Photos by Sydney Roberts for YERMA by Federico Garcia Lorca, Texas State University, San Marcos, November 19 - 24, 2013

Photos by Sydney Roberts for the

(poster design: Jeremy K. White)

Texas State University Department of Theatre and Dance 

presentation of


YERMA




By Federico Garcia Lorca



Translated by Michael Dewell and Carmen Zapata



Directed by Deb Alley

November 19 – 23 at 7:30 p.m. &November 24 at 2 p.m.




University Mainstage Theatre, 430 Moon St., San Marcos, Texas - click for map
 



Tickets: $15 - $18 general admission and $8 for students with a valid Texas State ID.



Box Office: To purchase tickets please visit www.txstatepresents.com or call the box office at 512-245-2204 beginning on Monday November 4^th 2014




A lyrical tragedy, Yerma focuses on a childless woman living in rural Spain. Her desperate desire for motherhood becomes an obsession that eventually drives her to commit a horrific crime. Lorca’s modern masterpiece explores gender roles and the dynamics of both personal and cultural expectations and the impact they have on individuals and their relationships.

Julia Badin, Gabriel Bernal (photo: Sydney Roberts)

Julia Badin, Zuhdi Boueri (photo: Sydney Roberts)

YERMA by Federico Garcia Lorca, Texas State University, November 19 - 24, 2013

Texas State University Department of Theatre and Dance presents

YERMA


By Federico Garcia Lorca

Translated by Michael Dewell and Carmen Zapata

Directed by Deb Alley
November 19 – 23 at 7:30 p.m. & November 24 at 2 p.m.

University Mainstage Theatre, 430 Moon St., San Marcos, Texas - click for map

Tickets: $15 - $18 general admission and $8 for students with a valid Texas State ID.

Box Office: To purchase tickets please visit www.txstatepresents.com or call the box office at 512-245-2204 beginning on Monday November 4^th 2014

A lyrical tragedy, Yerma focuses on a childless woman living in rural Spain. Her desperate desire for motherhood becomes an obsession that eventually drives her to commit a horrific crime. Lorca’s modern masterpiece explores gender roles and the dynamics of both personal and cultural expectations and the impact they have on individuals and their relationships.

TITUS ANDRONICUS by William Shakespeare, Texas State University, November 7 - 10, 2013

(poster design: Lauren Phillips)

TITUS ANDRONICUS

by William Shakespeare
directed by Claire Parker
November 7 – 9 at 7:30 p.m. & November 10 at 2 p.m.

Texas State University Department of Theatre and Dance
PSH Foundation Studio Theatre, 430 Moon St., San Marcos - click for map

Tickets: $15 general admission and $8 for students with a valid Texas State ID.

To purchase tickets please visit www.txstatepresents.com or call the box office at 512-245-2204 beginning on Monday November 4^th 2014

Titus Andronicus is set during the latter days of the Roman Empire and tells the fictional story of Titus, a general in the Roman army, who is engaged in a cycle of revenge with Tamora, Queen of the Goths. It is Shakespeare's bloodiest and most violent work presented in a contemporary fashion in our intimate Studio Theatre.

Playwright Christopher Durang Attends Q & A and Performances of his Adrift in Macao, Texas State University

Christopher Durang (photo via Austin Chronicle)

 

 

Christopher Durang

Tony-winning playwright takes up residence at Texas State

by Robert Faires, October 3, 2013

[. . .] Adrift in Macao, a 2007 musical for which the playwright penned the book and lyrics, is being mounted by the Texas State University Department of Theatre and Dance, and the author will be in San Marcos to see it. Indeed, he and his partner of 26 years, John Augustine – a widely produced and very funny dramatist in his own right – will be on hand as playwrights-in-residence, thanks to the efforts of Kaitlin Hopkins, head of the musical theatre program at Texas State and an old friend of Durang's, with support from the Bowman Guest Artist Series.

