Half-Price for One Month of Acting Classes, B*TRU Arts, Austin

Half-price deal offered via

(B*TRU Arts via Living Social)

 
Hone one of your more expressive talents -- be it acting or dancing -- within this creative Austin arts collaborative:

• $24 ($49 value) for one month of unlimited acting classes
• $24 ($49 value) for one month of unlimited dance classes
• Dance is offered to ages 4 to 18; acting offered to ages 6 and older


BTRU ARTS's Website | Facebook

Class location: Ultimate Challenge Martial Arts, 2605 Jones Road #106 Austin, Texas 78745 (click for map) [CTXLT NOTE: Schedule shows dance classes but not acting classes)

BTRU ARTS  -- 1 Month of Unlimited Acting or Dance Classes

• buy now!
• gift it!

• 51% savings
• 2 purchased
• 13 days remaining

Upcoming: BE STILL AND KNOW NOTHING, University of Texas, December 8, 2013

University of Texas Lab Theatre (LTH) between Jackson Geological Sciences Building (JGB) and the Winship Drama Building (WIN), near 24th and San Jacinto.

(click for map)

Upcoming: University of Texas New Theatre (UTNT), February 27 - March 9, 2014

UTNT (UT New Theatre), the annual showcase of new plays from The University of Texas at Austin M.F.A. Playwriting Program, returns this spring with five dynamic works by emerging playwrights. 

Now in its seventh iteration, UTNT 2014 presents the following:

 

 Preview Productions

Annie Jump
Written by Reina Hardy
Directed by Natalie Novacek

February 27, March 1, 7 at 8:00 p.m.
March 9 at 5:00 p.m.

Annie Jump is a 13-year-old science genius whose alien-obsessed father is the laughingstock of Strawberry, Kansas. One night in August, a meteor falls, and Annie meets Althea, an intergalactic supercomputer that manifests itself in the form of a mean girl with really nice hair. Althea’s here to help Annie take humanity from the earth to the stars, but being the Chosen One isn't all glory. What is Althea hiding? And what will Annie have to sacrifice to fulfill her destiny?

 Advance Man
Written by Abe Koogler
Directed by Will Davis

February 28, March 6, 8 at 8:00 p.m.
March 2 at 5:00 p.m.

Bear Creek is a small town. So when rumor spreads of an impending visit from the President himself, everyone gets very excited. There's just one problem – no one knows when he's coming, or why. And who's that mysterious man in a dark suit, asking all those questions? A dark comedy about the way we live now.

Individual tickets and ticket packages for these preview productions go on sale early January 2014.

Enhanced Readings/Presentations

‘ratio Visual Narrative by William Anderson
Text Narrative by David Turkel
Directed by Jess Hutchinson

March 1 at 11:00 a.m.
March 8 at 2:00 p.m.

In the weeks following Hamlet’s death, Horatio navigates a harrowing regime change at Elsinore under the rule of bloody-minded prince Fortinbras.

Still Now Written by Katie Bender
Directed by Rudy Ramirez

March 2, 9 at 2:00 p.m.

After witnessing the fall of the twin towers, Annie heads to Japan to study Butoh, looking for a dance form that expresses the destruction she can’t comprehend.  Ten years later, Annie is diagnosed with stage four cancer and returns to Butoh to prepare for her final dance. Still Now confronts us with the accelerated motion of a woman learning and losing her body, accompanied by the doctors, teachers, friends and lovers that become her partners in movement, to ask the question: what can our bodies teach us that our minds cannot fathom?

Or, “The One with the Dogs” Written by Briandaniel Oglesby
Directed by Jeremy Lee Cudd

March 1 at 2:00 p.m.
March 8 at 11:00 a.m.

In a crappy house surrounded by a dead walnut orchard, brothers Boomer and Dirt struggle with each other, with themselves, and with their dog-breeding business. As their prized pregnant pooch swells, they seem on the way to strike it big. Their dreams are disrupted when Boomer brings home Marisol, who should be a one-night stand, and Dirt finds a boy who will never grow up.

