TPA 1920 Program 2: Triptych / Percussion Collective / Sean Dorsey Dance

Page 1

2019–20 ESSENTIAL SERIES

TEXAS PERFORMING ARTS

Triptych (Eyes of One on Another) SEP 20 | BASS CONCERT HALL

The Percussion Collective SEP 24 | MCCULLOUGH THEATRE

Sean Dorsey Dance BOYS IN TROUBLE SEP 27 | MCCULLOUGH THEATRE



in this issue

14

Triptych [Eyes of One on Another] “Witty and wicked […] Dessner is at his best…” —The New York TImes

5 The Essential Series 12 Student Spotlight 46 Scenic 53 54

Transformation Student Tickets Word Search

6

John Cameron Mitchell Rocks Boston A review of The Origin of Love: The Songs & Stories of Hedwig

8 Production Photo by Maria Baranova © Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation. Used with permission.

I Use A Wheelchair and I’m Still Happily Dancing AXIS Dance Artistic Director Marc Brew shares his perspective as a dancer and choreographer with this unique dance company. texasperformingarts.org

24

The Percussion Collective

“In his [Robert van Sice] hands, the marimba becomes a voice with richness of sound and expression that one would never expect from a percussion instrument.” —Journal de Geneve

30

BOYS IN TROUBLE “A visually stunning, emotionally rich, and profoundly timely examination of masculinity and gender by one of the nation’s most visionary choreographers.” —San Francisco Bay Times

3


Welcome to Texas Performing Arts! We’re so glad you’re here! We are proud to present Austin’s most diverse and prestigious live performance experience. In addition to hosting our Essential Series, Texas Performing Arts is home to concerts, comedy shows, and Broadway In Austin. Every year, we are proud to work with artists from all over the world to share the performing arts experience with guests of all ages and all backgrounds. Please speak to the nearest usher or visit Guest Services should you need assistance. Thank you for joining us for this performance. Have a wonderful evening!

4

texasperformingarts.org


2019-20 ESSENTIAL SERIES SEASON

The Essential Series celebrates the power of the performing arts!

MOMIX Viva Momix | APR 3; Photo by Aqua Flora

Texas Performing Arts continues a long tradition of presenting world-class performances to The University of Texas at Austin and the Central Texas community with our Essential Series season. We invite you to experience an eclectic season of dance, music, theatre, and film.

The Essential Series

Enjoy great seats and the best ticket prices for each performance with an Essential Series subscription!

Full Price Single Tickets: $40

Visit texasperformingarts.org to subscribe.

Subscribe & Save 3-Show Subscription

30/

$

per

ESSENTIAL SERIES TICKET

texasperformingarts.org

4-Show Subscription

27/

$

per

ESSENTIAL SERIES TICKET

5-Show Subscription

$

25/

per

ESSENTIAL SERIES TICKET

5


2019–20 Essential Series Artist: John Cameron Mitchell

Review:

John Cameron Mitchell Rocks Boston Charlotte Robinson Outtake Blog, March 3, 2019 Photo by Michael Muser

J

ohn Cameron Mitchell brought his Origin Of Love Tour to the Boch Center Shubert Theatre in Boston on March 2nd and the audience went wild as the Tony Award-winning, Golden Globe-nominated co-creator of Hedwig & the Angry Inch threw himself into a mosh pit of adoring fans. For two hours, Mitchell presented this must-see concert with his rock trio from the Broadway show and the spectacular cabaret singer Amber Martin. Among the 31 songs performed were Hedwig originals and songs from his upcoming musical podcast

Anthem starring himself, Glenn Close, Patti Lupone, Cynthia Erivo, Denis O'Hare, Laurie Anderson and Marion Cotillard. When asked about Hedwig becoming a queer icon, Mitchell stated, “For a character with such an usual story, I am really gratified that Hedwig resonates for different reasons with people. Our audience isn’t just queer, it’s not just musical people, it really runs the gamut of age, race, sexuality, gender. I love the audience that we’ve built person-by-person. My work doesn’t really fit into a genre.”

Texas Performing Arts presents John Cameron Mitchell The Origin of Love: The Songs and Stories of Hedwig as part of the 2019–20 Essential Series Feb 7, 2020 | Bass Concert Hall texasperformingarts.org 6

texasperformingarts.org



2019–20 Essential Series Artist: AXIS Dance Company

I use a wheelchair and I’m still happily dancing Marc Brew, AXIS Dance Artistic Director Miami Herald, Sept 2018

Photo by David DeSilva

Although I use a wheelchair, dance is an essential part of who I am. I communicate and express myself through movement to tell stories about being human, about who we are.

I have always felt a need to dance and create work for dancers and that need has taken me all over the world. Yes, it’s a unique dance company of disabled and non-disabled dancers, but it’s an example that disabled people have unique stories to tell and a different perspective on the world because they have lived experiences and challenges. This influences our creative process, the how and why we make our work. It’s honest, it’s real, it’s diverse, it’s not pretending, and people relate to the work on a human level. Having grown up in Jerilderie, a small country town in New South Wales, Australia with a population of 900 people, there were limited opportunities for the only boy in the village who wanted to dance. My supportive single parent mother put me into dance class, but I was teased and bullied by a majority of the village kids and adults as I was different, and wasn’t

8

texasperformingarts.org


interested in playing sports like football and cricket. Leaving home at age 11 to go to boarding school I first studied as a professional dancer with the Victorian College of the Arts Secondary School, and the Australian Ballet School and performing with The Australian Ballet in Melbourne and the State Theatre Ballet Company of South Africa. But then my life and the direction of my career changed and deepened in a sudden turn of events — a car accident left me with a serious spinal cord injury. I was told that I would never walk again and was paralyzed from the chest down. Giving up was not for me. I pushed myself through extensive rehabilitation, having been used to injury as a dancer, taking this on as a challenge. My changed circumstances forced me to develop a new philosophy and aesthetics for dance. Although I couldn’t walk, stand, leap, or even point my feet anymore, I still felt I was a dancer. Although my body had changed, the dancer was still within me. It was then when I realized I had to alter my own perception of what a dancer was, and what it meant for me to dance. I could still express myself though movement, share my artistry through dance, I just had to find other ways to explore my physicality and what I could do. I started to look at finding solutions, rather than focus on the problems, and to use the idea of restriction to create new and interesting possibilities for movement. This included how I could move with my changed form, how I used my wheelchair, and also getting out of the chair on the floor, or being partnered and dancing with others. My career has amazingly texasperformingarts.org

flourished in a new direction since the accident. I spent time in New York studying with Kitty Lunn and dancing with her company Infinity Dance Theater and I was invited to join the London-based Candoco Dance Company, one of the world’s top contemporary companies that includes disabled and non-disabled dancers. After six years with Candoco, I dedicated time to my own choreography with Marc Brew Company and working with numerous ballet and contemporary dance companies around the world. Since then, I have become the artistic director in AXIS Dance Company in Oakland, California, a leader in physically integrated dance in the U.S. People with disabilities are

“Disabled people have unique stories to tell because they have lived experiences and challenges.” often shunted aside by the societies in which we live — ignored, discriminated against, or barely tolerated. Today though many of us have forged new movements, new ways of living, finding in our commonalities and our differences a strength that begins to change the world. That has been my experience, and in my work as a dancer and a choreographer, I have tried to express the best of who I am, of who we are, and find the beauty in the challenges we face.

Texas Performing Arts presents AXIS Dance Company as part of the 2019–20 Essential Series Feb 15, 2020 | Bass Concert Hall texasperformingarts.org

9


Ragmala Dance Company Lecture & Demonstration

Photo by Lawrence Peart

Texas Performing Arts in the Community

Each season, Texas Performing Arts offers free community events to connect UT faculty, students of all ages, touring artists, and the greater Central Texas community with our performances. Some of these events include: • Artist-led master classes • Pre and post-performance talks • Lunch-time chats with touring artists • Daytime performances for youth grades 6-12 Join us for these fun events!

Visit texasperformingarts.org/getinvolved for more information. 10

texasperformingarts.org



Student Spotlight At Texas Performing Arts, we are able to professionally involve students in every aspect of our organization. Having the opportunity to show, connect, and inspire our students to be the next generation of arts leaders is one of the most important things we do.

