People
Guest Artists
Each year the Department of Theatre and Dance invites several guest artists to campus. Some are visiting alumni who share their expertise as members of the Alumni Speakers Bureau. Others are invited academicians and theatre/dance professionals. For more information about Department activities, consult our Calendar of Events and Special Events Archives.
Spring 2009
KEVIN KLING
Storytelling Workshops, Friday January 30, 2009, Winship
Performance in the Lab Theatre, Saturday January 31, 2009 at 7:00pm
Kevin Kling is a playwright and storyteller best-known for his popular commentaries on National Public Radio's All Things Considered and his storytelling stage shows like Tales from the Charred Underbelly of the Yule Log. With deft language and a generosity of spirit, Kling delivers hilarious and often tender stories, autobiographical tales that are as enchanting as they are true to life: hopping freight trains, getting hit by lightning, performing his banned play in Czechoslovakia, growing up in Minnesota, and eating things before knowing what they are.
Kling describes his zodiac sign as “Minnesota with Iowa rising…” He grew up in Osseo, a Minneapolis suburb, and graduated from Gustavus Adolphus College in 1979 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in theater. His storytelling started when a friend from the now defunct Brass Tacks Theatre asked him to perform his stories. Since then, he has been awarded numerous arts grants and fellowships. The National Endowment for the Arts, The McKnight Foundation, The Minnesota State Arts Board, The Bush Foundation, The Jerome Foundation and others have recognized Kling's artistry.
KEVIN COSTNER
Acting Craft - Discussion and Q & A, Wednesday February 4, 2009, Oscar G.Brockett Theatre
Born in Lynwood, California, Kevin Costner enrolled in California State University, Fullerton to earn a degree in business until an off-campus open audition notice piqued his interest in acting. Though he did not receive a role, the audition experience prompted Costner to attend acting classes in addition to his business studies. Upon graduation, Costner initially accepted a marketing position until he was urged to pursue an acting career by Richard Burton during a chance meeting on a flight from Mexico.
Three years of a wide variety of jobs and cattle call auditions led Costner to some of his first screen roles before landing his first breakout role as “Jake” in 1985's Silverado. Leading roles were soon to follow when he starred in The Untouchables, Bull Durham and Field of Dreams in 1987, 1988 and 1989 respectively.
1990's Dances with Wolves marks a great success for Costner who directed and starred in the film while also serving as a producer. The epic was nominated for 12 Academy Awards and won seven, including Best Picture and Best Achievement in Direction. Costner continued to star in blockbuster hits like Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, JFK, The Bodyguard, Wyatt Earp, Water World and Tin Cup through the 1990's leading to his most recent film roles in Rumor Has It…, Mr. Brooks, Swing Vote, and the just wrapped production, The New Daughter. In addition to his film career, Costner and his band, Modern West, released a country album in November 2008.
DAVID MAMET
Courtesy of the Michener Center for Writers
Three-Day Screenwriting Seminar, 1:00-4:00pm, February 4-6, Cline Room HRC
David Mamet studied at Goddard College in Vermont and at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of Theater in New York before venturing into the professional world of the Theatre. He began his career as an actor and director before achieving success in 1976 with three Off-Off Broadway plays, The Duck Variations, Sexual Perversity in Chicago, and American Buffalo.
In 1984, he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Glengarry Glen Ross which recreated the atmosphere of a gritty Chicago real estate office in which Levine, an aging salesman, is about to be sacked. He followed up in 1988 with Speed the Plow which exposes the dirty underside of another industry—show business. Perhaps his most controversial play, however, came in 1992 with Oleanna, a two-character drama involving charges of sexual harassment between a male professor and one of his female students.
In 1981, Mamet turned his attention to screenwriting and made an impressive debut with his first screenplay, The Postman Always Rings Twice, which he adapted from the novel by James Cain. He has since turned out a number of critically acclaimed screenplays including The Verdict (1982), The Untouchables (1987), Glengarry Glen Ross (1992) and Wag the Dog (1998) and is now considered to be among the industry's finest craftsmen.
Mamet has taught at Goddard College, the Yale Drama School and New York University. His awards include the Joseph Jefferson Award, 1974; Obie Award, 1976, 1983; New York Drama Critics Circle Award, 1977, 1984; Outer Circle Award, 1978; Society of West End Theatre Award, 1983; Pulitzer Prize, 1984; Dramatists Guild Hall-Warriner Award, 1984; American Academy Award, 1986; Tony Award, 1987.
