We Were Nothing by Will Arbery, Poison Apple Initiative, December 11 - 21, 2013

by Michael Meigs

You may want to budget some extra time for locating the venue if you don't already know Monstrosity Studio or have an informative friend involved in the Poison Apple Initiative production of We Were Nothing by Will Arbery.

I wound up driving through a series of parking lots surrounding rental barracks south of Oltorf, then got warmer when I crossed west across South First. It's been dark for quite a while by 7 p.m. and other than the street signs at intersections, you're not going to find many helpful postings of house numbers. I got lucky. Artistic Director Bastion Carboni was standing out on the sidewalk talking on the phone.

Turns out that the studio is in a two-story structure behind the modest bungalow at 2514 Wilson Street. Once upstairs, I slipped into a spot on the stretch of floor in front of the assortment of chairs clumped on one side of the bare studio with the high ceilings. A wall of brown wrapping paper had been improvised across one corner of the room, table lamps were set directly on the floor to our left and right, and high overhead some floodlights hung from rails duct-taped to the ceiling.

The apparent anonymity of the venue contrasted with the evident ease of the crowd of friends sipping St. Arnold's beer. Carboni has an extensive circle of acquaintances in Austin's respectable underworld of creatives, engaged over the past three years as he and others of the Initiative have presented challenges ranging from Sartre to Büchner's Woyzek to Neil LaBute to Carboni (several times). For a couple of years his acerbic theatre reviews livened up the Austin Chronicle, but he gave that up to spend more time on his own writing.

Arbery's piece for two young women is, in fact, about anonymity and friendship -- or to be more precise, anomie in friendship. Kelly and Shelly don't resemble one another physically, but they're as millenially alike as two peas in a pod. The actresses Kayla Newman and Tarah Zolman -- ironically, even their real names resemble one another -- appear on either side of that bare space when the lights come up. Their speech is off-handed, incomplete, distracted, a shorthand of social communication that inquires, reassures, offers random observations -- but doesn't really go anywhere. We realize quickly that in the story they're not sharing the physical space at all: they've been besties since high school but they've drifted farther and farther apart.

Click to read more at Central Texas Live Theatre. . . . 

Auditions for Two New Plays, Poison Apple Initiative, October 14 - 16, 2013

 

POISON APPLE INITIATIVE is holding auditions for two new plays by two emerging theatre artists. For more information or to schedule an-audition, email poisonappleinitiative@gmail.com with your headshot and resume, and indicate which play you would like to audition for (you may audition for both). Auditions and callbacks will be held on October 14^th-16^th from 6:30-9PM at the Dougherty Arts Center (click for map ). Sides will be provided.

Our 2014 season begins with:


WE WERE NOTHING! by Will Arbery, directed by Bastion Carboni, December 2013

A play about how absence makes the heart grow inarticulate. Rehearsals begin in November with performances on Wednesday-Saturday December 4^th-14^th. We’re looking for 2 women between the ages of 18 and 25.

&

PEOPLE WILL TALK ABOUT YOU SOMETIMES by Sarah Matusek, directed by Lindsey Sikes, January – February 2014

Inspired by Sarah Kane’s 4.48 Psychosis, PEOPLE WILL TALK ABOUT YOU SOMETIMES tracks a supportive network of otherwise strangers who respond to a mutual friend’s suicide attempt. PEOPLE WILL TALK will premiere at Salvage Vanguard Theatre as part of FronteraFest Long Fringe in January 2014. The play will be extended 1-2 weeks beyond the initial run in an alternative space. Cast must be available through mid February.

In addition to staging rehearsals in January, the cast will be asked to aid in the development process of this new play during November and December for approximately 1 reh/week (no holiday rehearsals). Actors interested in devised work strongly (SO STRONGLY) encouraged to audition!