W

PROFILE NAME YEAR JOB MAJOR CONCENTRATION

Julio Muñoz Class of 2021 Scene Shop Assistant/ Receptionist/ Student Engagement Events Manager Theatre and Dance Stage Management

e met with Julio Muñoz to chat about the stage, the performing arts, and his time as a valued student employee. THEATRE AND DANCE SEEMS LIKE SUCH A DYNAMIC MAJOR, WHAT DO YOU FIND MAKES YOUR PROGRAM SPECIAL?

My degree program provides real-world experience in stage management as plenty of shows in the Department of Theatre and Dance require a stage manager. Additionally, people outside of the department ask for stage managers which gives us opportunities to meet massive amounts of people all around the area. 12

BEING A STAGE MANAGER SOUNDS PRETTY INTENSE. WHAT IS THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE YOU FACE ON THE JOB?

The biggest challenge stage managers face behind the scenes, based on my previous experience, is the uncertainty of what might happen on the stage with the performers. Stage managers have control of calling the cues for lighting, sound, scenery change, projections—but we're usually uncertain about the performers. The possibility of them

texasperformingarts.org


forgetting a line, skipping a whole section of the script, skipping a section of a dance that would serve as a visual or audio cue for a stage manager can be heart-stopping. Nevertheless, it is the responsibility as a stage manager to think quickly on their feet and find a solution for whatever may happen.

IT SEEMS THAT YOU ARE VERY INVOLVED WITH THE ARTS. WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO BECOME SO INVOLVED WITH THE PERFORMING ARTS COMMUNITY?

I'm inspired by the live productions and by listening to the crowd react after spending so much time bringing the production to life.

YOU’RE ALSO A SCENE SHOP ASSISTANT HERE AT TPA. ANY FAVORITE PROJECTS YOU’VE WORKED ON?

My favorite show that I have worked on is an opera called Eugene Onegin. The scenic designer had an outstanding vision for the set, which called for the floor and walls to look like wood with pieces of paper attached almost everywhere. In the center of the stage, there was a giant spiral with papers hanging off of it, which would spin during parts of the opera. I enjoyed every step of creating the set with the shop team.

TEXAS INNER CIRCLE Take your Texas Performing Arts experience to the next level by becoming a member of the Texas Inner Circle. Your membership supports our educational programs, the student employment program, and $10 tickets to students throughout Central Texas. Memberships start at just $150 for the year and include: • Free Parking • Behind-the-Scenes Tours • Access to our members-only Texas Inner Circle Lounge with pre-ordered drink service and express elevator To Join Call 512.232.8567 or visit texasperformingarts.org

“My experience at TPA gives me the opportunity to be involved in a dynamic business that constantly has something new to offer. I’m always learning.” —Julio Muñoz texasperformingarts.org

13


Sep 20, 2019

Bass Concert Hall

Triptych (Eyes of One on Another)

Presented in partnership with the Oscar G. Brockett Center for Theatre History and Criticism at The Department of Theatre and Dance and KUTX’s Eklektikos with John Aielli. This performance is made possible by a generous grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Triptych will contain a frank discussion of sexuality, queer identity, and race, and may include photographs taken by Robert Mapplethorpe depicting sexuality, sexual acts, nudity, flowers, and classical portraiture. Production Photos by Maria Baranova Š Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation. Used with permission. Thomas O. Kriegsmann, President J.J. El-Far, Managing Producer P.O. Box 180241 Brooklyn, NY 11218 / arktype.org

14 texasperformingarts.org


Produced by ArKtype / Thomas O. Kriegsmann in Cooperation with The Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation Composed by Bryce Dessner Libretto by korde arrington tuttle Featuring words by Essex Hemphill & Patti Smith Directed by Kaneza Schaal Featuring Roomful of Teeth with Alicia Hall Moran and Isaiah Robinson Associate Director/Touring Jennifer H. Newman Associate Director/Development Lilleth Glimcher Music Direction & Conducting by Brad Wells Contributing Choreographer & Performer Martell Ruffin Set & Costume Design by Carlos Soto Lighting Design by Yuki Nakase Video by Simon Harding Sound Design by Dylan Goodhue / nomadsound.net Production Management William Knapp Dramaturgy by Talvin Wilks & Christopher Myers

Managing Producer, ArKtype J.J. El-Far Associate Music Director William Brittelle Lighting Supervisor Kathrine R. Mitchell Associate Video Designer Moe Shahrooz Production Stage Manager Megan Schwarz Dickert Technical Director Aren Carpenter Company Manager Iyvon Edebiri Session Copyist & Score Manager Dominic Mekky Consulting producer Gill Graham Public relations Carla Parisi / Kid Logic Media ROOMFUL OF TEETH EstelĂ­ Gomez, Martha Cluver, Eliza Bagg, Virginia Kelsey, Thomas McCargar, Thann Scoggin, Cameron Beauchamp, Eric Dudley Clarinet: Patrick Dolan Horn: Joel Ockerman Guitar: Brent Baldwin Violin: Chris Whitley Viola: Hailey Walterman Cello: Matt Armbruster Piano: Austin Haller Percussion: Thomas Burritt & Cory Fica

15


PROGRAM Music by Bryce Dessner is used with permission of Chester Music Ltd.

“The Perfect Moment, For Robert Mapplethorpe” by Essex Hemphill, 1988. Courtesy of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, reprinted by permission of The Frances Goldin Literary Agency. “American Wedding” by Essex Hemphill, from Ceremonies, Cleis Press, 1992, reprinted by permission of The Frances Goldin Literary Agency. “The Boy Who Loved Michelangelo,” by Patti Smith, from The Coral Sea, 2012. “Untitled,” by Patti Smith, June 1988, from The Perfect Moment Exhibition Catalogue

“The work of the eyes is done. go now and do the heart-work on the images imprisoned within you.” Rainer Maria Rilke “When i work, and in my art, i hold hands with god.” Robert Mapplethorpe “We liked each other and understood passion and good form as a constant source of gratification.” Ntokaze Shange (on Robert Mapplethorpe) “When race and ethnicity become commodified as resources for pleasure, the culture of specific groups, as well as the bodies of individuals, can be seen as constituting an alternative playground where members of dominating races, genders, sexual practices affirm their power-over in intimate relations with the other.” Bell Hooks “The texture of black skin excites me photographically, maybe as well as other ways…there is a reason that bronzes are bronze.” Robert Mapplethorpe “Holy mary, mother of god, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death.” Hail Mary “I am obsessed with beauty. I want everything to be perfect, and of course it isn’t. And that’s a tough place to because you’re never satisfied.” Robert Mapplethorpe

16 texasperformingarts.org


PROGRAM NOTE BY CHRISTOPHER MYERS There is a stream of thinking in the West that associates “the beautiful” with, as Kant calls it, a “disinterested pleasure.” “Interested” pleasures like pornography and propaganda were contrasted with more noble pursuits, for example, the nude or classical dramas. This disinterest lays the foundations for high modernism, its formalisms, its universalist fallacies, the abstractions that purport to be thin as the canvases they are painted on, the movement vocabularies that pretend to come from the deepest recesses of the human soul, the radical borrowings that see all forms as somehow “neutral.” Though several generations of artists and thinkers have made clear that there is no such thing as “disinterested pleasure,” for a certain era of makers who lived on the cusp of the transition from high modernism to the hydra of forms that have followed, they discovered in the double-speak of modernist ‘universalities’ a certain liberation. Robert Mapplethorpe was one such artist who photographed bodies, practices, and selves that were considered abject or taboo at the time but was able to do so with the assurance that his interest in these forms was “disinterested.” He said, about the work he showed in his 1986 solo exhibition “Black Males,” “I’m photographing them as form, in the same way I’m reading the flowers.” Mapplethorpe’s work, its beauty and its controversies, its legal challenges, most notably the obscenity trial in Cincinnati surrounding the

texasperformingarts.org

exhibit, “The Perfect Moment,” all spun on the question of this “disinterested” beauty. Were these photographs pornography or were they nudes? But what are we to make of the work in our current moment of understanding, that there are no disinterested pleasures, that the white marble figures that Mapplethorpe referenced so cleanly in his photographs were originally splashed with vibrant color, that the valorization of Greco-Roman bronzes or nearly grain-less black and white photography is as culturally specific as saying that the only real music was written by Beethoven. Artists like Glenn Ligon, Rotimi Fani-Kayode, and less directly, Catherine Opie, have addressed some of the complications of Mapplethorpe’s oeuvre. Essex Hemphill, Mapplethorpe’s contemporary, who along with Marlon Riggs delineated a set of African American gay sensibilities provides an alternative way of viewing some of the same bodies Mapplethorpe depicts, and forms one cornerstone of the present oratorio, Triptych (Eyes of One on Another). But still the question lingers: How do we as contemporary viewers acknowledge and embrace all of the ways, all of the vantage points, from which we can see this work? In Triptych (Eyes of One on Another), Bryce Dessner and Korde Arrington Tuttle, in collaboration with Kaneza Schaal, Roomful of Teeth, producer ArKtype, and with texts from Essex Hemphill, Patti Smith, and the Cincinnati obscenity trial, rethink Mapplethorpe’s work