 UTNT (UT New Theatre) is curated by Steven Dietz and Gia Marotta. Performances are February 27 through March 9 in the Lab Theatre. Ticketing information will be available in December 2013.

Auditions for Paramount Theatre's Story Wranglers, December 11, 2013

The historic Paramount Theatre is looking for teachers/actors/improvisers/musicians for The Paramount Story Wranglers. The Story Wranglers are a company of professional performers and educators who adapt and perform 3rd grade students’ original work in Austin Public Schools. The performance is a fast paced, musically inspired sketch comedy show that is performed for the student writers and their school. The performers will be paid.

We will also be auditioning for teaching artists at this time. Auditions are Wednesday, December 11 at 6 p.m.

If you are interested, please email Mitch Harris your resume and your interest (teaching, acting or both) as well as any questions you may have at Mharris@austintheatre.org.

For samples of previous Story Wranglers' work, visit http://vimeo.com/thestorywranglers

University of Texas Workshops Zombie Musical, fall 2013 semester

Zombie Musical by Tony Award-Winning Duo Workshopped at University of Texas at Austin

A new sandwich by Chicken Hutt has hit the market. But there is one small snag. The fast-food restaurant’s customers are turning into zombies.

This is the premise for Tony Award-winning team (2002 Best Original Score and Best Book for a Musical for Urinetown) Greg Kotis and Mark Hollmann’s new project, a subversive zombie musical commissioned by True Love Productions. Kotis, Hollmann, and director Sean Daniels tapped into the talents of University of Texas at Austin Department of Theatre and Dance faculty Lyn Koenning and Natasha Davison and their students to workshop the musical this fall.

The workshop process has been integrated into this semester’s curriculum, allowing a cast of 26 undergraduate students supported by a team of graduate design students the opportunity to partner with these renowned Broadway artists in the development of the musical. With four scenes and five songs now complete, Kotis, Hollmann and Daniels return to the university in December to work alongside the UT cast and creative team.

About the Creative Team

Greg Kotis (Book and Lyrics) is the author of many plays and musicals including Michael von Siebenburg Melts Through the Floorboards, Yeast Nation (Book/Lyrics), The Unhappiness Plays, The Boring-est Poem in the World, The Truth About Santa, Pig Farm, Eat the Taste, Urinetown (Book/Lyrics, for which he won an Obie Award and two Tony Awards), and Jobey and Katherine. His work has been produced and developed in theaters across the country and around the world, including Actors Theatre of Louisville, American Conservatory Theater, American Theater Company, Henry Miller’s Theatre, Manhattan Theatre Club, New York Stage and Film, Perseverance Theatre, Roundabout Theatre Company, Soho Rep, South Coast Rep, and The Old Globe, among others. Kotis is a member of the Neo-Futurists, the Cardiff Giant Theater Company, ASCAP, the Dramatists Guild, and is a 2010-11 Lark Play Development Center Playwrights Workshop Fellow.

Mark Hollmann (Music and Lyrics) received the Tony Award, the National Broadway Theatre Award and the Obie Award for his score to Urinetown, which itself won Outer Critics Circle, Drama League and Lucille Lortel Awards for best musical. Other shows as composer/lyricist: Yeast Nation (New York International Fringe Festival, Perseverance Theatre, and American Theatre Company), The Man in the White Suit (New York Stage and Film), The Girl, the Grouch, and the Goat (University Theatre, U. of Kansas), Alchemist the Musical (Seattle Fringe Festival), Jack the Chipper (Greenview Arts Center, Chicago), Kabooooom! (University Theater, U. of Chicago), I Think I Can and Deal with It! (Berkshire Theatre Festival), and Fare for All (Mount Vernon Hotel Museum & Gardens, NYC). Actor/co-writer for The Rack, Theater of Funny, The Mercy Ripper, LBJFKKK, Love Me, All Eight Die and After Taste (Cardiff Giant Theater, Chicago).

