Current Students

The combined playwriting programs of The Department of Theatre and Dance and The Michener Center for Writers is very proud of the professional activities of our students. Just a snap shot of our current group reveals an astonishing level of accomplishment. The eleven grad students in the combined MCW and T&D programs have had their works produced all over the country and at all professional levels, from fringe festivals to off-Broadway premieres. Some have international credits with productions in Belgium, England, Germany, and Canada. They have collectively received six fellowships from the prestigious Playwrights' Center in Minneapolis: four have won Jerome Fellowships, with one writer receiving it twice, and one has earned a McKnight Advancement Grant. Our students are the recipients of commissions and grants from Soho Repertory, the National Endowment of the Arts, and Theatre Communications Group.

Our students have been finalists or have won the Actors Theatre of Louisville's Ten-Minute Play Contest, the Heideman Award, the Princess Grace Award, the Alliance Theatre's Graduate Playwriting Competition, and the Playwrights' Center's Playlabs Play Development Workshop. Our current students are performing at the level of professionals with many years of experience. At the 2004 Humana Festival of New American Plays at the Actor's Theatre of Louisville, one of the most prestigious new play events in the United States, three of the twelve plays were written by former UT students or faculty.

Katie Bender

Gabriel Jason Dean

Gabriel Jason Dean is a native Georgian and a third year fellow at the Michener Center for Writers. His plays have been produced or developed at Theatre Row, Hangar Theatre, ASSITEJ International, The Kennedy Center, A Red Orchid Theatre, Aurora Theatre, Dad's Garage Theatre, Actor's Express, Horizon Theatre, Illinois Shakespeare Festival, FronteraFest, Source Festival, the Cohen New Works Festival, Essential Theatre, Relativity Theatre Concern and Stage Door Players. Gabriel received the Kennedy Center’s 2011 Ken Ludwig Prize for a body of work from an emerging writer and was a Runner-Up for the 2011 Princess Grace Award. His script for children, The Transition of Doodle Pequeño received the 2011 New England Theatre Conference Aurand Harris Award and was selected for the 2012 Kennedy Center New Visions / New Voices Conference with People’s Light and Theatre Company. He is the recipient of the 2010 Essential Theatre New Play Prize and won the 2010 Samuel French Off-Off Broadway Festival. Gabriel was voted “Best Playwright” in 2009 by Creative Loafing: Atlanta. He won the City of Atlanta Bureau of Cultural Affairs Playwriting Award, the Porter Fleming Prize for Fiction and the Sidney Lanier Prize for Poetry. Other plays have been finalists or semi-finalists for the Seven Devils Conference, The O’Neill Theatre Conference , Bay Area Playwright’s Festival, and the Lark Play Development Center. His scripts are available through Playscripts and Samuel French. Gabriel's poetry, fiction and journalism have been published in Snake Nation Review, The Tower, Eclectica Magazine, The Melic Review, and Creative Loafing. He received the Porter Fleming Prize for Fiction and the Sidney Lanier Prize for Poetry. Gabriel founded and facilitated the first year of the Odyssey Program, a drama/creative writing workshop for Morry's Camp, a non-profit camp for underprivileged inner city kids in New York.

BA: Oglethorpe University.

www.GabrielJasonDean.com

Holli Gipson

Holli Gipson's plays have been produced and developed at her alma mater Cornell College, Iowa City, Chicago and in her current residence, Austin, Texas. Her play, PEACH BLOOD was selected for the main stage series at Cornell College. Her experimental play SCAVENGER HEART was workshopped in UT’s 2009 Lab Series and THE CHRONICLES OF BAD ASS WOMEN was workshopped during the Cohen New Works Festival in March 2011. CHRONICLES will also see a production in the UTNT series at UT. Holli holds a B.A. in English and Theater from Cornell College. She is currently pursuing her M.F.A in Playwriting at the University of Texas at Austin where she’s also found a passion for teaching. In the winter of 2010 she attended the Theater of the Oppressed Conference in Kalkutta where she found a love for political and educational theater. She is also trained in Drama Based Instruction through the Summer Institute at UT.

