sad women being sad BY JENNY KRICK APRIL 1 AND 3 AT 7:30 P.M. ON-DEMAND: APRIL 5-18, 2021 VIRTUAL PERFORMANCE THEATREDANCE.UTEXAS.EDU Lena Barnard – Dramaturg • Lina Breining – Sound Designer Brooklyn Garza – Director of Photography • Inji Ha – Scenic Designer • Andrea L. Hart – Co-Director Jenny Krick – Playwright, Co-Director • Paul William Kruse – Video Editor Emily T. Novack – Lighting Designer, Movement Director • Morgan Randall – Stage Manager Davy Sumner – Audio Editor • David Tolin – Technical Director
CAST (IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER) C B D J A
Macy Butler Jenny Krick Andrea Nuñez Jane Palacios Raquel Schmidt
NOTE FROM THE PRODUCING ARTISTIC DIRECTORS Welcome to UTNT Spring 2021! It is an honor to present five new works this semester by our ascending third-year M F A in Playwriting candidates in collaboration with second-year M F A in Directing candidates: Radiance by Gursimrat Kaur, directed by Giana Blazquez; sad women being sad written and co-directed by Jenny Krick, co-directed by Andrea L Hart; Fall the House by Nicholas Kaidoo, directed by Braxton Rae; OCD by Heewon Kim, directed by Mike Steele and Community Garden by Renae Simone Jarrett, directed by Kristen Osborn Now in its fourteenth iteration, UTNT has consistently served as a launchpad for The University of Texas at Austin’s graduate and undergraduate theatre artists; artists who are continuing to change the American theatre landscape and influence hearts and minds around the globe More than any other year, these trailblazing projects called for unique production concepts, development processes and presentation styles The works you are about to experience are the products of insight, collaboration, craf, dedication and innovations for how we share stories in this changed and changing world UTNT stands for UT New Theatre Welcome to the launch of these inspiring works Thank you for being the first!
The Department of Theatre and Dance is a world-class educational environment that serves as the ultimate creative incubator for the next generation of artists, thinkers and leaders in theatre and performance
NOTE FROM THE PLAYWRIGHT AND CO-DIRECTORS For your 12th birthday, you dad gifs you a little bottle of mace to attach to your latchkey He tells you to keep it with you at all times For, you know Just in case When you (finally) get your license, your mom (finally!) hands you the spare keys with a cute metal kitty keychain Your fingers fit through the eyes and the two ears point upward from your clenched fist, so you can pop out the eyeballs of a would-be attacker This is better than putting your keys Wolverine style in between your fingers, she tells you For, you know Just in case Freshman orientation, all the women in your class grab welcome packets in a lecture hall Inside each is a pretty pink rape whistle along with instructions on how to look for blue emergency lights on campus For, you know Just in case These are the stories we told each other during auditions, laughing as we shared our common experiences This play started of as an assignment—adapt Euripides’ The Trojan Women The Trojan Women tells the story of women lefover from a war and the tragedies that happen afer a winner was declared While our narrator “J” has not lived through the same things as Euripides’ characters, she is still a product of her lineage: patriarchy and its infliction of trauma against women and her own DNA, the hereditary imbalance of her mental health passed on from generation to generation In writing sad women being sad (or, as we have been calling it, swbs), it became a collage of the current world The text is greatly influenced by the brilliant stand-up routines of Hannah Gadsby’s “Nanette” and Cameron Esposito’s “Rape Jokes ” It mediates on other versions of The Trojan Women – works by Charles Mee and Ellen McLaughlin It reflects on the life, work and death of playwright Sarah Kane Quoting everything from cherished musical numbers to headlines that are forgotten the day afer they appear, our play asks, “What do we do with all this trauma? What do we do with all these tears? And can we still laugh?” Did you know swbs autocorrects to “sobs?” So clearly, yes, there is going to be laughter Approaching this play, we knew we needed a cast of actors who felt comfortable looking at dificult material, digging through it to mine it for comedy that could express the fissures that we feel as women We also knew taking care of our mental health was a huge component to discussing what it means