Upcoming: (*) AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY by Tracey Letts, Sheldon Vexler Theatre, San Antonio, August 23 - September 16

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August: Osage County by Tracey Letts, Sheldon Vexler Theatre, San Antonio, August 23 - September16

UPDATE: Feature by Deborah Martin for the San Antonio Express-News, August 9

 

The cast includes:

Bill Fordham - Robert Carenzo
Johnna Monevata - Cristina Cintora
Mattie Fae Aiken - Jennifer Colacino
Charlie Aiken - Lawrence Coop
Barbara Fordham - Anna Gangai
Karen Weston - Renee Garvens
Ivy Weston - Mary Goodhue
Violet Weston - Christy Huffman
Jean Fordham - Krystal Kohler
Steve Heidebrecht - David Maloof
Beverly Weston - Jim Mammarella
Sheriff Deon Gilbeau - Chad A. Miller
"Little" Charles Aiken - Lex Simpson

(Click to go to the AustinLiveTheatre front page)

(*) Upcoming: Killer Joe by Tracy Letts, Rose Theatre Company, San Antonio

KILLER JOE by Tracy Letts, Rose Theatre Company, 11838 Wurzbach at Lockhill Selma, Upstairs in the Elms Shopping Center, San Antonio 78230

August 10 - 25, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m.
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Auditions in San Antonio for August: Osage County by Tracy Letts, Vexler Theatre, May 13 and 14

Auditions at The Sheldon Vexler Theatre for August: Osage County by Tracey Letts, May 13 and 14, beginning at 7 p.m. by SCHEDULED APPOINTMENT ONLY. The Vexis located at 12500 N.W. Military Highway, San Antonio, Texas, 78231 (click for map)(It's in the back of the building. Drive around to the left and follow signs to enter through the back doors.)

The most acclaimed play of the last ten years finally comes to San Antonio. A vanished father. A pill-popping mother. Three sisters harboring shady little secrets. When the large Weston family unexpectedly reunites after Dad disappears, their Oklahoman family homestead explodes in a maelstrom of unsettling secrets. Tony Award Winner Best Play, Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The script for August: Osage County can be found at bookstores and on Ebooks such as the Kindle. Several monologues and a few scenes can be found at the Vex’s website for a general idea of the flavor and style of this show.

The play is directed by Paul Fillingim, currently a PhD candidate at Texas Tech University studying Acting/Directing and Arts Administration. He also holds an MA in Directing from Texas State University and a BFA in Acting from Texas Tech. At the Vex he directed Arabian Nights and appeared in Rent (Roger) and Assassins (Booth). Other directing credits include: Carousel, Guys and Dolls, The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told, Do Black Patent Shoes Really Reflect Up? and original works MFMD-ing and Phallus Pan.

Contact The Vex at vexler@jcc-sa.org to schedule an audition appointment. All roles are open and will be cast as volunteer positions. Auditioners should prepare the following items: 1. Audition Forms: Print and complete both of the forms posted on the Vex’s website www.vexler.org and bring them to the audition. AND
2. Individual Monologue: Prepare and memorize a one-minute monologue of your choice (NOT from this show.) AND 3. Monologue from the Show: Prepare one of the director-chosen monologues that are posted on the Vex’s website: www.vexler.org. This monologue does NOT need to be memorized.

Show Dates: 8/23, 8/25, 8/26, 8/30, 9/1, 9/2, 9/6, 9/8, 9/9, 9/13, 9/15, 9/16; Performance times: Thursdays at 7:30 p.m., Saturdays at 8 p.m., and Sundays at 2:30 p.m. Call times are 60 minutes before curtain.

Rehearsals will begin with a few meetings, read-throughs, and table work sessions in May and June. Regular rehearsals will begin in July. A typical Vex rehearsal schedule is Monday- Thursday 7 p.m.-10 p.m. Friday and weekend rehearsals are scheduled as needed throughout the rehearsal period. • The final two weeks and weekends of rehearsals include technical and dress rehearsals with the full company called.

