Capital T's Annual 'New Directions' Opportunity for a First-Time Professional Director, Application Deadline August 31, 2013

2014

Call for Promising Young Directors
 
When is the deadline?
August 31st 2013 at 11:59pm.

What is New Directions?
The New Directions program offers a young director with no professional credit the opportunity to direct a full-length play and bring a fresh new voice to Austin theatre while getting paid. The show will be fully produced by Capital T Theatre, and the director will have the opportunity to develop a piece of theatre that both reflects and contributes to the diversity of the Austin/Central Texas arts scene. As part of the New Directions program, Capital T is currently searching for a promising young director for the company's contribution to the Long Fringe of FronteraFest. The Austin American Statesman calls this festival the fringe theater event of the Southwest.

All applicants need to be available in the Austin area during the rehearsal and performance processes (early December through early February). The company currently has several exciting scripts under consideration for FronteraFest, but welcomes suggestions from applicants as well.

Plays must meet the following criteria:

• newer, edgy, and engaging full-length scripts (90 minutes or less);
• up to approximately 3-4 characters;
• minimal technical requirements;
• ability to be produced in six weeks or less.

Who can apply?
 
Anyone under 35 years of age who does not have a professional directing credit on their resume may apply. We consider any paid directing job a professional credit.
 
What do I need to do to apply?
 
To be considered for New Directions an applicant must submit a full theatrical resume and cover letter. The resume should include all theatrical credits. The cover letter should address why you are interested in being the next New Directions Director. It should also answer the question:"How can the New Directions program help you reach your next goal?". Forward the resume and cover letter to info@capitalT.org
 
What happens next?
 
After the deadline has passed, the resumes and letters of interest will be read by a committee who will then select up to 10 finalists to invite to formal interviews. At these interviews each candidate will be given the opportunity to share a visual portfolio as well as discuss plays that are being considered for production. After this first round of interviews 3 finalist are selected for final interviews. Final interviews will be conducted with the artistic director, past new directions directors, and company members.
 
Who are the past New Directions directors?

Most recently, Kelsey Kling directed the Austin premiere of GRUESOME PLAYGROUND INJURIES. This was Kelsey's first collaboration with Cap T. It was a critical and box office hit. The Austin Chronicle boasted “Kelsey Kling makes a distinguished directorial debut with Rajiv Joseph’s gem of a love story”.

In 2012 Scott Tipton was selected to have the honor of directing the United States premiere of Ella Hickson's PRECIOUS LITTLE TALENT. Scott said of the experience, "It is a great honor to be ‘entrusted’ with the responsibility of being one of the first individuals who introduces the playwrights story." This was the first time he had worked with Cap T. After directing PLT he has since relocated to the Houston area and continues to direct theatre.

In 2011 Gary Jaffe directed the smash hit SPIRITS TO ENFORCE by Mickle Maher. Not only gaining rare unanimous praise fromcritics and audiences alike, it was nominated and won the 2011 Austin Critics' Table Award for Best Drama. This was Gary's first time to work with Capital T. Gary was recently named Artistic Director for Tutto Theatre Company here in Austin.

In 2010 Derek Kolluri directed the critically acclaimed DYING CITY for Capital T. The show, which was the most well received of fronterafest longfringe, was given extended performances outside of the festival. Since directing for Capital T Derek has gone on to found The Sustainable Theatre Project. A new theatre company in Austin, STP plans to offer fresh, professional theatre to the Austin theatre community while maintaining the highest possible respect for the environment.

In 2009 Kelli Bland was selected as for our New Directions program to direct the US premiere of THE BIRD and THE BEE by Al Smith and Matt Hartley. This was her first time to work with Capital T. The plays THE BIRD and THE BEE were nominated for Outstanding production of a Drama by the Austin Critics Table Awards. The plays were also the highest attended theatrical event of FronteraFest 2009. Since directing for Capital T she went on to direct and produce the world premiere of the independent musical FASTER THAN THE SPEED OF LIGHT at Salvage Vanguard Theatre and now collaborates with PAPER CHAIRS.

In 2008 John Carroll was selected for the New Directions program. It was his first time to work with Capital T. He directed the regional premiere of I GOOGLE MYSELF by Jason Shafer. The play earned great critical success in it fronterafest run and was subsequently remounted at Hyde Park Theatre in the summer of 2008 becoming the highest earning production of Capital T's at the time. John has gone on to found the Weird City Theatre Company, a company that produces re-envisioned classics and original works while merging a new audience with the traditional.

