KATHERINE OWENS/
Undermain Fund for New Work
Katherine Owens, beloved Founding Artistic Director of Undermain Theatre, passed away unexpectedly on July 21, 2019 after a brief five-month illness. To establish her legacy, her husband, Producing Artistic Director Bruce DuBose, joined by Undermain’s Board of Trustees, has established a fund that will support the continuation of the work Katherine fostered here in North Texas during her incredible 36-year career at Undermain.
Managed by Undermain Theatre, the Katherine Owens/Undermain Fund for New Work seeks to provide additional support to increase Undermain’s ongoing commitment to new work, our commitment for 36 years. We invite you to join us in honoring this incredible visionary and leader in our arts community.
To make a gift to the Katherine Owens/Undermain Fund for New Work in memory of Katherine, please click on the donate button below to make your gift online. Please reference “New Work Fund” as the Dedication honoree name. To make your donation by check, please make your check out to Undermain Theatre with the memo "Katherine Owens Fund" and mail your donation to: Undermain Theatre, PO Box 140193, Dallas, TX 75214. If you have any questions, please contact our Development Director at blaircrane@undermain.org.
The 2022 Recipient: Brian Dang
The 2022 recipient of $10,000 is playwright and poet Brian Dang to support their ongoing work and to commission the future production of their play, This time for the Undermain stage.
Brian Dang (they/them) is a Vietnamese/Chinese playwright, poet, and teaching artist based in Seattle. They are a proud resident playwright at Parley. For Brian, writing is an act of envisioning an eventual communing, an opportunity to freeze time as we know it, and a reaching for joy.
Their plays include This time (NPC Finalist 2022, Many Voices Fellowship Semi-Finalist 2022) and a white haunting (MAP Theatre, Princess Grace Fellowship Final Round). Their writing has been supported by 4Culture, Seattle Office of Arts and Culture, and workshopped with Seattle Opera, Pork Filled Productions, Mirror Stage, Sound Theatre, and Theatre Battery. They teach poetry/theater with Writers in the Schools, Arts Corps, and more.
WORLD PREMIERES
During her 35 years as Artistic Director, Katherine Owens either directed or oversaw a total of 34 world premiere plays at Undermain Theatre
Company Member Anthony L. Ramirez in the World Premiere of The Droll by Meg Miroshnik
The cast of the World Premiere of so go the ghosts of méxico, part two by Matthew Paul Olmos
The cast of the World Premiere of Jonah by Len Jenkin. This play was developed at the Sundance Theater Lab by Katherine Owens and Company Member Len Jenkin before premiering at Undermain Theatre
Bruce DuBose, Michael Federico and Alex Organ in the World Premiere of Profanity by Sylvan Oswald
WHITHER GOEST THOU AMERICA FESTIVAL OF NEW AMERICAN PLAY READINGS
In 2017, Katherine Owens and Bruce DuBose established the Whither Goest Thou America Festival of New Play Readings as a platform to develop new work. Often a play is read in the reading festival, and then presented as a world premiere in the following season. Audiences get a more detailed insight to the developmental stages of a play, with direct access to playwrights, directors and actors during the process.
Director Blake Hackler and playwright Gordon Dahlquist talking to donors during a rehearsal of Red Chariot. This play was read in the festival in the Spring of 2019 and presented as Undermain Theatre’s 35th World Premiere in the fall of 2019.
Producing Artistic Director Bruce DuBose, Company Member Joanna Schellenberg, Jim Jorgensen and Stephanie Oustalet in the reading of Len Jenkin’s How is it That We Live or Shakey Jake + Alice in the spring of 2018. Undermain presented the World Premiere of this play in the fall of 2018.
Bruce DuBose and Jim Jorgensen in the World Premiere of Len Jenkin’s How is it That We Live or Shakey Jake + Alice.