Sean Daniels (Director) is the artist-at-large at the Geva Theatre Centre in Rochester, New York. He previously spent four years at the Tony Award-winning Actors Theatre of Louisville as the theater’s Associate Artistic Director (where he directed a record seventeen productions including five Humana Festivals). Daniels is the former Associate Artistic Director/Resident Director of the California Shakespeare Theater and before that spent a decade as the Artistic Director and Co-Founder of Dad’s Garage Theater Company in Atlanta, Georgia. Daniels has developed new plays with and directed the world premieres of many playwrights including: Two Time Tony Award winners’: Greg Kotis and Mark Hollmann (Urinetown), and Trey Parker and Matt Stone (The Book of Mormon); Pulitzer Prize Finalists Kristoffer Diaz and Steven Drukman; and Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (Glee, Big Love, Spiderman).

Workshop Team Natasha Davison, Director/Choreographer; Lyn Koenning, Music Director; Steven Wilson, Assistant Director; Designers: Rachel Alulis, Patrick Lord, Mercedes O'Bannion; Stage Managers: Danya Gorel, Joe Heike

Cast: Shereen Ahmad, Mallory Ayliffe, Lauren Beausoleil, Tyler Cullen, Allie Donnelly, Meghan Enright, Felicia Fitzpatrick, Mandy Foster, Catherine Frank, Sydney Frank, Nicolas Garza, Dylan John Gonzales, Emma Graves, Andie Haddad, Grace Hanna, Quinton Johnson, Jack Leahy, Breanna Lind, Devin Medley, Cherry Mendoza, Christopher Montalvo, Laura Rogers, Lilly Stafford, Sam Strum, Ursula Walker, Joseph Wilson

Blood Wedding by Federico García Lorca, Mary Moody Northen Theatre, St. Edward's University, November 14 -24, 2013

by Michael Meigs

Federico García Lorca's Bodas de Sangre takes places in the stark and arid landscape of the mind. The setting is rural Spain, somewhere far out in the countryside, and the characters are peasant families. They have no names, with the single exception of Leonardo, the angry and frustrated young farmer who precipitates the tragedy.

García Lorca identifies the others by role: the intended groom (novio), the bride (novia), the mother, the neighbor, the father of the bride. The story is simple: the confident young novio goes courting and fixes upon an eligible young woman related to men who killed his father and his brother. We watch the courting and attend the wedding; we also witness the anger of Leonardo, who still burns with a passion for the novia even though their acquaintance was broken years ago when Leonardo married the novia's cousin.

Jose Antonio Rodriguez, Anna C. Shultz (photo: Bret Brookshire)

Blood will have blood, despite all efforts to forget, to reconcile and to wash lives clean.

García Lorca had already achieved renown as a lyric poet when this, his first great success, was staged in Madrid for the first time in 1933. He doesn't fill these characters' mouths with abstractions or self-indulgent speculations, however; dialogue in the first half of the play is quick, sentences are short, and speech is often staccato. The early dialogue is sharp and cutting, much like the "little knife" that the novio's mother laments -- "A knife is such a simple object but it can take away the life of a man."

Contrasting with this energy are songs with imagery as lyrical as any of the author's poetry. In the second scene, Leonardo's wife and mother-in-law sing a cryptic lullabye about a mythic horse that refuses to drink; during the act two wedding preparations both servants and guests join in song, each offering a line or couplet.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

kidsActing presents "Frankenstein, " Center Stage Austin, December 8 - 15, 2013

This zany, yet heart-warming play is a story about finding your place in the world and is filled with weird science, angry townspeople, crazy characters like the twins Igor and Eyegore, Frau Blucher, Victor Frankenstein, his Creature, and a host of other unusual, yet funny folks including a a talking frog, vampire, werewolf, mummy and more. Adventure, mystery and plenty of laughs! Fun for the entire family!