to be a “sad woman ” One of the first decisions we made as a cast was the agreement to not mine from our own personal experiences or trauma for this play Instead we constantly shared moments from favorite TV shows: “Abbi” dancing naked in Broad City, “Issa” pep-talking herself in Insecure, Meryl singing and spinning her heart out in Mamma Mia! We also shared the hard stuf: videos explaining the prevalence of prison rape jokes in popular media, articles on the abuse of women by David Foster Wallace, discussions on “the Sylvia Plath efect” which haunts so many female-identifying writers It is the balance of these conversations that fueled our rehearsals and, in fact, is the DNA of this play We explored how we form comedic relationships to this reality as a tool to help us survive, live, thrive and, of course, laugh We ask that you laugh with us
CREATIVE Lena Barnard (Dramaturg) is a M F A in Playwriting candidate at The University of Texas at Austin Originally from the Pacific Northwest, she spent six years in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania before making her way to Austin Her work has been presented in the SoLow Festival, Azuka Theatre Spotlight Series and PlayPenn New Play Development Conference She was a member of the second class of PlayPenn’s The Foundry, a Philadelphia playwrights lab She is a graduate of Bryn Mawr College Lina Breining (Sound Designer) is a B S in Arts and Entertainment Technologies major also pursuing a B A in Music with an emphasis in composition at The University of Texas at Austin She has worked on numerous music and sound projects for the university, including The Creek Monster Habitat (Creekshow, 2019) and Evolution (2019, 2020) in collaboration with the Department of Theatre and Dance Brooklyn Garza (Director of Photography) is a fifh-year B A in Theatre and Dance major also pursuing a B S in Radio-Television-Film Recent credits with Texas Theatre and Dance include camera direction for Wyeth Airlines Flight Thirteen (UTNT (UT New Theatre), 2020); co-production manager for UTNT (UT New Theatre) (2020) and multiple projects for The Cohen New Works Festivals (2019, 2021) Upon graduating in May, Garza intends to pursue a career in live television Inji Ha (Scenic Designer) is a first-year M F A in Design and Technology candidate with a focus in scenic design at The University of Texas at Austin She recently received her B F A in Theatre Design and Technology with an emphasis in scenic design and scenic work at Auburn University, where she designed sets for their 2019-2020 production season Her work has previously been selected for several exhibitions in both Beijing, China and throughout the United States Recent design credits with Texas Theatre and Dance include In the Ether (2020)
Andrea L. Hart (Co-Director) is a second-year M F A in Directing candidate at The University of Texas at Austin Her most recent credits with Texas Theatre and Dance include directing Wyeth Airlines Flight Thirteen (UTNT (UT New Theatre), 2020) She previously wrote and directed theatre in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she was also a co-founder and member of several small theatre companies including 6NewPlays (new work by Bay Area writers) and Ochlos Theatre Lab (devised, site-specific work) As a writer and deviser, she has developed work at New Ohio Theatre, Great Plains Theatre Conference, MacDowell and CounterPulse andreaLhart org Jenny Krick (Playwright, Co-Director, “B”) is a M F A in Playwriting candidate at The University of Texas at Austin Originally from Florida, she spent eight years in New York developing her plays before heading to Texas She has previously worked with New Dramatists, The Flea, The National Theatre and The Public Theater Paul William Kruse (Video Editor) is a playwright, film/video maker and teaching artist from western Wisconsin His work flows from his queer identity, Catholic roots and ever-evolving experience with family Kruse is a founding member of Hatch Arts Collective in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and a recent graduate of The University of Texas at Austin, where he earned his M F A in Playwriting paulwkruse com Emily T. Novack (Lighting Designer, Movement Director) is a first-year M F A in Design and Technology candidate with a focus on lighting design In 2020, she received her Bachelor of Arts in Dance Studies from the University of South Florida Recent design credits include La Ruta (Texas Theatre and Dance, 2020), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Northwest Florida State College), Cabaret (University of South Florida) and many dance concerts as both a dancer and a designer
