The Flair of Sam Bass: The Tempest Project, May 20 - June 11

How much magic can you pack into the box?

The Sam Bass Community Theatre has seats for 52 in that modest structure on Lee Street in Round Rock, north of Austin. The building once served as the Union Pacific depot in town, and one assumes that there wasn't need to serve a lot of passengers. So this theatre can entertain a maximum of just a few more than 200 persons during each week, or about 800 during the course of the usual run. That will be the equivalent of two nights' capacity at the Zach's new Topfer Theatre, or just about 2½ nights at Travis High School performing arts center, where The Mikado has been playing.

Writing recently about the current remarkable season of Shakespeare in Austin, I called the Sam Bass "the little theatre that could," echoing the children's book about the little engine that huffed and puffed and made it to the very tip top of the mountain.Frank Benge's steam punk adaptation of The Tempest ran from May 20 to June 11. It was a triumph of concept and design, bringing into focus the astonishing talent on display at this modest but long-running theatre.

[image: Susan Poe Dickson as Prospera, by Kevin Scholtes]

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