Diana Grisanti

Diana Grisanti is a writer, performer, and activist from Louisville, Kentucky. She is the inaugural recipient of the Marsha Norman Spirit of Achievement Lilly Award. She was a nominee for the Wasserstein Prize and a runner-up for the Kennedy Center’s Paula Vogel Award. Currently, she is a Core Apprentice at the Playwrights' Center in Minneapolis. Her short play Post Wave Spectacular was produced in the 2010 Humana Festival at Actors Theatre of Louisville. She has been a finalist or semi-finalist for the Lark Playwrights’ Week, the New Harmony Project, and the Bay Area Playwrights Festival. Diana’s adaptations of 1,001 Nights and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland were commissioned and produced by Walden Theatre, a conservatory for young actors. Her musical Richie Farmer Will Have His Revenge on Durham (written with the fabulous composer/lyricist Matt Schatz) was Best of Fest in Austin’s Frontera Fest. She is a peer educator for UT's Voices Against Violence, a group dedicated to using theatre as a means for creating dialogue around intimate relationship violence, sexual assault, and stalking. Before relocating to Texas, Diana lived in Cuernavaca, Mexico, where she worked as a teacher and translator.

Reina Hardy

Reina Hardy came to Austin from Chicago. Her latest play, “Glassheart,” was recently featured as the workshop at the Orlando Shakespeare New Play Festival. Her first play, “Erratica” made its professional world premiere in July 2009 with Sacramento's Capital Stage, and is now out from Original Works Publishing. The Chicago premiere of “Erratica” finished its run in May of 2011. Reina's play “Susan Swayne and the Bewildered Bride” will make its premiere in Chicago 2012 with Babes with Blades. Reina, a finalist for the Clubbed Thumb Biennial Commission, and the Interact 20/20 Commission, has also had readings and productions with Fox Valley Rep, the House Theatre, Echo Theatre, and many others. Look for excerpts from her plays in “Audition Arsenal,” “The Ultimate Audition Book” and “Best Scenes for Two Actors.” Reina, a 2003 graduate of Columbia University, co-founded the Viola Project. Chicago's best Shakespeare performance workshop for girls.

Andrew Hinderaker

Andrew Hinderaker is a Resident Playwright at Chicago Dramatists and an ensemble member of the Gift Theatre in Chicago. His play, Suicide, Incorporated, will receive its New York premiere at the Roundabout Underground in November 2011, following a critically acclaimed, twice-extended world premiere at the Gift in June 2010 (Joseph Jefferson Award Nominee: Best New Work). Additional plays include Kingsville, which premiered at Chicago’s Stage Left Theatre in October 2010, and I Am Going to Change the World, which will premiere at Chicago Dramatists in June 2012. Hinderaker’s work has been produced and developed by Steppenwolf Theatre Company, the Araca Group, Rattlestick Theatre, Victory Gardens, the Seven Devils Playwrights Conference, and numerous others. Additional recognitions include Finalist/Semi-Finalist status for the Princess Grace Award, the Heideman Award, the Woodward/Newman Drama Award, and a nomination for the 2010 Otis Guernsey New Voices in American Playwriting Award. Hinderaker holds an M.A. and B.A. from Stanford University, and is currently pursuing his M.F.A. in playwriting at The University of Texas at Austin. Please visit www.andrewsplays.com

Tom Horan

Tom Horan is a third-year MFA candidate at University of Texas at Austin, studying both Sound Design and Playwriting. He received his BFA from DePaul University, studying under Dean Corin and Ntozake Shange. In Chicago, he worked with Sansculottes - a theater company committed to original work. There he served as Artistic Director and then Literary Manager, produced two of his plays, Invisible Bob and 13 Dead Husbands, and oversaw a handful of productions - including three short play festivals. At UT Austin, Tom collaboratively created five pieces, serving at the Head Writer and Sound Designer for each piece; including a site-specific spectacle about the Dionne quintuplets entitled The Fictional Life of Historical Oddities, an interview driven sound installation entitled Headphone Stories, a love story told with objects entitled The Man With the Dancing Eyes, a playful memorial entitled september play, and a drive-in puppet theater about Elvis’ car entitled Elvis Machine. He also designed sound for the world premiere’s of 360 (round dance) by Steven Dietz and Emergency Prom by Steve Moulds; and work-shopped his plays The Plagiarist, Wish You Were Here and Static; the latter of which will be presented as part of UTNT (UT New Theatre) in the spring of 2012.

