Upcoming: Paradise Key by Dean Poyner, A Chick and A Dude Productions at Hyde Park Theatre, March 31 - April 16

Received directly and researched on-line:

presents

Paradise Key

by Dean Poyner

directed by Melissa Livingston

[Apple users: can't see the video? Click to go to YouTube]

Hyde Park Theatre, 511 W. 43rd St. at Guadalupe (click for map)

Thursdays - Saturdays, March 31 - April 16, 8 p.m.

Tickets for the show are “sliding scale,” $10-$20 on Thursdays and $15-$20 on Fridays and Saturdays and are available online at www.achickandadude.com. To reserve seats, call (512) 921-4264 or email achickandadude@gmail.com.

Playwright Poynor Visits Austin to Host an after-show Q & A Session on Friday, April 8 (click for more information)

Paradise Key takes place in the summer of 1951. A hidden U.S. Army safe house in the Florida Keys provides the backdrop for this intense physical and metaphysical drama in which Counter-Intelligence Agent David Dunn (Shanon Weaver) has just one night to extract a possible vaccine for Polio from the mind of former Nazi physician Werhner Halb (Tom Green). By using early CIA interrogation techniques—both psychological and physical—David attempts to discover the truth about Halb’s formula. As the Faustian bargain unfolds, we learn that Halb conducted experiments on human subjects in Nazi concentration camps. Halb will only offer information about the formula if David can first prove that he is a man, complicit in the consequences, able to accept that in order to become the hero, one must first embrace the monster.

Click to view additional images at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Upcoming: The Biography of Physical Sensation, Rubber Repertory at Fusebox Festival, April 21 - 30

Received directly:

Rubber Repertory, in association with Fusebox Festival

proudly presents

BIOGRAPHY OF PHYSICAL SENSATION

directed by Josh Meyer and Matt Hislope
based on the life of Jamie Damon
set design by Lisa Laratta
featuring Katie Van Winkle, Rebecca Beegle, Taylor Flanagan, Matt Hislope, and Josh Meyer

7 encore performances! April 21-23, April 27-30.

Wed. and Thurs. performances are at 8pm. Fri. and Sat. are at 7pm.

The Off Shoot, 2211 Hidalgo St.,Austin, TX 78702

TICKETS: $15. Available at www.brownpapertickets.com/event/163864.

VIDEO TRAILER: http://vimeo.com/21604712

"What's wonderful about Rubber Repertory is that they take the concepts, the tenets, the expectations of theatre, and blow them out of the water." -- Austin Chronicle

The biography is BACK. Rubber Repertory's hit show invites an audience of 35 to experience a human life through actual tastes, touches, smells, and sounds. This reinvention of the traditional biography forgoes narrative in favor of pure physical experience, placing audience members in the center of over a hundred pivotal moments of perception.

Each person who attends is invited to choose from seats of three different sizes. The size of your seat dictates the intensity of sensations you're willing to receive. Those in the smallest seats will receive low-intensity sensations--the smell of lavender and stale cigarettes, for instance--while those in the larger seats expose themselves to far livelier thrills. Once the show begins, it's a fast and feely ride through puberty and pork chops, gunshots and tetherball, party whistles and old pianos, rehabilitation and lemon cake. In other words: life itself.

BIOGRAPHY OF PHYSICAL SENSATION is based on the life of Jamie Damon, one of over 50 people who interviewed at Fusebox 2010 to be the subject of the show.

View images at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Masterclass: Vocal Auditions, with Cathie Sheridan, Georgetown Palace, April 7

Received directly:

The Georgetown Palace Guild

presents

Vocal Master Class with Cathie Sheridan: Singing for Auditions

The Georgetown Palace Theatre

Thursday, April 7th, 7 p.m.

How can I give my best audition possible, every time?

The Georgetown Palace Guild will be hosting a Vocal Master Class with guest instructor: Cathie Sheridan (Palace Roles: Grizabella, Sister Mary Hubert, Aldonza). The class will focus on enhancing your auditioning skills through preparation, healthy vocal technique and song interpretation. Join us for an exciting evening of singing on Thursday, April 7^th, 2011. Cathie will work with a number of singers, demonstrating techniques to make your next audition the best it can be.

The cost for non-Guild Members is $20; Guild Members $10. Cash or Checks only. Checks can be made payable to The Georgetown Palace Guild.

If you would like to sign up for the Master Class: please send an email to Guild.GeorgetownPalace@gmail.com. Indicate if you would like to attend as an observer or be considered as a singing participant. For those who would like to sing, please include your Name, Voice Type (SATB), the name of the song you'd like to sing (attach a copy of the music with the email, as well) and any other questions. Payment is due the day of the class.

All levels of experience are welcome. Only a set number of singers will be selected to actually sing during the class. Those individuals will be notified by April 4th that they have been selected to sing; however, whether you sing or not, there will be a great deal to learn.

Hope to see you there!

The Georgetown Palace Theatre

810 South Austin Avenue,Georgetown, Texas 78626 telephone 512-869-7469

Alvida and the Airship Pirates, Weird City Theatre Company

I was on the last airship with Alvida out of Weird City on March 12 and as sometimeshappens with scribes errant, I got too busy and distracted to send her, author John Carroll and their band of adventures a proper bread-and-butter note.

