Robert Faires Outlines FronteraFest BRING YOUR OWN VENUE performances, January, 2014

Change of Venue

This year, FronteraFest is takin' it to the streets – and a chapel, a bookstore, a home ...

By Robert Faires, Fri., Jan. 10, 2014


Come January every year, FronteraFest fans begin flocking toward Hyde Park Theatre and Salvage Vanguard Theater with the instinctive surety of swallows winging their way back to Capistrano. And why not? With HPT serving as the site of the Short Fringe for the performance jamboree's full 21-year history and SVT being a home base for Long Fringe shows for the last five fests, audiences have been conditioned to expect their annual fix of taking-a-risk, skirting-the-edge, what-in-sweet-heaven-was-that theatrics in those specific venues. But this year, regulars who rely on that reflex to get them to all of the festival's offerings risk missing some of the more intriguing projects on the schedule.


Now, nothing's happened to FFest's traditional stages (see "FronteraFest: The Basics" , but the number of entries in the category dubbed BYOV ("Bring Your Own Venue") is considerably higher than usual. Where most FronteraFests see one or two projects mounted somewhere other than SVT, the 2014 festival has six – and that isn't counting Mi Casa Es Su Teatro, the independently curated day of site-specific short pieces that's been part of FFest for more than 15 years. You can take your pick of a church chapel, a SoCo sidewalk, a dance studio, a bookstore, a warehouse, or a writer's residence for a performance adventure.

Read more at the Austin Chronicle on-line, including capsule descriptions of BYOB performances

There Is A Happiness That Morning Is by Mickle Maher, Capital Theatre at Hyde Park Theatre, October 24 - November 23, 2013

by Dr. David Glen Robinson

This production of Mickle Maher’s There is a Happiness That Morning Is generated considerable marketing material on its fictional premise: two teachers of William Blake’s poetry at a crumbling east coast liberal arts college became so overwhelmed by it all that they had throwdown carnal knowledge of each other on the leafy day-lit campus. Their students witnessed their intimacy, as did the president of the college, and everyone else. The president and trustees want them to apologize and resign.

Well, playwright Maher knows well that the past is prologue, and as the play starts, one of the participants, Bernard (Jason Phelps), explains that that was all yesterday, and this is the happiness of the next morning. Thus the play is essentially aftermath. 

Yes, Bernard is clearly demented from teaching Blake for fifteen years (the only class the college ever allowed him to teach), and all he wants is to apologize, resign, and go on living his life of joy with his beloved and gorgeous Ellen (Katherine Catmull), who has been his mate for about twenty years. 

Ellen is made of sterner stuff. She refers to the college president in gutter language, and does the same with all others who humiliated her in the very triumph of her love. These two characters speak in verse, delivering Maher’s poetry about Blake’s poetry and their issues with the college. The contrasts in their affective states create the comedy in the play and heighten the consequences of their deeds.

Plays written almost entirely in verse glamorize almost any subject and thematic material. When that material is love, loss, and hope, the play takes on a rare, sustaining beauty uncommon in modern plays. This play has that beauty in abundance, and the exquisite abilities of Jason Phelps and Catherine Catmull in speaking and acting in verse ensure its success. It is true that casting in modern plays is the single strongest variable in a play’s success, and it is true for There is a Happiness That Morning Is.

Jason Phelps, Katherine Catmull (photo: Bret Brookshire)

The design fields hold up their end of the bargain. The set design by Mark Pickell, who also directed, uses the unusual shape and size of the Hyde Park audience space to realize the concept of a lecture hall in a down-at-heel liberal arts college. Simple and good; the audience becomes the students in the classes of the two shamed professors.

Nothing is perfect, and There is a Happiness That Morning Is has a major lulu. The third character in the play is entirely uncredited. This is a deliberate omission to create a thoroughly unnecessary surprise (there are other surprises and plot twists in abundance in this play). The device of the surprise character is acceptable for cameo roles or walk-on actions, but not for substantial work, significant time on stage, and contributions to the story, as in this case. A union state probably would not allow the practice.