The residency is obviously for the benefit of the department's students, and they'll have the chance to take a master class on the audition process with both authors, but Texas State is creating ample opportunities for the larger community to take advantage of it. After the evening performances of Adrift in Macao Friday and Saturday, Durang will join the cast for a talk-back moderated by Hopkins, who directed the production. And Saturday afternoon, a pair of programs involving the two writers will be open to the public – one focusing on Durang and his career, the other a roundtable discussion about collaboration featuring Durang and Augustine[. . . .]

Saturday, Oct. 12

"A Conversation With Christopher Durang" – 1-2 p.m.

Durang will field questions from head of playwriting Jim Price and the audience, and will also read from his own work.

"Collaboration: The Process" – 2:30-4pm

Durang and John Augustine will join students in Texas State's playwriting and directing programs for a roundtable discussion about the collaborative process between writer and director, and how it differs when the play is in development and when it's being fully produced. MFA directing associate professor Deb Alley will moderate.

Click to read full article at the Austin Chronicle

---

Adrift in Macao runs Oct. 8-13, Tuesday-Saturday, 7:30 p.m;. Sunday, 2 & 7:30 p.m., at University Mainstage Theatre, 430 Moon, Texas State campus in San Marcos. For more information, call 512/245-2204 or visit www.txstatepresents.com.

Video: Toby Minor Speaks about Teaching Stage Combat at Texas State Universty

From a video submitted to the Texas State Star by Christian Alexander Pena:

2013-2014 Theatre Season, Texas State University, San Marcos

2013 - 2014 Theatre Season

(Click to go to the AustinLiveTheatre front page)

TOP GIRLS by Caryl Churchill, PSH Foundatiion Theatre, Texas State University, San Marcos, April 4 - 6, 2013

(






Texas State University Theatre Center, 430 Moon Street, San Marcos)

presents

(poster design: Geoffrey Douglas)

Top Girls

By Caryl Churchill
Directed by David Weynand
Texas State University-San Marcos, Department of Theatre and Dance
April 4^th – 6^th @ 7:30 pm and 7^th @ 2:00 pm
 
PSH Foundation Studio Theatre, 430 Moon St., San Marcos, Texas

Tickets: $10 general admission and $7 for students with a valid Texas State ID.

For reservations, call the Texas State Box Office at (512) 245-2204.

Tickets will go on sale beginning: Monday April 1^st at 10:00 am


Marlene has been promoted to managing director of a London employment agency and is celebrating. The symbolic luncheon is attended by women in legend or history who offer perspectives on maternity and ambition. In a time warp, these ladies are also her co-workers, clients, and relatives. Marlene, like her famous guests, has had to pay a price to ascend from proletarian roots to the executive suite.

(Click to return to the AustinLiveTheatre front page)

URINETOWN, Texas State University, April 15 - 21, 2013

(Texas State University Theatre Center, 430 Moon Street, San Marcos)

presents

Urinetown

Music and Lyrics by Mark Hollman
Book and Lyrics by Greg Kotis
Directed by Kaitlin Hopkins
April 16 – 21 @ 7:30pm & April 21 @ 2:00pm
April 15 @ 7:30pm - $5.00 preview

One of the most uproariously funny musicals in recent years, Urinetown is the Tony Award-winning tale of greed, corruption, love, and revolution in a time when water is worth its weight in gold. 

In a Gotham-like city, a 20-year drought has led to a government-enforced ban on private toilets. The citizens must use public amenities, regulated by a single malevolent company that profits by charging admission for one of humanity's most basic needs. Amid the people, a hero decides he's had enough, and plans a revolution to lead them all to freedom! 

Inspired by the works of Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill, Urinetown is an irreverently humorous satire in which no one is safe from scrutiny.

