Meet the cast of Community Garden, one of our five UTNT (UT New Theatre) productions of the spring 2021 semester. In just a week, these ladies will be performing in a virtual reading of M.F.A. in Playwriting candidate Renae Simone Jarrett’s script, providing audiences with the chance to enjoy the rich language and storyline that she created. Join them for a meditation on self-searching, sacrifice and that lovely glow you get when you feast on the fruits that grow from the graves of dead husbands.
Discovering a “Methodology of Undoing:” Gesel Mason on Creating BURST!
Through a pandemic, power outages and remote rehearsals, Gesel Mason has helmed the ship for our upcoming production of burst! This movement-based investigation of identity and community stems from her previous work, specifically Yes, And, which she developed in part through her residency with Texas Performing Arts/Fusebox Festival. Her previous performance at ICOSA Collective, straddling the end of 2020 and the beginning of 2021, was just one of the many springboards for her upcoming production. Now, transferring what she calls a “methodology of undoing” to a group of UT students, this project has grown into a process of discovery and observation; of holding space and acknowledging the messiness of our current moment.
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“Essential Working” – Using Theatre to Document our Difficult Reality
It doesn’t take more than the click of a remote or a swipe on Facebook to see statistics and news segments detailing the ramifications of a global pandemic. In a moment so fraught with personal, physical and financial turmoil, the struggle to come to terms with recent events is an exhausting, daunting task. For KJ Sanchez, head of the playwriting/directing area, theatre is serving as a tool to analyze and come to a deeper understanding of these events. Sanchez is leading a group of collaborators as they unearth the names and faces buried deep within the headlines in a piece of documentary theatre that digs into the complex lives of those we call essential workers.
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