Performances run Dec. 8th - 15th at Center Stage Texas, 2826 Real Street, Austin TX 78722. 
Performance times vary by date.

For tickets, please visit






For further information , please visit our new website at www.kidsactingstudio.com or call (512)836-5437

KidsActing auditions for Guys and Dolls, November 3, 2013

kidsActing Announces Auditions for their Advanced Production of Guys and Dolls
Audition for our advanced musical production of Guys and Dolls, the toe-tapping screwball comedy based on Damon Runyon stories. Set in bustling New York City, this tale follows the antics of gamblers, missionaries and showgirls in the city that never sleeps!



Auditions November 3rd from 11:30 am-1:30 pm. Auditions held at Center Stage Texas, 2826 Real Street Austin, TX 78722 -- click for map. Specific time slots will be assigned.

Please contact Jazmine Miller to set up an audition appointment. 512-905-4392. email: jazmine@kidsactingstudio.com

www.kidsactingstudio.com

Star in a full-length theatrical production this year! Come audition for kidsActing Studio's advanced musical production of Guys and Dolls, considered by critics to be the perfect musical comedy! Guys and Dolls soars with the spirit of Broadway with its cast of vivid characters including Sarah Brown, the uptight, upright “mission doll,” Sky Masterson, the slick, high-rolling gambler who woos her on a bet; Adelaide, the hilarious, sneezing nightclub performer, and Nathan Detroit, her fiancé, desperate as always to find a spot for his infamous floating dice game. Great songs like, “Sit Down You’re Rockin the Boat, “Luck Be A Lady Tonight”, and more! Students will learn singing, acting, dancing and improv, as well as being in an ensemble and being part of a team effort with a full-scale professionally produced production complete with costumes, lights, sound and set designed by Austin theater professionals.

This production is part of our advanced program and is open to students ages 11-18 with previous theater experience, by audition. All previous participants in an advanced class are automatically invited if they are the correct age. If you feel you are eligible for an advanced class or would like more information, please contact jazmine@kidsactingstudio.com.

REHEARSALS at Transfiguration Greek Orthodox Church in Westlake, November 11-May 17, Mondays 5-7:45pm Extra weekend rehearsals at Center Stage Texas TBA

TECHNICAL REHEARSALS & PERFORMANCES Center Stage Texas, April 14-May 17,Schedule TBA

For specific location addresses and map, please go to locations.

TUITION Pay in Full - $1175; Pay in Installments - $280 deposit + $160 payments due 10/1, 11/1, 12/1, 1/1, 2/1, 3/1

Opportunity: Three Shakespeare Workshops with Kat Steffens, starting October 28 or November 3, 2013

ACTING WORKSHOP WITH KAT STEFFENS

Using Shakespeare’s Folio techniques to unlock your emotional depth and create a richer understanding of classic as well as contemporary scripts

Kat Steffens is a working actress with her BFA in acting from DePaul’s prestigious Theatre School in Chicago. She had extensive Shakespeare training at DePaul as well as two years intense Shakespeare Folio Technique study with the Chicago leading lady Susan Hart and Julliard graduate/ leading man Jeffrey Carlson from 2008-2010. She has privately coached and mentored acting students for three years.


Kat plays Jacqueline Kennedy in the upcoming Tom Hanks produced film Parkland. Her Shakespeare skills led to a final screen test with the director, Peter Landesman. She was asked to perform a tragic Shakespeare monologue for the callback, which landed her the role. Tom Hanks also started his career doing Shakespeare in Ohio.