Click for character list with descriptions at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Upcoming: Superior Donuts by Tracy Letts, San Pedro Playhouse, February 10 - March 11

Found on-line:

presents in the Cellar Theatre

Superior Donuts

by Tracy Letts

February 10 - March 11

Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 2:30 (except Feb. 12)

Tickets $27 - available on-line

By Pulitzer-Prize-winning playwright Tracy Letts, this new comedy-drama is set in the heart of one of Chicago’s most diverse communities. SUPERIOR DONUTS explores the challenges of embracing the past and the redemptive power of friendship. The play focuses on the relationship between despondent Arthur Przybyszewski, a former 1960s radical who owns a rundown donut shop in Uptown, Chicago, and Franco, his energetic but troubled young African American assistant who wants to update the establishment with lively music and healthy menu options.

Cast:

Arthur Przybyszewski Bill Gundry
Franco Wicks Kristopher Thomas
Max Tarasov Lawrence Coop
Kiril Ivakin TBA
Lady Boyle Terri Pena Ross
Officer Randy Osteen Christy Huffman
Officer James Bailey SkudR Jones
Luther Flynn Justin Laughlin
Kevin Magee Eddie Ruiz-Healy

August: Osage County by Tracy Letts, Zach Theatre, March 31 - May 22

Director Dave Steakley proves that with a first-rate cast and a gifted scenic designer he can turn Tracey Letts' savage misanthropy into a mesmerizing long evening in the theatre.

That's no modest achievement. The last -- and first -- Letts work I saw was Capital T Theatre's Killer Joe, which I found violent and obscene. Not in the sexual sense, but because of Letts gloated while degrading his working-class characters. Perhaps Letts is easier to stomach in the modestly affluent middle-class home of the Westons than in the trailer park setting of Killer Joe.

Things fall apart in both places. Or, abjuring Yeats since in the opening scene Letts has the patriarch, retired literature professor Beverly Weston, ramble to the uncomprehending new housekeeper about T.S. Eliot, each play is set in a wasteland populated with hollow men. And while we're dealing with symbolism, let's get the housekeeper out of the way. Johnna Monevata is a simple, good-hearted full-blooded Indian -- a native American -- so we can see her as the authentic antithesis to the drug- and alcohol-soaked psycho Weston family that symbolizes the contemporary Anglo heartland.

You won't see Michael Holmes again until the curtain call, for patriarch Beverly Weston disappears, causing confusion and alarm. After he has been missing for four days, plain-Jane stay-at-home sister Ivy (Irene White) calls her two sisters as well as Aunt Mattie Fae and Uncle Charlie. All converge on the expansive, bourgeois triple-level set crafted by Zach's Michael Raiford, complete with a mechanical chair on a track by the staircase, allowing tottering mom Violet to get downstairs. The Zach jocularly calls it "one bitch of a family reunion." I call it a gripping extended battle, a sort of lengthy, determined knife fight, in which drug-dazed Violet (Lana Dieterich) and her embittered sister Mattie Fae (Janelle Buchanan) are the chief protagonists.

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

Upcoming: August: Osage County by Tracy Letts, Zach Theatre, March 31 - May 22

Received directly:

presents one bitch of a family reunion

by Tracy Letts

directed by Dave Steakley

starring Lauren Lane, Michael Holmes, Lana Dietrich and Janelle Buchanan

March 31 - May 22

Previews: Thursday and Friday, March 31 and April 1 (7:30 p.m.)

Champagne Opening Night and Press Night: April 2 (7:30 p.m.)

Performances continue through MAY 22, 2011 (Wed., Thurs., Fri., Sat. @7:30 p.m.; Sunday @2:30 p.m.)

ZACH Theatre’s Kleberg Stage 1421 W. Riverside Dr. (Corner of Riverside Dr. and S. Lamar.)(click for map)

Tickets range from $20 to $49. $15 tickets are available to students starting one hour prior to curtain time. Charge tickets by phone at 512-476-0541, ext. 1 or visit http://www.zachtheatre.org.

ZACH – Austin’s Theatre and Texas’ longest running theatre company -- presents this scathingly hilarious tragicomedy of cataclysmic proportions, one bitch of a family reunion! When Dad unexpectedly vanishes into a sweltering Oklahoma summer night, the rest of the Weston clan rushes home to figure out what the hell happened. No easy feat with their serpent-tongued matriarch whose prolific pill-popping only sharpens her vitriolic outbursts. And if mama ain’t happy … she’ll make sure you’re worse! Perfectly subversive, this entertaining turbo-charged saga shocks with each new diabolically funny bombshell that’s dropped.

Read more and view links at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Ongoing: Bug, Capital T Theatre at Hyde Park Theatre, May 27 - June 19

UPDATE: Review by Ryan E. Johnson at examiner.com, June 2

UPDATE: Review by Clare Croft for the Statesman's Austin360 "Seeing Things" blog, May 29

UPDATE: Feature by Jeanne Claire van Ryzin at the Statesman's Arts360 "Seeing Things" blog, May 26

Found on-line:

Capital T presents

Bug

by Tracy Letts
Directed by Mark Pickell
Starring Kenneth Wayne Bradley, Katie deBuys, Joey Hood, Melissa Recalde, and Joe Reynolds

May 27 – June 19
Hyde Park Theatre, 511 W 43rd St

Tickets are $15-$25 (sliding scale) and can be reserved by calling 479-PLAY or visiting www.capitalT.org

Insects bite, feed, and swarm in BUG, Tracy Letts' thrilling followup to KILLER JOE. BUG centers on Agnes (Katie deBuys), a lonely, middle-aged waitress victimized by her abusive ex-husband (Ken Bradley), and tortured by the kidnapping of her child in a supermarket almost ten years ago. After spiraling into a world of alcohol, cocaine, and seedy motel rooms, Peter (Joey Hood) a timid Gulf War veteran and drifter in search of a friend wanders into her life. As their interest in each other grows, so does their paranoid obsession with understanding what –or who – brought them together. Did we mention the infestation of bugs?

Warning: contains nudity, cigarette smoke, violence, and adult situations.

Running time 2 hours with one 15 minute intermission

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . .

Brought Back: Killer Joe, Capital T at Hyde Park Theatre, July 23 - August 8

Received directly:

Capital T presents
the Austin Premiere EXTENDED RUN of

Killer Joe
by Tracy Letts
Directed by Mark Pickell
July 23-August 8
Thursday-Saturday at 8pm
Hyde Park Theatre
511 W 43rd St. Autsin, Texas 78751
Tickets $15-$25 (Sliding Scale)
www.capitalT.org or 479-PLAY


After a Sold out 4 week run Killer Joe is back with the same amazing script and the same killer cast that thrilled audiences at Hyde Park Theatre in June. This ain't 'Greater Tuna'-- Killer Joe is not coming back. You have 9 more chances to see what Austin critics have been raving about.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Killer Joe, Capital T Theatre at Hyde Park Theatre, June 4 - 27, July 23 - August 8

UPDATE:Back on stage July 23- August 8, Thursdays - Saturdays, 8 p.m.





I knew that this one was going to scare us to death. I didn't get there early in the run but I saw that the reviews were popping up in the media and on line.

My rule is not to read the reviews until after I've seen the production and written about it. My ticket was for last Thursday night.

Thursdays are often down-time for Austin theatre, but this show was packing 'em in. There's no standing room in the pinched quarters of the Hyde Park Theatre, so the staff might have been turning some folks away. Something was going on here, for sure.

Killer Joe.

I admired the production but I despised the script.

There's a perpetual tension in theatre programming between those who want theatre to keep people happy and those who want theatre to make people think. Hyde Park Theatre programming is typically 'way over to the "make 'em think" side of the scale. The needle bumps up from time to time to the region figuratively inscribed with the French slogan "épater les bourgeois," translated approximately as "scandalize the conventional citizens." Or, more crudely, "Knock their socks off!"

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .