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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 27, 2005

Contact: Contact: Mike Emery
713.743.8186 (office)
713.415.6551 (pager)
pemery@uh.edu

HOUSTON, April 27, 2005 – When it comes to art, Terry Allen knows few boundaries. From multi-media installations to music to stage productions to film scores, Allen has made his way from one discipline to another with no map to guide him. Now, he’s exploring new ground once more as one of the first visiting artists at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts at the University of Houston.

Allen and his wife Jo Harvey Allen were brought in this semester to work with students enrolled in the center’s first course, “Collaboration Among the Arts,” which combines the creative energies of student artists, actors, musicians and writers. Many of these students’ group projects will be presented for the public during the first week of May.

“From what I’ve seen and heard so far, I know the final versions of these projects will be interesting, but the end result isn’t the main issue,” said Terry Allen. “The interaction among these students is what’s important.”

The week prior to the student productions, Allen will present the center’s first performance, the Houston premiere of “DUGOUT III: Warboy (and the backboard blues),” April 29 – 30 in the Lyndall Finley Wortham Theatre. The musical theater piece is loosely based on Terry Allen’s postwar childhood in Lubbock, Texas. It stars Jo Harvey Allen and features music from Allen, Richard Bowden and Lloyd Maines. A companion exhibition, “Stories from DUGOUT,” is on display in UH’s Blaffer Gallery through June 11. The exhibit tells the story of two characters reflective of his parents: Man, a minor league baseball player and Woman, a Midwest lounge pianist.

The “DUGOUT” performance and exhibition are a collaborative effort between UH’s School of Theatre and Blaffer Gallery.

“You can approach ‘DUGOUT’ from any point,” Allen said. “You can see the theater piece first or you can visit the exhibit first. Wherever you start, there are doors to lead you from one place to the next without getting lost.”

Allen was born in Wichita, Kansas, in 1943 and raised in Lubbock. In the 1960s, he studied art at the Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles, and in the 1970s he returned to Texas and began a career in country music. He’s collaborated with various Lone Star favorites including Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Joe Ely and Robert Earl Keen, as well as eclectic musicians such as David Byrne and Lowell George of the rock band Little Feat.

His 1975 album “Juarez” was a hit with critics, as was his 1979 effort “Lubbock (On Everything),” which featured back-up musicians Bowden and Maines.

In the 1980s, Allen continued recording LPs and contributed songs to Byrne’s film “True Stories,” which starred Jo Harvey Allen. He also composed the soundtrack for the film “Amerasia.”

Allen’s artwork includes “Trees,” which is on display at the University of California, San Diego. It consists of three eucalyptus trees preserved in a lead casing. One tree has built-in speakers playing music, another broadcasts poetry and the third remains silent. Another public work “Belief” is a gigantic synthetic leaf on the campus of the University of Cincinnati.

In 1994, he created “DUGOUT,” an audio drama that was broadcast on National Public Radio. The radio show developed into a three-part multi-media art exhibit and performance that includes “DUGOUT I,” “DUGOUT II: HOLD ON to the House” and “DUGOUT III: Warboy (and the backboard blues).” The first two chapters of “DUGOUT” are combined in Blaffer Gallery’s “Stories from DUGOUT.”

While Houstonians soon will experience Allen’s work onstage in “DUGOUT III,” UH students and faculty have already been galvanized by his presence offstage.

“He’s been a great stimulator in the classroom,” said Sidney Berger, director of the School of Theatre and the center’s first executive director. “In working with students and faculty on their group projects, he’s influenced them to look at art in different ways.”

Funded by a $20 million grant from George and Cynthia Woods Mitchell, the center is an alliance of UH’s Blaffer Gallery, the Creative Writing Program, the Moores School of Music, the School of Art and the School of Theatre. It broke ground on Nov. 9, 2004. A $4.5 million renovation to the building housing the Wortham Theatre and School of Theatre is expected to wrap in September. Once completed, the entire facility will be officially renamed the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts. Both the Wortham Theatre and the School of Theatre will be housed in this building.

For more information about the “DUGOUT III” performance and “Stories from DUGOUT” exhibition, visit http://www.uh.edu/admin/media/nr/2005/03march/032405tallen_dugout.html.

For more information about “Collaboration Among the Arts,” visit http://www.uh.edu/admin/media/nr/2005/04april/041405mitchelctr_uartists.html.

For more information about the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts at the University of Houston, visit http://www.uh.edu/newsroom/centerforarts/ or http://www.class.uh.edu/mitchellcenter/.

About the University of Houston
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