(Click to return to the AustinLiveTheatre front page)

Richard III by William Shakespeare, Texas State University, February 12 - 16, 2013

by Michael Meigs

Richard III is a portrait of a monster.  He's a killer, more forthright than Iago and without a shred of the scruples of Macbeth.  This is the protagonist who tells us he's going to court a grieving royal widow as she stands over her husband's body "though I kill'd her husband and her father," and achieves that impossibility. She agrees to marry him.

The immensity of this deformed soul's shamelessness is astounding.  Richard III was the portrait of a sociopath before the diagnosis was invented, the story of a demon in human form.  The single-mindedness of Richard's evil is grotesque, and if this story hadn't been presented in Shakespeare's verse, it would have been worth little more than the prancing devil of a provincial church pageant.

A further complication is that this 1592 play opens in medias res -- it's a direct continuation of Shakespeare's galumphing first three plays, Henry VI, parts one through three, in which the Yorks and the Lancasters fight it out.  A director may be tempted simply to assume all that background away, throwing his audience directly into the maw of this deformed and demented protagonist with his memorable opening line "Now is the winter of our discontent."  American audiences, especially university audiences, certainly can't tell a white rose from a red one.  It was all a long time ago and in England, and who cares, anyway?


 

Director Chuck Ney's ingenious approach to establishing this dense plot line and making us care about it is to situate it an unspecified airport.  While waiting for the action to start, we hear the distant crossing whine of landing airliners.  When the lights come up, we find ourselves in a shabby security room with banks of old-fashioned television sets.  Eugene Lee has a remote control in hand, and after he settles his twisted figure into an office chair, pops a can of Heineken and hits the button, those TVs come alive.  We see brief videos in multiple images across all those televisions, recording the confrontation when Richard gunned down the Lancaster Prince of Wales, the ceremonial accession of Richard's brother Edward and the shrill denunciations of widowed Queen Margaret.  There's an equatorial third-world look to all of it, and many of the faces are those of people of color.

The texts of these videos are taken from the final scenes of the Henry VI plays.  By this point, before Richard first speaks directly to the audience, spectators understand that bloody business has been underway, the reigning king is no saint and the ousted queen is ferocious and bereaved.

Click to read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

ALL IN THE TIMING by David Ives, PSH Foundation Theatre, Texas State University, March 21 - 24, 2013

(Texas State University Theatre Center, 430 Moon Street, San Marcos)

 presents

All in the Timing

By David Ives
Directed by Elizabeth Buras
March 21 – 23 @ 7:30pm and March 24 @ 2:00pm

A hilarious sextet - this critically acclaimed, award-winning evening of short comedies combines wit, intellect, satire and just plain fun. “Like sketches for some hilarious, celestially conceived revue. The writing is not only very funny, it has density of thought and precision of poetry.”

(Click to return to the AustinLiveTheatre front page)

EARLY LIBERTY by Rita Anderson, Lab Theatre, Texas State University, January 31 - February 2, 2013

(







Texas State University Theatre Center, 430 Moon Street, San Marcos)

presents

Early Liberty
by Rita Anderson
Directed by Robert Wighs
January 31-February 2 at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, February 3 at 2:00
Texas State University (Lab Theatre)

A play about false fronts and true love—about plans, and yardsticks we never measure up to.

When Mark Haywood follows the beacon into Lighthouse Cove nothing is what it seems. But if Mark’s world is falling apart despite increasingly-frantic efforts to keep it together, then the hotel proprietor and his family need a special kind of rescue from each other. Just what will it take for Selma to grow up and for Mark to wake up? Can these dueling opposites save the hotel and find a way to be together? Set in 1985 on the Atlantic shore, Early Liberty explores the limits and boundlessness of love and hope, and the darker side of what it means to dream.

“Life is about paying attention to the right things,” but what happens when the people and places you consider safe aren’t? What is “safe” and who spells “Home”?