The above is not particularly a spoiler, nor is it intended to be. The Capitol T Theatre production of There Is a Happiness That Morning Is comes highly recommended for all adult audiences. The play treats the themes of love, desperation, and uncertainty so poetically well that when the modestly attired professors first cross the stage to each other and quietly embrace, one senses how something enormous this play is.

Others have sensed this enormity and the Hyde Park Theatre in central Austin has held the play over until November 23rd. Reservations are strongly recommended.

by Michael Meigs, November 12

Review by Cate Blouke, Statesman, Oct 28

Review by Jeff Davis, Broadway World, Nov 3

Review by Elizabeth Cobbe, Austin Chronicle, Nov 7

Review by Spike Gillespie, Nov 9

EXTRA

Click to view the program for Capital T's There Is A Happiness That Morning Is by Mickle Maher

There Is A Happiness That Morning Is by Mickle Maher, Capital Theatre at Hyde Park Theatre, October 24 - November 16, 2013

by Michael Meigs

There is a space that theatre is,

unknown except to the hip and cognoscenti --

where verse and blood, ironic plenty,

dearth, death, desire and wit

conjured forth from air, direct

our eyes to great and lesser things

unseen, unknown, unspoken in our media.

Hyde Park, Cap T, Mick' Maher, Blake,

knife-sharp, wit-full, astounding, take

our souls in dance and squeeze our hearts,

unglaze our eyes. Innocence? Experience?

Groves of academe, Pierian springs, our lives, our parts,

our desperate loves, impending ends and dreams:

theatre, pure, unbounded, sings in Hyde Park's

flickering space as Ellen and Bernard

Resist the rush of time. Deliverance!

Verse, and to a lesser extent poetry, have distinctly faded from our Western culture since the valiant days. Now they're studied mostly by the diminishing number of undergraduate English majors and scribbled mostly by the constant supply of self-absorbed teenagers. This is a long-term cultural fading out, accelerating since the late twentieth century because of technologies, the shortening of attention spans, passivity and the increasing dominance of the visual and the sound bite.

Several decades back in the last century the enthusiastic professor who lectured on Don Quijote to us undergraduates commented that our modern eyes tend to skip past the verse with which that particular epic is so lovingly filled. We've lost the delight -- that lovin' feeling -- for the music of language unadorned with instruments. The modern mind wants prose, wants narrative, wants closure, and is impatient with the lift and rhythm of meter.

Case in point: before beginning to read the narrative, did you listen with your mind's ear to the italicized opening lines above?

Katherine Catmull (photo: Capital T Theatre)

Katherine Catmull, who plays Prof. Ellen in Maher's tasty script, is a natural here, a snug fit in a character who's so devoted to the verse of William Blake that she has taught in an obscure little college for decades, just to be near her loves: Blake and Bernard, her fellow enthusiast.

As a writer, actor, publicist and Austin personality, Catmull is one essential element of the Hyde Park Theatre, the cramped former post office at 43rd Street and Guadalupe where this magic takes place. In fact, it turns out that Mickle Maher's innovation of returning to dramatic verse may be due at least in part to the HPT. It's said that Maher was in the audience in this same space for an evening of the FronteraFest Short Fringe some years ago, and for one of the evening's five 25-minute performances an Austin group performed its own original piece in rhyming verse.

Chicago-based Maher liked the approach. He wrote There Is A Happiness That Morning Is for his home company, Theatre Oobleck, and they premiered it at the City of Chicago's DCA Theatre space (think of Austin's Dougherty Arts Center, but in the Loop). Catastrophic Theatre in Houston presented it in September of this year. Capital T's artistic director Mark Pickell, who'd already nabbed Maher's Spirits to Enforce in 2011, had also signed up for the Blake play.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com. . . .

Robert Faires Profiles Mark Pickell and Capital T Theatre's 'There Is A Happiness That Morning Is' by Mickle Maher, October 31, 2013

Excerpt from Robert Faires' feature:

He Happy Is

For Mark Pickell, Capital T Theatre is a source of joy

 

By Robert Faires, October 31, 2013

Mark Pickell (photo:  Bret Brookshire)

[ . . . . ] "This is going to sound weird," offers [Katherine] Catmull, [lead in Capital T Theatre's current production There Is A Happiness That Morning Is by Mickle Maher,] "but I think what characterizes Cap T shows is an odd but sort of luscious combination of 1) humor, often quite black humor; 2) sex!; and 3) a real interest in and thoughtfulness about big ideas – ideas about life, death, love, families, society, etc."