IZZY – recently hospitalized for a suicide attempt; 18-20s

AUDRE – Izzy’s professor; anxious about her maternal instincts towards her student, compensates with baking and letter writing campaigns; 30s

EZRA/ELIZA – Izzy’s coworker; insecurity fueled adoration bordering on jealousy for his/her coworker; 20s (this role can be male or female)

KILLIAN – Izzy’s brother; emotionally unstable to the point of maniacal at times; deeply effected and in much deeper denial; 18-20s

NICK – Izzy’s boyfriend; deeply in love with Izzy, or the idea of her, and struggles with his identity apart from her; 20s

MAEV – Izzy’s nurse in the psych ward; an observer; any age

Leaving It All on Stage: A Profile of Bastion Carboni by Jonathan Coker, L Style G Style magazine

Leaving It All On Stage

By Jonathan Coker 

Bastion Carboni (photo: L Style G Style)

I had seen Bastion Carboni around town quite often, but we’d never actually officially met. That being said, Carboni and I have mutual friends, so I wasn’t too nervous about asking to interview him for our newest RISING profile.

Carboni is a playwright, director, and Artistic Director of local theatre collective, Poison Apple Initiative. Admittedly, I had never seen one of Carboni’s plays, I had only heard sparkling reviews from reliable sources. Thus, I came into this conversation as neither admirer nor critic, but rather an interviewer intrigued by the hype surrounding a young, gay artist in Austin.

At ten years old, Carboni discovered his love for the stage while performing in “Hansel &Gretel” with the Dallas Opera’s Children’s Chorus.

“Once the giant gingerbread cutouts slide away from us and I saw 2,000 people in the audience, I knew that this was the only thing I wanted to do,” Carboni said.

After acting for an extended period of time, Carboni started writing plays, not only to bring to life the stories in his mind, but also to make himself more of a marketable artist.

Carboni was so in love with the romance of the stage that he didn’t care in what capacity he was involved with theatre; it’s the artforms that he’s madly in love with. He just turned 29 and already Carboni has directed several successful plays including “An Obviously Foggot” and “Holier Than Thou,” and started a theatre company, Poison Apple Initiative.

At the moment, Carboni is trying to get “Holier Than Thou” published; he wants to be published by the time he’s 30.

Read more at L Style G Style magazine on-line. . . .

Videos for Upcoming: Holier Than Thou by Bastion Carboni, Poison Apple Initiative at the Off Center, June 20 - July 6, 2013

Video answers recorded by Bethany Perkins for

Five Short Answers

for One Big Question:

What Would You Do

with the Powers of Jesus?

Answer Number 1:

CJ3P0 from Bethany Perkins on Vimeo.

Click 'Read more' for additional answers . . . .

AN OBVIOUSLY FOGGOT by Bastion Carboni, Poison Apple Initiative at Castro's Warehouse, May 23 - June 2, 2013

Dan Solomon's review of the permiere for the Austin Chronicle, April 1, 2013

[performing at Castro's Warehouse, 213 W. 4th Street -- click for map]

presents

AN OBVIOUSLY FOGGOT 



a new play by written/ directed by Bastion Carboni 

Poison Apple Initiative is making a loud play in a gay bar. Again.

We did this before; see Dan Solomon's review:
http://www.austinchronicle.com/arts/2013-04-12/an-obviously-foggot/

We're stoked to present a 2-weekend encore run of AN OBVIOUSLY FOGGOT, a train wreck of found/ original text, mashed-up pop songs, and dance parties that asks, "When and how exactly does It Get Better?"

What happens when a haven is... a little less than safe?

DETAILS:
Where: Castro's Warehouse (213 W. 4th St.) (click for map)
May 23-26 and May 30-June 2 (Thurs-Sun)
How much: $10

Featuring Avalisa Gallo, Zac Car, Nick Fuentes, Caleb Perkins, Estevan Labrado, and Brennan Gallagher.
Tickets available on-line via







 

“So you've got this group of guys, right, who've been emasculated basically their entire adolescence, didn't get a lot of dating mistakes out of the way, and never lost their attraction to masculinity. And you put them in this place with all this booze and drugs and make it so loud they can barely hear each other. What the fuck do you think is gonna happen?"
Poison Apple Initiative closes its 3rd season with a remount production of Bastion Carboni’s new play An Obviously Foggot, a non-linear mash-up of original text, reconstituted pop songs, and dance parties addressing internalized homophobia and transphobia in the gay bar climate.
Poison Apple Initiative makes newer and original plays (mostly) about important things (mostly). We do them in theatres, bars, or some guy's house and believe in the basic idea that theatre is for conversation, inspiration, and change. Rebellions should be staged.

