Arts Reporting: Secrets of the Stage, UT Daily Texan

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Secrets of the Stage

A step onto the brightly lit stage of the Oscar G. Brockett Theatre is a step behind the scenes of the University’s Department of Theatre and Dance.

by Danielle Wallace for the Daily Texan 4 May 2011

This week, senior undergraduate and graduate students reveal the secrets of their trades at the annual Theatre Design & Technology Spring Showcase.

The UT and Austin communities will have the opportunity to peruse the portfolios of students in programs including scenic design, lighting, costume and costume technology, and scene and theatrical design. A small sea of booths, one representing each student, provide snapshots and detailed glimpses into the artistry and effort behind previous productions from November’s “Fight” to February’s “The Threepenny Opera.” Some even provide sneak peeks of set and costume design for upcoming productions — namely, “Love’s Labour’s Lost,” an early Shakespearean comedy that will premiere April 2011.

In a corner of the upper steps of the stage, costumes hang on a rack as they would in a clothing store, and painstakingly detailed masks and bright swatches of fabric are set up across the length of a table. Several framed chalkboards encourage passers by to touch the work on display, leave messages on the boards and speak to the student who crafted it all.

The student in question is Carl Booker, a theatrical design student who will graduate from the Master’s program this year. He believes in gaining an understanding of the draping and design processes through interactivity.

Read more at the Daily Texan on-line . . . .

The Threepenny Opera by Brecht & Weill, University of Texas, February 18 - 27

UT's The Threepenny Opera is an astonishing production, of such quality and depth that it deserved to run for months. But the Oscar Brockett Theatre seats only about 200 and there were only seven performances.

I organized a group of 16 to attend the first Saturday performance, and they walked away bedazzled. You can pity that one prospective group member who decided not to take up the offer because, he said, he's "allergic to opera."

A parenthetical rant: You can't buy this kind of performance on the open market, because it would have to go into a far larger hall to have even the remotest possibility of contributing to the overhead.

Never mind that this cast of 22 and musical ensemble of 7 are almost all students, performing for free and working with UT grad students and faculty. Instead, admire the fact that they're paying tuition so they can get up there and amaze you.

Given the size of the university and the theatre department, you can explain some of the quality by simple Darwinian selection. Plus the fact that UT, in fashion similar to Texas State, has ploughed resources into a new musical theatre program.

The back page of the program lists 180 names -- 180! -- of secondary-level crew members, in 70 specialties.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .