UT Department of Theatre & Dance Presents UTNT (UT New Theatre), 2/16-28

The University of Texas Department of Theatre and Dance at Austin presents UTNT (UT New Theatre), February 16-26 at the Oscar G. Brockett Theatre and Lab Theatre. This annual showcase presents new plays from the M.F.A. Playwriting Program. Tickets for UTNT productions are $10 per performance and may be purchased at the F. Loren Winship Drama Building Box Office beginning 90 minutes prior to curtain.
 
Now its fifth iteration, UTNT brings to stage dynamic works by Gabriel Jason Dean, Holli Gipson, Diana Grisanti, and Tom Horan. Curated by Steven Dietz and Katie Bender, the four stories delve into family secrets, hauntings, legendary outlaws, and the consequences of action and misunderstanding.
 
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), and Kirk Lynn (2011 USA Fellow in Theatre Arts).
 
Steven Dietz explains, “We seek to make tomorrow's plays on our stages today. UTNT (UT New Theatre) demonstrates the Department of Theatre and Dance's ongoing commitment to the creation of new plays for the American stage. Our graduate playwrights - and their collaborative teams – are proud to launch four new plays that feature diverse voices, electric performances and the kind of rich theatrical vision that Austin audiences have come to expect.” 
 
The Oscar G. Brockett Theatre is located in the F. Loren Winship Drama Building (WIN) at the intersection of 23rd Street and San Jacinto. The Lab Theatre is located west of the F. Loren Winship Drama Building. The physical address for the Winship complex is 300 East 23rd Street, Austin, Texas 78712.
 
 
BACHA BAZI (BOY PLAY)
Written and Directed by Gabriel Jason Dean
Oscar G. Brockett Theatre
Feb. 16, 22, 24 & 25 at 8 P.M., and Feb. 19 at 2 p.m.

Gabriel Jason Dean brings a critical lens to American altruism, examining the fine line between serving oneself and serving others in Bacha Bazi (Boy Play). In Dean’s story, a Texan filmmaker encounters bacha bazi (boy play), an ancient Afghan tradition where young boys dance in women's clothing and are sold for sex to the highest bidder. Both fascinated and offended by the practice, the filmmaker meets a young dancer, and his investigative journalism turns personal.
 
THE CHRONICLES OF BAD ASS WOMEN
Written by Holli Gipson / Directed by Daria Davis
Oscar G. Brockett Theatre
Feb. 17, 18 & 23 at 8 p.m., and Feb. 25 & 26 at 2 p.m.

Holli Gipson’s The Chronicles of Bad Ass Women is a collection of outlawed histories retold through the legends of four infamous women: Sally Skull, Etta Place, Bonnie Parker and Janis Joplin. Gipson unearths these women’s legacies, their disappointments, their mistakes and their desires, and, gives voice to the forgotten and reshaping the past.
 
RIVER CITY
Written by Diana Grisanti / Directed by Lydia Nelson and Rudy Ramirez
Lab Theatre
Feb. 16, 22, 24 & 25 at 8 p.m., and Feb. 19 at 2 p.m. & 6 p.m.
 
Diana Grisanti, intrigued by the notion of ghosts and haunted cities, revisits her hometown of Louisville, Kentucky in River City. In the realist tale, Mary, shaken by her father’s death, sets off to uncover three generations’ worth of family secrets buried in the city’s West End. River City charts Mary’s journey, which spans four decades, and investigates race, memory, and the ghosts that haunt one American city.
 
STATIC
Written by Tom Horan / Directed by Courtney Sale
Lab Theatre
Feb. 17, 18 & 23 at 8 p.m., Feb. 25 at 5 p.m., and Feb. 26 at 2 p.m.

In Tom Horan’s Static, Emma finds herself the owner of the Walter and Millie Burke’s house that has sat abandoned for years. She discovers, among the jars of buttons and tubs of forks, a box full of cassette tapes filled with secrets. Horan’s intimate play weaves together the atmosphere and tension of a ghost story with the gripping investigation of memory and compulsion. 
 
For more information, please visit http://www.finearts.utexas.edu/tad/productions/index.cfm.

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