(Click to go to the AustinLiveTheatre front page)

HOLIER THAN THOU by Bastion Carboni, Poison Apple Initiative, June 20 - July 6, 2013

[performing at The Off-Center, 2211-A Hidalgo Street, near E. 7th Street and Robert Martinez (behind Joe's Bakery) -- click for map]

presents

Click to view five short videos prepared for the premiere production in January-February, 2012

(Click to go to the AustinLiveTheatre front page)

An Obviously Foggot by Basion Carboni, Poison Apple Initiative at The Basement, April 4-6 and 9-11, 2013

[performing at The Basement, 422 Congress Ave.,entrance on 5th St. -- click for map]

presents

(Click to go to the AustinLiveTheatre front page)

Auditions for 'An Obviously Foggot' by Bastion Carboni, Poison Apple Initiative, February 20 and 21, 2013

Poison Apple Initiative is about to make a loud play in a bar. You should absolutely audition for it. We're proud to present the workshop premier of AN OBVIOUSLY FOGGOT by Bastion Carboni to be presented April 4-6 and 11-13 at The Basement.



The play: a mash-up of original/ found text, smashed-together pop songs, and movement pieces about the internalization of homo- and transphobia in the gay bar climate. Will be fun. We're looking for 5 MEN (early 20's- mid-30's) and 1 TRANSWOMAN (early 20's-mid-30's)


Auditions are by appointment Feb 20th (6.30-9.30) and February 21st (6.30-7.30) and will consist of cold readings from the script. Please prepare a few bars of a pop/ rock song to be sung a cappella. We want to hear you sing like you do in the shower/ car.

Callbacks will be held on Feb 21st at 7.30 and will consist of simple choreography and cold readings. Rehearsals begin in early March. Actors will be offered a stipend.

To reserve a slot/ check out the script, shoot a line to poisonappleinitiative@gmail.com with resume/ headshot.

Best, PAI

Bastion Carboni: Profile and Interview by Dan Solomon for the Austin Chronicle, July 12

Bastion Carboni (photo: John Anderson)

Bastion Standard Time

Austin theatre's 'enfant terrible' swapped his poison pen for a Poison Apple, but he still gets people talking

Dan Solomon, Fri., July 13, 2012

Playwright, actor, director, and onetime theatre critic Bastion Carboni has a weird sense of humor. He'll start a sentence by laughing loudly at something he just thought of and say the joke that just occurred to him out loud. It doesn't always get the same reaction from others.

This time, we're at Home Slice Pizza, and Carboni has just come up with an idea that he's thrilled with for a photo to accompany this Chronicle profile. "It should be a photo of me with an apple shoved into my mouth, like a suckling pig, in skin-tight jeans, with the words 'c'est ne pas un enfant terrible,'" he declares, a reference to a number of things: René Magritte's famous painting, The Treachery of Images, of course, but also the name of the theatre company that he started last year, Poison Apple Initiative, as well as a blog post by local author Spike Gillespie, in which she castigated Carboni as an "enfant terrible" for his decidedly no-holds-barred approach to theatre criticism. 

Carboni served in that role for the arts and culture website Austinist for a little over a year, finally leaving last February to pursue his endeavors with Poison Apple Initiative full time, and, one can safely conclude, because he was tired of how angry people got with him for saying the things that he said about Austin theatre.

Read more at the Austin Chronicle. . . .