Pickell himself breaks it down even more simply: "One constant throughout all the plays that I produce is that they're smart, that they challenge the audience to use their brains a little bit. And they're entertaining. If you had to nail me down for the two things that I really enjoy, it's being smart and entertaining at the same time." That's led him most often to works that can't be labeled with either a frowning or a smiling mask, "plays that don't say, 'I'm just a comedy,' or 'I'm just a drama.' That in-between ground of dark comedies is one I really appreciate. And so far, I think our audiences have appreciated that mix."

Webster, who's helped Pickell's company create its artistic home at Hyde Park Theatre, will testify to that, as he's had to squeeze more and more patrons – including many of his regulars – into Cap T's shows. "Capital T has been a good fit at HPT for several reasons," he writes. "Number one is probably that Mark's taste in plays and my taste in plays are very similar. Similar but not identical. The shows he produces appeal to HPT audiences, and the number of our regular audience members who have become Capital T regulars has grown steadily over the past six years. Capital T and Mark have also been great for HPT. HPT audiences have come to expect smart scripts, excellent direction, and strong performances from Mark and Capital T. And HPT productions have gotten new audience members from Mark's regular patrons."

Pickell recognizes that his company's success likely wouldn't have come as quickly or steadily as it did without Webster's support and the symbiosis between Cap T and HPT. "I owe tons of gratitude and mentorship to Ken," he says. "Hyde Park, which is, in all actuality, this terrible little space, is amazing and great, and people love to see theatre there. They associate it with quality work and newer plays, newer playwrights, newer thoughts and ideas. Ken comes across as this gruff guy, but he's been a very loving mentor to my company and me."

Read full feature at the Austin Chronicle on-line

FronteraFest Hiring Techs and Staff for Mid-January to February Theatre Festival

FronteraFest is hiring! 

We need Stage Managers, Assistant Stage Managerss, light board ops, box office and front-of-house of folks and a Technical Director for the Short Fringe (January 14 - February 15, 2013 at the Hyde Park Theatre) and for the Long Fringe (January 20 - February 4). 

More info available at the Hyde Park Theatre website.

Email fronterafest@hydeparktheatre.org for complete info about opportunities.

Video Promo: THERE IS A HAPPINESS THAT MORNING IS, Mickle Maher, Capital T at Hyde Park Theatre, October 24 - November 16, 2013

Promo video for the










production of

There is a Happiness that Morning Is

by Mickle Maher

directed by Mark Pickell

October 24th – November 16th, 2013

Thursdays-Saturday sat 8 p.m.

Hyde Park Theatre 511 W 43rd St at Guadalupe - click for map

Two college professors, overcome by the poetry of William Blake, have sex on the lawn of their campus in front of their students. Now they owe everyone an apology. 




Capital T Theatre is proud to present Mickle Maher’s (Spirits to Enforce) outrageously funny and thought povoking ode to love, sex, and the poetry of William Blake. Two-time Austin Critics Table Award winning director Mark Pickell (Lieutenant of Inishmore, Killer Joe) directs Austin favorites Katherine Catmull (Boom, Happy Days) and Jason Phelps (Intergalactic Nemesis)




Running Time: 1 hours15 minutes with no intermission

Auditions for The Flick by Annie Baker, Hyde Park Theatre, November 2, 2013

Auditions for The Flick by Annie Baker are Saturday, November 2 at the Hyde Park Theatre, 511 W. 43rd St. and Guadlaupe (click for map).


Looking for one African-American male, early twenties. Two males mid to late twenties, One female mid to late twenties. Show runs March 27, 2014 - April 26, 2014.


Email hydeparktheatre@gmail.com to set an appointment or for more information.


[AustinLiveTheatre note: Click on image to go to Nathan Heller's profile 'The anti-theatrical theatre of Annie Baker' in the Feb. 25, 2013 edition of the New Yorker magazine.]