Your mother may have admonished you about good manners, as does the mother of my children. It’s never too late, although sometimes it’s too late to do much good. I prefer the warm glow of virtue associated with writing the first review to hit the electronic doorstep, for there’s the cyberghost of a chance that it’ll attract another spectator. Or, to use the Britishism entirely appropriate to this steampunk adventure, it’ll put an additional bum on the seat.

The Weird citizens like to play with their plays. With this script John gave colleague Patti Teff-Niven as the eponymous Alvida a hand into chick adventure with the warm and vivacious Bridget Farias as her best buddy. The Alvida stage at the familiar imagination station of the Dougherty Arts Center featured a fine crew of female troopers on both sides as well as Weird regulars Kevin Gouldthorpe and Robert Berry.

I confess that I don’t know much about steampunk, a curious genre that seems half Victorian and half sci-fi, but I’ve noticed that it’s capturing a lot of imagination these days. Earlier this week, while I was checking background for the steampunk Tempest that Frank Benge is putting together for the Sam Bass Community Theatre in Round Rock, I found that there’s even a steampunk Shakespeare website encouraging submissions of bard-derived steampunk adventures. That invitational tournament is open until the end of May.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com. . . .

Audtions for The Little Dog Laughed, City Theatre, April 10 - 11

Received directly:

City Theatre

Auditions

for

The Little Dog Laughed

April 10 and 11
The City Theatre 3823 Airport Blvd. Suite D Austin, TX 78722
April 10, 11 – 2 p.m. April 11, 5:30 - 8:00 p.m.
*ten minute slots by appointment. *If you are not able to make this audition time, please let us know.

Show dates: June 9 – July 4.
Casting 2 male, 2 female : ages 25 – 45.


The Austin premier of Douglas Carter Bean’s hilarious comedy about a famous actor brimming with star power, which would be fine if his new catch wasn’t a twenty-something NYC rent boy with secrets to hide. Throw in his agent, the devilish Diane and the rent boy’s girlfriend (wait, the rent boy has a girlfriend?) and you can be sure no sensitivity is spared in this tremendously funny play about the price of ambition and the unexpected packaging in which dreams invariably arrive.

Characters:
Mitchell-late 20's to mid 30's, attractive, witty, sexually confused movie star
Diane-early 30's to mid 50's, a problem solving Hollywood agent, hard, witty
Alex-early 20's to early 30's, attractive, fit, prostitute that Mitchell desires (but Alex has a girlfriend!)
Ellen-early 20's to early 30's, Alex's hip and young girlfriend that gets wrangled into the love crisis.

Bring headshot, resume, and a 1 min. prepared monologue. 512-524-2870 or info@citytheatreaustin.org. For more show details, go to www.citytheatreaustin.org.

Contact: The City Theatre info@citytheatreaustin.org 512-524-2870
Website: www.citytheatreaustin.org

West Side Story, Broadway touring company at Bass Hall, March 29 - April 3

A stage jammed with more than 30 trim, talented dancers, a 15-piece orchestra doing Leonard Bernstein's instantly recognizable score, a couple of memorable scenic pieces and a respectful interpretation of the 1957 reinterpretation of Romeo and Juliet, tweaked only very slightly, if at all -- the touring company of West Side Story delivers exactly what the American public expects. The enterprise also provides an enlightening illustration of the difference between a film -- who hasn't seen and been impressed by the 1961 motion picture? -- and live musical theatre.

The vast spaces of the 2900-seat Bass concert hall are a challenge to any performance -- one indication is that you can rent binoculars at the concession stand before the show. Even in the mid-orchestra seats provided for press representatives, the actors in solo and duo scenes seemed alarmingly far away, as the mind's eye compared them to the vivid images of Jerome Robbins' 1961 film.

The excitement and the spectacle of the dance scenes made up for that. No film can give the scope and the dazzle of Robbins' large dance scenes, and the choreography reproduced by Joey McKneely for this staging delivers excitement, humor and far more action than your eye can follow. The show springs to life with the scene of the dance at the gym. Rival crowds, Jets and Sharks, dressed spiffy and swirly, brightly colored, challenging, teasing, frolicking and bounding with energy, contrast with one another, with the doltish adults, and eventually with the starstruck lovers Maria and Tony as they perceive one another across the full breadth of the stage.

The biggest applause came for the iconic I Like to Be in America, the teasing, stamping, celebratory number featuring the sassy, worldly Anita (Michelle Aravena, who got the most exuberant applause at the curtain call). Seven women dancers fill that broad stage with their banter and movement.

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

Upcoming: Here Comes Gosling, Polyanna Theatre Company at the Rollins Theatre, Long Center, May 19 - 22

Received directly:

Pollyanna Theatre Company

presents

HERE COMES GOSLING

A New Play for Young Audiences by Sandy Asher

Appropriate for children ages 4 and older

directed by Judy Matetzschk-Campbell

Rollins Studio Theatre at the Long Center for the Performing Arts

701 West Riverside Dr. (click for map)

May 19, 20, and 23 at 9:30 & 11:00 a.m.

