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: August: Osage County by Tracy Letts, Sheldon Vexler Theatre, San Antonio, August 23 - September 16

presents

(image: Vexler Theatre)

August: Osage County

by Tracy Letts

Directed by Paul Fillingim

August 23 - September 16

Sheldon Vexler Theatre, Barshop Jewish Community Center, 12500 NW Military Highway, San Antonio (click for map)

Thursdays at 7:30 p.m., Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 2:30 p.m.

 *There will be one evening performance at 7:30 p.m. on Sunday, September 9th. Please note - there will NOT be a matinee that day.

Tickets: *$20 - General Admission; *$18 - Seniors/Military/JCC Members; *$14 - Students/SATCO

Season Passes, which are $60, are on sale through September 16th. Call to make reservations today! 210-302-6835

For more info, visit our website at www.vexler.org

“quotably funny” and “the most exciting new American play Broadway has seen in years” - New York Times

The most acclaimed play of the last ten years finally makes its San Antonio debut! A vanished father. A scathingly acidic, pill-popping mother. Three sisters harboring shady little secrets. An unexpected family reunion at their Oklahoman homestead explodes in a maelstrom of repressed truths and unsettling secrets. This unflinching and uproarious play exposes both the comic and tragic side of the American family.

Click to view cast list at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

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 . . . .

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 . . . .