In February 1996 the UTK Department of Theatre 's production of playwright Steven Dietz's God's Country was selected as one of the seven best university theatre productions in the nation by the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival. With the exception of the sound, all the designs for the show were done by UTK students. Twelve actors, seven of whom were UTK MFA and undergraduate students, formed the ensemble, playing more than 40 different characters in this powerful, modern drama. The Center for International Theatre Research provides theatre students at UTK with a unique opportunity to work international directors, designers, and actors who visit UTK each year to spend extended periods in residence. As part of an exchange agreement, students can also travel abroad to work with artists and directors.
Multiyear projects are now in place with Argentina, Germany, Hungary, Romania, and Russia.
The center is unique in its focus on the research of practical theatre methodology rather than the more theoretical orientation of other international theatre centers. Explaining European costume design Costume design in America differs in function from that in Europe, where costume has long been used to deliver a coded political meaning to audiences living under repressive regimes. Even with the growing influence of European designers in the U.S., very little has been written about modern European costume design. In 1995 and 1996 Custer visited design academies in six major European cities to study the European system of teaching costume design and to make contact with leading teachers and designers. During summer 1997, with a grant from the Edward R. Kook Endowment Fund, she expanded her research to document directly the artistic lives, philosophies, and designs of the most significant designers of Eastern Europe.