UA Theatre Professor to Perform One-Woman Show in New York, Edinburgh

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Allison Hetzel, assistant professor of theatre and dance at The University of Alabama, will present her one-woman show “Considering Georgia O’Keeffe” in July at the East to Edinburgh Festival in New York City and in August at Scotland’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival, one of the top theater festivals in the world.  

Hetzel’s show, which explores the life and art of O’Keeffe, a major 20th-century American artist, will be performed Saturday, July 31, and Sunday, Aug. 1, at the 59 East 59 Theaters in New York. The Edinburgh performances will be at theSpaces on the Mile @ The Radisson. Performances will take place from Friday, Aug. 6, to Saturday, Aug. 14 with no performance Sunday, Aug. 8.  

Inspired by the artist’s paintings and biography, “Considering Georgia O’Keeffe” looks at the struggles she endured as a painter in a man’s world and with the man in her life, photographer Alfred Stieglitz. Hetzel performed the show in 2009 in Edinburgh as well.  

“A unique and honest look at O’Keeffe’s life, through an actor’s voice, Allison Hetzel’s theatricality made the play about her life highly engaging,” according to the Three Weeks E Daily Review in 2009. “Allison owned the stage with her powerful voice, her performance enhanced by beautifully composed background music.”  

Hetzel teaches acting, voice and speech courses in the undergraduate and graduate theatre programs.  She is certified as an Associate Teacher of Fitzmaurice Voicework (2008, www.fitzmauricevoice.com). Hetzel recently collaborated with Sarah M. Barry, assistant professor of theatre and dance, on a text-based theatre-and-dance piece that premiered in Biel, Switzerland, at the 46th International Choreographers’ Showcase.  

The department of theatre and dance is part of UA’s College of Arts and Sciences, the University’s largest division and the largest liberal arts college in the state. Students from the College have won numerous national awards including Rhodes Scholarships, Goldwater Scholarships and memberships on the USA Today Academic All American Team.