17


as not only an intersection of the photographer’s interests and multiple positionalities, but also to imagine the work itself as a locus around which various communities find themselves both included and alienated by the work itself, often at the same time. The work and its collaborators, who bring to bear performance languages as diverse as Tuvan throat singing techniques, pop, folk, film, and experimental music, 80’s downtown performance, Ailey and classical ballet, inhabit the space between the photographic work and its audiences. Much like the fable of The Blind Men and the Elephant, they cobble together a landscape of viewerships. The artists ask questions of the work and of themselves within the work. Is it possible to imagine these men who are photographed with the impersonal intimacy of flowers, or bronze sculptures, as full human beings, with desires and pleasures of their own? Can we read the desire of the photographer, his conflicts and self-denials, in his steadfast commitment to a classical language that recasts leather daddies and daddy’s boys into upper-middle class living room fantasies? Where in this thorny bramble of gazes, objectification, outrage and intimacy do our own wants and expectations as an audience live? When Martell Ruffin, the classically trained dancer who functions as a kind of ghost of both Mapplethorpe’s subjects and invisible audiences, enters he literalizes the sense of multiple viewerships and makes us aware that as we take in this work and Mapplethorpe’s work there are and will be other

eyes, other ways of engaging with these bodies, these sounds, these hearts. Beauty is never “disinterested;” it is made of a thousand overlapping interests and wants and cares. -Christopher Myers

A NOTE FROM TEXAS PERFORMING ARTS Tonight’s presentation is part of TPA’s The Power of Protest: Arts and Civil Disobedience project. The Power of Protest explores how work in the performing and visual arts has the ability to become, in and of itself, an act of civil disobedience with capacity to drive social and political change. The topic is motivated by the increasingly contentious climate in the United States, as demonstrated by worldwide protests for women’s rights, LGBTQ rights, immigration reform, healthcare reform, environmental protection, the guarantee of racial equality, and the current national controversy regarding the continued display or removal of monuments honoring Confederate generals across the country. The broad exploration of protest and civil disobedience also allows for the inclusion of concepts like identity, voice, agency and reflection. The Power of Protest is made possible by a generous grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

18 texasperformingarts.org


THE PERFECT MOMENT for Robert Mapplethorpe Aesthetics can justify desire, but desire in turn can provoke punishment. Under public scrutiny the eyes of one man are focused on another. Is it desire, equality, disgust, or hatred? Is the quality of loneliness present or overlooked? Is it diminished by the breaking of taboos? Is the passion mutual or is one wary of the other? Does fear haunt the edges of the photographs? Does it blaze inside the cornea or lurk like men in shadows posed for the perfect moment to snap or strike or sigh? Essex Hemphill, 1988

It is the Artist’s desire to permeate existence He does so by the power of his own presence And by will alone he breathes a work into art. As pumping air into a balloon, that when let go, permeates the sky. He sees perfection in a leaf or another man’s psyche. He is a city of veins and lead; building and rebuilding the same chapel, the same marble stairway. As one walks these stairs and looks around one notes a gallery of light wars. That is all. A ship dissolving into an atmosphere, into sea. And when night falls — the light as well. And all disappears into walls. No more luminous than a moon. Composed of love and will alone. And the artist does indeed love. In love with his own process. It reaffirms his mastery, his mystery. A testament of his own life force and also his gift to humanity. Certain gifts are chosen and arranged in retrospect. The Artist machetes a clearance. Here one can be spared the pain and the extravagance of the entire body and be transported by snaking through a glittering fraction. His gifts, his children, traveled beyond the eye and hand that spun them into existence. A lifetime of work letting go of one who has weathered innocence. Pressed laurels upon intelligence All with the generosity of a transforming smile. Patti Smith, 1988

texasperformingarts.org

19


AMERICAN WEDDING In america, I place my ring on your cock where it belongs. No horsemen bearing terror, no soldiers of doom will swoop in and sweep us apart. They’re too busy looting the land to watch us. They don’t know we need each other critically. They expect us to call in sick, watch television all night, die by our own hands. They don’t know we are becoming powerful. Every time we kiss we confirm the new world coming. What the rose whispers before blooming I vow to you. I give you my heart, a safe house. I give you promises other than milk, honey, liberty. I assume you will always be a free man with a dream. In america, place your ring on my cock where it belongs. Long may we live to free this dream. Essex Hemphill, 1992

20 texasperformingarts.org


CELEBRATE TEXAS

Photo by TK

PURCHASE TICKETS FOR ALL TEXAS ATHLETICS EVENTS

BUY NOW AT TEXASSPORTS.COM/TICKETS OR 512-471-3333 texasperformingarts.org

21


COMMISSIONER CREDITS Triptych was co-commissioned by Texas Performing Arts, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX. Produced in Residency with and Commissioned by University Musical Society, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI. Co-produced by Los Angeles Philharmonic, Gustavo Dudamel Music and Artistic Director. Triptych was co-commissioned by Luminato Festival, Toronto, Canada; BAM, Brooklyn, NY; Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center as part of the Nostos Festival, Athens, Greece; Cincinnati Opera, Cincinnati, OH; Stanford Live, Stanford University, Stanford, CA; Adelaide Festival, Australia; John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts for performance as part of DIRECT CURRENT 2019; ArtsEmerson: World on Stage, Emerson College, Boston, MA; Cal Performances, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA; Holland Festival, Amsterdam; Wexner Center for the Arts, Ohio State University,

Columbus, OH; the Momentary, Bentonville, AR, Celebrity Series, Boston, MA; and developed in residency with MASS MoCA, North Adams, MA. Our deepest thanks to Joree Adilman and the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation for their care and support in bringing this work to life. Very special thanks to the commissioning partners who made this project possible, Cynthia Patterson, and the TPA Team, Joseph V. Melillo, Michael Kondziolka, Josephine Ridge, Gill Graham, James Rushton, Rob Bailis, Mary Hickson, Daniel Fish, Ashley Tata, Jim Findlay, Robert O’Hara, David Lang, Ashton Muùiz, Shanta Thake, Rachel Chanoff, Sue Killam, Curt Leclair, Jesse Ontiveros, Sunny Cyr, Victoria Nassif, Trevor Litsey, Daniel Alexander Jones, Jeff Miller & Williams College, Beth Given, Ted Pallas, Ryan Gohsman, Heather Englander, Val Migoulia, Mily Paschali, Ad Van der Koog, Jeremy Geffen, Robin Pomerance, Nat Trottman and The Guggenheim.