Videos for Upcoming: Holier Than Thou, Poison Apple Initiative for FronteraFest, Salvage Vanguard Theatre, January 26 - February 4

Received directly from

Five Short Answers

for one big question:

(For a FULL set of answers, see Holier Than Thou by Bastion Carboni, Poison Apple Initiative at FronteraFest, Salvage Vanguard Theatre, 1/26, 1/28, 1/31, 2/04)

Answer Number 1:

Dominic the Bominic from Bethany Perkins on Vimeo.

Click for additional answers at AustinLiveTheatre.com. . . .

Upcoming: Holier Than Thou by Bastion Carboni, FronteraFest at Salvage Vanguard Theatre, January 26 - February 4

Found on-line:

presents

Holier Than Thou

by Bastion Carboni (60 minutes)

directed by Bethany Perkins

with Joshua Baker, Melanie Conrad, Bethany Perkins, Kacy Todd and Bastion Carboni.

Jan 26th, 31st at 9:00pm; Jan 28th at 5:30pm; Feb 4th at 8:15pm

at the Salvage Vanguard Theatre, 2803 Manor Rd (click for map)

$10 -- Click here to purchase tickets for Holier Than Thou

Comprised of candid interviews taken after the expiration of a non-disclosure agreement, Holier Than Thou centers around a reality TV show wherein the contestants compete to possess the powers of Jesus for a week. A dark comedy about what we want and why we need it.

Housebreaking by Jakob Holder, Poison Apple Initiative, at a private venue, December 1 - 17

A MILESTONE for ALT:

With this post AustinLiveTheatre.com has published 2500 articles about Austin theatre since June, 2008!

by Hannah Bisewski and Michael Meigs

What does a theatre space feel like? How is it supposed to make us feel? Those of us in the small crowd gathered for the opening of the premiere run of Jakob Holder’s Housebreaking were asking ourselves those questions in some form or other. People from the Poison Apple Initiative funneled us into a cramped living room nook in a discreet East Austin housing venue. We found ourselves in the kitchen of a fairly average but rundown home. But that’s a part of the story, too.

The play opens with a painfully long blackout, finally interrupted by the entrance of two men through an oddly placed kitchen door. One of them, Chad, has brought home with him a homeless man – Carmine -- he met outside a bar. Chad treats him with an erratic combination of pity and disgust. With dark, voyeuristic curiosity about the hobo’s lifestyle, he drills the baffled Carmine with questions, only to express repulsion at his responses. Carmine once had a home but has lived on the streets since it burnt to the ground. The exchanges reveal more and more deficiencies in life of each man.

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

Upcoming: Housebreaking by Jakob Holder, Poison Apple Initiative, at venue to be announced, December 1 - 17

Found on-line:

presents

Housebreaking

by Jakob Holder

directed by Bastion Carboni

December 1 - 17, Thursdays - Saturdays at 8 p.m.

Central location in Austin, accessible by public transportation, to be revealed to patrons with confirmation of reservation

Tickets $12 - 20; Thursdays, pay what you can
Purchase on-line via

“Everyone seems nice in a kitchen on a quiet night.”

Chad has stumbled home from the bar with a new friend, Carmine. Chad is obviously worn out from a night of drinking. Carmine is obviously homeless. Chad is about to take a chance that will permanently, drastically alter his life and Carmine's. And his tattered younger sister, Magda, and unmoored, sports-obsessed father? Collateral damage.

Poison Apple Initiative is thrilled to kick off its third season with the world premiere of New York playwright Jakob Holder's striking powder keg of a play Housebreaking, a tightly-wound drama that exemplifies the adage“You don't know what you've got 'til it's gone.” Presented in a showcase in New York as part of the Cherry Lane Mentor Project, Housebreaking was refined under the guidance of Charles Mee (Big Love).

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

Marvelous Things by Lindsey Greer Sikes, October 6 - 23

While watching Lindsey Greer Sikes' Marvelous Things at the Blue Theatre last week, I was struck by the feeling that rather than see this gentle fantasy, I'd really prefer to be in it. That's not unusual for those who haunt the dusty glitter of Austin stages; we've had a connection to theatre art at some time in the past so immediate and powerful that we've become performance junkies.

