SEASON 38 | July 2026
Summer Underground
July 24 - August 1, 2026
World Premiere | written by Marissa Castañón-Hernández, directed by Blaise Ricin
A startling new play by Marissa Castañón-Hernández, an Austin-based, award-winning playwright and educator. This play is set in Austin in the not too distant future and styled with “graphic novel” flair. A favorite from readings at The VORTEX’s 2023 Green New Theatre Symposium, Summer Underground firmly takes on environmental and class issues that determine who receives water and shelter.
ABOUT THE VORTEX’S SUMMER YOUTH THEATRE: Since 1991, SYT has provided high-caliber theatrical productions created by Central Texas teens as a jewel of The VORTEX’s educational and community programming. The SYT program teaches students ages 13-17, spanning middle and high school. Summer Youth Theatre students receive instruction in theatre arts, equivalent to 3 credits under the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for Fine Arts, Theatre Levels 117.64, 65, 66, 67. By TEKS standards, this program is equivalent to or higher than High School Theatre Arts II, Technical Theatre I, and Theatre Production II. The VORTEX has developed this curriculum over more than thirty years. The Austin Chronicle has named SYT “Best Theatre for Kids That Treats Kids Like Grownups.”
Every year, students work with adult artists who are among Austin’s most celebrated theatre professionals. Recent B. Iden Payne Awards include Outstanding Young Performer, Sharky Meehan in The Memo (2023), and Jessica Cohen’s Outstanding Original Song in Pandemdem Edition: Another Great Depression (2021). SYT has previously received Payne Awards for Youth Theatre Outstanding Productions of The Commedia of Errors and Machinal; Direction of Youth Theatre for The Commedia of Errors, The Physicists, Moby Dick, and The Frogs; Acting in Youth Theatre for The Physicists and Moby Dick; and Sound Design for Machinal. VORTEX Producing Artistic Director Bonnie Cullum founded SYT in 1991; she was inducted into the Austin Arts Hall of Fame in 2009.
ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT: Marissa Castañón-Hernández is an educator and writer based in Austin, Texas. She holds an MFA in Theatre from The University of Texas at Austin and has spent more than two decades teaching and directing young theatre artists. Grounded in a deep commitment to equity in education, she has served as a TEACH PLUS State Policy Fellow and National Senior Writing Fellow, publishing opinion pieces in the Austin-American Statesman that advocate for educational justice, including “Children Deserve a Good Education, No Matter Where They Live” and “Denying Undocumented Children a Free Public Education is Unconscionable.” Her impact in education was recognized when Austin Woman magazine named her a 2025 Change Maker.
As a playwright, Marissa is devoted to amplifying the voices of historically marginalized communities through authentic, emotionally resonant storytelling. Her play On the Eastside won first place in the 2023 Miranda Voces Latinx National Playwriting Competition and received a staged reading at Repertorio Español in New York City. Her dystopian drama Summer Underground, set in a future where residents are forced into shelters to survive extreme summers, was presented in a staged reading at Austin’s Vortex Green New Theatre in September 2023. Marissa is also a 2024 Advance Gender Equity in the Arts Legacy Playwright Grant Finalist and Honorarium Recipient for The Same Stars Shine on Both Sides of El Río, a play that examines loss, forgiveness, and the fragile hope that emerges as characters reckon with the tragic consequences of a perilous journey to El Norte.
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR: Blaise Ricin is a director, performer, choreographer, educator, and theatremaker. Blaise directed the staged reading of Summer Underground, one of the highlights of the Green New Theatre Symposium in 2023. He is a VORTEX company member and recently received a B. Iden Payne Award for Dance Performance. He has Assistant Directed and choreographed for many VORTEX projects including Selfie! The Musical, The Wizard of dOgZ, and The Mutt-cracker (SWEET!).
ABOUT SYT FOUNDER: Bonnie Cullum, Producing Artistic Director, guides and supports the high artistic quality of Summer Youth Theatre, a program that she launched in 1991 to provide theatre opportunities for youth. She co-founded The VORTEX in 1988, creating and presenting hundreds of innovative, ensemble productions. She has an MFA in Directing (University of Texas at Austin) and a BA in Theatre (University of Kansas). Honored three times as Austin’s Best Director by the Austin Chronicle, Cullum received “The Future of Theatre Award” for Performance Park from the Austin Critics’ Table and four B. Iden Payne Awards for Outstanding Direction. She was inducted into the Austin Arts Hall of Fame in 2009.
Summer Youth Theatre 2026 is funded and supported in part by VORTEX Repertory Company; Six Square-Austin’s Black Cultural District; an Arts Respond grant from the Texas Commission on the Arts; and by the City of Austin Economic Development Department.
Sponsorships and community donations also help keep this program tuition-free. To support Summer Youth Theatre as a donor, please contact vortex@vortexrep.org.