“Shakespeare is a great skill to have in your back pocket as an actor. I firmly believe that if you have a strong 
understanding of Shakespeare, it will make you a better actor in contemporary film and theater.” –Kat Steffens

Three weekly sessions: LIMIT 10 students per session

1. Sundays November 3, 10, and 17 from 2-5 PM at Rose Movement Studio: 2015 E Riverside Dr. Austin, TX 78741

2. Mondays October 28, November 4 and 11 from 7-10 PM at a North Austin Location

WEEK ONE: PREPARE Students will learn the concepts of Folio technique and apply them to an assigned audition monologue based on age/ casting type. Packets of detailed material will be provided as a reference guide. Students also will have their classmates’ monologues in their packets so they leave the workshop familiar with several monologues. They will study the language and arc of their assigned monologue to make the monologue audition ready. *Please bring a pen and notepad- a LOT of information will be covered!
WEEK TWO: EXPLORE Students will come to class with their assigned monologues memorized. We will explore the monologue, character, and world of the character through exercises focusing on the voice, the body, the language, the punctuation, beats, and the emotional life of the character. Students will develop a closer understanding of the character and monologue, gaining comfort and ease with the heightened language. *Please wear comfortable clothes you can move in and have monologue “by heart.”
WEEK THREE: PERFORM Students will do some final exploration of their monologue and perform it for the class. Kat will spend time with each student; directing and adjusting moments of their monologues make them more audition ready and real. The final performance of each monologue will be taped; and footage will be provided to students for their acting reels. All students will leave the workshop with an understanding of Folio technique, packets of information and monologues, as well as an audition ready Shakespeare monologue on tape.

$150 for the Entire Workshop $50 deposit needed to hold your spot (remaining $100 cash or check due at first class). Register early to reserve your spot in the workshop. Cash or checks only, please.

Contact Kat at 312-810-9040 or FadoFilms@gmail.com to register. Please include your headshot and resume when registering, as well as previous Shakespeare experience and knowledge.

Single Sword Combat Workshop with Toby Minor, October 6 - November 3, 2013

Opportunity: Story-Telling Empowerment Classes for Disabled Texans, September 28 - November 2, 2013

Spread the word! Starting Saturday, Sept. 28th, VSA Texas will host a 6-week storytelling workshop as part of its Opening Minds, Opening Doors project. Through free-writing and performance exercises, self-advocates (ages 18 and up) will learn to write and deliver their own stories with power and emotion and develop strong and creative voices.

Classes will be held on Saturdays, Sept. 28th through Nov. 2nd, from 1-3 PM in Room 101 of the AGE of Central Texas Building, 3710 Cedar St. Austin, TX 78705.

Limited space available. To register, please contact Eric Clow at 512-454-9912 or eric@vsatx.org.

Rude Mechs Offer Theatre Internships in Austin to University Students

Applications Open for University Student Internships in Austin, Texas

Rude Mechs is proud to serve as the Resident Theatre Company for the University of Texas Department of Theatre and Dance. For more information about UT's Theatre and Dance Department, visit jointhedrama.org. Through this innovative partnership of a renowned Tier 1 research university and Rude Mechs, a generation of new undergraduate and graduate students will gain a unique perspective on collectively devising new plays and managing a mid-size theatre.
The fall internship begins September 15th and the application form is available here. 

If you aren't familiar with our company, please take a few minutes to browse our website www.rudemechs.com - look at our mission, our past productions, our programming.
Our goal is to provide you with opportunities to either work or observe work in your area of interest, should your interest align with our schedule and projects this semester. We will not ask you to perform volunteer duties that do not build your desired skill set. (For example, if you are interested in learning arts administration, we will not ask you to perform in our next play for free, but we might ask you to help archive our marketing materials or create a production budget.)
It is our expectation that you will commit 48 hours (approximately 4 hours per week) to Rude Mechs to complete your internship during the semester.
Your internship will span roughly 12 weeks beginning September 15 ^th and end December 15 ^th , 2013. We will never ask you for more than 10 hours in a given week.
Please know that we also accept internships from students around the country, so feel free to use this application to let us know you are interested in spending some time down here with us.