Tragedy: A Tragedy by Will Eno, Hyde Park Theatre, September 12 - October 12, 2013

by Jess Helmke

Much To Say About Nothing

The sun has set. The theatre is quiet. And a play begins. Just another normal Thursday night in the Austin Hyde Park neighborhood.

But maybe it’s more than that, suggests playwright Will Eno. His play Tragedy: a Tragedy is now running at Hyde Park Theatre, engaging audiences with ironic perceptions of mundane, everyday life. Eno’s repetitious cyclone of humor entertains the audience with threads of thematic action, roccoco rythmic storytelling, glimmers of conflict, lyric poetics, and the occasional element of surprise.

The mere fact that Will Eno uses television as his theatrical setting is unexpected. The play of gives us four main characters: Frank the anchor, John the weatherman, Constance the elated and naive reporter, and Michael the global reporter . Tragedy begins as a straightforward newscast, typical in speech pattern and line delivery, butr a little disappointing since there seems to be a lack of events to report. Characters speak directly to the audience as if we were sitting in the comfort of own homes, and their stage business is humorously appropriate with index fingers to the eapieces and sips of coffee by the anchor. I totally bought it.

The power and versatiity of the tool of theatre is exploited in most of Will Eno’s work, and the comedy Tragedy: a Tragedy is no different. Its discussions about darkness remind us of a bare stage. Its painful nostalgic childhood stories almost make us nervous all over again. And the play’s still, quiet moments lie glimmering like the stars. Begging observers to think. To try. To understand. To comment. To DO SOMETHING, ANYTHING in this existential awareness report from Action 7 News.

Click to read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com. . . .

Video: Tragedy: A Tragedy by Will Eno, Hyde Park Theatre, September 12 - October 12, 2013

Video by Eric Graham for the



        presentation of

September 12 - October 12, 2013
Thursdays - Saturdays at 8 p.m.
Hyde Park Theatre 511 W. 43rd Street at Guadalupe - click for map
Will the sun rise again? It's looking unlikely, but no worries: our crack news team is on the story.  Featuring Nathan Brockett, Michael Ferstenfeld, Molly Karrasch, Benjamin Summers, and Ken Webster. Directed by Ken Webster.


Click to buy tickets via BuyPlayTix ($20 general admission, students/seniors/Austin Creative Alliance $18)

(Click to go to the AustinLiveTheatre front page)

SELF-PRODUCING FOR THE FRINGE by Christi Moore, Scriptworks at Hyde Park Theatre, September 18, 2013

presents

DRAMATIS PERSONAE WORKSHOP


A primer in self-producing for the fringe
A workshop taught by Christina J. Moore
Wednesday, September 18, 7:00 - 9:00 pm
Hyde Park Theatre, 511 W. 43rd St. - click for map
$5 SW members; $10 general
This workshop, led by ScriptWorks Executive Director and FronteraFest Producer Christina J. Moore, will guide participants through the process of preparing a piece for FronteraFest. From resources for finding actors, directors, and rehearsal space to the ins and outs of the technical rehearsal, we'll cover it all. 
 
Contact christi@scriptworks.org to reserve your spot.

(Click to go to the AustinLiveTheatre front page)
 

TRAGEDY: A TRAGEDY by Will Eno, Hyde Park Theatre, September 12 - October 12

[511 W. 43rd Street at Guadalupe - click for map ]



presents

Will the sun rise again? It's looking unlikely, but no worries: our crack news team is on the story.

"A charming display of witty satire in the face of Armageddon. . . . this 75-minute play serves as a big ol' poke in the eye to media in an age of geopolitical uncertainty, pending disaster, and a preoccupation with ratings." - Theatermania.

Starring Nathan Brockett, Michael Ferstenfeld, Molly Karrasch, Benjamin Summers, and Ken Webster. Directed by Ken Webster.

Click to buy tickets via BuyPlayTix ($20 general admission, students/seniors/Austin Creative Alliance $18)















(Click to go to the AustinLiveTheatre front page)

Profile: Ken Webster and His House of Letters, Austin Statesman, July 6, 2013

Ken Webster and his house of letters

A story about theater, freedom, language … and the beauty of smallness

By Brad Buchholz, American-Statesman Staff

Ken Webster (photo: Jay Janner, Austin Statesman)

Ken Webster spends most of his days in a Hyde Park playhouse — theater space, daydream space, a creative hideaway, where he immerses himself in the beauty of language, the genius of playwright Harold Pinter, an ocean of baseball trivia, the art of a well-placed comma. It is a serious place. It is a silly place. And for Webster: It is a place of independence.