SARAH BENSON
The University Co-op Presents the Cohen New Works Festival Guest Artist
Focus Group: Directing New Work Wednesday, April 1 3:00-4:30pm Winship 2.136, facilitated by Katie Pearl
Directed a workshop and reading of “The Tides of Aberdeen” by M.F.A. Playwright Erin Phillips
Sarah Benson became Artistic Director of the OBIE-award winning Soho Rep in fall 2006. She moved to New York from London on a Fulbright for Theater Direction. Sarah directed Arion Theatre, who performed in London, Oxford, Edinburgh and Rome, often creating site-specific works. New York credits include: NY Premiere Blasted (Soho Rep); Erin Courtney's Quiver & Twitch (New York Stage & Film); The Lottery (HERE Arts Center); Jonathan Bernstein's Gregory Must Sweat! (Bric Studio); Jason Grote's The Island (Sanctuary).
At Soho Rep she has commissioned/produced new works by artists including: Annie Baker, Thomas Bradshaw, John Jesurun, Young Jean Lee, Nature Theater of Oklahoma, Jenny Schwartz, Theater of the Two Headed Calf & Anne Washburn. She co-curated the PRELUDE Festival at the Martin E. Segal Theatre Center for two seasons.
DAVID M. CONTE
The University Co-op Presents the Cohen New Works Festival Guest Artist
Focus Group: The Business of Show Business, Monday March 30, 2:30-4:00, Winship 2.112
David M. Conte is the co-author of Theatre Management: Producing and Managing the Performing Arts, and he is the manager of the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre on Broadway. He also teaches Theatre Management at Gateway College in Manhattan.
Early in his career, he worked for several seasons in summer stock theatres in New England. Following graduate school, he spent four years at the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco in the 1970s as a production manager. Mr. Conte has toured as company manager with musicals such as A Chorus Line, Annie, and the Pirates of Penzance. He has managed the U.S. tours of the Bolshoi Opera, Bolshoi Ballet and The Joffrey Ballet. Mr. Conte holds a Master of Fine Arts degree in Theatre Administration from the Yale School of Drama.
WENDY C. GOLDBERG
The University Co-op Presents the Cohen New Works Festival Guest Artist
Focus Group: New Play Development, Thursday April 2, 11:00-12:30, Winship 2.112
Wendy is the Artistic Director of the National Playwrights Conference at The Eugene O'Neill Theater Center. Having re-established the conference as a national leader in the field, in the 07-08 season, the O'Neill celebrated nine world premiere productions of projects developed at the Conference during Wendy's tenure.
Wendy's directing credits include: Durango (Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park), Doubt (co/pro Actors Theater of Louisville/Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park), Third, Living Out, The Sweetest Swing in Baseball and The Clean House (Denver Center), The Chosen (Actors Theatre of Louisville) and world premieres productions of Deathbed (Mc/Ginn Cazale-NYC), False Creeds (Alliance Theatre), and A Marriage Minuet (Florida Stage). She also served as a creative advisor on the musicals Rock of Ages and the upcoming In Transit (Off Broadway for Richard Frankel Productions).
For five seasons Wendy served as Artistic Associate at Arena Stage in Washington, D.C. where her directing credits include, The Goat or Who Is Sylvia?, Proof, Book of Days, On the Jump, and the revival of K2 for the theater's 50th anniversary.
AMY GREENFIELD
The University Co-op Presents the Cohen New Works Festival Guest Artist
Focus Group: Dance, Tuesday March 31, 11:00-12:30, Winship 2.136
The Museum of Modern Art cites Amy Greenfield as having "developed a new form of video-dance, choreographing for the video camera and television screen" and Cineaste magazine confirms her as "the most important practitioner of experimental film dance film working today." Greenfield's award-winning cine-dance films have been screened atsuch major international film and video festivals as Berlin; London; New York; Edinburgh; Houston; American Dance Festival; Dance On Camera at Lincoln Center. Her multimedia performance has garnered a 10 Best in Arts & Entertainment in The New York Times ("Magical! Unforgettable!"- Jennifer Dunning).
Her experimental feature film-dance, “Antigone/Rites Of Passion” was screened in the 2004 summer Olympics pre-celebrations in Athens Greece. Her shorts have been screened in one-woman shows at such prestigious venues as the Museum of Modern Art; Whitney Museum of American Art; American Museum of the Moving Image and broadcast on PBS; WNET; Spanish national TV; Russian national TV.