La Fenice Class: Working with Masks, September 8

La Fenice Commedia dall'arte in Austin presents a free class introducing Maskwork, September 8, 2013

Circus Tent Theatre, 6404 Hergotz Lane - click for map


This year, La Fenice is hosting advanced Skype workshops with masters of physical theatre around the globe. While these workshops are held specifically for Company Members, they are open to the public, provided they have taken this Intro to Maskwork workshop or have documented physical training from approved programs.

This Intro to Mask workshop will incorporate basic/modified Viewpoints, Lecoq-based neutral mask work, and character (Commedia dell'Arte) mask work. It is designed as both a refresher course for our Company Members and a means of providing a minimum amount of instruction for individuals interested in participating in our future training sessions. Instructors include Dr. Gian Giacomo Colli, Kate Meehan, and Aaron Johnson, who have a combined 60 years of theatre instruction experience.

Please come dressed to move, with a character or neutral mask if you have one (some will be provided).

DIAL M FOR MURDER by Frederick Knot, University of Texas, October 4

(University of Texas theatres, Winship Drama Bldg. (WIN), near 23rd St. and San Jacinto, Austin)

presents

Dial "M" for Murder

By Frederick Knott
B. Iden Payne Theatre
October 4 - 13, 2013
Oct. 4-5, 9-12 at 8 pm -- Oct. 6, 12-13 at 2 pm

Presented by the Department of Theatre and Dance

Texas Performing Arts Subscriber Dates – October 4 & 5
Set in 1950s London. Tony Wendice concocts a plot to murder his wealthy wife Margot. When the scheme goes awry, he devises a sinister backup plan to get her out of the picture for good.

A cat-and-mouse waiting game made famous by Alfred Hitchcock’s hit film, Knott’s classic tale continues to be one of the most popular thrillers for stage and screen.

“…Original and remarkably good theatre – quiet in style but tingling with excitement underneath.” – The New York Times

(Click to go to the AustinLiveTheatre front page)

BROADWAY REVUE, Georgetown Palace Education Program, August 1 and 3, 2013

[Georgetown Palace Theatre, 810 S. Austin Ave., Georgetown, Texas -- click for map]

presents

(Click to go to the AustinLiveTheatre front page)

Opportunity: Theatre Femina, 7-week Acting Course at Alleywood Studios, Austin, July 27 - September 7, 2013

Via Kathy Rose Center:

Theatre Femina - a 7 Week Acting Class for Women taught by LA director and producer Marian Jones
Explore Theater Classics (Streetcar, Godot, True West, Bus Stop, Long Day's Journey…) with a gender twist!

July 27 - September 7 (Saturdays), 10 am - 12:30 pm
Alleywood Studios, 1902 South Congress (behind Bird's Barbershop)(click for map)
Cost: $195 Contact: Marian Jones, tuiejones@aol.com, 323-839-0604

An acting class for WOMEN, both straight and Lesbian, utilizing the works of award-winning playwrights. This class is an opportunity to explore all roles, male and female alike. Once you truly embrace that part of yourself that allows the freedom to feel, express yourself honestly and understand completely, then your abilities are limitless.

All levels accepted.

ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR: Marian Jones is a veteran actor, director, and producer, who has returned to Austin after 30 years working in Los Angeles, where she founded and served as Artistic Director of the first and only Lesbian-focused theatre company in LA, The Ivy Theatre. Jones was also the first female Artistic Director for LA's only gay theatre company, The Celebration Theatre, where she produced two one-act play festivals of lesbian works, totaling 30 one-act plays. In LA, she also produced the Ovation Award-winning play Valsetz and the Drama Logue Award-winning play Against The Rising Sea.

In February, 2012, Jones made her Austin directing debut at the Dougherty Arts Center, with "Cafe at the End of Time," an ensemble play by Sue Carroll Moore, about an aging LGBT bar in the Florida Keys and the colorful characters who call it home.

