March 2019 College News

1 “Entre Nos,” a series of comedy specials for HBO Latino that is co-produced by Betty Buckley 2 References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot directed by Alejandro Rodriguez 3 A production of Te Wiz at Ford’s Teatre in Washington, DC, with vocal and dialect direction by Teatre alumnus Zach Campion 16 | March | College News THEATRE Acting, Musical Theatre, Per formance and Production, Teacher Certif ication in Theatre, Technical Production, & Theatre FACULTY ACCOLADES Betty Buckley is co-producing “Entre Nos,” a series of comedy specials, taped live at the Empire Teatre in San Antonio on April 19 for HBO Latino. [1] Betty and her business partners have also agreed to a deal with Mattel to develop, write, and produce a Wishbone Holiday TV special. She is also working with former student, Rene Morales , on a flm called Ode to Living . Rene wrote and will direct the flm (as well as appearing in it), while Betty will be one of two Executive Producers. Te two received a $2,500 grant from the City of Austin Cultural Arts Division. Te flm, which will be produced, directed, cast, and crewed from current and former Texas State students, is being created in memory of former student Travis Green , and will screen at Alamo Drafthouse on Slaughter Lane on May 22. Bryan Poyser’s short flm Gopherit will have its world premiere at the Dallas International Film Festival in April, playing in the Late Night Shorts Program. Two of Bryan’s students from his Spring 2018 Beginning Screenwriting class, Joshua Demings and Bailey Mangan , worked on Gopherit as production assistants. Also in April, Bryan will serve on the Narrative Feature Film Jury for the 28th Annual Florida Film Festival. STUDENT ACCOLADES Tom Delbello , M.F.A. directing candidate, was awarded the College of Fine Arts and Communication Outstanding Graduate Award. Katie Henderson (B.F.A., Production & Performance) is playing Claire in Te Wimberley Players’ production of Proof by David Auburn. In the Southeastern Teatre Conference Design Competition, third-year M.F.A. Candidate Stacey Herrison won First Place in Graduate Costume Design and third-year M.F.A. Candidate Miriah Borden won First Place in Graduate Lighting Design. Ethan McSweeny, Artistic Director of the American Shakespeare Center, was a recent guest holding workshops with graduate directors and undergraduate B.F.A. acting seniors. As a result of his on campus auditions, B.F.A. Actor, Michael J. Moody was ofered a position with ASC’s On Tour Company. In February, M.F.A. second-year directing candidate Alejandro Rodriguez directed a production of References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot . BroadwayWorld.com noted that “Rodriguez took the fantastical elements of this show and brought them into reality” and that he “put together a show that cuts right to the heart of the crumbling marriage.” [ 2] M.F.A. Director Allison Price has also been selected for the Opera Orvieto Stage Apprenticeship in Italy where she will stage a short baroque opera by Antonio Caldara entitled Il Giuoco del Quadriglio alongside Metropolitan Opera tenor Dr. Hugo Vera. In addition, she will assist one of northern Italy’s most prominent operatic stage directors, Marco Bellussi, on a production of Così fan Tutte by W. A. Mozart. B.F.A. Technical Production students, Emily Tyminski and Ana Cobos , have both been accepted into the Costume Production and Costume Design M.F.A. programs at the Carnegie Mellon School of Drama. ALUMNI ACCOLADES Trevor Berger (B.F.A., Musical Teatre 2018) starred in Alice Bliss at Weston Playhouse, which won the Weston- Ghostlight New Musical Award. Musical Teatre alumni Michael Burrell (‘16) starred in the workshop of Tim Rice’s new musical From Here to Eternity . A production of Te Wiz at Ford’s Teatre in Washington, DC, with vocal and dialect direction by Zach Campion , has been nominated for 13 Helen Hayes awards. [ 3] He was also dialect coach for the American premiere of Oil by Ella Hickson at Olney Teatre Center. Te production featured Cornish and British English accents for a cast of ten. Te Washington Post review can be found here. Dayanara Garcia performed in I Wander: A Meditation on Art and Mobility , produced by the TILT Performance Group, in collaboration with Amerigroup, at Imagine Art in Austin. TILT Performance Group provides adults with and without disabilities the opportunity to create and perform professional theatre that shatters stereotypes about people with disabilities. Chandler Lovelle (B.F.A., Musical Teatre 2017) went to the Sundance Film Festival with the flm Delivery Girl , starring Katie Krieger. Karina Loyo (B.F.A., 1992) parlayed her theatre degree into an M.B.A. and then a Ph.D. in health education and gerontology. She currently work with a SAAS provider on developing electronic data capture systems for medical and pharmaceutical research. Tomas Miller (B.F.A., Musical Teatre 2016) is playing Crush/Bubbles in Disney’s Finding Nemo: Te Musical at Animal Kingdom in Orlando. Musical theatre alumni Betty Marie Muessig (‘15), Jackson Perrin (‘14) and Spencer Hansen (‘17) performed in Boots to Bodega at the Triad Teatre and at the Duplex Teatre in New York City. Natasha Straley recently moved back to Texas from New York to work on her frst feature flm, Sidestep (featuring Texas State alum, Forest VanDyke ). She received a Local Filmmaker Grant from the San Antonio Film Commission to create the proof-of-concept short flm of the same name. In May 2018, she was featured in the San Antonio Woman Magazine . Natasha was awarded Filmmaker of the Year at Austin Revolution Film Festival this year, granting her mentorship with the distribution company, Imagination Worldwide. Te world premiere of her short flm, Joan’s Song , will be held at ME Fest in Georgia this April. Together with Texas State Alum, Phoebe Torres (writer/star), Natasha (director) worked on the award-winning comedy, Caulifower , which has been going nonstop to festivals and was featured on Funny or Die. You can visit her website www.straleystudios.com. DEPARTMEMT ACCOLADES Te world premiere of Dylan Spencer’s Cat Obedience School , a new musical, written and composed by Musical Teater senior Daniel Miller (‘19) played to sold-out houses in the PSH Studio Teatre. Te production was directed College of Fine Arts and Communication | 17