22 texasperformingarts.org


texasperformingarts.org

23


Sep 24, 2019

McCullough Theatre

The Percussion Collective

Photos by Matthew Corona Goldstein

24 texasperformingarts.org

Photo by TK

Presented in partnership with the Percussion Studies at the Butler School of Music and KMFA-FM


Photo by TK

Michael Compitello Jeff Stern Jonny Allen Ji Su Jung Ian Rosenbaum Terry Sweeney

texasperformingarts.org

25


Program Seaborne

Garth Neustadter Kjell van Sice (1986)

Intermission Sextet

Steve Reich (1936)

The Percussion Collective is represented by Kanzen Arts kanzenarts.com

ABOUT THE PROGRAM Seaborne Garth Neustadter & Kjell van Sice This thirty-minute work for six percussionists and video projection is at the nexus of the percussive art soundscape and the visual celebration of our endangered oceans. Just as rhythm and the percussive voice are the heartbeat of music, our precious oceans are the lifeblood of the planet and thus our very existence. Seaborne awakens sensibilities in the listener / viewer to both the importance and beauty that our oceans possess. For this project, the Collective’s Artistic Director Robert van Sice brought together two extraordinary young talents: Emmy Award-winning composer Garth Neustadter and water lensman Kjell van Sice. Neustadter’s mastery of cinematic composition and Kjell van Sice’s poetic aquatic images produce a powerful collaboration. Seaborne is designed to be the sister piece to one of the seminal works in the percussion repertoire, Steve Reich’s iconic Sextet.

“This work explores our perception and perspectives of water from aerial, surface, and underwater vantage points. Water possesses an inherent motion and rhythm, and I am interested in reflecting the tension between the potential and kinetic energies we observe, as well as our perception of time. Musically, my language attempts to find a balance between gestures that feel almost primal or ancient juxtaposed against more modern and familiar textures. Often, motifs are introduced in simple ensemble unisons, gradually developing and evolving in ways that might emulate a communal improvisatory experience. Overall, I attempt to create a strong synergy and synesthesia with the photography, in that our perception of color and light is strongly reflected in the music throughout.” — Garth Neustadter, composer “The conceptual core for the visual element of this piece is to give the audience, in thirty minutes, a redefining experience of a subject normally typified by the

26 texasperformingarts.org


uni-dimensional horizon as an environment that cohabits the spaces of three distinct perspectives: aerial, surface and underwater. It is an invitation not only to see the ocean’s incredible beauty and raw potency, but also an opportunity to consider how the place from which we look determines what it is we see. Although the surface layer of water is thinner than a hair, the way in which it interacts with light and the forces of wind and currents make it the most dynamic and ever-changing natural phenomenon. I have always been fascinated with this singular simplicity of substance acting under constant redefinition. Sound, like a wave through water, is a burst of energy traveling in a medium. The only difference is that one is in the ocean and the other a concert hall, destined for our interpretation. This piece draws parallels between what the audience hears and sees, combining to become an emotional experience that goes far beyond the music or visuals on their own.” — Kjell van Sice, filmmaker Sextet Steve Reich Steve Reich’s Sextet is in five movements played without pause. The relationship of the five movements is that of an arch form, A-B-C-B-A. The first and last movements are fast, the second and fourth moderate and the third, slow. Changes of tempo are made abruptly at the beginning of new movements by metric modulation to either get slower or faster. Movements are also organized

texasperformingarts.org

harmonically with the chord cycle for the first and fifth, another for the second and fourth, and yet another for the third. The harmonies used are largely dominant chords with added tones creating a somewhat darker, chromatic and more varied harmonic language also found in Reich’s The Desert Music (1984). “Percussion instruments mostly produce sounds of relatively short duration. In this piece I was interested in overcoming that limitation. The use of the bowed vibraphone, not merely as a passing effect, but as a basic instrumental voice in the second movement, was one means of getting long continuous sounds not possible with piano. The mallet instruments (marimba, vibraphone, etc) are basically instruments of high and middle register without a low range. To overcome this limit the bass drum was used doubling the piano or synthesizer played in their lower register, particularly in the second, third and fourth movements. In music which uses a great deal of repetition, I believe it is precisely these kinds of ambiguities that give vitality and life.” — Steve Reich

27


ABOUT THE COLLECTIVE Drawing from an incomparably rich bouquet of talent, The Percussion Collective flexes in size offering exquisitely curated programs for an array of venues and settings. The fabulously successful ten concert inaugural tour of the United States in the Spring of 2018 featured the first performances of the newly commissioned Seaborne, an immersive multimedia work by Emmy Award-winning composer Garth Neustadter and videographer Kjell van Sice that celebrates the beauty of our world’s oceans.

Photo by TK

At the pinnacle of his legendary career, performer and pedagogue Robert van Sice has assembled a stunning collection of young artists who are reinventing the concert experience. The Percussion Collective transcends the medium of percussion through uncommon performance experiences that surprise and engage audiences at a profound emotional level. The hallmarks of van Sice’s musical approach—precise execution, sonic refinement, and dynamic onstage communication—are all on display in the most vivid manner to date.

28 texasperformingarts.org


2

1

We a proud ho re the me of Bro In Austin a and have dway the Austi p n premie resented res of Th King, Wic e Lion ked and The P , Jersey Boys, Cats hantom o , f the Which ve nue hosts Opera. these performa nces?

Texas Performing Arts first opened its ce doors with a performan can eri Am ey Ail in Alv by Dance Theater in what year?

A I V I R T

ANSWERS: 1. 1981; 2. Bass Concert Hall; 3. Roughly 100 students per academic year; 4. Any student in grade 7-12 may attend the daytime Youth Performances with their academic group; 5. The Essential Series

nds-on e paid, ha We provid erience x l work e p ents a n io s s fe pro partm ents in de to UT stud anization ranging r org ng. About across ou to marketi xas n o ti c u d oes Te from pro students d how many rts employ each gA Performin year? academic

Each ye ar, thousa we host nds of studen area ts a Youth P t two free da ytim erf studen ormances. W e ts may h attend ich Youth P t h e se erform ances?

3

4

5 Each yea Performin r, Texas g Arts pre several d s iverse, w ents orld-clas programs s as pa programm rt of its season ing. Wha t is the name of th is series?

29


Sep 27, 2019

McCullough Theatre

BOYS IN TROUBLE

By Sean Dorsey Dance Choreographed and written by Sean Dorsey Movement created and performed by Sean Dorsey, Brian Fisher, ArVejon Jones, Nol Simonse, Will Woodward Original music composed by Alex Kelly, Jesse Olsen Bay, Ben Kessler, Anomie Belle, LD Brown/Grey Reverend Soundscore designed, written and narrated by Sean Dorsey Additional text by ArVejon Jones and Nol Simonse Sound Recording/Mixing Grace Coleman, Laura Dean Technical Director / Stage Manager Emily Paulson Lighting Designer Clyde Sheets Sound Operator Darren Carter Costume Designer Tiffany Amundson BOYS IN TROUBLE is available for tour bookings: please contact us at manager@seandorseydance.com if you want to bring us to YOUR city. Presented in partnership with Performance as Public Practice at the Department of Theatre and Dance and KUT-FM Photos by Lydia Daniller

30 texasperformingarts.org


Program Intro: Boys In Trouble

Let’s Talk About Whiteness!

i) These Boys Bite Back Music By Alex Kelly ii) Fast Pitch Music By Alex Kelly iii) I’m Good, Just Add Water

Macho Redux What Happened? Music By Jesse Olsen Bay, then Alex Kelly

Keep Moving Music By Anomie Belle

A Brotherhood Of Separation Music By Alex Kelly

Into The Ring

The Story Of My Body Narration: Text By Nol Simonse and Sean Dorsey, spoken By Nol Simonse Music By Anomie Belle

Welcome To The Patriarchy! Performance Anxiety New/Fast Music By Anomie Belle The Luxury Of Space Music By Ben Kessler and Jesse Olsen Bay What Would We Become? Music By Alex Kelly The Approach Music By Alex Kelly Butch Music By Ben Kessler

Flight Sweet Time Narration: Recorded Conversation with Arvejon Jones Music By Ld Brown / Grey Reverend An Invitation Salvation Music By Pavel Chesnokov, Played By Alex Kelly Outro Music By Anomie Belle