RAVE REVIEW, Texas Musical Theatre Workshop at B. Iden Payne Theatre, June 29

presents

Rave Review

closing performance

Saturday, June 29, 2013 at 11 a.m.

B. Iden Payne Theatre, University of Texas

(Click to go to the AustinLiveTheatre front page)

Impact Austin Grants $100,000 to Zach Theatre Education Programs

ZACH Theatre has been awarded a $100,000 grant from Impact Austin — a nonprofit organization that pools annual donations from members and gives grants to local, worthy causes selected by its members — to fund the expansion of ZACH’s Arts Across the Curriculum program.

Impact Austin will hold an award presentation for ZACH on Monday, June 17 at noon at the Topfer Theatre’s People’s Plaza, 202 S. Lamar Blvd. at W. Riverside Dr. The presentation is open to the public.

ZACH Theatre’s Arts Across the Curriculum is an arts integration and professional development program that trains teachers to use creative drama and theatre techniques to actively engage students in language arts, science, history, and math curricula.

Impact Austin’s grants are awarded in five focus areas: culture, education, environment, family, and health and wellness. ZACH’s Arts Across the Curriculum program was the grant winner for the culture category, which encompasses programs and projects that cultivate, develop, educate and improve the cultural climate in the Greater Austin area.

For the past two years, ZACH Theatre, with support from partner organizations mindPOP, Austin ISD and The Kennedy Center, has successfully piloted the AAC program in three Title I Austin ISD elementary schools and 15 classrooms. The Impact Austin grant will allow ZACH to expand its AAC program from three Title I schools to 16, from 15 teachers to 60, and from 300 at-risk students to 1,500 over the next two years. The grant will also fund the addition of a dedicated program coordinator, salaries for teaching artists, and an in-depth third-party quantitative and qualitative evaluation conducted by UT to measure the effectiveness of the program so it can further be refined and expanded.

Click to read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com

David Byrne's Advice to Arts Majors, Rachel Arons at the New Yorker magazine, June 8, 2013

David Byrne's advice to arts graduates: "You're screwed!"

June 6, 2013

David Byrne’s Advice

Posted by Rachel Arons

Despite the well-worn conventions of the commencement address, there’s something moving, even fun, about watching famed figures offer up advice and inspiration to graduating students each spring (Oprah sharing her journey from Southern poverty to media moguldom at Harvard was one highlight this year, as was Greil Marcus’s eloquent defense of popular art forms at the School of Visual Arts). But in these self-conscious, irony-drenched times, it may be inevitable that some speakers will attempt to avoid the clichés of the form, instead taking a less sentimental approach to the commencement speech. The musician, writer, playwright, visual artist, and bike enthusiast David Byrne delivered one such address on a recent Wednesday afternoon in the Miller Theatre at the Columbia University School of the Arts.

Carol Becker, the dean of faculty, opened the ceremony by ticking off an impressive list of School of the Arts alumni and their recent accomplishments: the filmmaker Kathryn Bigelow and fiction writer Karen Russell are both alums, as is Ayad Akhtar, who won the Pulitzer Prize in drama this year for his play “Disgraced.” Thirty-four films by Columbia filmmakers were selected for the 2013 Sundance festival; sixteen were nominated for Independent Spirit Awards; and six faculty and alums were given Guggenheim fellowships. “In a very short time,” Becker told the assembled graduates, “you all will become part of the great story of success that is the School of the Arts.” Then the chair of the visual-arts program, Gregory Amenoff, took to the podium to recap some of Byrne’s multi-disciplinary career highlights. “Thank God we have a rocker onstage, thank God it’s not Ted Nugent,” he concluded to enthusiastic cheers, and then Byrne, wearing a pale-gray suit and white shoes, took the mic. “I thought it was an odd choice that the band played my song ‘Road to Nowhere’ as people were coming in,” he said wryly.

