AWARDS & RECOGNITION
MoonFall (2023-2024)
12 B. Iden Payne Award Nominations | 2 Wins
Red Nightfall Dance Theatre's immersive fantasy ballet MoonFall received twelve nominations for the 2023-2024 B. Iden Payne Awards, Austin's most prestigious theatre honors, winning two awards:
WINS:
Outstanding Lead Performer in a Drama - Ty Graynor (Sun)
Outstanding Lead Performer in a Drama - Tikiri Shapiro (Lina)
NOMINATIONS:
Outstanding Production of a Drama - MoonFall, Red Nightfall Dance Theatre & Density512
Produced by Kenzie SlottowOutstanding Dance Choreography - Dorothy O'Shea Overbey
Outstanding Dance Performance - Cast of MoonFall
Outstanding Original Score - Sam Lipman
Outstanding Music Direction - Jacob Schnitzer
Outstanding Music Performance - Orchestra, Density512
Outstanding Large Cast - MoonFall Ensemble
Outstanding Media Design - Yuliya Lanina
Outstanding Stage Management - Priscilla Perales
Outstanding Running Crew - Richard Garza, Ismail Ibrahim, Nick Perkins, Jake Stewart, Malcolm Kunz
The B. Iden Payne Awards honor excellence in Austin theatre and recognize outstanding achievement across all theatrical disciplines.
Photo of Navaji by Sarah Annie Navarette
CRONE (2017)
Austin Chronicle - Robert Faires' Top 10 Dance and Classical Treasures
CRONE was featured as part of Fall For Dance at UT's Dance Repertory Theatre, which was named #5 on Robert Faires' Top 10 Dance and Classical Treasures of 2017.
"Dorothy O'Shea Overbey's 'Crone' paid lush tribute to narrative ballets of yore in a mythic tale inspired by The Rite of Spring... with its luxe orchestral score by composer-in-residence Samuel Lipman, colorful and flowing costumes by Aaron Kubacak, and graceful movements, this work had its eye on the present as much as the past."
— Robert Faires, The Austin Chronicle
PRESS COVERAGE
Fractured Dawn (2025)
KUT 90.5 - Arts Eclectic with Mike Lee
Read Full Article & Listen to Radio Interview
"This weekend, Red Nightfall Dance Theatre will present Fractured Dawn, a new work that combines music, dance, film and verse. Artistic director Dorothy O'Shea Overbey says it's part of a larger universe that she's been working on, in one form or another, for more than ten years... The Crone universe will be fantastical and also quite large."
"You know, [there aren't] many pleasures in the world more powerful than being in a room full of creative people, working like this together, creating something like this together. And to see the story – which, you know, started for me autobiographically – to see how it reaches other people, to see how they identify with it, to see how they deepen it... I think it's wonderful... and I think it's also a little bit of creating a microcosm of a beautiful world, you know?"
— Dorothy O'Shea Overbey
Photo by Tyler Whitman of Ty Graynor from Fractured Dawn.
MoonFall (2024)
CTX Live Theatre - Dr. Dave Robinson
Read Full Review
"So powerful, and then so tender. Not often are such disparate qualities drawn so beautifully into juxtaposition. Gentle love duets turn into angry ensemble conflicts. The shambling, morose movements of sun-scorched villagers segue into the powerful dances of the magician, seemingly in a heartbeat. That note is key, because while MoonFall, the newly premiered ballet by Red Nightfall Dance Theatre and Density512 danced to an original score by Sam Lipman deals directly in duality and opposites, it comes deeply and profoundly from the heart."
"MoonFall creators have a scrupulous devotion to ballet, within which they create and innovate with a sense of liberation. MoonFall in its innovations and performance execution compares favorably with the better-funded Ballet Austin production of POE: A Tale of Madness, and Ballet Austin II's Maria and the Mouse Deer. All these ballets may have a proud place on the stage of world performing arts. Austin is so lucky."
Photo by Sarah Anie Navarette
The Watchmaker's Song (2018-2024)
An immersive, culturally inclusive reimagining of The Nutcracker, The Watchmaker's Song transformed the beloved holiday classic into an interactive journey through diverse global traditions.