Intermission

BOYS IN TROUBLE was created with generous support from the New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Dance Project (with lead funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and additional funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation), California Arts Council, Creative Work Fund (a program of the Walter and Elise Haas Fund supported by The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation), Dance/USA and the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, National Performance Network, Queer Cultural Center, Kenneth Rainin Foundation, San Francisco Arts Commission, San Francisco LGBT Community Center and the Phyllis C. Wattis Foundation. BOYS IN TROUBLE was commissioned by Bates Dance Festival, Dance Place (Washington, DC), Highways Performance Space (Los Angeles, CA), Maui Arts & Cultural Center (Maui, HI), 7 Stages (Atlanta, GA) and the Queer Cultural Center (San Francisco, CA). Sean Dorsey Dance is the resident dance company of Fresh Meat Productions. sean dorseydance.com | freshmeatproductions.org

texasperformingarts.org

31


A MESSAGE FROM SEAN DORSEY IT IS MY GREAT PLEASURE to welcome you tonight to the Texas premiere of BOYS IN TROUBLE. We’re thrilled that this performance at Texas Performing Arts also marks our first-ever performance in Austin! We have been working, dancing, dreaming and sweating up a storm over the last 2 years for you – but these dances don’t really come alive until YOU join us and we create this space together. My dancers and collaborators and I talked, dreamed, wrote, cried, laughed, questioned and imagined together over the last 2 years … and the process was deep, vulnerable, risky, beautiful and healing. I am so grateful to you all. To create BOYS IN TROUBLE, I also led free workshops and hosted community forums in several cities across the US. The creativity, story-sharing, vulnerability, and collective healing was INCREDIBLE. When I felt called to take on this project, I could not have known how timely it would become. Since we started the project, this country has seen continued violence against Black trans women, Black cisgender and trans men, and transpeople ... along with the election of a racist, anti-immigrant, anti-civil-liberties, trans/homophobic, misogynist, ableist, anti-poor, anti-working poor, anti-Earth administration. We’ve seen the birth of the #metoo movement (which needs to center transfolk too!) and renewed conversations about toxic masculinity.

Telling our stories and standing (and dancing) in our Truths is more important than ever. We celebrate this as we celebrate Sean Dorsey Dance’s 15th Anniversary Season this year! This year, we are also embarking upon the creation of our NEW show: “The Lost Art of Dreaming” will expansively imagine transgender/gender-nonconforming/queer Futures, disrupting long-entrenched fatalistic constructs that deny us the space to dream about our own futures. As we create this new work, I’ll be traveling the US to host “DREAM LABS:” free creative workshops where I invite trans/queer/ allied folks in to dance, move, write and creatively express what it is they most dream of … what your wildest dreams are. Please join us! After the show, please stay and talk … let us ENJOY the precious gifts of community and sharing space together! And tell your friends: BOYS IN TROUBLE will be touring to 20 US cities over the next 2 years – let us know if you want us to come to YOUR city! Details are at seandorseydance.com and freshmeatproductions.org. Thank you for coming, Sean Dorsey

32 texasperformingarts.org


PERFORMER BIOGRAPHIES Sean Dorsey (Artistic Director / Dancer) is a transgender and queer choreographer, dancer, writer and longtime trans activist. Recognized as the nation’s first acclaimed transgender modern dance choreographer, Dorsey has been awarded 5 Isadora Duncan Dance Awards, named one of the nation’s “Top 25 to Watch” by Dance Magazine, and was recently awarded a Dance/USA Artist Fellowship. Dorsey has toured his work to 30 cities and taught in 35 cities. Dorsey has been awarded support by the National Endowment for the Arts, National Dance Project, New England Foundation for the Arts, National Performance Network, Creative Work Fund, Kenneth Rainin Foundation, Phyllis C. Wattis Foundation, Fleishhacker Foundation – and commissions from the Wallace Alexander Gerbode Foundation, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, San Francisco Arts Commission, Queer Cultural Center (San Francisco), Bates Dance Festival (Lewiston), Dance Place (Washington DC), The Theater Offensive (Boston), Maui Arts & Cultural Center (Maui), Links Hall (Chicago), 7 Stages (Atlanta), and Highways Performance Space (Los Angeles). BOYS IN TROUBLE is now on a 2-year, 20-city tour: please contact Sean Dorsey Dance with booking and tour inquiries (manager@seandorseydance.com). Dorsey is the founder and Artistic Director of Fresh Meat Productions – we create, present and tour yearround multidisciplinary transgender texasperformingarts.org

arts programs. Founded in 2002, Fresh Meat Productions invests in the creative expression and cultural leadership of transgender and gender-nonconforming communities. Fresh Meat Productions’ yearround programs include: the annual FRESH MEAT FESTIVAL of transgender and queer performance, our national education program TRANSform Dance, resident dance company Sean Dorsey Dance’s local performances and touring residencies, and national advocacy for trans equity in Dance. freshmeatproductions.org seandorseydance.com Brian Fisher (Dancer) has performed on Broadway, off Broadway, and on national tours. He has danced in works by Alvin Ailey, Kurt Joos, Igal Perry, Sonya Delwaide, Mark Franco, Lar Lubovitch, Doug Varone, Amy Siewert, and Robert Moses. He has worked with ODC/ San Francisco, Mark Foehringer Dance Project, the San Francisco Opera, Rosalind Newman and Dancers, Peninsula Ballet Theater, Berkeley Ballet Theater, Western Ballet, and Diablo Ballet. He earned an Isadora Duncan Award. Brian teaches at San Francisco Ballet, ODC/San Francisco, and the Conservatory for Contemporary Dance Arts. This is Brian’s thirteenth season with Sean Dorsey Dance. ArVéjon [Ar-Vey-yon] Jones (Dancer) is from Compton, CA. He moved to the Bay Area to attend SFSU, where he studied Dance and minored in Japanese. He enjoys dancing many different styles of movement and is a huge believer in 33


using dance as a form of therapy, as well as a tool to spread love and empathy. ArVejon has performed works by Sean Dorsey, Robert Moses, Dar Vejon Jones, Brenda Way, KT Nelson, Kimi Okada, Kat Roman, Diane Arvanites, and Jean Appolon, to name a few. He currently teaches AfroContemporary at LINES/ SF Dance Center, Jazz at San Francisco State University, and Zumba at the Federal Court House’s Fitness Center. He is very happy to be dancing his sixth season with Sean Dorsey Dance! Nol Simonse (Dancer) grew up in Washington, D.C., and trained at the Boston Conservatory of Music. He moved to San Francisco in 1997, and is a founding member of KunstStoff, Janice Garrett and Dancers, Garrett+Moulton Productions, and Sean Dorsey Dance. Nol has strong collaborative friendships with Sue Roginski, Eric Kupers, Stephen Pelton, Kara Davis, and Christy Funsch. Nol and Christy are co-directing a performance which will premiere at Dance Mission Theater in the fall of 2018. This is Nol’s twelfth season with Sean Dorsey Dance. Will Woodward (Dancer) Originally from Hawai’i, Will began formal dance training under the direction of Kelly Roth at the College of Southern Nevada. After a five-year hiatus, he began dancing again in Monterey, CA with Deanna Ross, Jackie Adams, and the Monterey Dance Collective. In 2012 he moved to San Francisco, and has since performed with Blue Scorpion Dance Theatre, Palanza Dance, Peninsula

Ballet Theatre, Tim Rubel Human Shakes, James Graham Dance Theatre, Printz Dance Project, and San Francisco’s premiere burlesque group: Baloney. This is his third season with Sean Dorsey Dance.

COMPOSER/MUSICIAN AND TECH BIOGRAPHIES

Dr. Alex Kelly is a cellist, composer, and professor. He composes and performs with major symphony orchestras, chamber orchestras, new music ensembles, string quartets, cello quartets, big bands, jazz combos, rock bands, hip-hop crews, klezmer bands, world music ensembles, theater companies, radio productions, ballet companies, modern dance companies, and circus troupes. He also composes film scores and commercials. Dance companies he has worked with include LINES Ballet, Margaret Jenkins, Lizz Roman, Beth Fein, Axis Dance Co., Les 7 Doigts de le Main, and of course, Sean Dorsey. Alex was part of the composing team that won a 2016 Isadora Duncan Dance Award for Outstanding Achievement in Music/Sound/Text for the original soundscore for THE MISSING GENERATION. alexkelly.com Anomie Belle is a songwriter, producer, multi-instrumentalist and composer whose eclectic, avantgarde musical style incorporates aspects of electronic, contemporary classical, art pop, experimental, trip hop, glitch, and soul. She loops herself on strings, keyboards, vocals, samplers, drum machines, guitar, and bass to create layered, cinematic, sonic landscapes.