May 21 at 11:00 a.m. & 2:00 p.m.

May 22 at 2:00 p.m.

Regular Tickets are $8.75 for Adults over 18, $7.75 for seniors (over age 60), Austin Circle of Theatre Members and students ages 12 to 18, $6.75 for children under the age of 12. Group Rates Available for Groups of 10 or more with prices ranging from $3.00 to $5.00.

For information and reservations: telephone 512/743-7966

Based upon the wonderful characters and story found in Sandy Asher’s book HERE COMES GOSLING, our play tells the story of Froggie, a loveable and outgoing frog who can not wait to meet the new gosling. But what happens when Baby Gosling finally arrives to visit and all she does is honk? Come see the fun when Froggie and all of his friends must learn to wait and also learn to deal with some difficulties when a new baby doesn’t behave as expected. Featuring some of Austin’s finest actors, the production is directed by Judy Matetzschk-Campbell.

Special Event: Join us after the 2:00 p.m. performance on Sunday, May 22 for a book signing picnic with author Sandy Asher and illustrator Keith Graves.

Pollyanna Theatre thanks The Long Center’s Catalyst 8 for their generous sponsorship through their BOOST Rental Subsidy Program.

Upcoming: Finding Yourself in America: A Hotdog Story, Avant-Garde Awareness Company at St. Edward's University, April 6 - 8

Received directly:

Finding Yourself in America: A Hotdog Story
by Avant-Garde Awareness Company
directed and produced by Meredith Montgomery
April 6 – 8, 6:30 pm
St Edward's University, 3001 South Congress Avenue campus map: http://www.stedwards.edu/map/

WHERE: April 6th: Mabee Ballroom A (3rd Floor, Ragsdale)
April 7th: Maloney Ballroom ( Main Building, 320)
April 8th: Ragsdale Lawn

Finding Yourself In America: A Hotdog Story is a production based around the idea of embracing your own individuality. It is a fun and interactive way to do personal soul searching. What is unique about this production is not only that it is completely for the betterment of the community, but the creation of the show being a collaborative process between all of the company members. Over the past eight months Meredith Montgomery and eight dedicated undergraduates have been working to create a new work to perform with the goal of community service and inspiration. After a long, evolutionary process of nontraditional writing and expression, the topic to be presented is personal individuality.

“The point is to bring awareness to our community in a new and innovative way.” says Montgomery, “Through our production we yearn to show others that it is not just okay to be happy with what makes you unique, but that it is actually the key to life success and happiness. We strive to do this while keeping the production under 25 minutes in order to allow constructive conversation between audience and company to take place immediately following the show”.

Come join the vivacious company of eight in finding and loving your own individuality.

About St. Edward's University Founded by the Congregation of Holy Cross, St. Edward's University is named among the top five "Up-and-Coming Universities" in the Western Region by its academic peers in a 2011 U.S. News & World Report survey. For eight consecutive years St. Edward's has been recognized as one of "America's Best Colleges" by U.S. News & World Report and this year by Forbes and the Center for College Affordability and Productivity. St. Edward's is a private, Catholic, liberal arts university of more than 5,200 students located in Austin, Texas. For more information on St. Edward’s University, visit www.stedwards.edu.

Auditions for a Steampunk Tempest, Sam Bass Community Theatre, Round Rock, April 4 & 5

Found on-line:

Casting Call for

The Tempest Project






Sam Bass Theatre is casting for The Tempest Project, a steampunk fantasy based on William Shakespeare's The Tempest, adapted and directed by Frank Benge.

Auditions are April 4th and 5th, from 8-10 PM, at Sam Bass Theatre, 600 N. Lee Street, in Memorial Park, in Round Rock. Lee Street runs behind the Shell station at the intersection of IH-35 and 620.

Auditions will consist of cold readings from the script.
Female roles are available for ages 16-60.
Male roles are available for ages 19-60.
Female roles will be handling Shakespearean language. Male roles have been translated into contemporary English.
Female roles include: Prospera, Calibra, Ariel, Miranda and the 3 goddesses/spirits: Iris, Ceres and Juno.
Male roles include: Alonso, Sebastian, Antonio, Ferdinand, Gonzolo, Adrian, Francisco, Trinculo, Stephano, Boatswain, Ship Master.

Steampunk is a sub-genre of science fiction, alternate history, and speculative fiction. Specifically, steampunk involves an era or world where steam power is still widely used—usually the 19th century and often Victorian era Britain—that incorporates prominent elements of either science fiction or fantasy.

Performances will be at Sam Bass Theatre May 20 - June 11, 2011.

Auditions for Seller Door, Sustainable Theatre Project, March 31 - April 1

Received directly from

:

STP is holding auditions this week - weekend for Seller Door by Larry Mitchell.

It is a comedy about a barker, the people he gets to go through a door and what happens to those people after they go through the door.
We're seeking 7 actors, male and female, of all ages and types.
Auditions will be held:
6 p.m. to 10 p.m., Thursday, Friday and Saturday, March 31st - April 2nd.
Appointment only. Email sustainable.theatre.project@gmail.com to reserve a time. We will contact you with confirmation and info on where the auditions are being held!

