Upcoming: THE WHALE by Samuel D. Hunter, A Chick and A Dude Productions at Hyde Park Theatre, February 20 - March 15, 2014

will present 600 pounds of amazing theatre with


THE WHALE 

by Samuel D. Hunter.

February 20 - March 15, 2015

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


The haunting Off-Broadway smash-tragicomedy The Whale will receive its fifth production worldwide in Austin, following successful runs at The Denver Center, Victory Gardens, South Coast Rep, and Playwrights Horizons in NYC. Austin’s own A Chick & A Dude Productions will present the show at Hyde Park Theatre (511 W. 43rd St.) Thursdays through Saturdays, February 20-March 15, 2014. For more information, tickets or reservations, please visit www.achickandadude.com

This production contains very mature themes and strong language.

THE WHALE tells the story of a 600-lb. man—Charlie—as he slowly eats himself to an early grave over the death of his boyfriend, an ex-Mormon named Alan. His caretaker—Alan’s sister, Liz—has been trying to get Charlie to see a doctor for years, to no avail. Charlie, an online teacher of English, is searching for answers and meaning in his life. He begins to find some with the arrival of Elder Thomas, a mysterious young Mormon on his mission, who may know what happened to Alan at the Mormon Church on the highway next to the U-Haul. Charlie also discovers a small measure of honesty with his daughter Ellie, who he hasn’t seen since she was a baby, and who is a bit of a teenaged terror. Add to this Charlie’s alcoholic ex-wife Mary, and we complete a cast full of damaged characters who literally orbit Charlie in what could very well be the last week of his life.

Award-winning Melissa Livingston-Weaver directs an all-star cast, including Erin Barlow (Mad, Beat, Hip & Gone) as Liz, Jon Cook (Mad, Beat, Hip & Gone; The Aliens) as Elder Thomas, Elizabeth Mason (Reefer Madness; Hamlet) as Mary, Kayla Newman (Dog Sees God; We Were Nothing) as Ellie, and Shanon Weaver (HIT.; Glengarry Glen Ross; Dial M for Murder) as Charlie, the Whale.

The design team includes Michael B. Raiford on scenic design, Jason Amato on lighting design, Katy Billik-Hogge on costume and prop Design, and Kelly Ruiz designing and building the 600-lb. fat suit.

The Whale is the winner of the 2013 Lucile Lortel Award—Best Play, the 2013 Drama Desk Special Award for Significant Contribution to Theatre, and the 2013 GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding New York Theatre. It also received nominations for the 2013 Drama League Award for Outstanding Production of a Play, the 2013 Outer Critics Circle Awards for Outstanding New Off-Broadway Play, and the 2013 John Gassner Award for Oustanding New American Play.

Praise for The Whale:

"Vibrant and provocative...Hunter explores his material with sharp-eared skill and sensitivity." - Village Voice
" Wonderful...You feel as if you’ve met real people, made of flesh and blood" - New York Post
"Compelling, funny, and unexpectedly impactful...No holds barred." - Associated Press 

About A Chick &  A Dude Productions Now in its eleventh 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.

Auditions for The Whale by Samuel D. Hunter, A Chick and A Dude Productions, November 16, 2013

Idaho. Mormon country.
An estranged daughter, an ex-wife, a lost Mormon Elder, and a mourning sister orbit the life of a 600-pound recluse as he eats his way to his grave over the death of his boyfriend. Charlie knows he’s going to die, but he has a few loose stings to tie up first, along with some fences to mend. He needs answers. He needs assurances. But, has he finally bitten off more than he can chew?

A Chick & A Dude Productions will hold auditions for The Whale by Samuel D. Hunter on Saturday, November 16, from 12 - 5 p.m. at Hyde Park Theatre (511 W. 43rd Street) (click for map ). The Whale, directed by Melissa Livingston-Weaver, will run at HPT Thurs-Saturday Feb 20 - March 15, 2014. Rehearsals start mid-January.