“This is my second home,” says Webster, the 55-year-old executive director of Austin’s literary-minded Hyde Park Theatre and one of the most well-known actors and directors in the city. “It’s not just a place I work; it’s a place where I hang out, where I see friends. I met my wife (the actress and author Katherine Catmull) here. It’s been a big part of my life for 30 years.”

Click to read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com

Click to go to this article at www.mystatesman.com

Video Preview: Thom Pain (based on nothing) by Will Eno, featuring Ken Webster, Hyde Park Theatre, July 11 - August 3, 2013

Eric Graham's video preview of the



    presentation of

written by Will Eno and performed by Ken Webster
July 11 - August 3, 2013

11 W. 43rd Street at Guadalupe - click for map

 
Purchase tickets online or call 479-PLAY (7529). The show runs at 8 p.m. on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, July 11 - August 3, 2013. Every Thursday is Pay What You Can Night. For the first three weeks (July 11-27) Friday and Saturday tickets are $20 ($18 for students, seniors, military, and Austin Creative Alliance members). For the final weekend (August 1-3) tickets are $22 ($20 for students, seniors, military, and Austin Creative Alliance members). Purchase tickets online or call 479-PLAY (7529) for reservations.

Thom Pain is hilarious, curious, heartbreaking, astonishing. The New York Times called playwright Will Eno "a Samuel Beckett for the Jon Stewart generation."

An encore of the one-man piece that won raves from Austin critics and audiences in 2007 (Click to read the review of December 14, 2007 by Avimaan Syam in the Austin Chronicle). The play the New York Times called "astonishing in its impact" returns in an award-winning performance by HPT Artistic Director Ken Webster. The Austin Critics' Table named Ken Webster Outstanding Lead Actor for his 2007 performance in this role, and the show was nominated for Outstanding Production. 

(Click to go to the AustinLiveTheatre front page)

THOM PAIN (based on nothing) by Will Eno, with Ken Webster, Hyde Park Theatre, July 11 - August 3, 2013

[511 W. 43rd Street at Guadalupe - click for map ]

presents 
Thom Pain
(based on nothing)
written by Will Eno
 
performed by Ken Webster
July 11 - August 3, 2013
Purchase tickets online or call 479-PLAY (7529).

An encore of the one-man piece that won raves from Austin critics and audiences in 2007. The play the New York Times called "astonishing in its impact" returns in an award-winning performance by HPT Artistic Director Ken Webster.

The Austin Critics' Table named Ken Webster Outstanding Lead Actor for his 2007 performance in this role, and the show was nominated for Outstanding Production. The Austin Chronicle called Webster's performance "sensational . . . a certain economy of motion that I consistently see in great actors, wherein every step, smile, and hand gesture is made with a purpose."

Thom Pain is hilarious, curious, heartbreaking, astonishing. The New York Times called playwright Will Eno "a Samuel Beckett for the Jon Stewart generation."

The show runs at 8:00 PM on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, July 11 - August 3, 2013. Every Thursday is Pay What You Can Night. For the first three weeks (July 11-27) Friday and Saturday tickets are $20 ($18 for students, seniors, military, and Austin Creative Alliance members). For the final weekend (August 1-3) tickets are $22 ($20 for students, seniors, military, and Austin Creative Alliance members). Purchase tickets online or call 479-PLAY (7529) for reservations.

Hyde Park Theatre is located at 511 W. 43rd Street. Covered off-street parking for the patrons of HPT is available during performances in the lot at 4315 Guadalupe Street, just north of The Parlor. You can drive through The Parlor's parking lot to reach it. Evening HPT parking also available at Kenneth's Hair Salon, just south of HPT, and at the Hyde Park Church of Christ on the northeast corner of 43rd & Avenue B. We are grateful to them all for their generosity.

Follow us on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook.