Upcoming: Richard III, Wondrous Strange Players, extended at Community Renaissance Market, April 8 - 17

Received directly:

“Getcha hat, we’re goin to da theater” Come and join us in a world of murder and mayhem.

The Wondrous Strange Players

present

William Shakespeare’s

Richard III

April 8th, 9th, 10th, and 15th, 16th, & 17th. Show times are at 8:00 pm, seating begins 7:30.

presented at The Community Renaissance Marketplace Theater

6800 Westgate Blvd. at the corner of William Cannon (click for map)

Julio Mella directs this infamous play in the style of ‘Film Noir’. Where mobsters are the lords of the city. When guns were heaters and women were dames.

Christopher Harris portrays the treacherous Buckingham. Casey Allan as the newly delivered Hastings. Sabrina Tarbutton takes on the role of Elizabeth, the Don’s wife. Steven Brandt is double cast as Don Edward and Stanley. Christl Climans as the beautiful Lady Anne, and Ksynia Hoover as Margaret the prophetess.

Come and find out what happens when William Shakespeare and Mario Puzzo meet for drinks at Bogie’s joint. At $8 per head, it’s ‘an offer you can’t refuse’.

Click to read ALT's review of the 2009 staging

Upcoming: A Play! on Human Essence by Senait Fessahaye, Vortex Repertory, April 14 - 17

The VORTEX presents

A Play! On Human Essence

An original performance by Senait Fessahaye

When: April 14-17, 2011 at 8pm

Thursday-Sunday for 4 nights only

Where: The Yard @ The VORTEX, 2307 Manor Rd. Austin, TX 78722

Free Parking. Bus Route. The Butterfly Bar with beer, wine, luscious desserts, and savory snacks.

Tickets: Sliding Scale $10-$25

Available at 512-478-LAVA (5282) or www.vortexrep.org

A Play! On Human Essence explores the essence of being human through a performance using sound, puppets, and audience interaction. Through a collection of shared experiences, Senait Fessahaye brings her unique one-woman show to life in an exhilarating performance outdoors in the beautiful Yard at The VORTEX with an additional installation in the Pony Shed.

Upcoming: Footnotes for People Who Don't Speak Spanish, Rudy Ramirez, Vortex Repertory, April 8 - 10

Received directly:

The VORTEX presents

Footnotes for People Who Don’t Speak Spanish

Written by Rudy Ramirez

Performed by Rudy Ramirez and Beliza Torres Narvaez

When: April 8-10, 2011 at 8pm

Friday-Sunday for 3 nights only

Where: The VORTEX, 2307 Manor Rd. Austin, TX 78722

Free Parking. Bus Route. The Butterfly Bar with beer, wine, luscious desserts, and savory snacks.

Tickets: Sliding Scale $10-$25

Available at 512-478-LAVA (5282) or www.vortexrep.org

Do you feel sad? Are you looking for natural male enhancement? Still trying to shed those last 20 pounds? You just might need a prescription for LATINOL(tm), guaranteed to offer you a 100% authentic Latino experience. Or you might want to sit down and watch a queer Chicano figure out how to deal with the mission he was assigned at birth: to infiltrate white culture and aid his people in their struggle for equality! With the help of a Puerto Rican secret agent and two Mexican grandmothers, he navigates through a world of Harry Potter, Jem and the Holograms and Sound of Music references to find a way to be an artist, a radical, a big ol' queen and a credit to his people (hint: plus-size vintage gowns help). Possible side effects may include laughter, political insight, the occasional sniffle, and drymouth.

This production was written by and stars Rudy Ramirez (Promised Land; A Radical Queer Revival) and features Beliza Torres Narvaez (Resabios de Amargura/The Bitter Cabaret).

Fresh from a successful run at the Cohen New Works Festival at the University of Texas, Rudy Ramirez brings his new show home to The VORTEX for 3 nights only.

An Annual Report: ALTcom in 2010

AustinLiveTheatre became a "sponsored project" of the Austin Creative Alliance last year, a status it shares with many another small theatre concern here. One advantage is exemption from sales taxes, derivative from the umbrella organization's status as a 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization. The Creative Alliance can also serve as monitor and guarantor of grants made by the City, collecting a 10% fee for its own overhead for that service.

For any theatre group without the half-million dollar turnover and permanent staff required by the City to qualify for direct grants, the $120 membership fee to the Alliance for sponsored projects is a pretty good deal. You reach your break-even in this world of 8.25% sales tax by the time that you spend just over $1400 to purchase otherwise taxable materials for your project.

Your contract with the Alliance requires an annual report of your activities as a sponsored project. I've just submitted ALT's report, which you can read here at your leisure. Meanwhile, following good business practice, ALT presents this executive summary:

ALT provides to locally-produced narrative theatre events a number of free services:

• full-page "upcoming" announcements with images, posted both on interior pages at ALTcom and on the front page of the blog (www.austinlivetheatre.blogspot.com)
• front-page icons linked to upcoming performances of theatre for youth or by youth
• display of a poster icon on the ALTcom "front page" for two weeks before opening and throughout the run
• listing on the comprehensive Austin Theatre Calendar covering the upcoming two months of performances
• publication of photo features
• posting of clickable audio and video features either in "upcoming" announcements or as separate feature articles
• ALT reviews of local theatre productions and notification of their publication directly to the producing company and to the 225 followers on Twitter of @ALTcom
• links to theatre reviews published elsewhere, posted immediately at the foot of the ALT review and at the top of the "upcoming" announcement
  
• facsimile publication of event programs, scanned as .pdf files and held on the ALTcom server
• arts news coverage, both original and excerpted, with appropriate links to full coverage
• announcement sof auditions and educational opportunities
• The Guide to Austin Stages, a work in progress available via a "front-page" link (because of the press of ALT administrative work, the most recent update was in September, 2010)
• coverage of Austin productions of Shakespeare and Shakespeare-related theatre for www.playShakespeare.com

Readership fluctuates from day to day and in the course of the week, with 250-400 hits daily at ALTcom and 150-200 at the blog. Monthly total hits are approximately 13,000.

Expenditures for 2010 were about $6225, including $990 in donations to nine non-profit theatre groups and to two schools. ALTcom had zero income in 2010 but received in-kind donations of 27 complimentary theatre tickets.

ALT published 870 articles in 2010.

These included 578 "upcoming" features in 2010 for the greater Austin area, announcing narrative theatre productions within a periphery established by the cities of Killeen, Salado, Georgetown, Smithville, San Marcos, New Braunfels, Wimberley, Lakeway, Cottonwood Shores near Marble Falls, and Leander. ALT provided "upcoming" features for five theatres of interest in San Antonio.

ALT wrote 115 reviews of theatre productions.

Other categories of articles: arts reporting, 87 (including 9 on the controversy concerning criteria for City of Austin grants funded by the hotel and occupancy tax); auditions and opportunities, 34; classes and education,. 22; opinion pieces from elsewhere, 17; reviews from elsewhere, 10; postings at www.playShakespeare.com, 8; books of interest to theatre artists and scholoars, 3; video features not in "upcoming" articles, 3; and the Guide to Austin Theatre (a work in progress).

Approaching its third anniversary of operation, ALT acknowledges that it has reached the performance limits of its structure as a non-commercial single-proprietor service to Austin arts. I am looking for ways to reduce workload or to find additional resources.

World Theatre Day Happens, without Austin

World Theatre Day, observed today for the 49th time, is one of those "opt-in" holidays. It's tied to the International Theatre Institute, established by UNESCO in 1949. The WTD blog and annual messages have a strong flavor of consensus- making at an international organization, including the conscientious acknowledgement of the world's vast array of economically disadvantaged countries.

The U.S. correspondent to the international observance is the Theatre Communications Group (TCG), which arranged for a video message from "Tony-award winning actor and world citizen Jeffrey Wright," head of the TAIA Peace Foundation. Wright evokes the theatre message while telling of a village festival in Sierra Leone, where he and collaborators helped finance a road. His is a thoughtful, humane message, in which with unintended irony Wright stands slightly tilted to the left.

[Apple users: Can't see the video? Click to go to Vimeo]
Austin is not celebrating World Theatre Day this year. The world map posted at the WTD blog shows no "push-pin" anywhere in the vast expanse between Chicago and Los Angeles, and the TCG map, perhaps not updated, doesn't feature LA.

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

As You Like It, American Shakespeare Center's 'Restless Ecstacy' Tour, UT

"Restless Ecstacy," the title of the 2010-2011 tour by American Shakespeare Center players, comes from the Scottish play, III, 2, in which the grim thane uses the phrase to describe his tormented sleeplessness after killing King Duncan. The ASC troupe didn't do their Macbeth at the University of Texas in Austin this week, but their staging of As You Like It corresponded fully to both promises of the tour title.

Noise, music, performance and joviality greeted the audience as soon as the house was opened. Big, round Rick Blunt beckoned everyone forward with the huge friendliness of a carnival barker as cast members moved freely around the shallow stage at the UT Union. Blunt kept up a cheerful patter about the troupe, about their dedication to staging in the style of Shakespeare's touring companies, about maintaining available light and engaging the audience. He quickly recruited eight audience members for the seats placed at either side of the stage, and one suspects that if there had been room for groundlings he would have enticed students into those roles.

For the half hour before starting the play, cast members strummed guitars, tapped rhythms on wooden boxes and an African djembeli drum, fingered a weathered accordian, sang pop songs and carried on like buskers as if only by chance had they arrived one week late for the restlessness of Austin's epic South by Southwest music festival. At the interval the cast stays on stage to play and sing for the full fifteen minutes, maintaining an easy companionship with the audience.

The ecstasy of their staging of As You Like It is that of infatuation, the hypnotic attraction of love.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Upcoming: Rumors, The Broccoli Project, UT

Found at the Daily Texan on-line:

Student troupe brings dark farce to SAC

By Clayton Wickham, Daily Texan Staff

“Play the hostess,” Ken Gorman tells his wife Chris as the other guests begin to arrive at a dinner party gone awry after the original host’s failed suicide attempt.

“Play the hostess?” Chris Gorman responds, giving her husband a horrified look. “There’s no food out; there’s no ice in the bucket. Where’s the help? Where’s the cheese dip? What am I supposed to do, play charades?”

In the Broccoli Project production of the play Rumors, the Gormans arrive at the wedding anniversary dinner for Deputy Mayor of New York Charley Brock to discover that his wife Myra is missing, and Charley has shot himself in the earlobe in a suicide attempt. Ken, Charley’s lawyer and friend, enlists Chris in a cover-up attempt that eventually draws in all eight guests in a tumult of lies, confusion and miscommunication. It doesn’t take long for all the characters to completely lose control in this bourgeoisie farce.

Rumors by Neil Simon, will show at the Black Box Theatre, a new theater space in the Student Activity Center. The play is produced by Alex Reynolds, a Plan II and business honors senior, and Laura Wright, a Plan II and biology sophomore, and is directed by Jenny Kutner, Plan II junior, and Katherine Kloc, a Plan II and advertising junior. The play coincides with the Plan II Honors program’s 75th anniversary weekend.

Read more at the Daily Texan on-line. . . .

The Broccoli Project presents Rumors at the new Student Activities Center (click for map), second floor

March 25 & 26 at 7 p.m.

Upcoming: Twelve Angry Men, Playhouse Smithville, April 8 - 23

Received directly:

Playhouse Smithville

presents the American classic

by Reginald Rose.

April 8-23, Fridays & Saturdays, 7:30pm, 110 Main Street, Smithville (click for map)

For tickets, visit www.playhousesmithville.com or call (512) 360-7397 for more information.

Artistic Director john daniels, jr. directs the intense play about pre-judgment, prejudice, stereotypes, fear, conformity, miscarriage of justice and the courage to stand up, think for yourself and, if necessary, change your mind. Twelve talented and dedicated local actors take on the task of bringing the jurors to life. Limited, intimate seating.

Upcoming: Four Short Operas, Spotlight on Opera, St. Edward's University, April 16 & 17

Featured at AustinOnStage.com, March 24:

presents workshop performances of

The Telephone by Gian Carlo Menotti

The Medium by Gian Carlo Menotti

A Hand of Bridge by Samuel Barber

Trouble in Tahiti by Leonard Bernstein

Saturday, April 16 at 7 p.m. and Sunday, April 17, 3 p.m.
Jones Auditorium, 1st Floor, Ragsdale Center (click for map)
St. Edward's University, 3001 South Congress Avenue
Anyone can afford to see the opera at these prices!
$3 SEU students/faculty/staff/seniors; $10 general public; no children under 7 please.

A séance. A card game. A troubled marriage. An electronic rival. Add the musical talents of Gian Carlo Menotti, Leonard Bernstein and Samuel Barber to create four of the most popular American operas of the late 1940s and 1950s - all to be performed by St. Edward's University's Spotlight on Opera Workshop on April 16th and 17th at the Ragsdale Center.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Upcoming: The Blanco Was Blameless, The Rep at Katherine Ann Porter School, April 8 - May 1

Found on-line:

The Blanco was Blameless

directed by Shirley Marlett

opening and performances delayed to

April 8 through April 29
Friday and Saturday evenings at 8 p.m.
Sunday matinees at 5 p.m. on April 10. 17 and May 1

The Katherine Ann Porter School
515 FM 2325, Wimberley (click for map)

Tickets $12.50
Buy Tickets online or call (512) 395-7043

The Blanco was Blameless (or It was Balcones’ Fault) is an original script written by local playwright Russ Marlett with music by Jules Alexander of “The Association” band fame. This well written and well-received musical was featured in the Greenhouse Theatre fourteen years ago and was one of the first productions there ever to be held over by public demand. The backdrop for this production is Wimberley, the Star of Texas.

The Blanco was Blameless features Amanda Forsyth and Michelle Piersol, co-starring in the role of Sugar, the feisty orphaned goat farmer. Kitty Nichols plays Sugar’s patient Aunt Prudence who tries her darndest to make Sugar, the tomboy, into a fine lady. Lee Stubbs performs the role of Beau Beau, the well meaning but addled uncle; Travis, the high spirited ranch hand and suitor of Sugar, is played by Perry Redden; and Rick Nation and Whitney Marlett appear as the evil villains, Foscue and Lolita.

Written as a melodrama, the production offers rapid fire dialogue and catchy tunes that will have you booing the bad guys and cheering Sugar on as she fights to keep her goat ranch from two of the most dishonest and despicable characters ever to visit the Hill Country. It is a must see both from the standpoint of the entertainment value of The Blanco was Blameless and the debut of the newest and most distinctive theatre in the community. You are invited to come and share an evening with us at The Rep at Katherine Ann Porter School in Wimberley, Texas.

Upcoming: The 2011 David Mark Cohen New Works Festival, March 28 - April 2

Found on-line:

The University Co-op

presents

The Cohen New Works Festival,

March 28 - April 1

a celebration of new work created by UT students throughout the University of Texas campus. It is not just an event, but a celebration of a continuously ongoing process-the creation of new work.

