Denise has been at UT since January 2005. Before seeing the light and moving to Austin, she put in 7-years of hard labor at Village Theatre in Issaquah, WA just outside of Seattle (where it is not so sunny and warm) where she began as Production Manager and progressed to Associate Producer. The company grew in its annual budget from $1 million per year to $7.8 million during her time there and she was instrumental in its growth as a successful arts organization producing large-scale musicals from the ground up.
She received her B.A in Fine Arts/Drama from St. Michael’s College in Vermont and her MFA in Theatre Technology from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Her Professional credits include Production Technical Coordinator at American Conservatory Theater (ACT) in San Francisco; Production Manager at Marin Theatre Company in Mill Valley, CA and Technical Director at the Craterian Ginger Rogers Theatre in Medford, OR. In the Academic realm, she was Faculty Technical Director at San Francisco State University and Stanford University. At SFSU, she developed their Stage Manager Training Program. Ms. Martel served as Technical Director in one of 5 performing spaces at PepsiCo Summerfare with dancers and musicians from London and Amsterdam and a Musical Theatre company from Berlin. She also worked at the American Dance Festival on the campus of Duke University. Most recently, she stage managed American Repertory Ensemble’s July 2007 concert LINGO. Apparently, she likes working with dancer.
Since 2006, Denise has been the Producing Director for the Department of Theatre & Dance. She works very closely with the tremendously talented, dedicated and professional TPA staff, specifically Rachel Durkin Drga, the Production Manager, to determine and manage the department’s budgets and season calendar. Denise mentors and advises the stage managers for all departmental productions, and thoroughly enjoys the collaboration and creativity of the Design and Technology Area. She assists with recruitment of incoming MFA students in Technology and Design. Along with Professors Suzan Zeder and David Justin, Denise is a co-producer of the bi-annual University Co-op presents the Cohen New Works Festival.
