September 2020 College News

THEATRE Acting, Musical Theatre, Per formance and Production, Teacher Certif ication in Theatre, Technical Production, & Theatre FACULTY ACCOLADES Deb Alley’s production of Twelfth Night and Chuck Ney’s production of Measure for Measur e were featured in online offerings from the Texas Shakespeare festival. Ana Baer will begin working towards a Ph.D. in Performance Arts at Campinas University, Brazil this fall. Linda Nenno Breining curated and performed in the new play, Life Among the Barbarians , by Joy Cunningham, a virtual quarantine exploration of our lives in the time of Covid on May 28th. Betty Buckley was the casting director on the film Horton Foote: The Road to Home . The documentary chronicles the life and last years of Academy award- winning screenwriter and playwright Horton Foote, featuring Texas State Actors and alumni including Sidney Rushing , Ethan Santos , Andrew Heinrich and more. Michelle Dahlenberg recently received the College Achievement Award in Teaching. Kevin Gates and several alumni participated in live- streamed productions with the EmilyAnn Theatre during quarantine. Kate Glasheen remotely conducted a series of eight dialect workshops ranging from Dialect Fundamentals to New York City to Advanced British RP, through The Public Theater of San Antonio. She was also awarded a VASTA Service Award from the Voice and Speech Trainers' Association in recognition of her ten years of service as reviews editor for the organization's scholarly journal, The Voice and Speech Review , published by Routledge. Yesenia Herrington was in The Madres by Stephanie Alison Walker. [ 1 ] The playwright earned The American Theatre Critics Association 2019 Francesca Primus Prize. Mary Alice Carnes and Yesenia Herrington in The Madres (Photo by Errich Petersen) Kerry Washington, Steven Pasquale and Eugene Lee in American Son (Photo by Peter Cunningham) Dr. Ana Martínez's book Performance in the Zócalo: Constructing History, Race, and Identity in Mexico's Central Square from the Colonial Era to the Present 14 | September | College News 1 2 3 Kaitlin Hopkins has been asked to be an external examiner/advisor for a B.A. in Musical Theatre at Sharjah Performing Arts Academy in Dubai. Lauren Lane was cast in Jenny Collin Davis' new play, I Want to be a Fucking Princess , directed by M.F.A. alumni Liz Fisher . This virtual production is part of Hyde Park Theatre's New Playwright Series. Eugene Lee appeared as Sergeant Stokes in American Son . [ 2 ] The Netflix production garnered an Emmy nomination for best Television Movie. Lee’s play, Lyin’ Ass , has been selected as part of the New American Voices Reading Series at Queens Theatre in NYC. The play debuted Thursday, June 30. In other great news, Eugene has been asked to serve on Joe Biden’s Arts Policy Committee. The Committee is chaired by Alfre Woodard and will advise on critical policy issues. Eugene will serve as State Arts Director for “Arts for Biden” in Texas. This summer, ZACHTheatre’s production of Ann recorded live in 2016 with lighting design by Sarah EC Maines aired nationally on PBS. Dr. Ana Martínez was selected as co-chair of the programming committee for the Texas Association of Chicanos in Higher Education 2021 conference. Her book Performance in the Zócalo: Constructing History, Race, and Identity in Mexico's Central Square from the Colonial Era to the Presen t featured in the National Center for Institutional Diversity, Diversity Scholars Network's news. [ 3] She also received a University Lecturer Award to bring Cristiana Giordano and Greg Pierotti to Texas State to do their signature lecture and workshop on Affect Theatre. Dr. Martínez was awarded a Research Library Grant from Alkek Library to purchase materials by Latin American dramatists to develop a historiographical study of women in Mexican theatre. The Texas State Faculty received three University Lecturer awards. Ana Martinez to bring in Cristiana Girodano and Greg Pierotti , Jim Price , Natalie Blackman , and Betty Buckley to bring in Aaron Fisher , and Natalie Blackman and Ana Baer to bring in Cuerpo Academico. Anne McMeeking’s production Tortoise and the Hare was featured in ZACHTheatre’s streaming offerings. Nadine Mozon traveled to Sydney, Australia (pre quarantine) where she was the featured guest artist writer In September the Department of Theatre and Dance hosted an amazing virtual Black and Latino Playwrights Celebration which highlighted two new plays: Stoop Pigeons by Christin Eve Cato and Greenwood: An American Dream Destroyed by Celeste Bedford Walker. The casts included students: Marcus Brooks , Jonaee Davais , Yasha Alaniz , Ellena Martinez , Ava Dominichelli , Jordan Gregson , Jasimine Shands , Rachel Arguello , Brenda Denmark , Don Kennedy , Anaye Reed , Elzabeth Belfast , Mariah Epps , Vivian Noble , Hailey Thomas , Aliyah Ward , E. Roger Mitchell , Jasmine Richards , Zephaniah Wages , Carl Brooks , Jack Kelley , Javaun Butler , Sierra Salazar , Amber Gipson , and Nalliyah Jenkins . A tribute was held to honor Gus Edwards the Friday before the two play readings. (Photo from the 2019 BLPC) BLACK LATINO PLAYWRIGHTS College of Fine Arts and Communication | 15