Audio: Jac Alder
Thomas Riccio talks to the founder of Theatre Three, which will soon celebrate its 50th season.
by Mark Lowry
published Thursday, April 21, 2011
In our fifth in a series of audio interviews with local artistic directors, Thomas Riccio talks to Theatre Three's founder and artistic director Jac Alder.
Riccio is a professor at the University of Texas at Dallas, a playwright, director, world traveler and theater-maker. In the spring of 2010, he wrote a series of essays for TheaterJones about his experience with making theater in Ethiopia in 2009. The first of those, which links to the others, is here. Riccio also has a new company himself, called Dead White Zombies, that will present his play blahblah at the Green Zone in May.
Alder and his late wife Norma Young co-founded Theatre Three in 1961. The theatre will celebrate its 50th anniversary season in 2011-'12, and recently announced most of that season, which includes the area premiere of the emo rock musical Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson.
With these interviews, Riccio is hoping to get at the idea of a Dallas or North Texas theater aesthetic. The first was with Terry Martin of WaterTower Theatre, the second with Katherine Owens of Undermain Theatre, the third with Tom Parr IV of Nouveau 47 Theatre, and the fourth with Joey Folsom and Elias Taylorson of Broken Gears Project Theatre. (We're working on archiving these so that previous podcasts will be available.)
In this one, Alder and Riccio have a conversation about the theater's origins, following in the footsteps of Margo Jones, the Dallas theater scene and the role of critics.
Listen below (it opens a new window for the player so you can continue to browse the Internet):