The Austin Chronicle - Robert Faires
"This Nutcracker is different... because of the chance it offered to dive inside this familiar work, to attend the party that kicks off the evening's adventure and take our own journeys to see cultures of faraway lands. The Watchmaker's Song let us in on the action. To be so close to something you know so well from afar is to see it anew. It is magical, and in a way that is all this show's own."
From 2018 to 2024, The Watchmaker’s Song was a co-production of Red Nightfall Dance Theatre and Ventana Ballet. After taking a hiatus in 2025, look for The Watchmaker’s Song to return in 2026!
Concept, Choreography, Writing, Artistic Direction, Snow Queen - Dorothy O’Shea Overbey (Red Nightfall)
Executive Director, Production, Sugar Plum Fairy - AJ Garcia-Rameau (Ventana Ballet)
CRONE (UT Austin Live production, 2017)
The Austin Chronicle - Robert Faires' Top 10 Dance and Classical Treasures of 2017
"Dorothy O'Shea Overbey's 'Crone' paid lush tribute to narrative ballets of yore in a mythic tale inspired by The Rite of Spring... with its luxe orchestral score by composer-in-residence Samuel Lipman, colorful and flowing costumes by Aaron Kubacak, and graceful movements, this work had its eye on the present as much as the past."
AUDIENCE TESTIMONIALS
Fractured Dawn (2025)
"I am forever changed by the brilliant and fantastic experience of Fractured Dawn."
"I found it therapeutic. It reminded me of themes currently happening in my own life—including some things I have been avoiding. Watching this performance allowed me to experience my emotions."
"I'm working on setting boundaries in my own life too."
"What a beautiful escape to enter that clear white space and engage with the music, the movement, the fantasy. It was also fun to be part of your creative process. Congratulations!"
MoonFall (2024)
"The MoonFall immersive ballet WOWED me. An incredibly ambitious, beautiful, complex, funny-and-serious musing on celestial bodies, mythology, nature, environmental degradation, role-player fantasy games. Novel and adventurous in its staging and presentation but not self-consciously so. Always ever-so-slightly winking at you while it delivers its message. And beautiful, athletic choreography and dazzling, inspiring music from a 12-piece chamber orchestra!"
— Michael Brown
"We don't usually go to see dance. I'm not used to seeing it, it just isn't part of our lives. This is INCREDIBLE. Just amazing, I can't believe it. The ATHLETICISM. At first I think wow, how can they do that with their bodies… and then I see that they really CAN do this, and I can feel the energy, the joy they have… it's the GLORY and LOVE."
"The Red Nightfall dancers are SO COOL. They are just so positive, working hard together, having fun, solving problems… I mean it looks like y'all actually LOVE EACH OTHER. I mean I'm thinking do they actually love each other that much? That's amazing! A drama-free ensemble."
"The thing I took away from tonight was that there is no reason we should not be dancing exactly like we want to, with all of our power and passion. Right now. This was amazing. From the audience experience, the community… I love how MUSICAL the choreography is. Also you bond and connect with the people you go through the rooms with, you have a shared experience."
"The two men dancing together - it was so powerful to watch - kind of surprising - and it really got me thinking about the aspects of the masculine and feminine within my own self."
"The easy ability to strike to the elemental core of complex reality, day/night, sun/moon, alive/dead, suffering/joy, and the ability to draw in and entrain audiences of moderns in a somewhat abstract and mythic story touching on the genetic structures in us all."
— Dr. Dave, CTX Theatre
"Choreography was stunning. At times, I saw more acting expressed by your performers than I see in professional Actors on stage in Austin. The score and orchestra were on another level of excellence as well."
The Watchmaker's Song
"I am BLOWN AWAY. I am never going to a formal Nutcracker again. This is incredible, really wonderful."
"Dear creators, artists, and crew - This show was a gift to all who saw it - beautiful, thoughtful, and enriching. The world needs your art perhaps now more than ever. Wishing you each and all lives filled with art, play, and a lifelong love of both."