Tarleton State University loves history…well…OK…Let me explain. One of their theatre department’s objectives is to “expose theatre students to a wide variety of performance styles and historical periods.” How perfect is 44 Plays for that objective? We’ve got both!

No wonder they jumped on board without warning. Usually, there’s a lot of courtship involved in getting a production of 44 Plays into our Festival. Tarleton knew what they wanted, who they wanted, and when they wanted to produce before they even introduced themselves. They’re one of only a few dark horse producers on our list. And we LOVE them for it!

Guess who else was a dark horse? Tarleton State’s pick for the video project: James A. Garfield. In 1880 he failed to get his friend John Sherman nominated at the Republican convention, only to be nominated himself. He then won the general election by a mere 10,000 votes. One year later, President Garfield was assassinated by a crazy dude and the country was devastated.

TSU is in Stephenville, Texas, about two hours out of Dallas, where another president lost his life–1,300 miles and 82 years from the attack on Garfield.

We love varied styles. We love dark horses. We love history (duh.) And I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say we love Texas. Why not? Welcome aboard, TSU!

We can’t wait to see you dance.