(Click to return to the AustinLiveTheatre front page)

RICHARD III by William Shakespeare, Texas State University, February 13 - 1, 2013

(Texas State University Theatre Center, 430 Moon Street, San Marcos)

presents

Richard III

By William Shakespeare
Directed by Chuck Ney
February 12 – 16 @ 7:30pm & February 17 @ 2:00pm

Probably Shakespeare’s greatest history play, Richard III tells the Machiavellian rise of the hunchbacked Duke of Gloucester who becomes King Richard III. Starring Artist-in-Residence Eugene Lee, this production takes a modern look at this classic tale of greed, corruption, and the pursuit of power.

(Click to go to the AustinLiveTheatre front page)

Promotional Video: Texas Musical Theatre Workshop for High School Students, Summer 2013

Posted on YouTube November 14 by Texas Musical Theatre Workshop (TXMTW):









June 9 - 29, 2013
For high-school students interested in a career in musical theatre, TXMTW offers training, access to Broadway professionals, visibility and insight that's not available anywhere else. The mission is to foster the development of new musicals and provide a bridge for young artists to the professional world.

TXMTW is a collaboration between the musical theatre faculties of The University of Texas at Austin and Texas State University. The Texas Musical Theatre Workshop is a tremendous opportunity to gain pre-professional training in acting, singing, dancing, auditioning and performing. Participants work with and perform for top industry professionals and college-level theatre faculty over an extended period of time. Students also get an inside look at the process by which new musicals are developed - all in a safe collegiate environment.

It's a one-of-a-kind chance to explore your potential for a career in musical theatre. Founding Artistic Directors: Kaitlin Hopkins, Lyn Koenning, Jim Price

Please feel free to contact us at tmtw@austin.utexas.edu or call 512-471-3721 with any additional questions. Click to go to the website for staff bios, schedule, and more.

Upcoming: Gruesome Playground Injuries by Rajiv Joseph, Texas State University, November 1 - 4

Gruesome Playground Injuries

(Poster design: Geoffrey Douglas)

By Rajiv Joseph
Directed by A. Julian Verner

Texas State University-San Marcos, Department of Theatre and Dance
November 1st – 3rd @ 7:30 pm and 4th @ 2:00 pm
PSH Foundation Studio Theatre
430 Moon St., San Marcos, Texas

Tickets: $10 general admission and $7 for students with a valid Texas State ID.
Box Office: For reservations, call the Texas State Box Office at (512) 245-2204.
Tickets will go on sale beginning: Thursday October 25th at 10:00 am 


Over the course of 30 years, the lives of Kayleen and Doug intersect at the most bizarre intervals, leading the two childhood friends to compare scars and the physical calamities that keep drawing them together. 

(Click to go to the AustinLiveTheatre front page)

Upcoming: Into The Woods by Sondheim and Lapine, Texas State University, November 12 - 18

presents

Into the Woods

Texas State

Book by James Lapine
 Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Directed by Michael Costello
November 13 – 18 @ 7:30pm and November 18 @ 2:00pm
November 12 @ 7:30pm - $5.00 preview  

An ambivalent Cinderella? A blood-thirsty Little Red Ridinghood? A Prince Charming with a roving eye? A Witch...who raps? They're among the cockeyed characters in James Lapine and Stephen Sondheim's fractured fairy tale. When a Baker and his Wife learn they've been cursed with childlessness by the Witch next door, they embark on a quest for the special objects required to break the spell, swindling, lying to and stealing from Cinderella, Little Red, Rapunzel and Jack (the one who climbed the beanstalk). Everyone's wish is granted, but the consequences of their actions return to haunt them later. What begins as a lively irreverent fantasy becomes a moving lesson about community responsibility and the stories we tell our children.

