UTNT to Feature New Works at Oscar G. Brockett Theatre, 4/14-24

The University of Texas Department of Theatre and Dance at Austin presents UTNT (UT New Theatre), April 14-24, 2016 at the Oscar G. Brockett Theatre. Established in 2007 by nationally renowned playwright Steven Dietz, UTNT (UT New Theatre) is an annual showcase of newly developed works for the American stage from playwrights of the Department of Theatre and Dance's master of fine arts program and Michener Center for Writers. Now in its ninth year, UTNT brings to the stage compelling works by Lydia Blaisdell, Joanna Garner, Gia Marotta and Tegan McLeod.

"At the heart of UTNT (UT New Theatre), is a simple notion: the present moment has not been written. While architecture has been called 'frozen music,' the new play seeks not so much to capture the here and now as to explore/explode it. What we call the 'theatre' is, in fact, the lingering, lasting legacy of previous 'present moments' rendered in language and motion, ephemeral as the air," shares Steven Dietz, University of Texas at Austin professor and UTNT curator. "We are eager to preview these plays for you, our Austin community, before they move on to other cities and stages."

The university's Department of Theatre and Dance and Michener Center for Writers have been heralded nationally as incubators for new work (American Theatre). Notable alumni of these programs include Lisa D'Amour (2011 Pulitzer Prize Finalist, Detroit), Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig (2011 Wasserstein Award Recipient), George Brant (2008 Keene Prize for Literature, Elephant's Graveyard), Kimber Lee (2013-2014 Lark Fellow), and Kirk Lynn (2011 USA Fellow in Theatre Arts).

The 2016 UTNT (UT New Theatre) plays, curated by Steven Dietz and Hannah Wolf, include:

The Silent Woman

By Lydia Blaisdell

Directed by KJ Sanchez

April 16, 21 at 7:30 p.m. and April 24 at 2:00 p.m.

The strange, true tale of a painter living with an effigy of his ex-lover in 1919 Europe. Because the doll cannot dress herself, the painter enlists a young maid to help him, resulting in an intricate, erotic game of pretend. The Silent Woman is the winner of the 2015 Kentucky Women's Playwriting Prize.

Lydia Blaisdell is a fellow at The University of Texas at Austin Michener Center for Writers. The final piece in her trilogy, Bear Eats Bear, will receive a May workshop in Austin. Apocalypse Radio was previously workshopped at The Cohen New Works Festival (2015) and will be produced by Theater Ninjas in Cleveland, Ohio in 2016. In spring 2014 her one-act play, Old Broads, was performed at the Off Shoot (Austin, Texas). Blaisdell has been a member playwright of Youngblood at Ensemble Studio Theater since 2010 and the Brooklyn-based writers' collective, Kristiania.

The Orange Garden

By Joanna Garner

Directed by Alexandra Bassiakou Shaw

April 15, 20 at 7:30 p.m. and April 23 at 2:00 p.m.

A young American Peace Corps volunteer is sent to Iran in 1972 where he is swept up in the growing fire of the revolution. A story about the complicated ways we fall in love with people and places, The Orange Garden draws influences from Rumi, 1960s rock and folk music, whirling dervishes and the lyricism of the Persian language.

Joanna Garner's work has been developed nationally and internationally, including productions at the Banff Centre Playwrights Colony, Seattle Repertory Theatre, On the Boards, Tofte Lake Center, the NEWvember New Play Festival, groundswell playwrights conference and the New York and Hollywood fringe festivals. Garner's original country musical, 100 Heartbreaks, was workshopped in Seattle Repertory Theatre's New Play Program, the Northwest Playwrights Alliance and presented at the country's largest arts and culture festival, Bumbershoot, before premiering in Austin last year.

381 Bleecker
By Gia Marotta
Directed by Jess Hutchinson

April 14, 23 at 7:30 p.m. and April 17 at 2:00 p.m.

Ellen and Meg have kept their distance since their brother Henry's death 25 years ago. When circumstances force Meg to live with Ellen and her son David for a month, the sisters are asked to reckon with the loss that drove them apart. 381 Bleecker is a rich and theatrical story about grief, memory and the harrowing work of forgiveness.

Gia Marotta's plays have been seen at Dixon Place, the Midtown International Theatre Festival, Six Figures' Artists of Tomorrow Festival, Ensemble Studio Theatre's Octoberfest, The New York International Fringe Festival, Centre x Centre and The Cohen New Works Festival, among others. Marotta has created devised work with youth in St. Louis, Senegal and Kigali, Rwanda where she co-founded and directed an interdisciplinary arts program for the community-based HIV initiative, WE-ACTx. She holds a bachelor of arts in theatre studies from Yale University.

Girls in Cars Underwater

By Tegan McLeod

Directed by Cara Phipps

April 16 at 2:00 p.m. and April 22, 24 at 7:30 p.m.

When newbie Dusty is hired at the most difficult bar in the city, she forms an unexpected bond with one of the old-timers. But allegiances beyond the bar start to threaten Dusty's new-found security - and in one terrifying night, everything changes. Girls in Cars Underwater is an unflinching exploration of love and loss and the power of both to ruin and remake our lives.

Tegan McLeod moved to the United Kingdom when she was six where she later studied English and literature at Oxford University. She is currently a fellow at The University of Texas at Austin Michener Center for Writers. She recently workshopped her play Girls in Cars Underwater at Center Stage in Baltimore and is currently completing her sixth full-length play Lover Think Lover.

For more information on UTNT (UT New Theatre), please visit http://texasperformingarts.org/event/utnt-ut-new-theatre-2016-ut-austin-theatre-dance.

To post a comment, you must register and login.