January & February 2020 College News

| 23 College of Fine Arts and Communication 4 My Name is Asher Lev for the New Jewish Teatre in St. Louis directed by Aaron Sparks 5 Every Brilliant Ting at the Whisenhunt at ZACHTeatre featuring assistant lighting design by Max Wallace 6 Danny Lutman’s series Stranger Among Us on Investigation Discovery 16 | January & February | College News M.F.A. lighting designer Sydney Smith was the lighting designer for Single Black Female by Lisa B. Tompson at Ground Floor Teatre in Austin. B.F.A. Sound Design students George Sanchez and Bailey Nance will be attending region 6 of the Kennedy Center American College Teatre festival for their joint sound design on Te Survivors by Katie Bender. M.F.A. Directing candidate, Aaron Sparks directed Aaron Posner's adaptation of My Name is Asher Lev for the New Jewish Teatre in St. Louis. [4] Te production was described by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch as, "... a spellbinding New Jewish Teatre production. ... My Name is Asher Lev is at once poignant and uplifting." B.F.A. Acting senior Preston Straus completed his second professional run as Christopher in Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time at the Public Teatre of San Antonio. Tis semester, Queer Teater Texas performed at the Hyde Park Teatre as a part of the Austin Frontera Fest. Te students that performed included Kiersten Tomerlin (Psychology) Ricky Lozano (B.F.A. Acting), and Laney Cosme (B.F.A. Teatre Teacher Certifcation). Te show was directed by Tripp Spires (B.F.A. Performance & Production) and Ryan Long (B.F.A. Performance & Production) and produced by Derek Tomas Miller (B.F.A. Acting). Queer Teatre Texas also hosted Queer Camp Out at Easy Tiger Yoga. Te performers included Chris Frost (B.F.A. Performance & Production), Taylor Dominique (B.F.A. Performance and Choreography), Derek Tomas Miller (B.F.A. Acting), Brycen Xavier (B.F.A. Performance & Production), Delan Crawford (B.F.A. Acting), Paul Amrani (B.F.A. Musical Teatre), and Devon Khalsa (B.F.A. Acting). M.F.A. Scenic Designer Gary Tornsberry was the set designer for Single Black Female by Lisa B. Tompson at Ground Floor Teatre in Austin. B.F.A. Technical Production major Max Wallace was an Assistant Lighting Designer for Every Brilliant Ting at the ZACH Whisenhunt Teatre in Austin. [ 5 ] B.F.A. Sound Design student James Winnenberg will be attending region 6 of the Kennedy Center American College theatre festival for his sound design on Te Tempest by William Shakespeare. ALUMNI ACCOLADES Musical Teatre Alumna Logan Floyd will pay Velma Kelly in the upcoming tour of Chicago the Musical . B.F.A. Acting Alumna Jordan Marie Ford’s play A So-Called Qualifed Woman will have its premiere as part of the Valiant Teatre’s First Annual New Works Festival in Chicago. Tommy LeVrier has published three books with Mead Hill Publishing including South Peeveetoe, Texas . LeVrier is also featured in a reality show, One Tousand Dollar Listin g which is currently being sold to Bravo TV. Danny Lutman’s series Stranger Among Us premiered January 27th on Investigation Discovery. [6] His paranormal encore series Te Dead Files Revealed can be seen on the Travel Channel. His indie improv team Roundhouse had a run at Second City through 2020, Lutman also joined the Second City improv team Aeroplane which preforms once or twice a month. Danny’s family friendly improv show, Te Really Awesome Improv Show performs at Te Second City Holiday and has performances every Saturday and Sunday at noon. Mandy Murphy’s short play Luella and Josh was performed as part of Twisted Valentine at Axial Teatre. Her play A to Double D D recently fnished it’s two week run at IRT Teatre. B.F.A. Acting Alumna Jada Owens is among eight students chosen to join the M.F.A. program at the University of California at San Diego. Te program only accepts eight graduate students from a pool of 2000 applicants. Texas State Alumnus Chelcie Ross will have a recurring role on Showtime’s Billions this year. M.F.A. Dramatic Writing Alumna Audrey Webb was named the grand prize winner for her pilot Dead Name in the LGBTQ Screenwriting Competition. Performance and Production Alumnus Riley Wesson starred in Groundfoor Teatre and Deaf Austin Teatre's production of Next to Normal as Gabe. Te show was fully deaf inclusive with a hearing cast and a deaf cast including Sandra Mae Frank, from Deaf West's Broadway production of Spring Awakening . MEASURE FOR MEAURE Faculty member Chuck Ney opened a fresh production of Measure for Measure in the Patti Strickel Harrison Teatre in mid-February. Te show featured work by faculty member Cheri Prough DeVol who did the scenic and lighting design, along with costume design by M.F.A. candidate Alexander Stearns . B.F.A. Technical production major Riley Burk did the sound design. Faculty member Kate Glasheen was the productions voice and text coach. Te cast included: Jeremiah Porter , Aubrey Clyburn , Christopher Tomas Frey , Morgen “Mo” Amalbert , Joey Herrera , Hunter Ginn , Jon Costa , Kaycee Swierc , Jack Durham , Will Wilkerson , Amber Mawande- Spytek , Jackson Cosgrove , Aaliyah Ward , William Rose-Hines , Javaun Ryal Butler , Evan Hays , Quinlan Hanrahan , Wallis Brown , Whit Flowers , and Rachel Arguello . o lege of Fine Arts and Co unication | 17