(Click to go to the AustinLiveTheatre front page)

Video by Eric Graham: Slowgirl by Greg Pierce at Hyde Park Theatre, March 21 - April 27, 2013

Eric Graham's two-minute video promo for the production at



[511 W. 43rd Street at Guadalupe - click for map ]

of
 


Slowgirl


by Greg Pierce
directed by Ken Webster

March 21 - April 27, 2012

Purchase tickets online or call 479-PLAY (7529).

NOTE! Some strong language in video dialogue. . . . 




Click for Austin Live Theatre review, March 25



Review by Lola and Zoe at blogspot.com, March 18
  Review by Spike Gillespie at her blog Spike Speaks, March 25

HIT by Shanon Weaver, A Chick and a Dude Productions at Hyde Park Theatre, May 2 - 18, 2013

presents

Hit

by Shanon Weaver

May 2 - 18, 2013, Thursdays - Saturdays at 8 p.m.

Hyde Park Theatre, 511 W. 43rd Street at Guadalupe

Tickets are sliding scale, $15-$25 ($10-$20 Thursdays.) Discount tickets are available for $10 to all Active Duty or retired Military, Fire Department, Police Department, and EMS employees, good for any night. For tickets/reservations, please visit www.achickandadude.com or email achickandadude@gmail.com.

A CHICK & A DUDE PRODUCTIONS ANNOUNCES 10-YEAR ANNIVERSARY REMOUNT OF AWARD-WINNING HIT

In celebration of its tenth anniversary, a chick & a dude productions is pleased to announce the remount of our very first show, HIT by Co-Artistic Director Shanon Weaver.

 
HIT is a noir-crime family drama focused on the bonds between three hit men in a unique family unit. Contract killers Ervin and Wyatt rescue a young boy—Asher—from an abusive foster family. In Asher, the partners in crime see the heart of a killer, and decide to raise him together in their own image. Several years later, Asher strikes out on a solo career, Ervin meets an untimely end on the job, and Wyatt finds himself alone in the world. 

On a night that will determine their destinies, Asher and Wyatt separately accept a job to kill the same man at the same place on the same night—but the target doesn’t show. As they piece together the situation, which could have dire consequences for them both, Asher and Wyatt recall the events of their lives that led them to this moment. Issues of loyalty, responsibility, violence, and alternative-family fatherhood take center stage in this award winning script.

Melissa Livingston-Weaver returns to direct Tom Green (B. Iden Payne Award Nominee 2011— Best Actor, Paradise Key) as Wyatt, Garry Peters (B.I.P Award 2010—Featured Actor, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof) as Ervin, playwright Shanon Weaver as Asher, and Gary Livingston-Weaver (the son of the chick & the dude!) in his debut as Teen Asher.


HIT garnered three B. Iden Payne Awards for the 2002/2003 season, including Outstanding Director of a Drama (Melissa Livingston-Weaver,) Outstanding Cast Performance (Shanon Weaver, Ken Bradley, Joel Citty,) and Outstanding Original Script (Weaver.) In 2005, the show was produced as part of the prestigious New York International Fringe Festival where it was honored with an Overall Excellence Award—Cast Performance.

Praise for HIT:

“... Melissa Livingston has done a fine job of creating tight and crisp scenes, and the dialogue crackles...There is very little empty space between cues and given the Mamet-esque dialogue, that's how it should be...the ending is a surprise that you don't see coming… more than worth your while to attend.” —Alyssa Simon, NYTheatre.com

“…Hit hits the mark… the writing is smart and tight; the dialogue in several scenes is so much fun that it garners applause. Director Melissa Livingston shines as well, creating a great deal of suspense with a very spare set...a terrific and memorable production.” —New York Times Free-lancer Hy Bender

About A Chick & A Dude Productions. Now in its tenth year, A Chick & A Dude Productions is an award-winning Austin theatre company. The ‘chick’ is Co-Artistic Director Melissa Livingston-Weaver; the ‘dude’ is Shanon Weaver, Co-Artistic Director and Resident Playwright. Company members include Technical Director Shawn Ferrell, Art & Media Director Dan Price, Production Manager Katy Billik and Artistic Associates T. Lynn Mikeska and Gary Livingston-Weaver. For more information, visit www.achickandadude.com.

This production contains very mature themes and strong language

(Click to return to the AustinLiveTheatre front page)

SLOWGIRL by Greg Pierce, Hyde Park Theatre, March 22 - April 27, 2013

[511 W. 43rd Street at Guadalupe - click for map ]

presents

'Night Window' by Rich Evenhouse (via Flickr)

Slowgirl
by Greg Pierce
directed by Ken Webster

March 21 - April 27, 2012 Purchase tickets online or call 479-PLAY (7529).

A hilariously chatty teenage girl visits her withdrawn, soft-spoken uncle in the Costa Rican jungle where he retreated nine years before. As the week unfolds, the true reason behind her visit, as well as the reasons for his long self-exile, begin to emerge. An exquisitely written and extraordinary play.

"Engrossing and impressive. A beautifully crafted play" (Theatermania).

"Superb . . . Excellent and subtle new play" (New York Observer).

The HPT production is directed by Ken Webster and stars Molly Karrasch (Tigers Be Still, Exit Pursued by a Bear) and Ken Webster (Vigil, St. Nicholas, A Behanding in Spokane.)

The show runs at 8:00 PM on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, March 21 - April 27, 2013. Every Thursday is Pay What You Can Night. For the first four weeks (March 21 - April 13) Friday and Saturday tickets are $20 ($18 for students, seniors, military, and Austin Creative Alliance members). For the final two weekends (April 18 - 27) tickets are $22 ($20 for students, seniors, military, and Austin Creative Alliance members). Purchase tickets online or call 479-PLAY (7529).

Hyde Park Theatre is located at 511 W. 43rd Street. Covered off-street parking for the patrons of HPT is available during performances in the lot at 4315 Guadalupe Street, just north of The Parlor. You can drive through The Parlor's parking lot to reach it. Evening HPT parking also available at Kenneth's Hair Salon, just south of HPT, and at the Hyde Park Church of Christ on the northeast corner of 43rd & Avenue B. We are grateful to them all for their generosity.

Follow us on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook.

 

(Click to go to the AustinLiveTheatre front page)

Poster for Upcoming: FronteraFest 2013 at the Hyde Park Theatre and Salvage Vanguard Theatre, January 15 - February 3

 

Hyde Park Theatre in collaboration with ScriptWorks and the Salvage Vanguard Theatre

presents

The 20th Annual FronteraFest

January 15 – February 16, 2013

FronteraFest, now celebrating its 20th year as one of the largest fringe performance events in the Southwest kicks-off its ‘Short Fringe’ from January 15 – February 16 and ‘Long Fringe’ performances from January 21 – February 3, 2013. The Short Fringe takes place at Hyde Park Theatre (511 West 43rd) Tuesdays through Saturdays at 8:00 pm and Long Fringe performances are held at Salvage Vanguard Theatre (2803 Manor Road) at various dates/times (available at www.hydeparktheatre.org). There is also a special ‘Mi Casa es Su Teatro’ event which takes place one day only, Saturday, February 9th from 11:00 am to 7:00 pm.

Over the course of two decades, FronteraFest stages have been host to more than 2,000 performances and well over 8,000 participants from Central Texas and beyond. The month-long Festival, now an institution, features three separate components; the Short Fringe which runs the entirety of the Festival showcasing pieces 25 minutes or less, and the Long Fringe, with longer pieces between 45-90 minutes. The final and most unique component, 'Mi Casa es Su Teatro' consists of one day of performances hosted primarily at private homes.

FronteraFest is a collaboration between two of Austin’s foremost arts organizations, Hyde Park Theatre, an award-winning professional theatre in Central Austin and ScriptWorks, a statewide playwright development and service organization. The Salvage Vanguard Theatre at 2803 Manor Rd. hosts the Long Fringe productions.
 

The festival was created in 1993 by Frontera@Hyde Park Theatre Artistic Director Vicky Boone. Boone resigned in 2001 and Ken Webster became Artistic Director of the organization, which changed its name to Hyde Park Theatre. In 2002 Hyde Park Theatre and ScriptWorks' began a partnership to produce the storied festival with Christina J. Moore of ScriptWorks serving as festival producer.

To commemorate two decades of exciting, moving, sometimes weird and delightfully unexpected performance, former FronteraFest ‘Best of Fest’ winners and long-time participants have been invited to return to the stage for special appearances on Thursday evenings, including Steven Tomlinson, Emily Fordyce, Cyndi Williams, Zell Miller, III and Keira McDonald. Past notables include nationally recognized playwrights Kirk Lynn, John Walch, and Pulitzer Prize finalist Lisa D'Amour, who presented some of their earliest work at the festival.

Tickets available from BuyPlayTix via www.hydeparktheatre.com

All FronteraFest performances are listed on Austin Live Theatre's Central Texas theatre calendar and at the HPT website.

Click for further background at AustinLiveTheatre.com. . . .

Feature by Robert Fairesprofiling returning favorites, Austin Chronicle, January 10

Feature by Jeanne Claire van Ryzin stressing history of the 20-year-old FronteraFest, Austin Statesman, January 10

Call for Scripts and Venues for Mi Casa Es Su Teatro, FronteraFest 2013

We are looking for both projects and venue hosts for this year's Mi Casa Es Su Teatro 2013.
 
These events are produced by ScriptWorks and Hyde Park Theatre and curated for FronteraFest.

Contact Adrienne Dawes for more details at adriennedawes@gmail.com

Upcoming 21013 FronteraFest: Short Finge at the Hyde Park Theatre, Long Fringe at the Salvage Vanguard, January 15 - February 16 Long Fringe at the Salvage Vanguard Theatre, January 15 - February 3

Hyde Park Theatre in collaboration with ScriptWorks and the Salvage Vanguard Theatre

presents

The 20th Annual FronteraFest

January 15 – February 16, 2013

FronteraFest, now celebrating its 20th year as one of the largest fringe performance events in the Southwest kicks-off its ‘Short Fringe’ from January 15 – February 16 and ‘Long Fringe’ performances from January 21 – February 3, 2013. The Short Fringe takes place at Hyde Park Theatre (511 West 43rd) Tuesdays through Saturdays at 8:00 pm and Long Fringe performances are held at Salvage Vanguard Theatre (2803 Manor Road) at various dates/times (available at www.hydeparktheatre.org). There is also a special ‘Mi Casa es Su Teatro’ event which takes place one day only, Saturday, February 9th from 11:00 am to 7:00 pm.

Over the course of two decades, FronteraFest stages have been host to more than 2,000 performances and well over 8,000 participants from Central Texas and beyond. The month-long Festival, now an institution, features three separate components; the Short Fringe which runs the entirety of the Festival showcasing pieces 25 minutes or less, and the Long Fringe, with longer pieces between 45-90 minutes. The final and most unique component, 'Mi Casa es Su Teatro' consists of one day of performances hosted primarily at private homes.

FronteraFest is a collaboration between two of Austin’s foremost arts organizations, Hyde Park Theatre, an award-winning professional theatre in Central Austin and ScriptWorks, a statewide playwright development and service organization. The Salvage Vanguard Theatre at 2803 Manor Rd. hosts the Long Fringe productions.

The festival was created in 1993 by Frontera@Hyde Park Theatre Artistic Director Vicky Boone. Boone resigned in 2001 and Ken Webster became Artistic Director of the organization, which changed its name to Hyde Park Theatre. In 2002 Hyde Park Theatre and ScriptWorks' began a partnership to produce the storied festival with Christina J. Moore of ScriptWorks serving as festival producer.

To commemorate two decades of exciting, moving, sometimes weird and delightfully unexpected performance, former FronteraFest ‘Best of Fest’ winners and long-time participants have been invited to return to the stage for special appearances on Thursday evenings, including Steven Tomlinson, Emily Fordyce, Cyndi Williams, Zell Miller, III and Keira McDonald. Past notables include nationally recognized playwrights Kirk Lynn, John Walch, and Pulitzer Prize finalist Lisa D'Amour, who presented some of their earliest work at the festival.

Tickets available from BuyPlayTix via www.hydeparktheatre.com

All FronteraFest performances are listed on Austin Live Theatre's Central Texas theatre calendar and at the HPT website.

Click for further background at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .