Alumni in the News

Robert “Beto” Skiles (M.M., Composition, 1977) was inducted into the Austin Jazz Hall of Fame in April. His band, “Beto and the Fairlanes” were inducted into the Austin Music Hall of Fame in February.

Hai Zheng Olefsky (M.M., Applied Music/Voice/Piano, 1990), assistant professor of music at Southwestern University, was honored by Austin Mayor Steve Adler and the Austin City Council with a special proclamation on Thursday, May 10, 2018 for her 18 years of community work as Artistic Director for the Young Musicians Festival Competition at the Asian American Cultural Center.

Catherine Ann Jones (B.F.A., Drama, 1965) will perform the sixth production of her one-woman play, Freud's Oracle, in Dallas May 2019.

Harrison Gordon Butler (M.F.A., Theatre, 2010) directed “The Laramie Project” at the Arena Stage in Hollywood in March. Butler was named “Teacher of the Year” in 2017 as a movement instructor for the Theatre of Arts Conservatory in Los Angeles.

Martin Rodriguez (B.F.A., Theatre Studies, 2015), Amanda Lloyd (B.A., Theatre & Dance, 2014), Sarah Marcum (B.F.A., Theatre Studies, 2014), and Shae Tomlinson (B.A., Theatre & Dance, 2015) are finishing the first full season with their production of SURVIVAL CHECK, by Amanda Lloyd, at the Hollywood Fringe Festival. 

Sean Tecson (B.A., Directing, 2015) has been named Education Data and Professional Development Coordinator at Roundabout Theatre Company in New York City.  

Chelsea Kathryne Ward (B.F.A., Studio Art, 2010) will publish her first book, "Modern Drawing" on June 5th. In October her second book, "Your Year in Art" will also release.

Glenda Maddox (B.A., Theatre and Dance, 2003), received a Daytime Creative Arts Emmy Award for Costume Design for her work on The Bold and the Beautiful.

Jacqueline Heard Hinton (B.F.A., Dance, 2001) performed in “Anais, A Dance Opera” at the La Nouvelle Eve in Paris and opened the Festival International de Théâtre in Casablanca, Morocco, in March.

Rachel Winfree (M.F.A. Drama & Theatre for Youth Communities, 1979) is producing, performing in and directing INAPPROPRIATE, for NEO Ensemble Theatre in Los Angeles, in collaboration with her husband Michael Caldwell. The show will run in May at The Actor's Workout Studio in North Hollywood.