Ucross Foundation Benefit 2010
On February 1, 2010, over 800 people turned out for a Ucross Foundation Benefit at Houston’s Alley Theatre, featuring a reading by Elizabeth Gilbert, the #1 bestselling author of Eat, Pray, Love. Gilbert, who had written a draft of Eat, Pray, Love at Ucross, read from her new bestseller, Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage. She also charmed the audience during an on-stage interview with Houston culture writer Shelby Hodge. Prior to the reading, a private donor dinner was hosted in the Alley’s board room and nearly 50 guests had the pleasure of sharing in Elizabeth’s company and conversation.
On the Houston website Culturemap,Shelby Hodge called Gilbert’s reading to a packed Alley house “a perfectly wonderful night on stage…Just as fans might guess from reading either of her two most recent books, Gilbert was unassuming, witty and intelligent.”
Gilbert was a resident at Ucross in 1999, when she wrote The Last American Man, and in 2004, when she wrote Eat, Pray, Love.
Thanks to Elizabeth for the gift of her brilliant reading, Viking Press for including Houston on her book tour, Apache Corporation for generously underwriting the event, and to the Alley Theatre for donating their space – nearly $60,000 was raised for the Ucross Foundation. We made many new friends in Houston and look forward to deepening those friendships in the coming years.
Sundance Institute Playwrights at Ucross 2010
The 11th Annual Sundance Playwrights Retreat at Ucross took place from February 1 – 19, once again bringing a stellar group of playwrights and composers to the Ucross Foundation. This year saw the return of Doug Wright, who won the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award for the play he worked on at Ucross 10 years ago, I Am My Own Wife. This year, Wright was collaborating with lyricist and composer Amanda Green on a musical that has been commissioned by the La Jolla Playhouse. Composer John Bucchino was also in residence, working on songs for a Danish musical. Other playwrights-in-residence included Liz Flahive, Philip Himberg, Heather McDonald, Winter Miller, Janine Nabers, and Sheila Tousey. Dramaturg Mame Hunt also spent a lively week at Ucross working with the writers.
Composer Du Yun, Winner of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra’s Elaine Lebenbom Award, Comes to Ucross
In May, Du Yun, whose music has been performed around the world, will arrive in Ucross for a residency that marks the beginning of a partnership between Ucross and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Du Yun was the winner of the DSO’s 4th annual Elaine Lebenbom Memorial Award for Female Composers, which includes a commission that will receive its world premiere in the DSO’s 2010-2011 season. The Award stands alone, internationally, as the only annual symphony-sponsored award competition exclusively for women composers. The internationally acclaimed Detroit Symphony Orchestra, whose Music Director is the esteemed conductor Leonard Slatkin, is the fourth-oldest symphony orchestra in the U.S. In 2008, Ucross finished construction of its second composer’s studio, Jesse’s Hideout Two. We are honored to work with the DSO to provide additional artistic support to female composers.
Houston’s Alley Theatre and Ucross Begin Innovative Partnership
Kenneth Lin and Rajiv Joseph are the first two playwrights whose work is being supported through a new partnership between the Alley Theatre, a Tony Award-winning theatre in Houston, Texas, and the Ucross Foundation. Ucross hosted Ken Lin last fall and in May the Alley will present a workshop and reading of Lin’s play Intelligence-Slave. This spring Ucross is hosting Rajiv Joseph, whose Gruesome Playground Injuries had its world premiere at the Alley last fall. As Mark Bly, Senior Dramaturg and Director of New Play Development for the Alley, has said, “The primary focal point and purpose of the entire New Play Initiative at the Alley Theatre is for the artists and audience to come together within the imagination of a living, working playwright and to help create a first production that will launch the new work to become what we all believe it will be—a play destined to be a classic for the future.”
29th Annual Fireworks Extravaganza at Ucross Set for Saturday, July 3, 2010
Plans are underway for another old-fashioned Independence Day celebration at the Ucross Foundation – the 29th Annual Fireworks Extravaganza at Ucross will take place on Saturday, July 3, 2010. We hope you’ll join us for music, dancing, art, and games for kids of all ages, all culminating with a spectacular fireworks display at dark. The day’s festivities will include music by the Jalan Crossland Band, and the Art Gallery will feature paintings by David Bungay and Pamela Kendall Schiffer, both past residents at the Ucross Foundation. We hope you’ll bring the whole family out to Ucross on July 3 for some summer fun! Gates open at 5 p.m.