In 2007 her work was featured in CineDance In America at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., and she is now featured in the First Biennial of Women In the Arts. She is graduate of Harvard University and has written extensively on film and dance.
LINDA HARTZELL
The University Co-op Presents the Cohen New Works Festival Guest Artist
Linda Hartzell has been the Artistic Director of Seattle Children's Theatre and its Education Programs since 1984. She received her B.A. in Education from the University of Washington. She has directed over 45 plays for SCT, over 35 of which were world premieres, including Busytown, Addy: An American Girl Story, Goodnight Moon, Peter and the Wolf, The Red Badge of Courage, Holes, Pink and Say, Still Life with Iris, The Odyssey, Afternoon of the Elves, and The Rememberer.
She recently directed The Grapes of Wrath at Intiman Theatre, and the Australian premiere of Afternoon of the Elves for Adelaide's Windmill Performing Arts and the Sydney Theatre Company. Ms. Hartzell was formerly on the board of Theatre Communications Group, and she is a former vice president of the United States Center for the International Association of Theatre for Children and Young People (TYA/USA).
She was recently honored with the prestigious Gregory Falls Sustained Achievement Award, given by Theatre Puget Sound, and the Mayor's Arts Award. She has also been inducted into the College of Fellows of the American Theatre. She was a recipient of the Distinguished Achievement Award from UW College of Arts and Sciences in 1994.
MEGAN MONAGHAN
The University Co-op Presents the Cohen New Works Festival Guest Artist
Megan Monaghan is the Artistic Program Director of the Lark Play Development Center, where she oversees all of the organization's artistic programming. Prior to that she served as the Literary Manager of South Coast Repertory Theatre, where she spearheaded the theatre's new play commissioning and development work and served as co-director of the Pacific Playwrights Festival. She previously served as the Literary Director of the Alliance Theatre, the Director of Playwright Services at The Playwrights' Center, and the Director of New Play Development at Frontera @ Hyde Park Theatre.
Her freelance work has included the O'Neill National Playwrights Conference, the New Harmony Project, Actors Express, Horizon Theatre and the Bay Area Playwrights Festival. She has served on panels for the NEA, TCG and NAMT, and a guest teacher at the Iowa Writers' Workshop, the Yale School of Drama graduate programs, Brown University, UCSD, and the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival. In 2002 she received the Elliott Hayes Award in dramaturgy. Ms. Monaghan earned an M.F.A. in directing from the University of Texas at Austin and a B.A. from Emory University.
BRUCE OSTLER
The University Co-op Presents the Cohen New Works Festival Guest Artist
Focus Group: The Business of Show Business, Monday March 30, 2:30-4:00, Winship 2.112
Bruce Ostler is a co-owner of Bret Adams Ltd, which is a full service agency that represents a select list of over 200 artists including writers, directors, composers, designers and actors in all sectors of the entertainment industry. In his position as head of the literary department, Bruce has been instrumental in developing the careers of: Mary Zimmerman, Stephen Wadsworth, Sarah Ruhl, Keith Glover, Marion McClinton, Rebecca Gilman and the late great Max Roach.
Previously Bruce has worked at various agencies including the Fifi Oscard Agency and Don Buchwald Agency, and has also held positions at a number of different theatres including Playwrights Horizons, Manhattan Theatre Club, BAM, North Light Theatre and Lincoln Center. He's worked in all aspects of production including, general management, publicity, fundraising, and stage/company management. He was an associate producer/writer on a number of documentary films for Bayley Silleck Productions, including a film for Innovation called: Paul McCready, for PBS: Art of the Western World and various other shorts and industrials.
He was a founding member of The Practical Theatre Company in Chicago where he produced and directed a number of productions. Together with Arthur Cantor, Brad Hall and Julia Louis Dreyfus, he produced a commercial off-Broadway production of Practical Theatre's BABALOONEY! at the Provincetown Playhouse in New York City. Together with Brad Hall he sold a pilot script to RKO pictures called The Funny Business. He is a graduate of Northwestern University.