Keynote Kick-off with James Still
Monday, March 28, 2011 at 7 p.m.
Inside atrium of the Winship Drama Building, The University of Texas at Austin
This event is open to the public. It is completely free and will be followed with light
refreshments.
All events FREE.

Click to go to the website

Click to view the schedule

Click to download a .pdf guide to the festival

Upcoming: Hamlet, As You Like It, Henry VI, 1-3, Shakespeare at Winedale, July 14 - August 7

Found at the Shakespeare at Winedale website:

Winedale Summer Shakespeare

Schedule of Performances, July 14 - August 7

Shakespeare at Winedale, 7:30 p.m. evenings, 2 p.m. matinees

Winedale Complex, Briscoe Historical Center, University of Texas

3738 FM 2714, Round Top, Texas (2 hours from Austin) (click for directions and map)

As You Like It

Hamlet

Henry VI, Parts 1 - 3

Tickets are $5 and $10, available now on-line (click for Winedale ticket website)

Gala tickets for August 6 will be sold separately through the website

Click to view calendar of performances at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Upcoming: Stop The World, I Want to Get Off, Austin Playhouse, April 22 - May 22

Received directly:

presents

Stop the World – I Want to Get Off!

by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley

directed by Don Toner

April 22 – May 22; Thursday–Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 5 p.m.

Austin Playhouse, Penn Field (behind the water tower), 3601 S. Congress, Bldg. C (click for map)

Tickets $26 Thursday and Friday, $28 Saturday and Sunday, $35 Opening Night

Available at the box office 512.476.0084 or online at: www.austinplayhouse.com

www.austinplayhouse.com and on Facebook and Twitter

Closing out the 2010-2011 Season, Austin Playhouse presents a Bricusse/Newley classic and multiple Tony Award nominated production, a thought-provoking tale about the fleeting nature of worldly success. This beloved musical celebrates its 50^th year in 2011.

Stop the World – I Want to Get Off! is set in a circus and tells the timeless tale of a Littlechap, a clown who conquers the world but loses himself. The story will be told through song, dance, drama, and the artistry of the Austin Playhouse acting company over a one-month run. The show is a boundless, shameless, and humorously entertaining production. Stop the World is about the responsibility we have for our own lives, and how it sometimes feels like the world is spinning out of control and you just want to get off.

Directed by Don Toner, musical direction by Oliver Worthington, and choreography by Danny Herman and Rocker Verastique. The Austin production stars Rick Roemer as Littlechap and Angela Davis as Evie, with an ensemble cast that includes Kimberly Barrow, Rachel Dendy, Hildreth England, Kasey Erin Eggleston, Eedann McCord, Stephanie Ngo-Hatchie, Ann Pittman, Hannah Rose, and Jennifer Blakeney Young.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Upcoming: Words by Shakespeare, Austin Shakespeare, Curtain Theatre, April 21 - 22

Received directly from

Mark your calendar for
Words by Shakespeare, Music by Austin
April 21-22 at The Curtain Theatre

Mark your calendars now. Enjoy the words of Shakespeare set to jazz, classical and rock music for two special nights at The Curtain.
Featuring: Austin Chamber Music's Michelle Schumann and her toy piano, Jill Blackwood, Susan Lubin, Michael McKelvey, Kara Bliss, Dustin Struhall and more.

Contact (512) 470-4505 or alex@austinshakespeare.org for more information.

City Theatre Producer's Tickets - 10 shows, $10 Each

Received directly, the news that the best theatre deal available in Austin just got better:

Spring fever has hit The City Theatre with a great savings offer.

Get a Producer Pass today!!

It’s ten anytime tickets good for all City Theatre Company productions the rest of this season or any other.
Only $100 (= $10 a seat, a $50 savings)
Bring work employees, come with a friend or two, or just use by yourself.
That’s right! Use a Producer Pass as you want, when you want.

Join us for these upcoming shows and many more to come..

This Spring of Love, a musical based on Shakespeare's Two Gentlement of Verona

Hair, the musical

The Little Dog Laughed

Of Mice and Men

Molière's The Imaginary Invalid

Don’t miss out. Call or email for this terrific savings offer.

The City Theatre - Voted "Best Theater Company" - Statesman's austin360 A-List 2009 and 2010
3823 Airport Blvd. Suite D (behind the Shell station - click for map) Austin, Texas 78722
info@citytheatreaustin.org - telephone 512-524-2870
www.citytheatreaustin.org

Put a little theatre in your life!

Upcoming: I Was Born Here, Bilhaus Arts, San Antonio, from March 24

Found on-line:

Bihl Haus v. the Alamo

“I was born here”

a multi-media tableau

opening reception on Thursday, March 24, 6-9 p.m.

Bihl House Arts, inside Primrose Housing estates, 2800 block of Fredericksburg Road, San Antonio (click for map)

For the fifth year in a row, Bihl Haus Arts, built from Alamo stone, takes on The Alamo through the arts. In the multi-media tableau “I Was Born Here. Roses are yellow and the Alamo is a blood-tree” produced by Bihl Haus Arts, creator Virginia Grise (2010 Yale Drama Award recipient) re-imagines “Remember El Alma,” Bihl Haus Arts’ crucially acclaimed 2010 Luminaria performance.

