Alumni in the News

De Lara is among 12 artists selected to participate in the 2027 Arts/Industry residency from the John Michael Kohler Arts Center and Kohler Co. The competitive three-month residency enables artists to experiment with industrial materials and techniques at the Kohler Co. factory, working in collaboration with skilled manufacturers to produce new works in cast ceramic, iron and brass.

Getting In Bed with the Pizza Man has previously sold out runs in Austin, Los Angeles, and Portland. It earned five stars at the 2024 Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Music publisher Theodore Presser will serve as the exclusive distributor for Brandon's published music and compositions, allowing wider access to her work.

"This partnership represents an exciting new chapter for Jenni Brandon Music,” Brandon said. "Making my music more accessible to performers and audiences around the world has always been a priority, and I am thrilled to work with Theodore Presser to expand the reach of my catalog."

Sean Tecson, writing under the pen name Nate Cozens, will premiere his full-length play, Debut: Coming of Age in Filipino America, this fall with CIRCA Pintig, a Filipino-American theater company in Chicago. Inspired by Tecson's own experience of turning 30, the play explores family, identity, cultural expectations, and how we continue to rediscover ourselves throughout adulthood. The play runs Nov. 5-Dec. 4, 2026, across three Chicago venues: Filament Theatre, Bughouse Theatre, and the Rizal Center.

How two UT Fine Arts alumni created the world's longest-running musical and how a character gender-swap has breathed new life into the script and landed it on Broadway.