RUBÉN POLENDO
The University Co-op Presents the Cohen New Works Festival Guest Artist and Keynote Speaker
Rubén Polendo is artistic director of Theater Mitu; applauded as "one of the ten top, hot companies in New York” (The New York Times). Polendo and Theater Mitu's work has been developed and presented at A.C.T. in San Francisco; the McCarter Theater in Princeton, NJ; the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles; South Coast Rep in Costa Mesa, CA; The Alliance Theater in Atlanta, GA; The Ensemble Theater of Cincinnati; Patravadi Theater in Bangkok-Thailand; UNAM/CUT in Mexico City; Visthar in Bangalore-India; The Perseverance Theater in Alaska; and the Public Theater, Lincoln Center Theater, INTAR, Blue Light, The Juilliard School, New York University, NAATCO, The Skirball Center for the Performing Arts and New York Theatre Workshop.
Polendo has written, adapted and directed several works with his company. Most recently, Mitu presented Dhammashok (as developed at the Sundance Theater Lab and presented as part of The Mark Taper Forum ON STAGE series); Ahraihsak (as part of the Public Theater's Under the Radar Festival); a radical deconstruction of the musical HAIR (at New York's Skirball Center); and developed their new piece, DR.C (or how I learned to act in eight steps) at the Sundance Theater Laboratory and Robert Wilson's Watermill Center and will premier it this spring at Three-Legged Dog Arts and Technology Center. Mitu also premiered two pieces in Bangkok, Thailand (A Midsummer Night's Dream and a devised piece entitled String of Fragmentation), and presented a radical adaptation of Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman in New York this fall.
Polendo and various company members teach Mitu's Training Methodology called Whole Theater at several institutions including NYU/Playwrights Horizons Studio, Juilliard, Bard College, Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, National University of Mexico, and CUNY- Graduate Program. The company also runs a yearly summer Intensive in Bangkok, Thailand and another in Bangalore, India where artist and company members train with various masters in classical Thai and Indian arts.
Polendo holds a Biochemistry Degree from Trinity University, an M.A. in non-Western theatre from Lancaster University, UK and an M.F.A. in directing from the UCLA School of Theatre (Chair, Peter Sellars). He has trained with the Kalamandalam in Kerala, India; Mnouchkine's Théatre Du Soleil in Paris, France and Peter Brook's International Centre for Theatre Creations. Ruben Polendo is Artistic Associate at New York Theater Workshop where Theater Mitu is Company-in-Residence.
MAC WELLMAN
The University Co-op Presents the Cohen New Works Festival Guest Artist
Mac Wellman's recent plays are: Bitter Bierce, at P S 122; Jennie Richee, with the Ridge Theater, at The Arts at St. Ann; Anything's Dream at Mulhenberg College; and Antigone, with Big Dance Company at Dance Theater Workshop. He has published two novels with Sun & Moon Press: The Fortuneteller and Annie Salem; Sun & Moon also published A Shelf in Woop's Clothing, a book of poems, From the Other Side of the Century II, an anthology of plays (co-edited with Douglas Messerli), Two Plays: The Land Beyond the Forest, and Crowtet 1 and 2, the latter two volumes under the Green Integer imprint. Roof Books has recently published his Miniature, a book of poems.
He has received numerous awards: NEA, NYFA, Rockefeller, McKnight and Guggenheim Fellowships. In 1990 he received an Obie for Best American Play (Bad Penny, Crowbar, and Terminal Hip). In 1991 He received another Obie for Sincerity Forever. He has received a Lila Wallace-Readers' Digest Writers Award, and most recently the 2003 Obie for Lifetime Achievement. He is the Donald I. Fine Professor of Play Writing at Brooklyn College.
ATALEE JUDY and TABITHA FAES from BREAKBONE DANCE CO.
Panel Discussion moderated by Clare Croft, 2:00pm Friday April 17, Winship 2.112
Breakbone Dance Co. is an all-female dance troupe from Chicago that combines a ferocious athleticism with high-impact video and sound, and a punk-rock aesthetic, to redefine the parameters of dance. They will present their work Thursday, April 16 at 8:00 PM as part of the “Warriors and Queens: Radical Stagings of Gender and Sexuality in Dance” show in the Lab Theatre.
ALLYSON MITCHELL
Artist Talk, 2:00pm Monday April 20, Winship 2.112
Allyson Mitchell is a maximalist artist working in sculpture, performance, installation, and film. Her practice melds feminism and pop culture to play with contemporary ideas about sexuality, autobiography, and the body, largely through the use of reclaimed textile and abandoned craft. Deep Lez, Mitchell's ongoing aesthetic/political project, advocates a strategic return to the histories of radical and lesbian feminism.
www.allysonmitchell.com
Copyright 2009, The University of Texas at Austin