(Click to go to the AustinLiveTheatre front page)

Upcoming: Doubt by John Patrick Shanley, PSH Foundation Studio Theatre, Texas State University, October 11 - 14

presents

(Poster design: Geoffrey Douglas)

By John Patrick Shanley
Directed by Claire Parker
October 11th – 13th @ 7:30 pm and 14th @ 2:00 pm
PSH Foundation Studio Theatre, 430 Moon St., San Marcos, Texas


Tickets: $10 general admission and $7 for students with a valid Texas State ID.
Box Office: For reservations, call the Texas State Box Office at (512) 245-2204.
Tickets will go on sale beginning: Monday October 8th at 10:00 am


Winner of the 2005 Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award, in this powerful drama, Sister Aloysius, a Bronx school principal, takes matters into her own hands when she suspects the young Father Flynn of improper relations with one of the male students.


Additional Information: Please contact (512) 245-2147


(Click to go to the AustinLiveTheatre front page)

Upcoming: Second Annual Art Song Symposium, Texas State University, September 25 - 28

presents


The Second Annual Art Song Symposium

The Parisian Salon

Tuesday, September 25 @ 7:30pm
A Lecture Recital featuring Texas State faculty members Kevin Mooney, lecturer; Adah Jones, flute; Oliver Worthington, baritone; Cheryl Parrish, soprano; Sam Mungo, baritone; Juli Wood, soprano; Vanguel Tangarov, clarinet; and Ron Ulen, baritone
Music Building Recital Hall (TXSTMUS 236) (click for map)General Admission $10 | $5 Student, Senior
Citizen, & Military w/ID

The academic and performing faculty of the School of Music in the College of Fine Arts and Communication at Texas State University join to present a lecture recital of selected French vocal and instrumental music in the style of a 19th century Parisian salon party. Presented as part of a three-day event including master classes, recitals, and lectures.



Guest Artist Recital and Master Class

Featuring Laura Claycomb, soprano and Keith Weber, piano
Friday, September 28th @ 7:30pm
Their program will include art songs by Messiaen, Poulenc, Hindemith, and others... Tres Poemas, Chant de terre et de ciel, Fiançailles pour rire, Marienleben, and Brentano Lieder.
Performing Arts Center | San Marcos High School, 2601 Rattler Road
General Admission :: $12 | $6 Student, Senior Citizen & Military w/ID

Saturday, September 29th @ 10am-1 pm
Master Class with Laura Claycomb , soprano & Keith Weber, piano
Performing Arts Center | San Marcos High School, 2601 Rattler Road
Free Admission and open to the public


Tickets will be sold at the door - arrive early to allow time for parking, tickets and seating. For more information contact Dr. Oliver Worthington at ow12@txstate.edu
or visit us online at http://www.music.txstate.edu/voice/artsongsymposium.html.

School of Music Office 512.245.2651 | www.music.txstate.edu/voice

(Click to return to the AustinLiveTheatre front page)

Upcoming: Lend Me A Tenor by Ken Ludwig, Texas State University, October 2 - 7

presents

(poster design: Geoffrey Douglas)

October 2 – 6 @ 7:30pm & October 7 @ 2:00pm

Texas State University-San Marcos, Department of Theatre and Dance
University Mainstage Theatre, Address: 430 Moon St., San Marcos, Texas (click for map)

Tickets: $12 general admission and $7 for students with a valid Texas State ID.
Box Office: For reservations, call the Texas State Box Office at (512) 245-2204.
Tickets will go on sale beginning: Monday September 24 at 10:00 a.m.

Set in the 1930s, Lend Me a Tenor is a madcap screwball comedy that takes place when Tito Merelli, the fiery-tempered and world famous Italian opera star, arrives in Cleveland, Ohio. When Tito goes missing, the show's producer conspires to cover for Tito's absence, placate his hot-blooded wife, and distract his most passionate fans. This Tony-nominated comedy takes farcical chaos to operatic levels.