34 texasperformingarts.org


Anomie is one of few females in her field (less than 2% of film composers, 5% of audio engineers, and 9% of EDM artists are women). Her music grapples with issues ranging from critiques of power to intimacy, queerness, sexuality, and the emotional experiences of “beautiful alienation” created by modern consumer society. anomiebelle.com Ben Kessler is a composer, arranger, mixing engineer, sound designer, and multi-instrumentalist from Saline, Michigan. He has performed with numerous groups, and has collaborated with Sean Dorsey on many previous projects over the last 14 years. In addition to working in his studio, Ben currently teaches private music lessons, runs a klezmer group for 2nd to 5th graders, and is the musical director of a 19-piece big band. Grey Reverend is the solo project of songwriter L.D. Brown. He began the project in 2005 while living in Philadelphia P.A, focusing on guitar and voice as a primary means of expression. Raised on a variety of musical genres, L.D. began playing the saxophone at age 9, but didn’t discover his main instrument, the guitar, until the age of 22. L.D’s first years in Philadelphia as a writer were spent performing and recording with other artist such as Steve Gunn, Jack Rose, Chris Powell, and Cynthia G Mason. L.D was also studying music theory on his own and learning from his mentor, the legendary guitarist Pat Martino. He currently works as a guitarist and vocalist with The Cinematic Orchestra, and has collaborated texasperformingarts.org

with a wide range of artist around the world including: Bonobo, Fink, Lou Rhodes of Lamb, Cynthia G. Mason, and members of Wilco. greyreverend.com Jesse Olsen Bay is a composer, performer and teacher who lives just north of the San Francisco Bay. At home in a wide variety of musical forms and styles, he creates aural landscapes and narratives that explore the depths and extremities of the human experience. Jesse grew up in a musical family of leftist activists in Berkeley, California, before going on to study at Bennington College with the legendary percussionist/ healer Milford Graves. He has been awarded support from American Composers Forum, San Francisco Friends of Chamber Music, Meet the Composer/New Music USA, Ucross Foundation, Zellerbach Foundation, California Arts Council, East Bay Fund for Artists, and Paul Dresher Ensemble. jesseolsenbay.com Emily Paulson (Technical Director and Stage Manager) is a Stage Technician and the Training Director for IATSE Local 107. She’s been blessed to work with Sean Dorsey Dance and the Fresh Meat Family since 2012. As Stage Manager and Technical Director her goal is to create a supported, safe, consistent and loving atmosphere for the dancers, so that they can deeply experience and transmit the dance to the audience. Bringing Sean’s vision to life across the country has been a mind-blowing experience. It is an honor to share this important work with the people and to have 35


a part in shaping American history. The added bonus of touring with such talented, diverse and lovely friends, feeds Emily’s soul. Thank you to Sean and Shawna, and all the Dancers for all that you do!

ABOUT FRESH MEAT PRODUCTIONS Sean Dorsey Dance is the resident dance company of Fresh Meat Productions, and Sean Dorsey is the founder and Artistic Director of Fresh Meat Productions. Fresh Meat Productions invests in the creative expression and cultural leadership of transgender and gender-nonconforming communities. We create and commission new work, present performing arts programs, conduct education and engagement, and advocate for justice and

equity in the Arts. We are currently celebrating our 18th season, and our resident dance company Sean Dorsey Dance is celebrating its 15th Anniversary Season! Our programs include: resident dance company Sean Dorsey Dance; our annual FRESH MEAT FESTIVAL of transgender and queer performance; our national education and engagement program TRANSform Dance; and national advocacy for trans equity in Dance. For more information, please visit freshmeatproductions.org

36 36 texasperformingarts.org



Texas Inner Circle Texas Performing Arts gratefully acknowledges the financial support of our donors. Each year, thousands of students throughout the region enjoy the performing arts thanks to your generosity.

Donations made as of Aug 13, 2019 Please note that the donor acknowledgment page is updated each semester. Texas Performing Arts values every gift received. However, we regret that limited space does not allow us to list every donor. For information on ways to give, please call the membership office at 512.232.8567 or email us at support@texasperformingarts.org *Denotes Essential Series Subscriber

BENEFACTOR’S CIRCLE $6,000+

Julie and Steve Avery Jannis and Robert B. Baldwin III Christie and Jason Barany Dianne and Robert Brode Virginia and Gilbert Burciaga Marianne and Mario Davila Joanne Guariglia Dan Jackson and Jeremy Guiberteau Eric and Angie Mischke Stephanie Perkins Sarah and Berny Schiff

PRODUCER’S CIRCLE $3,000-5,999

Drs. Lynn Azuma and Brian Hall Carolyn R. Bartlett Lee Carnes Edwina P. Carrington Suzanne and Bill Childs Daniel Curnock Joan G. Dentler Jeffrey Dwyer Matthew B. Ely Jessica and Marc Evans Susan and Lee Gammill Jorge and Linda Garcia Cynthia S. Glover and Dwight C. Williams Susan and Barry Goodman Juan M. Guerrero, M.D. Lisa Harris Mellie and Tom Hogan Jessica Jansen and Michael Cicchella Gary C. Johnson Cathy and James Kratz Gretchen and Lance Kroesch Thomas and Ashley Loftus Sue and Gary Lowe Julia Marsden Sheryl and Daniel McNichol Janis and Joe Pinnelli Gina and Don Reese Chuck Ross and Brian Hencey Tahira and Atta Sahibzada Kenneth Sandoval Dianne and Eugene Schoch, III

38 texasperformingarts.org


Carolyn and Marc Seriff Syd Sharples Barry Smith Kathleen and Gilbert Soto Laura and David Starks Shari and Eric Stein Louann and Larry Temple Barbara Tocker Carole Tower and Matthew St. Louis Rebecca and Scott Van Den Berg DIRECTOR’S CIRCLE $1,200-2,999

Anonymous Cathi Backor Bonnie L. Bain Becky Beaver Casey Blass and Lee Manford Robert Bloemhof Dave and Nancy Bourell Kim Britt Kara and Shelby Brown Kim and Thomas Reed Brown Peggy and Gary Brown Renee Butler Carol and Shannon Casey Farrah and Nathan Chelstrom Damien Clark Sue and Kevin Cloud John Coers Dr. Exalton and the Honorable Wilhelmina Delco Margaret Denena and Cliff Knowles Barbara Ellis and Alex McAlmon Susan Epstein Kevin Espenlaub and John Hampton Laura L. Estes and Joyce A. Lauck Richard and Susan Farias Lowell Feldman Family Jim Ferguson and Art Sansone Nanci L. Fisher Pamela and David Frager Sandra Freed Nancy Gary and Ruth Cude Cheryl and R. James George, Jr. Michael Gibertini and Kari Nations Sharon and Bruce Golden Melissa and Rick Gorskie Sven and Robin Griffin Cheryl Gross Gabrielle and Gary Grossenbacher Richard Hartgrove and Gary Cooper Gladys M. Heavilin Mary Ann and Dr. Andrew Heller Anne and Thomas Hilbert Amy and Jeffrey Hubert texasperformingarts.org

Frank Ikard Donna and B.R. Israel Ben and Jenn Ivester Jo Ann Ivester John Izzo and Deb Tackett Donna and Edward King Kelley Knutson and Carol Walsh-Knutson Sheila Kothmann Calvin and Donna Lee Sue and Larry Lewellyn Ellen and Richard Leyh Stacy Libby Suzanne Lima Mr. and Mrs. George F. Littlejohn Jennifer and Christian Loew Gayle and Scott Madole Mr. and Mrs. W.F. McCasland Molly McDonald and Chad Hartmann Jennifer and Jim Misko Mary and Lynn Moak Glenn, Jennifer, Waylon, and Wyatt Muniz Carol Nelson Meri and Don Nelson Elizabeth and Dustin Norman Jacqueline and Shawn O’Farrell Wayne Orchid Leora Orent and Art Markman Connie and Sam Pate Michele and Roy Peck Nancy and Frank Petrone Shari and John Pflueger Liz and Jon Phelan Leslie Powell Debbie and Jim Ramsey Linda and Robert Rosenbusch Alyssa Russell Nancy Scanlan Nina and Frank Seely Tracey Sharples Carol Ann Shepherd Trish and Brian Sierer Robyn and Rick Sperling Lorri Stevenson Austin Stitzer Bruce Stuckman Nancy and L. Brent Talbott Erin Vander Leest and Tom Pyle Zahir Walji Daniel and Sara-Jane Watson Mark Weiss and Janet Bray Susan and Chris Wilson with Bonita Grumme Jacqueline Wittmuss Dr. Lucas Wong and Dr. Lisa Go Michele and Jud Wyatt

