‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ Collaboration
To Premiere at U. T. Dallas in February
RICHARDSON, Texas (Jan. 25, 2002) – The University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) will present a special production of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream on Feb 15, 16, 17, 22, 23 and 24 in the University Theater on campus.
The UTD production, which is for mature audiences and not for children, will celebrate the 15th year of music-theater collaborations between internationally acclaimed Dallas artists composer Robert Xavier Rodríguez and director/actor Fred Curchack.
The production will premiere new incidental music written by Rodríguez, UTD’s composer-in-residence. UTD faculty member Fred Curchack will star as Oberon as well as direct the play. Shannon Kearns, who was featured last year in UTD’s world-premier production of the Bakkhai, will play Titania.
Friday and Saturday performances will begin at 8 p.m., Sunday matinees at 2:30 p.m. Tickets are free to anyone with a UTD photo identification, $15 for the general public and $5 for students of other schools.
Previous collaborations involving Curchack and Rodríguez have included Curchack’s performance in Rodríguez’ The Last Night of Don Juan (San Antonio Symphony) and The Song of Songs (Voices of Change/Cinnabar Opera Theater) as well as Rodríguez’s scores written for Curchack’s Dante-inspired trilogy, Sexual Mythology.
Last year, the Boston Symphony Orchestra commissioned and performed Rodríguez’ musical setting for Shakespeare’s The Tempest. His opera, Frida, opened the Next Wave Festival at New York’s Brooklyn Academy of Music and was recently hailed in Vienna as the most important opera of the past decade. His new 45-minute musical accompaniment to the immortal poetry of A Midsummer Night’s Dream represents a major event in contemporary theater-music.
Fred Curchack has received raves internationally for What Fools These Mortals Be, his solo adaptation of A Midsummer Night’sDream and for several other irreverent transformations of the Bard. While remaining faithful to Shakespeare’s text, this new production promises to be as magical and as wickedly outrageous as Curchack’s other legendary extravaganzas.
To obtain tickets or for more information about the many musical, arts, theatre, dance and other performances and exhibitions held throughout the year at UTD, please call 972-883-2982, e-mail utdarts@utdallas.edu, or visit the School of Arts and Humanities’ web site at www.utdallas.edu/ah/. Persons with disabilities needing special accommodations may call 972-883-2982. Texas Relay Operator: 1-800-RELAYVV.
About UTD
The University of Texas at Dallas, located at the convergence of Richardson, Plano and Dallas, in the heart of the complex of major multinational technology corporations known as the Telecom Corridor, enrolls more than 7,000 undergraduate and 5,000 graduate students. The school’s freshman class traditionally stands at the forefront of Texas state universities in terms of average SAT scores. The university offers a broad assortment of bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degree programs. For additional information about UTD, please visit the university’s Web site at www.utdallas.edu.