Rachel Wiese in the principal role of "Girl" and the rest of the cast had the delicate, concentrated gazes of make believe. Characters are unnamed and emblematic; the story is an abstraction into a coloring-book version of childhood's surrender to adolescence. The Girl has an abashed aspiring beau (Nathan Brockett) who accepts the limits she desires, physical and fantastical; she has a confidante, the "Other Girl" (Sara Harless), who's brash, gutsy and sensual; and there's the "Other Boy" (Stephen Mercantel), hormone-driven but well meaning, even so. The Old Folks her parents are cranky and broken down by life.

And then there are the Girl's imaginary friends. They perch in the upper reaches of the theatre on either wide of the playing area, back by the cellists who thrum, bow and accent the simple growing-up stories acted out at center. During the first act you might initially mistake the six 'mechanicals' for spectators particularly captivated by the action, but then they insinuate themselves with comments, contained gestures, grimaces and vocalized melodies. In the second half they emerge to surround the Girl, to assert their identities as Harvey, Faye Bell, Pinky, Betty, Adelaide and Goodie. They're pure Id, moving, quarreling amongst themselves and badgering the Girl as if they were five-year-olds.

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

Upcoming: Marvelous Things by Lindsey Greer Sikes and Paul Marbach, Blue Theatre, October 6 - 23

Received directly:

Lindsey Greer Sikes presents a new story for the stage:

script by Lindsey Greer Sikes, original music by Paul Marbech

directed by Lindsey Greer Sikes October 6 – 23, Thursdays - Saturdays at 7 p.m., Sundays at 5 p.m.

at the Blue Theater, 916 Springdale (click for map)

Tickets $12-$20, reservations via marveloustickets@gmail.com

Click to view FaceBook Event Page

In a theatre, who's to say what's real and what's imagined?

Coming this October to the Blue Theater is a new work by Austin Playwright and Director Lindsey Greer Sikes. Inspired by native-Texas indie-rock band Eisley’s “Room Noises”, Marvelous Things is a theatrical event which aims to challenge the traditional form of the play as well as the role of the audience, who are not only spectators but participants in the creation of a false reality—or as we more commonly call it, the theater.

We invite you to meet Winnie: a young woman full of life and always in awe of it. But as her wedding day approaches she becomes unable to distinguish the world in which she is living from the marvelous things she imagines. And as the consequences of lives around her quickly unravel, so the creatures of her mind come alive from within the world of the audience and take to the stage. Presumably, Winnie remains safe in the delusions of her imagination, until a spine-tingling series of final events forces her to confront delusion, reality and ultimately: theatrical reality.

Marvelous Things will be presented at the BLUE Theater on Thursday/Saturday at 7 PM and Sundays at 5 PM from October 6^th – 23^rd. Tickets can be reserved by emailing marveloustickets@gmail.com and purchased at the door on a sliding scale from $12-$20. For a truly Austin experience, be sure to arrive early and grab some dinner with our hot-off-the-grill BBQ, fresh pie, and featured specialty drinks including a spiked Southern Iced Tea! Cash only.

Written and Directed by Lindsey Greer Sikes. Orginal Music Composed by Paul Marbach. Featuring Rachel Weise, Nathan Brockett, Sara Harless, Stephen Mercantel, Emily Kennedy, Brett Hamman, Bastion Carboni, Heather Diamond, Jonathon Itchon, Vanessa Marie, Solveij Praxis and Georgia Young.

Upcoming: Woyzeck by Georg Buchner, Poison Apple Initiative, June 1 - 18

Received directly:

presents

Woyzeck

by Georg Büchner

directed by Bethany Perkins

June 01, 2011 - June18

Space 12, 3121 E. 12^th St.

Buy tickets on-line at Brown Paper Tickets ($15 + $1.62 service fee)

“Every man is a bottomless pit; you get dizzy when you look down.”

