UTEP Announces Plans for New Dinner Theatre Seasons
Under direction of theatre and dance department, Dinner Theatre will focus on teaching mission and community enrichment
EL PASO, Texas (Sept. 5, 2024) – The University of Texas at El Paso announced future seasons of UTEP Dinner Theatre (UDT) musicals will be produced with UDT integrated with the University’s Department of Theatre and Dance and with a new funding model.
The change comes after a UTEP review of operations found that while the Dinner Theatre was heavily subsidized by student fees, only about 10% of UDT show attendees were students and fewer than half of the performers were students. In the fiscal year that started Sept. 1, the University will support musical theater through an additional general revenue allocation of $322,000, replacing a similar amount that previously came from student fees. The total operations budget for UDT last season was approximately $1 million. The average ticket sales for each production in the 2023-24 season was $95,000.
While the theater will continue to engage the community, greater emphasis will be placed on roles being played by students as part of the University’s teaching mission.
“Musical theater at UTEP will be more closely connected to our teaching mission and will be funded in a way that is more fair to our students,” said UTEP President Heather Wilson.
To replace the UDT director who retired last year and enhance the educational experience of theater majors, the University is searching for a new tenure-track faculty member who specializes in musical theater voice.
“Musical theater remains an important part of our education and community engagement missions,” said Provost John Wiebe, Ph.D. “Integrating the Dinner Theatre and the Department of Theatre and Dance will build resilience in both entities.”
UTEP students will now be able to access discounted tickets for the shows, similar to other Department of Theatre and Dance productions.
“We want to produce great musical theater for the community and also give more opportunities for our students both on-stage and in the audience,” said College of Liberal Arts Dean Anadeli Bencomo, Ph.D. “It makes sense to support the theater financially when we connect it more closely to our teaching mission, and there will be ticket discounts so that more students can come to the shows and engage with the artistic productions at UTEP.”
“The legacy of the Dinner Theatre will continue in our department,” said Hideaki Tsutsui, professor and chair of the Department of Theatre and Dance. “Future UTEP Dinner Theatre seasons will bring joyful cultural enrichment to our students and the El Paso community.”
The 2024-25 season opener will be Disney’s Beauty and the Beast on Oct. 11. Tickets go sale Monday, Sept. 9, for UTEP students, faculty and staff, as well as groups of 20 or more. Tickets go on sale to the public on Tuesday, Sept.10. Tickets are available for dinner and non-dinner performances.
To purchase tickets, visit UTEP.edu/UDT
About The University of Texas at El Paso
The University of Texas at El Paso is America’s leading Hispanic-serving university. Located at the westernmost tip of Texas, where three states and two countries converge along the Rio Grande, 84% of our 24,000 students are Hispanic, and more than half are the first in their families to go to college. UTEP offers 170 bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degree programs at the only open-access, top-tier research university in America.
Last Updated on September 05, 2024 at 12:00 AM | Originally published September 05, 2024
By MC Staff UTEP Marketing and Communications
