Christina Gutierrez-Dennehy
Press and Reviews
The Tempest (Northern Arizona University)
"Originally a work of Shakespeare, the story was adapted to become more inclusive and modern, and the current version does not glorify colonialism."
Full article
Fefu and Her Friends (Northern Arizona University, over zoom)
"The pandemic has highlighted a number of equality issues that make for really important conversations that we should be having right now, Especially with the correlation between mental health and the isolation the pandemic has caused."
Full article
King Lear (Crooked Figure Theatre)
"Several theories about the mental health of Lear and mental illness in the play have peppered analysis pieces for years. Health professionals have even gone so far as to diagnose the monarch with senile dementia, mania, bi-polar disorder and delirium. But Crooked [Figure] is not seeking to ascribe, rather to shed light on a discussion that is increasingly being lent the space for public discussion and recognition."
Full article
The Effect (Northern Arizona University)
"Many people feel a stigma when talking about their mental health and assume they’re alone in their struggles, but research has shown one in five college students experience anxiety or depression, and 322 million people worldwide live with depression, according to a study published last year in Our World in Data. Often, depictions of depression in media are exaggerated and involve people breaking down in dramatic tears, but more subtle signs of depression can be an inability to concentrate and an increase in sleep, or the person may become comfortably numb and simply go through the motions of their day-to-day life without feeling particularly happy or sad.The Effect brings these issues into the light, presenting an understanding environment in which a healing discussion can take place to let people know that help is possible."
Full article
Hecuba (Crooked Figure Theatre)
"The student ensemble handled the material well enough to captivate an audience each night from start to finish. Stand out performances included both Gillian Norton as Polyxena, the daughter of the play’s namesake, and Kaleb Lightfoot as a perpetually disillusioned and frequently drunk Agamemnon."
Full article
King John (Northern Arizona University)
"William Shakespeare’s story of King John might have been written hundreds of years ago, but modern audiences can relate to its themes of corruption and ineffective leadership [...] The play is a study in the disastrous outcomes of ineffective leadership. King John combines sword fighting, powerful female characters, and moments of poignant tragedy and dark humor."
Full article
Henry V (Crooked Figure Theatre Company)
"While interpretations of Henry vary, from portraying him as an unabashed, unrepentant war criminal to a young king dedicated to the cause he believes in, Crooked Figure finds a sympathetic figure in Novak’s Henry, who is unsure of herself and trying to prove she’s worthy of her title."
Red Rock News
Full article
"To what is sure to surprise the great playwright, Henry, of Shakespeare’s famous Henry V play, will be portrayed by a female. After all, since the play was written in 1599, women have gained property rights, the right to vote, reproductive rights and the right to work for equal pay. So why shouldn’t they get to portray kings?"
The Noise
Full article
Summer and Smoke (Northern Arizona University)
"This is a play about ideas, and I think that without the strength of the cast I have it could easily be two-and-a-half hours of people talking about philosophy and religion and it could be awful"[Gutierrez-Dennehy] said. "But I have just such powerhouse actors that it has just been: these are the parameters, go play. What they’ve found has been gorgeous."
Full article
From the announcement that Summer and Smoke had been nominated for a Flagstaff Arts Council/Viola Award:
"One of Tennessee Williams’ most subtle and tender works, Summer and Smoke explores the conflict between the hedonistic body and the lofty spirit."
Flagstaff Arts Council
Full announcement
Quilters (Northern Arizona University)
"The challenge of the musical comes with the multiple parts the actresses playing the daughters take on — a total of 120 roles when counted, according to director Christina Gutierrez-Dennehy. She is working with Stephanie Galloway, the musical director."
Arizona Daily Sun
Full article
Angels in America: Millennium Approaches (Northern Arizona University)
“The play has so much to do with spectacle. It’s about being big and amazing to look at, but it’s also these very intimate stories. It’s about relationships. It’s about a person’s struggle with disease. So, finding that balance between the smallness and the monumental is something we have worked to bring into the physical and the visual worlds.”
Arizona Daily Sun
Full article
All’s Well That Ends Well (7 Towers Theatre Company, as Christina Gutierrez)
"[7 Towers'] production of All's Well That Ends Well masterfully brings out both the drama and comedy in the piece and is one of the most thoughtful Shakespeare productions to grace Austin in a long while."