Woyzeck is the story of a military barber’s struggle to support his common-law wife and child. He is ridiculed by society and subjected to inhuman experiment s by a doctor. After a year of eating only peas he begins to hallucinate and, when Marie begins to turn her attentions elsewhere, their disconnection ends in violence. Incorporating found and original text, vivid visual tableaus, and live music by Reverend Glasseye, the piece will be performed in the intimate Space 12, a multi-use performance space in East Austin.

Directed by Bethany Perkins. Original music by Reverend Glasseye. Original text by Bastion Carboni, Sarah Saltwick, and the cast. Featuring Paul Szent-Miklosy, Karen Alvarado, Bastion Carboni, Melody Herron, John Cooley, Sergio Alvarado, Kara Juarez, Jordan Cooper, and Joshua Baker. Designed by Taylor Finley (scenic) and Jen Brown (costume).

Poison Apple Initiative is pleased to close its third season with its re-reinvention of Buchner’s surreal class drama. We are an independently-run local theatre company dedicated to the production of sharp, dark tragicomedies by local and national artists. Through our participation in the FronteraFest Long Fringe, Mi Casa Es Su Teatro, and the ArtSpark Festival, we’ve garnered a reputation for giving audiences “a razor-edged experience, one with a vibration and intensity that no video or cinema is going to provide” (Austinlivetheatre.com). Next fall we will embark on our fourth season featuring the regional premier of Jakob Holder’s post-Shepardian fever-dream Housebreaking, Bastion Carboni’s reality TV satire Holier Than Thou, and new supplementary programming including the Playwriting Slam and NeWorks Reading Series.

Upcoming: Woyzek, Poison Apple Initiative, June 1 -18 (plus a funding appeal)

Received directly, an appeal to help fund Poison Apple Initiative's Woyzek via www.kickstarter.com:

About This Project: Following our successful fundraiser for our production of Crumble (Lay Me Down, Justin Timberlake), Poison Apple Initiative is drumming up support for a new production of Georg Büchner's working class tragedy Woyzeck. This fundraiser will allow us to pay our cast, production team, band and crew for a project that has been six months in development. Our minimum goal is $1,000, but any funds raised beyond that will allow us to pay our amazing team even closer to what they deserve (which is at least $1000 a piece). Please visit www.kickstarter.com to learn more and to donate what you can.

Woyzeck is the tragic tale of a military barber's struggle to make ends meet and support his common-law wife and baby. He is ridiculed by society and subjected to inhumane experiments by a doctor. After a year of eating only peas, he begins to hallucinate, Marie turns her attentions elsewhere, and their disconnection ends in violence.

Incorporating found text, vivid visual tableaus, and live music by Adam Glasseye Beckley and his band, Reverend Glasseye, this new production of Woyzeck will be performed in the intimate Space 12, a multi-use performance and cafe space in East Austin. Directed by Bethany Perkins and featuring Paul Szent-Miklosy, Karen Alvarado, John Cooley, Kara Juarez-Jones, Sergio Alvarado, Melody Herron, Bastion Carboni and Jordan Cooper.

Keep an eye out for video interviews and clips of the rehearsal process, and please join us for the performances (Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday nights, the first three weeks of June 2011) even if you are unable to donate to this campaign.

The Story Seekers by Katherine Craft, Exchange Artists at the Elizabeth Ney Museum, March 25 - April 10

The Elizabeth Ney museum on E. 44th Street in Hyde Park is already haunted. A crowd of stark white plaster figures and busts stand in the shabby shaddows of the odd small Austin-stone castle that was Ney's final residence in studio from 1902 to 1907. Among them is a bust of German writer and philologist Jacob Grimm that she sculpted of the old man in Berlin in the 1850's.

Grimm would have approved of Kattherine Craft's Story Seekers. He and his brother Wilhelm were Germany's most famous folklorists, seeking out and transcribing the vivid and often nightmarish imaginings of simple folk in the forests and farms. Tales those folks told to their children and to one another weren't the Disneyfied lore of Cinderella or sweet Hansel and Gretel. The stories spoke of abuse, menace, dark woods, shape changers and really really wicked stepmothers. An essential message was that the world was full of dangers, so children had really better watch out.

