RICHARDSON, Texas (August 21, 2006) — The School of Arts and Humanities at The University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) today announced its 2006 –2007 season of theatre and dance performances, which will begin on Sept. 29 and run through March 31.
All theatrical performances will run two consecutive weekends, Thursday through Saturday. All dance and theatre performances will begin at 8 p.m. in the University Theatre. Tickets for each performance are $15.
Alpha Male, written and directed by UTD faculty member Thomas Riccio, runs Sept. 21-30. In a dystopian future, refugees from crime, corruption and chaos enter an enclosed and protected institution run by the “Sponsors.” These refugees are revealed to be carefully selected “Clients,” a sampling of what remains of the outside social order. They find themselves in an immersive environment where everything is under surveillance. The “Clients” are simultaneously utilized for experiments, sport, consumer testing and entertainment. Their implant-induced paranoia blurs hallucination and reality.
Avenue P in the Town of Q, with performances on Oct. 13-14, uses tunes from various musicals choreographed by faculty members Monica Saba and Michele Hanlon to tell a story through dance. The music includes selections not typically used as dance numbers in their original format from musicals such as Avenue Q, Urinetown and The Last 5 Years.
Matthew Tomlanovich will direct Comedy of Errors Nov. 2-11. The production has all of the ingredients needed for comedy: twins separated at birth in a terrible accident at sea, a husband seducing his sister-in-law, servants who are beaten regularly. William Shakespeare’s earliest comic masterpiece, Comedy of Errors is a tale of coincidence and slapstick humor told by clowns with sharp witticisms and silly walks. The play is a fast-paced, farcical fable with no moral other than laughter as its own reward.
Tomlanovich, who holds an M.F.A. degree from the California Institute of the Arts, has directed a variety of plays including No Exit, On the Verge, One for the Road, Bad Boy, Hosanna, Romeo and Juliet, Twelfth Night, Dumb Supper, Ground Zero Christmas, Into the Night, Red Noses and Dark Ride. This summer as part of Shakespeare Dallas and Junior Players’ Discover Shakespeare program, he co-directed a puppet performance of Comedy of Errors for teen actors. Tomlanovich has taught theater at the University of North Texas, Southern Methodist University, the University of Utah and Collin County Community College.
Shakespeare Dallas artistic director Raphael Parry will direct The Way They Shine, which runs Feb. 15-24. The play will be produced in cooperation with Project X. Death takes a holiday when the executioner for the State of Texas walks off his job. Crime sprees erupt and lines are blurred in the moral question over an eye for an eye. There are five-pound fairies that serve as agents of change as the Ram and Merle Haggard work to restore order. This highly poetic play combines music, video and film with live performance in a sweeping style that has great humor and pathos.
The Way They Shine is based on an original commission of Shiner by Erik Ehn and Octavio Solis, which was produced and directed by Parry at Dallas’ Undermain Theatre in 1997. Enjoy the sights and sounds of a metaphysical journey around Texas, from the border of Mexico to the State Fair of Texas and all points, geographic and emotional, in between. Parry is the co-founder and former co-artistic director of the Undermain Theatre, where he produced and directed over 40 productions. He has directed plays at Dallas Theater Center, Kitchen Dog Theater, The MAC, Zachary Scott Theater and Addison Center Theatre. Parry is the director of Texas Bound - Arts and Letters Live, a literary series presented at the Dallas Museum of Art, and is the former artistic director of Young Audiences of North Dallas.
UTD’s third annual two-week joint residency will feature Dallas native Jennifer Mabus, founding member of New York’s Battleworks Dance Company. Mabus will work with UTD faculty, students and invited guests to choreograph pieces for performances on March 30-31. According to The Dallas Morning News, Battleworks is renowned for its idiosyncratic works that look “so different and yet so good.”
Additional information on each event is available on the UTD Arts and Humanities web site, http://ah.utdallas.edu/. All programs are subject to change. UTD ticket office hours are from 2 to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and at the door one hour prior to show time. To purchase tickets using Visa, MasterCard or Discover during those hours, please call 972-883-2552.
For information about the many musical, arts, theatre, dance and other performances and exhibitions held throughout the year at UTD, please call 972-UTD-ARTS (972-883-2787), e-mail utdarts@utdallas.edu, or visit the School of Arts and Humanities’ website at http://ah.utdallas.edu/. Persons with disabilities needing special accommodations may call 972-883-2982, Texas Relay Operator: 1-800-RELAYVV.
About UTD
The University of Texas at Dallas, located at the convergence of Richardson, Plano and Dallas in the heart of the complex of major multinational technology corporations known as the Telecom Corridor®, enrolls nearly 14,500 students. The school’s freshman class traditionally stands at the forefront of Texas state universities in terms of average SAT scores. The university offers a broad assortment of bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degree programs. For additional information about UTD, please visit the university’s website at www.utdallas.edu.