But “Road to Nowhere” was an apt prelude to Byrne’s speech (his first-ever commencement address), which focused on, of all things, the financial prospects of arts-program graduates. In a slide-show presentation on the auditorium’s projection screen, Byrne showed a series of graphs, based on information compiled by the Strategic National Arts Alumni Project (SNAAP), illustrating that if you chose a career in the arts you are, basically, screwed. A pie chart, based on 2011 data, showed that only three per cent of film and theatre grads, and five per cent of writing and visual-arts grads, end up working in their areas of concentration (forty-three percent work in the arts but outside of their specialties; forty-one per cent work outside of the arts altogether). A subsequent bar graph showed that, according to those stats, fourteen writing and fourteen Columbia visual-arts graduates will go on to careers in their fields, and eight theatre and eight film grads will go on to careers in theirs. “That’s the end of the charts,” Byrne said, after sharing another, which showed the median salaries of people working in the arts (between thirty-five and forty-five thousand dollars across all four sectors). “I’m glad you’re laughing.” (You can watch Byrne’s entire speech, and the rest of the ceremony, here.)

Click 'Read more' to continue or click here to go to the New Yorker magazine article on-line

Broadway Stars Set for TexARTS' Summer Programs, June 10 - August 16, 2013

Darcie Roberts, who played the title role in the U.S. first national tour of "Thoroughly Modern Millie," will serve as one of the professional guest teaching artists for the TexARTS summer musical theatre intensive, "Thoroughly Modern Millie" (June 10 – 30). Students enrolled in this three-week, production-based intensive will rehearse while receiving instruction in acting, dance and voice from a team of professional instructors and special Broadway guests. Rehearsals culminate in a public performance on June 29-30.

A legitimate triple-threat, Roberts made her Broadway debut at the age of 19 in "Crazy for You." Since then she has appeared in such Broadway hits as "Aida," "Dream," and "Curtains." Roberts joins Chris Freeman (Broadway’s “The Lion King,” “La Cage Aux Folles,” “The Boy from Oz,” and “Swan Lake”), Keenah Armitage (Broadway's "On The Town"), Darren Gibson (Broadway's "Movin' Out) and previously announced guest teaching artist Robby Armitage. Armitage, who is an eight-time Broadway veteran, performed in the Broadway production of “Millie.” Armitage currently serves as the TexARTS producing artistic director.

Darcie Roberts

“Arts education has proven to have such a positive impact on the development of a child. These programs help to build self-esteem and confidence in young people,” said Armitage. “For area young people this is a terrific opportunity to learn new skills, meet new friends, and train with professional theater artists.”

TexARTS' popular series of youth summer performing arts camps will offer a variety of programming for children and teens of all levels. This year’s lineup includes “Great Shakes,” a Shakespeare acting intensive, a youth ballet intensive and a dance technique intensive. 

Students may also enroll in full-day or half-day camps that focus on such popular titles as “Wicked,” “Grease” and “Glee.” These week-long camps are under the guidance of experienced professionals and will focus on basic vocal technique, acting skills, dance and musical theatre. 

In addition, Kelleen Adams will lead the visual arts camps for students ages 5-12. For students ages 2 – 5, TexARTS will host mini camps. Each session has a theme with crafts and an informal presentation for family and friends.

Camps begin June 10 and run through August 16. Camps will be held at TexARTS in the Erin Doherty Studios (2300 Lohmans Spur, Suite #160, Lakeway, TX). For more information or to register for TexARTS upcoming performing and visual arts summer camps, please visit www.tex-arts.org or call 512-852-9079 x104.

TexARTS is a nonprofit organization that also offers year-round classes in acting, voice, ballet and dance as well as completely staged youth and professional productions. TexARTS’ mission is to cultivate a thriving arts community by exposing all people to the visual and performing arts. The TexARTS faculty, who has earned 21 Broadway credits among them, strives to prepare and promote exceptional young talent. TexARTS is recognized throughout the region for its professional theatre and educational programs.