The role of CHARLIE (the Whale) is pre-cast. Seeking actors for the following roles:

LIZ- Female, mid-20’s/early 30’s
ELDER THOMAS- Late teens/early 20’s (must pass for 19)
ELLIE- mid-teens/early 20’s (must pass for 17)
MARY- early/late 30’s

Auditions will consist of readings from the script. Some sides MAY be available on request. To schedule an audition slot, please email  achickandadude@gmail.com or call 512-921-4264.
Hope to see you there!

Video: Scene from Hit by Shanon Weaver, A Chick and a Dude Productions, Hyde Park Theatre, May 2 - 18, 2013

presents

 
Hit

by Shanon Weaver

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

Added: May 15 'industry night' performance

Hyde Park Theatre, 511 W. 43rd Street at Guadalupe -- click for map

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.

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.

Review by Jeff Davis at www.austin.broadwayworld.com, May 6

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)

A Steady Rain by Keith Huff, A Chick and a Dude Productions at the Hyde Park Theatre, February 22 - March 9, 2013

by Michael Meigs

Keith Huff imagines a dark, dark world for us, and Shanon Weaver's set design mirrors that. This is Chicago in grim weather. The bare stage has only a couple of banged up folding chairs and a table, and the stage walls are painted in vertical strips of greenish blue and black. It could be an interrogation room but really it's a barren nowhere, a place of the mind that one could just as easily imagine to be a menacing and oppressive jungle.

A Steady Rain doesn't need pretty. This is a work of words, images and animal energy. Kenneth Wayne Bradley and Tom Green are the only ones visible on this stage. They're a pair of cops who've known one another since grammar school, and who now are united in the grueling business of patrolling the city's seamy south side. The stage is their metaphorical cage; they've both taken the exam for promotion to detective three times, and they've both failed.


They're not the only inhabitants of this space. The story they tell, most of the time in alternate monologues, is peopled with others -- Rhonda the long-suffering wife of Denny (Bradley); a vengeful petty crook who ambushes Denny in an alley, and the crook's young nephew who lures Denny into it; Denny's bloodied and unresponsive young son; a naked and raving 9-year-old Vietnamese boy and the 'surfer-guy' who calmly takes custody of him; the unsympathetic precinct captain; and a couple of other cops who confront a desperate murderer armed with a service revolver.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Auditions for Male Actor, 40s-60s for Shannon Weaver's 'Hit,' February 23, 2013

A Chick & A Dude Productions will hold a second round of auditions for our upcoming 10th anniversary production of HIT by Shanon Weaver, directed by Melissa Livingston-Weaver. Saturday February 23rd from 1-5 PM at Hyde Park Theatre.

Auditioning for the role of ERVIN, male, 40’s-60’s.

Rehearsals begin the week of March 18. Show runs May 2-18. To schedule an audition, please email headshot/resume to achickandadude@gmail.com
Starring Tom Green, Gary Livingston-Weaver, Shanon Weaver, and maybe YOU!

A STEADY RAIN, A Chick and a Dude Productions, February 21 - March 9, 2013

presents





















 
Hyde Park Theatre February 21-March 9, 2013!

Starring Kenneth Wayne Bradley and Tom Green.

Directed by Melissa Livingston-Weaver

Who cares about April showers? We're bringing the deluge to Hyde Park Theatre in February and March!
We're very excited to bring Keith Huff's magnificent two-hander to Austin, and we thought you'd like to know what we're up to. Here's our team thus far!
Tom Green--Joey
Kenneth Wayne Bradley-- Denny
Melissa Livingston-Weaver--Director
Katy Billik--Production Manager
Shanon Weaver--A.D/Set Design/Sound Design
Jason Amato--Lighting Design
Dan Price--Art & Media Director
Liz Kimball--Dialect Coach


(Click to go to the AustinLiveTheatre front page)