The University of Texas Department of Theatre and Dance at Austin Presents UTNT (UT New Theatre), Part Two

The University of Texas Department of Theatre and Dance at Austin will present UTNT (UT New Theatre), Part Two this March and April, presented virtually as part of the 2020/2021 Texas Theatre and Dance Season. Established in 2007 by nationally renowned playwright Steven Dietz, UTNT (UT New Theatre) is an annual showcase of newly developed works for the American stage from playwrights of the Department of Theatre and Dance's master of fine arts program and the Michener Center for Writers. Presented this season in two parts, the second set of playwrights are taking their work to the virtual stage with a series of cutting edge, all-new plays.

"For us, UTNT has always been a showcase and celebration of the great playwrights of tomorrow," shares producing artistic director KJ Sanchez. "This is a chance to share the work of our third-year M.F.A. playwrights, produced by our exceptional cohort of M.F.A. directors. This spring, we offer plays about finding radiance and love [despite life's difficulties], the connection between sacrifice and struggle, inventive examinations of what is real or not, and adaptations of some of the oldest stories, re-told for a brand-new world."

The UTNT (UT New Theatre), Part Two plays include:

Community Garden

By Renae Simone Jarrett

Directed by Kristen Osborn

Presented as a reading March 12, 2021 at 7:30 p.m.

Community Garden is a meditation on self-searching, sacrifice and that lovely glow you get when you feast on the fruits that grow from the graves of dead husbands.

Radiance

By Gursimrat Kaur

Directed by Giana Blazquez

March 26 and 28, 2021 at 7:30 p.m.

Set in a growing metropolitan city in the midst of an economic transition, Radiance follows the story of a few individuals who want more from the city than it promises to give them: Aria, a high-end escort, orchestrates an escape from her gruesome life in an elite brothel while Dina, a physically disabled young woman, rebels for love that will open her world beyond an isolated bedroom in the middle of a suburban wasteland. As Stanley, an aspiring young entrepreneur, arrives in the city to climb the ladder of a booming textile industry, we witness the consequences of economic progression on the inequity of gender roles in a developing society.

sad women being sad

Written and Co-Directed by Jenny Krick

Co-Directed by Andrea L. Hart

April 1 and 3, 2021 at 7:30 p.m.

This lyrical play explores what it means to be sad and a woman in this world through the lens of the Greek tragedy, The Trojan Women. Examining trauma, mental health, violence and the internet's role in these things, sad women being sad asks the larger question of how and if we can separate the artist from their art. Be prepared for a comedy!

Fall the House

By Nicholas Kaidoo

Directed by Braxton Rae

April 6 and 7, 2021 at 7:30 p.m.

Everyone at the Atreus Housing Project is anticipating the long-rumored return of GHOST. When he does arrive, it sets off a persistently fatal chain of events. His wife NESSA is suspicious of him, his daughter ALEXUS could care less about him, a kid in the neighborhood, OLLIE, worships him and the girl with kerosene gas dripping from her hands KARA is just wandering trying to find her place in it all. And where in the hell is his son BISHOP anyway? If only they could ask that fake-ass psychic, PIANO MAN. The FURIES watch this all, withholding their verdict on the violence for as long as they see fit. A liberal homage to Aeschylus's Oresteia.

OCD

By Hee-won Kim

Directed by Mike Steele

April 9 and 10, 2021 at 7:30 p.m.

How do you love someone who isn't you without ruining your own life? OCD is a dark comedy about impossible sibling connections, mental illness and a desire to have a room of one's own in a world where boundaries between the notion of love and sacrifice are not always clear. After her brother's accident, an older sister gets hallucinations of her brother falling from an iceberg in Antarctica - a place she believes used to trigger her brother's OCD. She then visits the doctor who used to treat her brother, claiming that she has OCD.

For more information about UTNT (UT New Theatre), Part Two, please visit JoinTheDrama.org

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