BroadwayWorld Austin
Full Article
"In an intimate setting that is neither grungy gold à la Salvage Vanguard Theater nor slick black Cadillac like the Long Center's Rollins Theatre, 7 Towers Theatre Company presents one of the Bard's underdog comedies. All's Well That Ends Well isn't among the most celebrated in Shakespeare's comedic oeuvre, perhaps because it's generally considered a tragicomedy, and thus there's some gray area that may take audiences by surprise."
Austin Chronicle
Full article
The House of Bernarda Alba (Northern Arizona University and the La Posada Hotel, as Christina Gutierrez)
"Lorca’s subtitle describes it as “a drama of women in the villages of Spain,” and the play’s all-female cast weaves its story through La Posada’s stunning backdrop, beginning in the garden and progressing through the lobby, an art gallery and the ballroom."
NAU News
Full Article
"I like the idea of finding the artistry of taking theatre beyond where we’re used to seeing it. It’s really saying, ‘OK, here is this space. What story can I put here?’ And, from there, you find a play that works."
Arizona Daily Sun
Full Article
The Pillowman (7 Towers Theatre Company, as Christina Gutierrez)
"The Pillowman is one of those theatrical events that seldom comes along. It's sinister, sadistic, haunting, and while it may not be pleasant, it is entirely unforgettable."
BroadwayWorld Austin
Full Article
"This action is intense, brimming with suspense, and Director Christina Gutierrez chose some of Austin's most muscularly intellectual actors to create the piece."
Austin Live Theatre
Full Article
Richard II (Poor Shadows of Elysium, as Christina Gutierrez)
"Assignment of roles for each evening's performance depends upon the outcome of a coin toss at center stage...It's a virtuoso turn that stretches not only the principals but also the cast, for rehearsals were structured so that each actor as Richard took choices that affected cast movements and dramatic tropes differently."
Austin Live Theatre
Full Article
’Tis Pity She’s a Whore (7 Towers Theatre Company, as Christina Gutierrez)
['Tis Pity] is a tour de force for the recently founded 7 Towers Theatre Company the second smashing artistic success in its eight-month existence. This gives it so far the sort of clean sweep that World War II submarine crews would celebrate by hoisting a broom over the conning tower as they sailed back into port."
Austin Live Theatre
Full Article
"Originally a work of Shakespeare, the story was adapted to become more inclusive and modern, and the current version does not glorify colonialism."
Full article
Fefu and Her Friends (Northern Arizona University, over zoom)
"The pandemic has highlighted a number of equality issues that make for really important conversations that we should be having right now, Especially with the correlation between mental health and the isolation the pandemic has caused."
Full article
King Lear (Crooked Figure Theatre)
"Several theories about the mental health of Lear and mental illness in the play have peppered analysis pieces for years. Health professionals have even gone so far as to diagnose the monarch with senile dementia, mania, bi-polar disorder and delirium. But Crooked [Figure] is not seeking to ascribe, rather to shed light on a discussion that is increasingly being lent the space for public discussion and recognition."
Full article
The Effect (Northern Arizona University)
"Many people feel a stigma when talking about their mental health and assume they’re alone in their struggles, but research has shown one in five college students experience anxiety or depression, and 322 million people worldwide live with depression, according to a study published last year in Our World in Data. Often, depictions of depression in media are exaggerated and involve people breaking down in dramatic tears, but more subtle signs of depression can be an inability to concentrate and an increase in sleep, or the person may become comfortably numb and simply go through the motions of their day-to-day life without feeling particularly happy or sad.The Effect brings these issues into the light, presenting an understanding environment in which a healing discussion can take place to let people know that help is possible."
Full article
Hecuba (Crooked Figure Theatre)
"The student ensemble handled the material well enough to captivate an audience each night from start to finish. Stand out performances included both Gillian Norton as Polyxena, the daughter of the play’s namesake, and Kaleb Lightfoot as a perpetually disillusioned and frequently drunk Agamemnon."
Full article
King John (Northern Arizona University)
"William Shakespeare’s story of King John might have been written hundreds of years ago, but modern audiences can relate to its themes of corruption and ineffective leadership [...] The play is a study in the disastrous outcomes of ineffective leadership. King John combines sword fighting, powerful female characters, and moments of poignant tragedy and dark humor."
