September 2017 College News

In June, Andrew Heinrich , Audrey Webb , Caitlin Turnage and Jordan Ford were invited to take part in the Kennedy Center Playwriting Intensive in Washington, D.C. Audrey Webb’s play Handcuffed had a production at Mildred’s Umbrella Theatre in Houston. Andrew Heinrich was one of ten MFA playwrights in the country invited to workshop a new play as part of the MFA Playwrights’ Workshop at the Kennedy Center in collaboration with the National New Play Network. Adam Immerwahr, Artistic Director for Theatre J in Washington, DC, directed Andrew’s play Flood with the assistance of Heather Helinsky (dramaturg for the Tony Award-winning Oslo ). Ethan Jones (MFA Lighting Design) was hired as Lighting Designer and Sound Designer for four productions in the Monomoy Theatre Company’s summer season in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Andrew McIntyre (MFA Lighting Design) was Assistant Lighting Designer for Summerstock Austin and Associate Lighting Designer and Projections Designer for The World According to Snoopy at Theatre Under the Stars. Marissa Menezes (MFA Costume Design) was one of two costume interns for La Musica Lirica in Novafeltria, Italy. She worked as both stitcher and wardrobe for five weeks while also having the opportunity to study Italian. Brandon Newton (MFA Scenic Design) was Properties Supervisor for summer productions at the Texas Shakespeare Festival this summer. Ryan Sozzi served as Assistant Costume Designer for Singing in the Rain and Madison Cagle served as Assistant Costume Designer for In the Heights at the Zach Theatre in Austin. Alexander Stearns was the puppet designer on Avenue Q at Humboldt State University. Jasmin Tran opened a multimedia installation at Unit C art space in Austin. Caitlin Turnage’s play, Holes in Human Flesh , was a finalist at the Samuel French Off-Off-Broadway Short Play Festival Contest and received two performances at the Connelly Theatre in New York City in August. Recent alum, Julia Estrada , and senior Musical Theatre major, Anna Uzele , played lead roles. The production was directed by alumni, Madelyn Shaffer . Caitlin’s play, Slack , was also given a reading at Random Acts Theatre. Emily Tyminski worked as a wardrobe supervisor with Theatre Aspen. ALUMNI ACCOLADES Madalyn Bond (2015) was the Wardrobe Supervisor for Wizard of Oz at Zilker Theatre Productions in Austin. Michaela Bolt (BFA Musical Theatre ’17) was cast in Newsies at the Fulton Theatre. Elizabeth Brady (BFA Musical Theatre ’17) was cast in the national tour of Cinderella . Johnny Brantley (BFA Musical Theatre ‘15) toured nationally with The Book of Mormon . Glenn Britton (BFA Musical Theatre ’13) was cast in an HBO movie with Al Pacino that goes into production soon. He also appeared in an Amazon original show, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel . Roberta Colindrez played Rosencrantz in Sam Gold’s production of Hamlet at the Public Theatre this summer. Gaby De La Rosa (BFA Performance and Production) has just begun a 12-month internship at the Actors Theatre of Louisville. Julia Estrada and Michael Burrel (BFA Musical Theatre ’17) got offers from 12 talent agencies in the spring and signed with CGF Talent. Julia was cast in “Chasing the Song,” a new musical workshop with Tony Award winning director Christopher Ashley. Tori Gresham (BFA Musical Theatre ’17) and Sean McGibbon (BFA Musical Theatre ’12) performed in a workshop of a new musical by Brian Crawley and Zoe Sarnak at Playwright Horizons. Tori was also cast in Hairspray , Sister Act , and Aida at the Pagosa Springs Playhouse. Tim Heller and Jessica De Jong (BFA Musical Theatre ‘14) finish up a year-long national tour of Jekyll And Hyde . Noellia Hernandez (BFA Musical Theatre) starred in 16 | September | College News Temple of the Souls , which opened at The Acorn Theatre at Theatre Row in NYC on July 19. The musical was written by the late, award-winning Anita Velez-Mitchell and composed by platinum-winning composers Dean Landon and Anika Paris. Chandler Lovelle (BFA Musical Theatre ’17) performed as Amber in Hairspray and Ariel in The Little Mermaid at the Crane River Theatre. Ben Mayne (BFA Musical Theatre ‘13) finished an Off- Broadway run of the musical, The View from Upstairs , and began rehearsals of a new show at the Good Speed Opera House. Thomas Miller (BFA Musical Theatre ‘16) was in the National Tour of Finding Neverland . Mandy Murphy’s play, From A to Double D , won the Best New Play Award as part of the SheNYC Arts Festival of New Work in New York City. Ryne Nardechia (BFA Musical Theatre ’17) began the national tour of A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder this summer. Jason Ratchford was awarded the prize for Best Screenplay for his script 3 Skulls Detective Agency at the Austin WebFest. Ruby Rojas (2016) was the winner of Santa Fe Opera 2017 Technical Apprentice Award. Ian Saunders (BFA Musical Theatre ’14) was cast in Bullets Over Broadway at the Ogunquit Playhouse. Green Veil Productions is a producing company started by recent alums, Camillo Stone and Samatha Thompson . The company sponsors Writer’s Frontier at Buzz Mill in San Marcos, featuring readings of new plays and films. Adria Swan (BFA Musical Theatre ’17) has a 6-month contract with Holland Cruise lines, Italian tours. Ty Hunter Taylor (BFA Musical Theatre ’17) and Gino Chaviano (BFA Musical Theatre ’15) performed in West Side Story at the Oklahoma Lyric. The Classic Theatre in San Antonio produced Antonio Skarmeta’s Burning Patience in July, starring alumni Marisa Varela . Jordan Visage (2015) is the Assistant Wardrobe Supervisor at the Music Theatre Wichita in Wichita, Kansas. Annie Wallace (BFA Musical Theatre ‘14) made her debut as Jasmine in the first National Tour of Aladdin . Jacourtney Williams (2015) is a Staff Stitcher for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Oregon. Gianna Yanelli (BFA Musical Theatre ‘14) was cast in the Broadway production of Mean Girls and appeared on Law & Order SVU . Grayson Yockey (BFA Musical Theatre ’17) was cast in Beauty and the Beast , Sister Act , The Drowsy Chaperone at the Cumberland County Playhouse. Landon Zwick (BFA Musical Theatre ’15) was cast in the Off-Broadway production of Friends, the Musical Parody . TJ Young has signed with agent Max Grossman at Abrams Artist’s Agency in NYC. TJ graduated with his MFA in Dramatic Writing in May, after being named the Department of Theatre and Dance Outstanding Graduate Student in his second year. His plays include No. 6 (2017 Harold and Mimi Steinberg Award Winner – KCACTF), Ruby’s Baby Blue (2016 John Cable Short Play Regional Selection- KCACTF), Hell is Empty (2017 John Cable Short Play Regional Selection - KCACTF), and Hallmark (TETA Playfest 10-minute Winner). He received the Harold and Mimi Steinberg National Student Playwriting Award and the Ken Ludwig National Scholarship Award for best body of work by a college playwright – both in 2017. #OUTSTANDINGALUMNI College of Fine Arts and Communication | 17