39


CENTER STAGE $600-1,199 Dwain Aidala Mark Aitala Priscilla J. Alfaro Joe Annis Anonymous Austin Seal Co. Donna and Manuel Ayala King Florist Jana and Barry Bandera Travis and George Baxter-Holder Dr. Steven A. Beebe April Berman Denis Blake Stephanie and Michael Blanck Robert Bracewell Christopher and Tira Brom Janice and Charlie Brown Kimberly Brown Shane Chambers Ken Ciani Sarah Compton Jeanette Cortinas Elaine Daigle Wilma Dankovich Lorraine and John Davis Lisa and Paul Delacruz Dr. and Mrs. Ben Denny Lucy Ditmore Susan and David Donaldson Sharon Duboise Cathleen and Michael Eady Susan and David Eckelkamp Carol and Clint Fletcher Jane W. Fountain Elizabeth and Michael Frisch Katina and Matthew Gase Jon and Joanna Geld Sharon and Richard Gibbons Glenn and Nancy Gilkey Karen and Rowland Greenwade Jana and John Grimes Stephanie Guariglia Maria Gutierrez and Peter Nutson Tizzle Bizzle Hallock Cindy and John Hanly Amy and Peter Hannan Darcy and Rick Hardy Family Jennifer and Randall Harris Mrs. Julianna H. Hernandez Marjorie and David Hunter Beth and Bill Ivers Mary Beth and Dan Jester Jacqueline and Eric Johnson Mr. and Mrs. Michael Johnston James Jones Susan and Richard Klusmann Jan and Orion Knox

Aileen Krassner Kiehl and Michael Kiehl Amy and David Lambert Melanie C. Lewis Robin Lieberman Mary and Don Lorenz Nancy and Dale Lowe Peggy Manning Steve and Roxanne Martin Tonya and Nicco Martinez Dr. and Mrs. Lawrence Masullo Ford McTee Dawn and Jason Melear Frances Ellen and Paul Metzger Pauline and Alfred Meyerson Mark Miller Rachel Monday and Willard Yankus James W. Moritz Denise Margo Moy Brian Neidig Margaret and Brian Nilson Augustine Park Robert Pender Tami Pharr Kari and Brian Phenegar Kate and Scott Powers Javier Prado Eric Rabbanian Tom and Kit Randall Dawn and Thomas Rich Julie and Richard Schechter Betty Schnell Amy Shipherd Lawrence Sipos Katherine and Dennis Smith Raymond Smith Steven Smith Nancy Whitworth Spong Geeta and David Suggs Stacy and Michael Toomey Jamie and Thomas Valigura Douglas P. Warner Saradee and Melvin Waxler Chrissie Welty Marie and Phil Wendell Leslie and Bryan Weston Michael Wilen Micka and Richard Ziehr

40 texasperformingarts.org


Director’s Council Volunteer Leadership in Action The Texas Performing Arts Director’s Council is a group of dedicated donors, sponsors, and volunteers committed to presenting world-class performances, providing students access to every performance on our stages, and building the next generation of audiences, artists, and presenters. We are grateful for their extraordinary support and dedication.

2019–20 COUNCIL MEMBERS

Photo by TK

Robert and Jannis Baldwin Becky Beaver Edwina Carrington Marianne and Mario Davila Laura Estes and Joyce Lauck Cynthia Glover and Dwight Williams Joanne Guariglia Stephanie Guariglia Rob Hagelberg Rhonda Hall Dan Jackson and Jeremy Guiberteau Julia Marsden Ashlee Olsem Stephanie L. Perkins Rachel Tocker Rebecca Van Den Berg Annie Zucker Brian Zucker

texasperformingarts.org

41


The Team Relationships & Revenue Rachel Durkin-Drga

Kristi Lampi

Ashton Bennett Murphy

Business Operations Manager

Assistant Scenic Charge Artist

Interim Director

Leigh Remeny

Travis Perrin

Administrative Associate, Business Operations

Assistant Stage Supervisor

Terri Waddle

Production Events Manager

Judy Lister-Patrick Assistant to the Director DEVELOPMENT

Ashley Clarke Member Relations Manager

Natalia Morgan

Senior Departmental Buyer, Business Operations CAMPUS & COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

Dani Pruitt Hank Schwemmer Master Carpenter

Rebecca Switzer

Judith Rhedin

Prop Shop Supervisor

Stewardship Manager

Assistant Director, Campus & Community Engagement

PROGRAMMING

Ann Stafford

Brenda Simms

Program Manager

Development Assistant

Rachel Schoen

Director of Development

Sarah Weidler Young

Program Coordinator, Education & Curriculum Development

Associate Director for Development

PRODUCTION

HUMAN RESOURCES

Master Electrician

Warren G. Whitaker

Scott Bussey

SPHR, SHRM-SCP, Human Resources Manager

Seb Boone

Technical Director

Sarah Cantu

MARKETING

Master Electrician

Gene Bartholomew

Jeff W. Ellinger

Director of Marketing & Communications

Lizzie Choffel Senior Graphic Designer

Danielle Culp Project Administrator

Erica De Leon Marketing Specialist, Digital Media

Romina Jara

Lighting Supervisor

Phoebe Greene

Lisa Carothers Administrative Associate, Business Affairs

Tim Rogers Assistant Director, Student Engagement

Patron Experience, Planning & Analytics Tara Vela Associate Director GUEST SERVICES Guest Services Manager

Stage Supervisor

Alec Pasquarella

Carolyn Hardin

Front of House Operations & Special Events Manager

Assistant Prop Shop Supervisor

Jason Huerta Associate Scenic Studio Supervisor

Yvonne Kimmons

BUSINESS OFFICE

STUDENT ENGAGEMENT

Conrad Haden

Selena San Miguel

Senior Associate Director

Talent Buyer

Sarah Andrews

J. E. Johnson

Business Operations, Program Planning & Analytics Rachel Durkin-Drga

Will Shirey

Production Operations Manager

Marketing Coordinator, Media Buying & Settlements Marketing Coordinator, Strategic Content

Cynthia Patterson

Scenic Studio Supervisor Assistant Director, Performance Logistics

Kenny Kuykendall Assistant Audio Supervisor

Lindsay Long Production Events Manager

Michael Malak Audio Supervisor

Karen Maness Scenic Art Supervisor

Amber Goodspeed Broadway Events Manager TICKET OFFICE

Margaret Badasci Assistant Ticketing Services Manager, Event Operations

Susan Griffin Ticketing Services Manager

Shade Oyegbola Assistant Ticketing Services Manager

Eric Vera Assistant Ticketing Services Manager, Concerts & Essential Series

Dianne Whitehair Ticketing Systems Manager

42 texasperformingarts.org


Texas Performing Arts is also proud to acknowledge the hundreds of part-time and volunteer staff who play a critical role in presenting our annual season of world-class performing arts events to the Austin community.