Director Rachel Wiese from the Exchange Artists has assembled some of Austin's most attractive and dedicated young adult theatre artists for this piece. With a pass of her director's magic wand and a consensus of the cast, she has transformed them into children, aged probably from eight to twelve.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Upcoming: The Story Seekers, Exchange Artists at the Elizabeth Ney Museum, March 25 - April 10

Found on-line:

present

[image: Kelly Bland, by Kimberley Mead]

The Story Seekers

by Katherine Craft

March 25 - April 10

Thursdays - Sundays at 7 p.m.

A new play on the grounds of The Elisabet Ney Museum

304 E. 44th Street, Hyde Park neighborhood, Austin

Tickets are a suggested $15 donation and can be reserved by emailing exchangeartists@gmail.com or calling (979) 255-8292.

A band of children live as prisoners in an alternate world, never changing as long as the storyteller who trapped them holds the endings to their stories in her book. Some of these characters are familiar – Lupe, who escapes La Lorona; Abini, the Yoruban miracle child; and Hans, who followed the Pied Piper out of Hamlin – but there are other children caught in the forest as well. Only when a young princess, Bet, flees her comfortable castle after catching a glimpse of the future through a magic window and finds herself trapped in the storyteller’s world do the children find hope of escape. Hope in the form of a gardener’s son: Bet’s best friend Gil.

THE STORY SEEKERS, a new play by Katherine Craft, developed in collaboration with Exchange Artists actors, transforms the grounds of Hyde Park’s landmark castle into the setting of a fantastical drama. The performance is participatory in nature with actors leading the audience throughout the grounds as the stories and the mysteries of the space unfold.

THE STORY SEEKERS cast includes Karen Alvarado, Isaac Arrieta, Kelli Bland, Jen Brown, Bastion Carboni, Bridget Farr, Emily Kennedy, Sidharth Khanejar, Steffanie Ngo-Hatchie, Mindy Rast, Michael Slefinger, Karina Dominguez Smith, and Frederic Winkler. Set and lighting design is by Spencer Pharr, Costume design by Katherine Craft, with Props and Crafts by Katie Richter. Choreography and direction by Rachel Wiese.

In the event of any rain cancellations, makeup performances will be held April 15, 16, and 17. Please bring a flashlight and wear shoes for walking on the museum grounds.

Reviews from Elsewhere: Austinist writers on' The Incredible Shrinking Man' and 'Waiting for the Big O,' FronteraFest LF 2011

Found at Austinist.com:

Dan Solomon on The Incredible Shrinking Man, Tongue and Groove Theatre:

Tongue And Groove Theater proved itself, with The Red Balloon, to be one of Austin's more interesting theatrical stylists. Omnivorous in its approach, the company seemed determined to just create a brilliant, beautiful live experience, unconcerned with being Theater-with-capital-letters and instead mostly interested in giving audiences what they want, not what they expect.

That's a tradition it's more than carrying on with The Incredible Shrinking Man, the work-in-progress performance of which may have been the highlight of the FronteraFest Long Fringe. It's a silent piece, with three actors whom we neither hear nor see, except silhouetted behind a projector screen, and all of the backgrounds come in the form of projected animation. [. . .]

Click to real full text (270 words) at Austinist.com

Bastion Carboni on Waiting for the BIg O by Daniel Huntley Solon:

Political drama is a minefield. The compulsion to discuss hot-button issues seems, more often than not, to beget messy and overwrought or overtly agenda-laden work and halt open conversation, rather than inspire it. Not that it can't and hasn't been done really well; it's just that the bar is high.

Waiting for the Big O chooses a different tactic, purportedly choosing museum-piece observations of the political climate in November 2008 rather than dissection of the deeper connotations of those events. [. . . ]

Click to read full text (232 words) at Austinist.com