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Summer Updates 2025, Part 2

Though the F. Loren Winship Drama building was quiet this summer, the students and faculty of The University of Texas at Austin’s Department of Theatre and Dance were busy cultivating their skills in all aspects of performance across Texas and beyond. Now that the fall semester has started, we’re taking a look back at some of the amazing things our students and faculty did over the summer months.

Theatre Education students got lots of hands-on experience teaching, traveling and working with theatre professionals this summer. Many students worked with local theaters supporting their summer camps. Among them were ZACH Theatre Interns Sarah Ewing, Ethan Sebree and Mia Hindman. Alexis Adams was a camp counselor for the Georgetown Palace summer program.
Photo of Sophia Campbell standing in front of a large theatre auditorium
Sophia Campbell interning with Broadway Teacher’s Workshop.

Sophia Campbell, a fourth-year Theatre Education student, spent the summer in New York City with the UTNY program. After discovering the internship opportunity on Playbill.com, Campbell interned with Broadway Teacher’s Workshop.”I was super overwhelmed at the beginning of the summer, but I surprised myself with how quickly I adjusted to city life. I didn’t expect to love living in NYC as much as I did.” she said. “I had the privilege of speaking to multiple theatre professionals this summer who became mentors to me. My goal is to work in educational theatre in a way that ignites social change and serves the community, and thanks to them, I will always remember to start small, carve out a niche for myself and to ‘give myself a seat at the table.”

Production photo of Murder on the Links actors in 1920s costumes
Murder on the Links with costumes by Nanette Acosta (Faculty).

Assistant Professor and Costume Production Director Nanette Acosta designed costumes for Taproot Theatre in Seattle’s production of Murder On the Links, a play by former UT Theatre and Dance professor Steven Dietz.

Theatre Education fourth-year Faith Bouchelle traveled abroad in Vienna for UT’s Vienna: Memory and the City program. “The whole city felt like one extended family, and it was nothing like I’ve ever seen,” Bouchelle said. When she was back stateside, she returned for her third summer as a teaching artist at North Texas Performing Arts to help campers build skills like devising, acting and ensemble building while practicing her own teaching and directing skills.

Photo of Faith bouchelle in front of a a palacial interior in Vienna
Faith Bouchelle in Vienna.

This summer at Shakespeare at Winedale, Assistant Professor Madge Darlington directed Twelfth Night, Richard II and King Lear with many Theatre and Dance students and recent alumni. Alum Grant Gilker (B.A. 2025) was Assistant Director, and D Chavez Galvan (B.A. 2025) and Gigi Beckham (B.A. in Theatre and Dance fourth-year) performed. Emma Watkins (M.F.A. 2024) is the Program Coordinator at Shaekspeare at Winedale, and grad students Whitney Mosery and Alejandra Martorell were guest artists during the 2025 summer season.

Theatre Education fourth-year Rosy Esquenazi led a two-week performance intensive in her hometown in Panama for girls ages 8 to 11 where they learned numbers from Beauty and the Beast and Encanto. “Initially, it was supposed to be one week,” Esquinazi said, “but the parents loved it so much that they begged for a second week.” Her students were also thrilled: “The girls loved the process so much, as they had a say in everything, and I acted more as a guide for them. For me, it felt very rewarding to apply what I have learned in my classes so far and to see them enjoy the process so much!”
In July, Associate Professor of Dance Gesel Mason’s piece Yes, And was part of the Bates Dance Festival in Maine.
production Photo of an actress on stage in a white dress and a 20s cigar factory set
Anna in the Tropics with scenic design by Josafath Reynoso (Faculty).

Josafath Reynoso, an Assistant Professor in the Live Design and Production area, designed the set for American Players‘s Anna in the Tropics at Hill Theatre in Spring Green, Wisconsin. 

 

Written by Katy Wiggins.

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