House Managers Dina Black Virginia Bosman Margaret Byron Gracie Cano Andrea Stanfill Castro Charlotte Coffee Carlos Hernandez Chuck Hesse Paige Horton Jean Humes Olga Kasma-Carnes

Charlotte Klein Sharon Kojzarek Eric Lee Ryan Monahan Shana Nichols Elisabeth Poigin Shannon Quinn Kimberly Hans Reaves Jessica Reed Ron Rizzato Mary Ruiz

Gracie Sanders Robyn Scott Josh Shandera Julie Spruell Debra Thomas Leah Waheed Kyle Walker Tonya Wood Sally Zukonik

Student Employees Mikaela Kelarek Adriana Lara Audrey Long Anna Lu Mila Luna Zachary Markizer Diamante Martinez Adam Means Sean Meyers Basil Montemayor Julio MuĂąoz Olivia Naworol Alejandro Pallanes Alyson Redland Hayley Reese Morgan Riddle Alany Rodriguez Ericka Salas Christian Scheller

Jessica Sell Virginia Seymour Brisa Shaw Madison Sheridan Rebekah Singleton William Sords Brenda Stanfill Skyler Taten Rohan Teredesai Hemma Uzoh George Velasquez Henry Wheatley-Ruther Nathan Wilton Kamrey Windham Christian Winz Rebecca Wrench

Photo by TK

Laura Baggs Zoe Bihan Delena Bradley Haley Brower Michael Bruner Casey Canamar Jane Cloninger Oscar Corpus Jessica Curneal Lina Garcia Sarah Gomez Madeleine Hayes David Hernandez Jared Horn Hannah Hurst Emily Hyatt Mayre Jane Elizabeth Jantz Alexandra Jereb Taylor Jones

texasperformingarts.org

43


Become a Corporate Circle Member Members of the Corporate Circle enjoy VIP benefits while providing jobs for up to 70 students at Texas Performing Arts each year. With your support, students gain real work experience in every field from accounting to stage management, as well as professional mentoring, rĂŠsumĂŠ and job search support, and a paycheck to help cover the cost of a world-class education at The University of Texas at Austin. The Corporate Circle is a great way to enjoy everything that Texas Performing Arts has to offer today, align your brand with the cultural leader in Central Texas, and help our students build a strong foundation for the future!

ENCORE

OVATION

Dennis Eakin Kia Dormady Financial Frost Bank University Federal Credit Union APPLAUSE

K Friese and Associates Michael Iupe, PLLC OroSolutions Richie & Gueringer, P.C.

For information on the Corporate Circle contact Ashley Clarke, Member Relations Manager 512.232.8567 | aclarke@texasperformingarts.org 44 texasperformingarts.org



TPA Team Creates McCombs Mural

A beautiful skyscape mural now appears outside the offices of the UT McCombs School of Business thanks to a team of students under the direction of Texas Performing Arts Scenic Art Supervisor Karen Maness. Maness was hired to lead the transformation of the concrete 147-foot wall outside staff offices into a calming environment for the McCombs employees. The team included Theatre and Dance senior Mikaela Kelarek, Theatrical Design graduate students Iman Corbani and Tucker Goodman, as well as Assistant Charge Scenic Artist Ashton Bennett Murphy. “When I visited the site, the existing wall felt heavy, dark, and imprisoning for the inhabitants of the offices,” Maness said. “My conceptual goal was to flip that perceived view to create a feeling of distance, openness and the infinite.

Now, each office has its own private view with an atmospheric sky that changes dramatically over the day as the sun, cloud cover, and weather patterns shift.” For the nine employees whose office windows look out to the wall, the mural completely transformed the bleak view into a serene scene. “With the mural in place, we now bask in a perpetually gorgeous skyscape,” said Matt Turner, a Marketing Researcher at McCombs. “Our blinds are usually open during the workday.” Despite many challenges, including time constraints and inclement weather, Maness provided mentorship that ensured students were able to contribute their ideas. Additionally, thanks to Maness and her team, the money that was budgeted for an outside contractor was repurposed to give each student team member a scholarship. Many departments collaborated to complete this project and Maness is grateful for the teamwork and opportunity. “It’s exciting to create monumental work for a public space that will transform an environment.”

“It’s exciting to create monumental work for a public space that transforms an environment.”

Photo by Ashton Bennett Murphy

Scenic Transformation:

Karen Maness

46

texasperformingarts.org




A modern Texas kitchen featuring locally inspired flavors and ingredients with a Latin influence. Enjoy 15% off and VIP parking with our Broadway Pre-Theatre dinner offer. Four Seasons Hotel Austin | cicloatx.com | 512.685.8300


Support The 2019–20 Texas Performing Arts Season is made possible by generous support from our corporate and foundation partners.

As an educational institution committed to the free exchange of ideas, Texas Performing Arts is proud to present a rich array of performing arts for the Austin and Central Texas community. Sponsorship of Texas Performing Arts does not imply endorsement of artists or their performance content by sponsors or their representatives.

For Information on Corporate Sponsorship Contact Ann Stafford, Director of Development 512.471.7583 | astafford@texasperformingarts.org

50

texasperformingarts.org


ESSENTIAL SERIES

John Cameron Mitchell

The Origin of Love: The Songs and Stories of Hedwig

Feb 7, 2020

Bass Concert Hall

"The Origin of Love is a brand-new revelation, and John Cameron Mitchell is as relevant today as he has been for more than 20 years." – Broadway World Australia PRESENTED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH KLRU-TV Photo by Matthew Placek

$10 STUDENT TICKETS (K-12 and college) $12 MILITARY TICKETS

texasperformingarts.org texasperformingarts.org

51



Student Tickets Thanks to the generous support of donors last season, Texas Performing Arts provided $10 Student Tickets for Essential Series performances to more than 3,000 students. Your gift to the Student Ticket Fund means that for just $10 and their valid student ID, any student from any school can experience the excitement and inspiration of live performances by world-class artists. Share the experience of the performing arts that you love. Donate to the Student Ticket Fund today!

Visit texasperformingarts.org/support for call 512.232.8567 to make a gift.

*The Essential Series is our selection of fine arts shows; Bass Pass tickets are available for select Broadway shows and concerts. Photos by Lawrence Peart

texasperformingarts.org

53


M

Z

B

J

H

A

I

K

U

F

C

H

J

M

B

Y

B

J

A

Y

O

R

T

U

W

F

M

W

Q

B

M

Z

A

C

J

C

T

W

D

R

A

O

I

O

F

N

I

N

V

I

Y

I

L

I

S

N

B

B

L

L

X

G

R

T

D

B

C

N

C

R

M

D

T

A

X

V

Z

R

A

W

M

F

U

B

F

X

S

R

O

A

J

E

N

A

M

C

L

B

Y

K

J

E

A

I

I

B

Z

O

D

T

I

M

D

R

Q

I

S

N

E

O

U

S

L

A

N

O

I

T

A

N

H

R

S

R

F

L

Z

B

I

N

U

C

J

W

N

E

O

G

B

H

P

R

T

V

R

T

O

M

Z

O

G

H

E

H

R

E

Y

P

T

B

D

S

K

C

D

M

D

N

I

O

F

B

L

Y

X

P

D

G

G

A

Q

J

D

C

B

C

X

H

P

P

D

J

B

B

K

D

S

E

U

L

R

G

R

I

M

U

P

J

C

W

W

L

R

1. Composer Bryce Dessner is also the guitarist for the Grammy award-winning band, The _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ . (8 LETTERS) 2. Mapplethorpe’s legendary photography was featured on as the album cover for Patti Smith’s album, _ _ _ _ _ _ . (6 LETTERS) 3. Librettist korde arrington tuttle’s debut collection of _ _ _ _ _ and photography, Falling is the One Thing I, was published in May 2018. (5 LETTERS) 4. The _ _ _ _ _ _ _ , usually has a range of three to five octaves, a notably larger octave range than its cousin the xylophone. (7 LETTERS)

Word Search

K

5. For the last 15 years, _ _ _ _ _ _ van Sice has collaborated with the Adams Corporation in the Netherlands to design his own of a series of marimbas. (6 LETTERS)

6. Sean Dorsey was recognized as the first acclaimed _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ modern choreographer in the U.S. (11 LETTERS) 7. Boys in Trouble is a commentary on contemporary _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _, bringing a groundbreaking trans and queer examination of what it means to be a man. (11 LETTERS) 8. It took Dorsey over _ _ _ years to create Boys In Trouble after doing extensive research in communities across the U.S. (3 LETTERS)

54 texasperformingarts.org

ANSWERS: 1. NATIONAL; 2. HORSES; 3. HAIKU; 4. MARIMBA; 5. ROBERT; 6. TRANSGENDER; 7. MASCULINITY; 8. TWO

A


Word Search



Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.