Additional Information: Please contact (512) 245-2147

Cody Jenkins, Marci Blackwell

Cody Jenkins, Max Zhudi Boeri (Texas State University Theatre)

(Click to return to the AustinLiveTheatre front page)

Upcoming: Hair by Rado, Ragni and MacDermot, Texas State University, April 20 - 29

presents

Book and Lyrics by James Rado & Gerome Ragni, Music by Galt MacDermot

Directed by Kaitlin Hopkins, Choreographed by Tom Truss

April 20th – 21st & April 24th – 28th at 7:30 p.m., April 22nd & 29th at 2:00 p.m.

University Mainstage Theatre, 430 Moon St., San Marcos, Texas (click for map)

Tickets $12 general admission and $7 for students with a valid Texas State ID.

For reservations, call the Texas State Box Office at (512) 245-2204.

Tickets will go on sale beginning Monday April 9th at 10:00 a.m.

Box Office hours: April 9- 13, 16-19 from 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.

April 16th – April 19th from 10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.

April 20, 21, 24 - 27 from 10:00 a.m. – 7:30 p.m.

April 22n & 29 from 12:30 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.

April 23rd from 10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.

April 28th from 6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.

Hair tells the story of a group of friends choosing to speak up and sing out in celebration of love, life and freedom. The first great rock musical, it has some of the most rousing and soulful songs ever written for the stage, including "Let the Sun Shine In," "Easy to be Hard," "Good Morning Starshine," "Aquarius" and the infectious title song, "Hair."

[poster design by Geoffrey Douglas and Sara Lee Cely]

Classes: Texas Musical Theatre Workshop, UT+Texas State, June 10 - 30

UT and Texas State Offer New Musical Theatre Workshop June 10 - 30

at the F. Loren Winship Drama Building on The University of Texas at Austin campus. (Click for campus map.)

The University of Texas at Austin, in collaboration with Texas State University-San Marcos, is offering the inaugural Texas Musical Theatre Workshop, a three-week, pre-professional summer intensive for high school students exploring a potential career in musical theatre. This unique program brings New York’s Broadway talent to Texas, providing students the very best in musical theatre training by industry professionals. Teaching artists include Tony Award-nominated composer Andrew Lippa, director Matt Lenz, Broadway performer Joyce Chittick and university faculty members.

Texas Musical Theatre Workshop (TMTW) was founded by university faculty members Lyn Koenning, Kaitlin Hopkins and Jim Price. As a collective, these artistic directors bring more than 75 years of industry experience to the workshop. Head of the Texas State University playwriting program, Price is a veteran Broadway performer (Les Miserables, The Civil War). Hopkins, a Broadway performer and director, heads the nationally renowned musical theatre program at Texas State University. University of Texas at Austin faculty member Lyn Koenning is an award-winning music director, vocal arranger and voice and acting coach whose students have appeared on Broadway, regional theatre, television and film.

“We have a huge network of performers, directors, composers and playwrights ready to share their experiences, skills and insights with the next generation of artists," Koenning says. "We’re delighted to bring Broadway’s best to Texas.”

TMTW’s roster of teaching artists includes Andrew Lippa, Tony Award nominee and composer of the Broadway musical The Addams Family. Lippa’s work on The Wild Party (book/music/lyrics) was recognized in 2000 with the Drama Desk Award for best music. Broadway director Matt Lenz served as the associate director for the original production of Hairspray on Broadway and was recently the associate director for Catch Me If You Can on Broadway. And performer Joyce Chittick has starred in nine original Broadway casts, including Anything Goes, Jersey Boys and Cabaret.

At TMTW, students work side-by-side with these teaching artists and university faculty members. The program offers studio and master classes in acting, voice, dance, audition technique and performance.

“There is tremendous talent in Texas but few options for comprehensive training in all aspects of musical theatre by industry professionals,” Hopkins says. “At TMTW, we give them the added bonus of having our top faculty help prepare them for their colleges’ auditions as well as their careers."

Registration for the 2012 workshop is under way. For more information on Texas Musical Theatre Workshop, visit www.texasmusicaltheatreworkshop.com.