The original poem by Barbara Renaud Gonzalez, also titled “Remember El Alma,” forms the cornerstone of “I Was Born Here,” a recurring poignant line in the poem that has been reinterpreted in multiple forms for this event. In a new film, edited by Mirasol Riojas, currently a PhD candidate in film at UCLA, with camerawork by award-winning cinematographer Pocha Pena and art direction by Virginia Grise, 6-year-old Inez Barrera charmingly interprets the poem from a child’s point of view In the live performance at Bihl Haus on March 24^th, an ensemble cast--Marisela Barrera, Monique Cortez, Natalie Goodnow, and Olupero Aiyenimelo—will re-stage the poem to haunting melodies composed and performed live by Rachel Cruz, PhD.

This live production will be set amid a new site-specific installation by Deborah Kuetzpalin Vasquez that features four large-scale painted tapestries depicting goddesses who symbolize the cardinal directions, with which Bihl Haus Arts aligns perfectly. Fresh flowers and fronds will transform the gallery space into a dreamlike world situated beneath a canopy of shimmering metallic-toned branches and boughs.

This all-female production, an official CAM event, also celebrates Women’s History Month. Please arrive at Bihl Haus by 7 pm to enjoy the full performance. A suggested donation of $5 at the door would be greatly appreciated.

Remember the Bihl Haus!

Upcoming: Broadway at Bacchus benefit, Bacchus Conservatory, April 9 & 10

Found on-line:

presents a fundraiser:

Broadway at Bachus

April 9 and 10, 7:30 p.m.

Bacchus Center for the Performing Arts

8000 Anderson Square, Suite 112 (click for map)

Tickets $15. Reservations at (512) 45G-CLEF ( 454-2533) or visit www.BachusConservatory.com.

Twelve of Austin's top musical theatre performers will perform music from more than twenty Broadway musicals in Broadway at Bachus, benefiting the music education programs at the Bachus Center. Conceived by - and under the musical direction of - David Blackburn, with stage direction by Barbara Schuler and musical staging by Michelle Stuckey, a two-night revue will play April 9th and 10th at the Bachus Center for the Performing Arts.

Hosted by Robert Josef Cross, Broadway at Bachus features the music of Stephen Sondheim, Stephen Schwartz, Jason Robert Brown and other award-winning composers - performed by Eve Alonzo, Kylie Baker, Matthew Charles Burnett, Ashley Edwards, Jonathan Itchon, Stephen Jack, Becky Knox, Joel Mercado-See, Alejandro Rodriguez, Cathie Sheridan and Ryan Smith. The cast and musicians of the production have performed at nearly every theatre venue in the Austin area, as well as major cities across the United States and national touring companies.

Broadway at Bachus benefits the Bachus Center, a new non-profit organization that funds programs and scholarships to bring the arts to Central Texans who have limited or no access to instruments, lessons, and performance opportunities. Event organizers say the Bachus Center programs have become even more vital to the education of Austin's youth as many fine arts programs are being scaled back or even eliminated in the public schools.

Seating is limited, and the program contains some material that may not be appropriate for children.

Click to view full poster at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Upcoming: The New Originals fundraiser, A Chick and a Dude Productions at Hyde Park Theatre, March 26

Received directly:

announces the encore performance of

The New Originals

& More Funny Goodness

this Saturday, March 26!

That's right folks! We're bringing back The New Originals (FronteraFest 2011 'Best of Week'!) for one night only as part of our "A Chick & A Dude & Some Laughs" benefit! Grab your tickets for all the festivities for only 10 bucks today!

Join us for a night of outrageous comedy, featuring the lyrical stylings of hip-hop improv crew The Space Rhyme Continuum as well as Austin favorites Your Dad's Friends improv troupe, featuring the newly shorn Weldon Phillips! Capping off the evening will be a one-night-only encore performance of The New Originals, the campy dark comedy using only film quotes!

"A Chick & a Dude & Some Laughs" starts at 8 p.m. on March 26 (this Saturday) at Hyde Park Theatre (511 W. 43rd Street). $10 gets you in the door for all three performances! Food will be provided, and libations will be available. We'll also be giving away tickets to our upcoming production, "Paradise Key," and some of our snazzy new t-shirts!

It's going to be a night to remember! Click here to make a reservation, call 512.921.4264, or just show up at the door. We'll squeeze you in!

We'll be seeing you!

Upcoming: Before This Was Texas, Generic Ensemble Company at Cohen New Works Festival, March 28

Received directly:

presents

Before This Was Texas

an in-progress showing
with kt shorb, Saray de Jesus Rosales, Krysta Gonzales, and Carole Metellus
With poetry by Kimberly Alidio
Monday, 2/28 at 8:15; Kayim Atrium (Trinity Street entrance to the Visual Arts Center in the Art Building on University of Texas at Austin campus)


Part of the Engaging Research component of The Cohen New Works Festival presented by the University Co-op.