Kevin Anthony Kautzman

Kevin is an American playwright originally from North Dakota pursuing his M.F.A. in Creative Writing with a focus in playwriting and screenwriting as a Michener Fellow at the University of Texas at Austin. He began studying playwriting in London at the Royal Court Theatre, where he became a core writer out of their Young Writers Program. He has received commissions from Red Eye and History Theatre, and his work has been performed, read and/or developed at places including the American Story Project, the Living Theatre, the New Theatre Project, Nouveau 47, the Players’ Guild Theater, the Playwrights’ Center, Poliglot Theater, the Soho Theatre Studio, the UK National Student Drama Festival, and Zeitgeist Theater. Honors include the Jerome and Michener fellowships and Tennessee Williams Scholarship (THEN WAVES), Lavender Magazine’s Best Playwriting (IRIS) and the International Student Playscript Competition and Repertory Theatre Iowa’s Alpha Project awards (COYOTE). THEN WAVES was also a finalist for both the Yale Drama Series and Pen Center awards.

He is an alumnus of the University of Minnesota, where he studied history and philosophy, and is a member of the Dramatists Guild Inc., the Playwrights’ Center, and Scriptworks. More information about his work, along with script excerpts, can be found at www.kevinkautzman.com.

Abe Koogler

Abe Koogler was raised on Vashon Island, Washington, earned a B.A. in Political Science from Yale University, worked in California politics and at the non-profit organization Mercy Corps, graduated from the two-year acting program at the William Esper Studio in NYC, then was lucky enough to find his way to Austin, where he is currently a Michener Fellow in playwriting and fiction. His play Ash City was a semi-finalist at the O'Neill, the Lark, and the Bay Area Playwrights Festival. Other work has been produced in New York, Seattle, and Austin.

Briandaniel Oglesby

Briandaniel Oglesby hails from Davis, California, where he is Literary Manager for Barnyard Theatre. His short plays have twice been staged as readings at the Kennedy Center's American College Theatre Festival, and he's a 2012 finalist for the Humana Festival's Heideman Award. He has an M.F.A. in Creative Writing (fiction) from UC-Riverside.

Gabrielle Reisman

Gabrielle is a second -year M.F.A. candidate. Originally from Urbana, Illinois she has been based for the past five years in New Orleans where she worked as an arts educator, served as Artistic Director of The Alamo Underground, and received a B.A. in Theatre from The University of New Orleans. A participant and producer of several new works festivals, Gabrielle currently produces Potluck, an annual festival of new work by New Orleans artists. Her work has been produced in New York, New Orleans, Champaign and Chicago and has been translated into German. Her first four full lengths are published in the 2007 anthology More Pepper by Hot Lead Press. Selected monologues from Brian and Shevat are published by Simon and Schuster. Gabrielle's play, Taste was adapted into a web TV series of the same name in the fall of 2010. The NOLA Project premiered her new full length, Laffbox, in the summer of 2011.

Sarah Saltwick

Sarah Saltwick is a playwriting and fiction Michener Fellow at The University of Texas in Austin and a graduate from Hampshire College. Her short play GROUND is a finalist for the 2012 Heideman Award at the Humana Festival. This summer, her play RABBITS was part of the 2011 WordBRIDGE Playwrights Laboratory. Her work has been presented, developed or produced by The University of Texas at Austin, Austin Scriptworks, Bristol Riverside Theater, Shrewd Productions, Last Frontier Theatre Conference, and Moving Arts in Los Angeles CA. She's written plays inspired by video games, Texas, guacamole, Dolly Parton and more.

Find more information on her website.