Full article
Henry V (Crooked Figure Theatre Company)
"While interpretations of Henry vary, from portraying him as an unabashed, unrepentant war criminal to a young king dedicated to the cause he believes in, Crooked Figure finds a sympathetic figure in Novak’s Henry, who is unsure of herself and trying to prove she’s worthy of her title."
Red Rock News
Full article
"To what is sure to surprise the great playwright, Henry, of Shakespeare’s famous Henry V play, will be portrayed by a female. After all, since the play was written in 1599, women have gained property rights, the right to vote, reproductive rights and the right to work for equal pay. So why shouldn’t they get to portray kings?"
The Noise
Full article
Summer and Smoke (Northern Arizona University)
"This is a play about ideas, and I think that without the strength of the cast I have it could easily be two-and-a-half hours of people talking about philosophy and religion and it could be awful"[Gutierrez-Dennehy] said. "But I have just such powerhouse actors that it has just been: these are the parameters, go play. What they’ve found has been gorgeous."
Full article
From the announcement that Summer and Smoke had been nominated for a Flagstaff Arts Council/Viola Award:
"One of Tennessee Williams’ most subtle and tender works, Summer and Smoke explores the conflict between the hedonistic body and the lofty spirit."
Flagstaff Arts Council
Full announcement
Quilters (Northern Arizona University)
"The challenge of the musical comes with the multiple parts the actresses playing the daughters take on — a total of 120 roles when counted, according to director Christina Gutierrez-Dennehy. She is working with Stephanie Galloway, the musical director."
Arizona Daily Sun
Full article
Angels in America: Millennium Approaches (Northern Arizona University)
“The play has so much to do with spectacle. It’s about being big and amazing to look at, but it’s also these very intimate stories. It’s about relationships. It’s about a person’s struggle with disease. So, finding that balance between the smallness and the monumental is something we have worked to bring into the physical and the visual worlds.”
Arizona Daily Sun
Full article
All’s Well That Ends Well (7 Towers Theatre Company, as Christina Gutierrez)
"[7 Towers'] production of All's Well That Ends Well masterfully brings out both the drama and comedy in the piece and is one of the most thoughtful Shakespeare productions to grace Austin in a long while."
BroadwayWorld Austin
Full Article
"In an intimate setting that is neither grungy gold à la Salvage Vanguard Theater nor slick black Cadillac like the Long Center's Rollins Theatre, 7 Towers Theatre Company presents one of the Bard's underdog comedies. All's Well That Ends Well isn't among the most celebrated in Shakespeare's comedic oeuvre, perhaps because it's generally considered a tragicomedy, and thus there's some gray area that may take audiences by surprise."
Austin Chronicle
Full article
The House of Bernarda Alba (Northern Arizona University and the La Posada Hotel, as Christina Gutierrez)
"Lorca’s subtitle describes it as “a drama of women in the villages of Spain,” and the play’s all-female cast weaves its story through La Posada’s stunning backdrop, beginning in the garden and progressing through the lobby, an art gallery and the ballroom."
NAU News
Full Article
"I like the idea of finding the artistry of taking theatre beyond where we’re used to seeing it. It’s really saying, ‘OK, here is this space. What story can I put here?’ And, from there, you find a play that works."
Arizona Daily Sun
Full Article
The Pillowman (7 Towers Theatre Company, as Christina Gutierrez)
"The Pillowman is one of those theatrical events that seldom comes along. It's sinister, sadistic, haunting, and while it may not be pleasant, it is entirely unforgettable."
BroadwayWorld Austin
Full Article
"This action is intense, brimming with suspense, and Director Christina Gutierrez chose some of Austin's most muscularly intellectual actors to create the piece."
Austin Live Theatre
Full Article
Richard II (Poor Shadows of Elysium, as Christina Gutierrez)
"Assignment of roles for each evening's performance depends upon the outcome of a coin toss at center stage...It's a virtuoso turn that stretches not only the principals but also the cast, for rehearsals were structured so that each actor as Richard took choices that affected cast movements and dramatic tropes differently."
Austin Live Theatre
Full Article
’Tis Pity She’s a Whore (7 Towers Theatre Company, as Christina Gutierrez)
['Tis Pity] is a tour de force for the recently founded 7 Towers Theatre Company the second smashing artistic success in its eight-month existence. This gives it so far the sort of clean sweep that World War II submarine crews would celebrate by hoisting a broom over the conning tower as they sailed back into port."
Austin Live Theatre
Full Article
