College-News-September-2021

1 Te 19th annual Black and Latino Playwright’s Celebration 2 Sarah Maines was Associate Lighting Designer for Jersey Boys at the Trafalgar Teatre. 3 Christa Oliver was nominated for the 2021 Women of Inspiration Award. 18 | September | College News THEATRE Acting, Musical Theatre, Per formance and Production, Teacher Certif ication in Theatre, Technical Production, & Theatre DEPARTMENT Te 19th annual Black and Latino Playwright’s Celebration [1] presented new plays: Power to the Queendom by ShaWanna Renee Rivon and Bed of Stone by Joe Campa. Te event also featured a workshop by playwright Virginia Grise and celebrated playwright Jose Rivera with an opening night tribute performance in his honor. Te event included many talented Texas State students including: Lauren Green, Jonaee Davis, Aaliyah Ward, Whit Flowers, Konner Sheppard, Vivan Noble, Conner Duncan, Kevin Engel, Ricardo Lopez, Dani Trevino, Montserrat Luna, Madeline Perez, Seth Moldonado, Jon Acosta, Alan Lopez, Marisa Mendoza, Kimberly Zimmerman, Esther Oh, Ericas Contreras and more. FACULTY ACCOLADES Sarah Maines was Associate Lighting Designer for Jersey Boys at the Trafalgar Teatre in London’s West End this summer [2] . She has also been invited to have a selection of her lighting designs featured in an exhibit with the McNay Art Museum’s Tobin Collection of Teatre Arts called Te Great Stage of Texas in which the works of Texas, Texas-based, and Texas-associated designer will be showcased; coming Spring 2022. Lauren Lane was promoted to Full Professor at Texas State. Eugene Lee procured a $16,702 Humanities Texas Grant to assist in funding the Black and Latino Playwright’s Celebration. Deb Alley returned to the Texas Shakespeare Festival this summer to direct Te Merry Wives of Windsor . Te Texas Commission of the Arts has called Te Texas Shakespeare Festival “one of the top ten cultural events in the state.” Te Austin American Statesman declared it “Indisputably the best Shakespeare Festival in Texas. Susan Busa wrote, directed, and co-produced all eight episodes of Season One of Te American Immortal , an audio drama podcast which featured faculty members Lauren Lane and Linda Nenno Breining as well as current and former students Mitchell Oden, Luke Gaskey, Robert Morris, Will Rose-Hines, William Fitzpatrick, TJ-Young, and Andrew Heinrich Christa Oliver [3] was nominated for the 2021 Women of Inspiration Award. Christa also completed Harvard University’s 2021 Mellon School of Teatre and Performance Research seminar: Te State of the Field Ana Baer, Christa Oliver, Jerry Ruiz , and Nadine Mozon collaborated on Semilla Fest over the summer. Sheila Hargett was named Distinguished Professor Emeriti. Sidney Rushing [4] has been named the frst August Wilson House Visiting Playwright Fellow. Ana Martinez gave a presentation about theatre and research during the pandemic at the Association for Teatre in Higher Education (ATHE) pre-conference. Her article “Teatro Lines de Sombra Durante la Pandemic” was also published in this fall’s issue of the journal Latin American Teatre Review. Natalie Blackman made her debut at the Classic Teatre of San Antonio in As You Like It at the San Antonio Botanical Gardens. Cheri Prough DeVol designed the scenery and Trad Burns designed lighting for Neil Simon’s Broadway Bound . Directed by Bill Roudebush and starring Tony nominated Austin Pendleton as Eugene’s grandfather Ben, the show played Sep 9‒Oct 3 at Beck Center for the Performing Arts in Lakewood, Ohio. Te project also included Bobcat alumni Andrew McDaniels (MFA) as Assistant Lighting Designer and Tim Chrisman (BFA) as Master Electrician Assistant Technical Director. John Fleming [5] published the chapter “Art and Aesthetics” in the book Tom Stoppard in Context (Cambridge University Press). Trad Burns [6], lit the world premier ballet Glare , by ballet and broadway ( M Butterfy ) Choreographer Ma Cong for Richmond Ballet. Over the summer, Trad also lit the world premiers of Limoncello , [4] choreographed by Anabella Lopez Ocha, Kiss , choreographed by Stephanie Martinez, Until Tomorrow , choreographed by Heather Britt for Cincinnati Ballet, and he was the lighting designer for Cain Park’s Centennial , a musical celebration showcasing musical theatre performances from the last 50 years starring many of the original cast members. Recent graduate Andrew McDaniels was an assistant lighting designer for all of these projects. STUDENT ACCOLADES Lauren Green , a senior in the BFA Performance & Production program was named the Regents' Scholar for Texas State University. Te Board of Regents of the Texas State University System recognizes at least one outstanding student from a TSUS member institution each year with the Regents' Student Scholar Award. Student Scholars are nominated by institution presidents and selected by the chancellor based on their outstanding academic achievement and scholarship, leadership abilities, and contributions to the institution and their community. Martin Asprey [7] (MFA Directing) won Best Short Film in London Shorts flm festival for his flm Bicycle Pump . Morgan Phillips participated in an alumni performance of Te Game’s Afoot by Ken Ludwig. Te show included Texas State current and past students like: Kendra Perry, Kamryn Saleh, Jordan Armstrong and the director of the Kingwood Park Teatre Department Abbey (Mcdonald) Fera. Anna Gassett ( Musical Teatre ‘23) joined the ensemble of Chicago at Te Muny. She was also a swing for Seven Brides for Seven Brothers . Kelly Whitlow (Musical Teatre ’25) opened as Bea in Something Rotten at the Franklin Teatre. Kelly was also a participant in the 2021 Jimmy Awards. Jackson Wood (Musical Teatre ’25) received an award for best actor for his performance as Nick Bottom in Something Rotten at the Stephen Sondheim Awards in New Haven, Connecticut. College of Fine Arts and Communication | 19