In April 2005 Terry Allen, an internationally recognized visual artist, writer, and musician with strong Texas roots, and his wife Jo Harvey Allen, an actress and monologist, spent a six week residency at the University of Houston. During their stay, the Allen’s were guest instructors for the inaguaral collaborative seminar course entitled Collaboration Among the Arts. During their residency, Blaffer Gallery mounted a major exhibition of Terry Allen’s artworks, and the UH School of Theatre also presented a significant theatrical performance of Mr. Allen’s in its Wortham Theatre, with music written and performed by Terry Allen and accompanying musicians, and featuring Jo Harvey Allen in the starring role.

April 29-30, 2005

The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts presented its inaugural performance, DUGOUT III: WARBOY (and the backboard blues), a musical theatre piece written and directed by multi-disciplinary artist Terry Allen, which featured original music by Terry Allen, Richard Bowden, and Lloyd Maines, and starred veteran actress Jo Harvey Allen. DUGOUT III: WARBOY (and the backboard blues) is the third component of Terry Allen’s epic DUGOUT series, which began in 1994 as an audio drama for National Public Radio and imparts a sweeping, non-linear narrative about the “Man,” a minor league baseball player from St. Louis who meets, falls in love with and marries the much younger “Woman,” a barrelhouse piano player from the mid-west. DUGOUT III conveys the curious tale of the couple’s surprising and unexpected son. Two free performances of DUGOUT III: WARBOY (and the backboard blues) were held on April 29 and 30, 2005 at the University of Houston’s Wortham Theatre, located inside the new Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts building.