The University of Texas

Department of Theatre and Dance

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

MEDIA CONTACT: Amanda Flores Public Affairs Specialist, (512) 232–5337, amflores@mail.utexas.edu

The MFA Playwriting program will present new work from three emerging playwrights when the inaugural production of UT New Theatre runs April 18–27 at the UT Lab Theatre!

UTNT celebrates the work of 3rd–year playwrights with three one–act plays; The Chev by Robert Sanchez, Split. by Erica Saleh, and Why Koreans Don't Hug by Soo–Jin Lee. In Split., a woman's grasp on reality is upset when she realizes that her lover may not be who he says he is. Why Koreans Don't Hug shares the tale of a Korean immigrant family who through an unexpected action from their Reverend is forced to deal with the dreaded, "elephant in the room," and finally, The Chev asks, who will pay for the culture of convenience when the clerk behind the counter decides he can't take it anymore?

All three playwrights have won considerable accolades for their work so far– Erica Saleh is a fellow at the Michener Center for Writers in addition to her MFA candidacy. While an undergrad at UCSB, Robert Sanchez received the Dilling Yang Fellowship in Dramatic Arts, The Dorothy and Sherrill Corwin award for Full Length Play (Inhale/Exhale), and was a finalist in the National Ten Minute Play contest for the Actors Theatre of Louisville. Soo–Jin Lee's previous work Peaches was presented at the Edward Albee New Playwrights Workshop (Houston, 2005), was read at Theater Mu's New Eyes Festival (Minneapolis, 2006), and was awarded the New Work for Young Women Prize (Tulsa, 2007). Her play Tigers, Dragons, & Other Wise Tails! premiered at the Smithsonian Institution's Discovery Theater (DC, 2005).

"These plays feature vivid characters and compelling stories, told in a wide variety of theatrical styles. New plays are how the art form regenerates, changes, and grows. Please join us for the launch of these new works, and these emerging playwrights."

– Steven Dietz, professor, curator of UTNT

For more information on UTNT's plays, playwrights, dramaturgs, actors and directors, please visit www.finearts.utexas.edu/tad.

Dates & Times:

April 18 – 27, 2008 – The UT Department of Theatre & Dance presents UT New Theatre at the UT Lab Theatre. Show times for April 18, 19, 20, 25 & 26 are at 8:00 p.m., and Sunday at 2:00 p.m. This event is free to the public.