Playwright Lisa D'Amour Talks with UT's El Alcalde, October 2

The Alcalde on-line magazine of the Texas Exes alumni association publishes an interview with alumna Lisa D'Amour (MFA) as the Department of Theatre and Dance prepares to stage her work The Cataract on October 19 - 28:

Lisa D'Amour (via the Alcalde)

Playwriting's Next Big Thing:

Pulitzer Finalist Lisa D'Amour

by Rose Cahalan, October 2, 2012

When playwright Lisa D’Amour, MFA ’96, finished a workshop at Hampshire College last year, she checked her voicemail. To her shock, dozens of vague, celebratory messages had poured in: “Lisa, congratulations!” and “Wow, just heard the news!” D’Amour turned to a friend and said, “I think I just won something.”

D’Amour’s play Detroit had just been named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. The elite honor was only the latest accolade in D’Amour’s highly acclaimed and rapidly ascending career—she also won an OBIE, or Off-Broadway Theater Award, for Nita and Zita in 2003.

In the past few weeks alone, arts and culture giants the New York Times and the New Yorker have both published glowing reviews of Detroit, a dark comedy about relationships and the recession co-starring former Friends star David Schwimmer. The Times called Detroit “Superb … a sharp X-ray of the embattled American psyche as well as a smart, tart critique of the country’s fraying social fabric.”

New Orleans native D’Amour found time last week for a visit to campus, where the Department of Theatre and Dance will soon stage her drama The Cataract (performances run Oct 19-28 in the B. Iden Payne Theatre) [click for more information at AustinLiveTheatre.com]. In between a packed schedule of workshops, guest lectures, and media appearances, D’Amour caught up with The Alcalde.

Click to read the interview at the Alcalde . . . .