April May 2018 College News

Only Hills We’ve Ever Had was announced in the national publication of American Teatre . ALUMNI ACCOLADES Wimberley Players has started a New Works Series and MA alumnus Rita Anderson’s , Te 27 CLUB is one of two plays recieving a staged reading this month; the other play, Te Catfsh Prince , is by retired faculty member Monica Michel . Edwin Bates (BFA – Musical Teatre) will be in La Cage Aux Folles at the Red House Arts Center and then will be getting his Equity card in a production of Smokey Joe’s Café . Amelia Bahr (MFA Directing 2016) is directing House of Desires by Sor Juana Inez de la Cruz (Catherine Boyle translation) at Brigham Young University. Joel Britt , Andrew Leslie , and Brandon Rosen (BFA Design & Technology) participated in the 14th Annual Hemsley Lighting Portfolio Review in New York City. Joel Britt and Brandon Rosen (BFA Design & Technology) graduated with their MFAs in Lighting Design from the University of California, San Diego. Kat Carson (BFA Performance and Production 2015) Is traveling the U.K. with Te Champions of Magic. Gabi De La Rosa (BFA Performance and Production 2017) will be working with Teatre Aspen this Summer as a stage manager and assistant company manager. Tori Gresham (BFA – Musical Teatre) is playing Amber in Hairspray at the Village Teatre. Spencer Hansen (BFA – Musical Teatre) is currently in the company of Follies at the Astoria Performing Arts Center in New York Rocky Hopson (MFA Directing 2017) is currently directing Te Pillowman at the Orange Teatre Company in Amsterdam. Brooklyn No Names , a play by BFA Acting alums Marissa Jones and Melanie Notinger, will be produced at the Connelly Teatre in New York City as part of the SheNYC Arts Summer Teatre Festival July 5 through 22 | April & May | College News 15. Valer , a play by BFA Acting alum, Mandy Murphy , will also be a part of the festival. Melissa King-Knowles (BFA – Teacher Certifcation 2001, MA – Directing 2004) has found great success in recent years. In 2016 she was named the TASSP (Texas Association of Secondary School Principals) Texas Assistant Principal of the Year. Shortly thereafter she was named Principal of Sartartia Middle School in Fort Bend ISD. In 2017, she represented Texas at the national level, receiving recognition in Philadelphia at the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) conference. Tis year, she has facilitated a national twitter chat for assistant principals, as well as a blog on using feedback looping to build campus culture, published via NASSP , and has received national exposure. Her impact on public education and individual students is crucial in these tumultuous times. Tyler Larson (BFA Performance and Production 2016) is an assistant stage manager on the 5th Annual Greater Austin High School Musical Teatre Awards at Te Long Center for the Performing Arts, calling spots, and has completed his second year pursuing his MFA in Stage Management at the University of California San Diego. Andrew Leslie (BFA Design & Technology) will be graduating with his MFA in Lighting Design from the University of Florida in May. Jimmy Moore (MFA Directing 2016) will be directing All Shook Up at the Zilker Teatre Productions this summer. More than 50 Bobcat students, alumni, faculty and families gathered at Bass Hall to watch Ryne Nardecchia (BFA – Musical Teatre 2017) play Monty in the frst national tour of A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder . Nicole Riedel (BFA Performance and Production 2017) was hired as an assistant stage manager on Norwegian Cruise Line and in her second month has begun subbing for the production stage manager and calling shows. Heather Ross is now product manager, writer and designer for BlankMediaGames, a digital and table top game production company best known for “Town of Salem.” She recently directed a short flm she wrote and acted in about seizures she had in middle school to raise awareness about epilepsy. Her latest project is a photo series called ‘A Serpent’s Voice’ inspired by the #MeToo movement. Queer women are coated in three layers of liquid latex and photographed peeling it of of their skin as a form of catharsis. Heather is the producer and model, Alexandra Dietz is the award- winning photographer. Te photos will be displayed in galleries along with their skin in mason jars and their audio & text recorded stories to give them space where their voices can be heard. She is playing the violin at Carnegie Hall for a recital in June, and will return to NYC for the Dramatist Guild Association Convention in July. She lives by her own saying, “Life is a constant metamorphosis, you never know where you’ll end up.” Melissa Utley (MFA Directing 2016) will be directing Te Little Foxes at Te Classic Teatre in San Antonio for their next season. Grayson Yockey (BFA – Musical Teatre) is in the company of Godspell at the Legacy Teatre in Georgia. #RAGTIME Michael Rau directed Ragtime which ran from April 17-22 in the Harrison Teatre on campus. Choreography was by Kiira Schmidt Carper and musical direction by Austin Haller . Marissa Menezes (MFA – Design) designed costumes, Annalise Caudle (MFA – Design) designed lights, Brandon Newton (MFA – Design) designed scenery, and Cody Baker (BFA – Technical Production) designed sound. Alejandro Alfonso Rodriguez (MFA – Directing) assisted in the direction of the production. Production stage management was by Tyler Osgood. Frank Benge of Broadwayworld.com called the production “a work of great power and beauty brilliantly executed.” “From the very frst number, the rousing and soaring ‘Ragtime’, you are aware you are about to experience something exceptional. It begins with the exquisite costumes of Marissa L. Menezes highlighted as silhouettes against Brandon M. Newton’s clever moving urban fre escape design, the frst of many visually beautiful and breath-taking lyrical directorial moments from Michael Rau.” College of Fine Arts and Communication | 23