CREATIVE Morgan Randall (Stage Manager) is a firstyear B A in Theatre and Dance major with an emphasis in stage management at The University of Texas at Austin She has previously worked as an assistant stage manager for Onions, a studio project directed by Andrea L Hart, along with many productions prior to attending The University of Texas at Austin Davy Sumner (Audio Editor) is an audio engineer, sound designer, composer, installation artist and educator based in Los Angeles He has created and mixed sound for Walt Disney Imagineering, HULU, HBO, Nike, TED and Museum of Ice Cream He is a visiting faculty member at CalArts in the Experimental Sound Practices program, from which he also received his M F A davysumner com
David Tolin (Technical Director) was born and raised in Casper, Wyoming He attended the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, where he received his B A in Theatre with a concentration in design/technology In 2006, he interned with Cirque du Soleil’s Mystère (Treasure Island) and served as a stagehand for Desert Entertainment for several concerts, productions and events across Las Vegas He received his M F A in Scenic Technology from The University of Texas at Austin before teaching at Westlake High School for seven years Tolin joined the staf of the Department of Theatre and Dance in 2017
CAST
Macy Butler
Jenny Krick
Jane Palacios
Andrea Nuñez
Raquel Schmidt
CAST Macy Butler (C) is a B F A in Acting major at The University of Texas at Austin This is her first production with Texas Theatre and Dance Andrea Nuñez (D) is a B A in Theatre and Dance major with an emphasis in performer's process at The University of Texas at Austin She has a substantial background in poetry and acting Nuñez's recent credits with Texas Theatre and Dance include Wyeth Airlines Flight Thirteen (UTNT (UT New Work), 2020) and Tjipetir: A Search History (UTNT (UT New Work), 2020)
Jane Palacios (J) is a fourth-year B A in Theatre and Dance and B S in Neuroscience double major at The University of Texas at Austin In addition to sad women being sad, she is currently working on a piece for The Cohen New Works Festival (2021), entitled Muñe Raquel Schmidt (A) is a fourth-year UTeach Theatre major at The University of Texas at Austin She has been acting since 2012 and will make her Texas Theatre and Dance debut in sad women being sad She is also set to play “Margot” in the TYA musical Margot and Mr. Snooze, which will premiere as part of The Cohen New Works Festival (2021)
CREW
ASSISTANT LIGHTING DESIGNER JONATHAN AMEZCUA
PROP SHOP SUPERVISOR CAROLYN ALLINGHAM HARDIN
ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER MIA GOMEZ-REYES
PROP MASTER CAROLYN ALLINGHAM HARDIN
SCENIC STUDIO SUPERVISOR J E JOHNSON
PROP ARTISAN MORGAN RIDDLE
SCENIC ART SUPERVISOR KAREN MANESS ASSOCIATE SCENIC STUDIO SUPERVISOR JASON LEE HUERTA
PROP STOCK MANAGER INDIRA RAMPERSAD COSTUME PRODUCTION DIRECTOR NANETTE ACOSTA
MASTER CARPENTER HANK SCHWEMMER
COSTUME PRODUCTION ASSOCIATE DESIREÉ HUMPHRIES
ASSISTANT CHARGE SCENIC ARTIST ASHTON BENNETT MURPHY
DRAPERS SARAH ALDRIDGE POUA YANG
GRADUATE PRODUCTION ASSISTANT HARRISON HAYES
COSTUME SHOP ASSISTANTS EMMA DICKERSON KATHRYN MILLER CALIFORNIA THORSON
ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT MADISON SHERIDAN PRODUCTION LEADS ZOE BIHAN GABBY CLEMENTE DANIEL GELD JAKE JOSEPHI EVAN MCCLAIN JULIO MUÑOZ
COSTUME CRAFTS ARTISAN TANYA OLALDE TEXAS PERFORMING ARTS SUPERVISING ELECTRICIANS SEB BOONE SARAH CANTU SENIOR LIGHTING TECHNICIANS ARI JAMIESON EMILY NOVACK
TEXAS PERFORMING ARTS LIGHTING CREW CHARLOTTE BRUMBELOW LIBBY JANTZ BRISA SHAW ASSOCIATE AUDIO SUPERVISOR KENNY KUYKENDALL
COSTUME TECHNOLOGY ADVISOR JAMES GLAVAN LIGHTING DESIGN ADVISOR JEDIDIAH ROE SCENIC DESIGN ADVISOR WILLIAM BLOODGOOD
TEXAS PERFORMING ARTS AUDIO CREW CHEYENNE CHESTER CODY HANCOCK POLLYANNA O'HAIR WILLA SNOW
SOUND DESIGN ADVISOR PHILLIP OWEN
MEDIA SHOP SUPERVISOR EARNEST MAZIQUE
GRAPHIC DESIGNER JEFF GRAY
MEDIA GRADUATE ASSISTANTS JACKSON COBB BENJAMIN RANDALL
SPECIAL THANKS ANNIE BAKER BRANDEN JACOBS-JENKINS CARRA MARTINEZ ERIC MENNEL JESS SHOEMAKER ANNA SKIDIS VARGAS
PRODUCTION CREW SUPERVISORS EMMA CRAIG ZOEY CROW AURORA KENYON NINGMO LIU COURT ROGERS STAGE MANAGEMENT ADVISOR RUSTY CLOYES DIRECTING ADVISORS KJ SANCHEZ ALEXANDRA BASSIAKOU SHAW COSTUME DESIGN ADVISOR RAQUEL BARRETO
ACADEMIC PRODUCTION MANAGER JEFF GRAPKO