante Martinez (B.F.A. 2020). This play follows two middle school boys, IGGY and OÑIO, as they go on an intergalactic adventure together. Through this outer-spayce adventure, the boys start to see each other for who they really are and start to see themselves too.
“Society tells young people, unfortunately, how they should act and behave and speak based on the gender that we assign them,” said playwright Mateo Hernandez. “This play gives us an opportunity to see what happens when two boys in particular kind of get to escape that reality of these gender norms and gender roles that we have here on Earth.” When asked what this play was about, Hernandez asked, “[the play] gives us a peek into… what is possible for these two characters whenever they’re not being held down by those ways of behaving and acting, and also how they can even be friends with another boy. How they’re able to create a deeper and intimate kind of friendship in ways that’s not always possible when you’re in the middle of a public middle school.”
Written by Mackenzie Mann.