FAT PIG by Neil LaBute, Theatre en Bloc, October 3 - 20, 2013

is proud to present

A Really Heavy Comedy
by Neil LaBute

directed by Derek Kolluri
October 3-20, 2013
Thursdays - Sundays @ 8 PM
at The Off-Center, 2211-A Hidalgo Street, near E. 7th Street and Robert Martinez (behind Joe's Bakery) - click for map

Neil LaBute's razor-sharp and poignant comedy FAT PIG takes a comical and politically incorrect look at our obsession with appearance. When Tom falls in love with plus-sized Helen he is ecstatic, yet there's no way he can tell his fat-phobic colleagues about their romance.
“Emotionally engaging and unsettling” -New York Times
Winner of the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Off-Broadway Play

CAST: Zena Marie Vaughn, Ryan Hamilton, Charles P. Stites. Jenny Lavery

DESIGN TEAM: Blake Addyson, Jenny Hanna-Chambers, Patrick & Holly Crowley

“LaBute balances black humor and social commentary in a beautifully written, hilarious dissection of how societal pressures affect relationships.” -Wall Street Journal

This project is supported and funded in part by the City of Austin through the Economic Growth and Redevelopment Services Office/Cultural Arts Division, believing an investment in the Arts is an investment in Austin’s future.

(Click to go to the AustinLiveTheatre front page)

Fundraiser: The Pillowman by Martin McDonaugh, 7 Towers Theatre Company at the Dougherty Arts Center, July 12 - 28, 2013

Christina Gutierrez and Aaron Black ask for contributions through
 





to assist in raising $1500 for the

production of  
The Pillowman  
by Martin McDonaugh

featuring Travis Bedard
July 12 - 28, 2013
at the Dougherty Arts Center
1110 Barton Springs Rd. - click for map

The 7 Towers Theatre Company continues its second season with Martin McDonagh’s The Pillowman, the story of a writer who is suspected of a series of murders that seem to be based on his dark fairy tales. As the play unfolds, the writer tells a number of his stories as he is interrogated by two increasingly brutal and violent police officers. The Pillowman, set in an unidentified totalitarian police state, asks difficult questions about freedom of speech and expression, about the use of torture and force in police interrogations, and, perhaps most importantly, about the power of storytelling. 


Despite its violence, the play is darkly beautiful, ultimately arguing for the redemptive nature of the human spirit. We are beyond thrilled to partner with Austin-based visual artist Katie Rose Pipkin to bring the writer’s stories to life on stage. Katie Rose has created stunning characters and landscapes which transform the interrogation room in which the play takes place into a canvas for the writer’s imagination. 7 Towers’ collaboration with Katie Rose marks a new investment in visual storytelling and spectacle for the theatre company, and an opportunity to work within the vibrant visual arts community in Austin. 

Click here to go to the IndieGoGo page for further information and to contribute.


Your donations go directly toward paying for our space and paying our stunningly talented team. The Pillowman marks a shift from 7 Towers' previous focus on found and site-specific spaces, and we need your help to offset the cost of space rental. In addition, we've assembled a team of professional actors and designers whom we'd like to compensate for their commitment, artistry, and passion. 

That team includes Katy Billik (producer, costume design) of Chick and a Dude Productions, Derek Kollouri (set design) of Theatre en Bloc, Amy Lewis (lighting design) of The Loaded Gun Theory, and Amanda Gass (stage management) of Cambiare Productions, as well as well-known Austin actors Aaron Black, Travis Bedard, David J. Boss, and Stephen Price.

Video by Andy Graham of Creative Fund preview of Austin Is A Place, Theatre en Bloc, April 18 - May 12, 2013

video by Andy Graham at the preview for the

by

of

AUSTIN IS A PLACE (YOU ARE HERE)

directed by Derek Kolluri, Jenny Lavery, Tyler King and Jessica Hughes and featuring a seven person cast with original music by Blake Addyson

April 18 - May 12, 2013, Thursday through Sunday, at 8 p.m.

at Mexitas and Lucky Lady Bingo located at 1107 N IH35, between 11th & 12 Street (click for map)

Click to purchase tickets on-line at buyplaytix

Press:

Feature by Dan Solomon in the Austin Chronicle, April 18

Feature by Jeanne Claire van Ryzin for the Statesman's www.Austin360.com Seeing Things blog, April 18

AUSTIN IS A PLACE (YOU ARE HERE), Theatre en Bloc, April, 2013

THEATRE EN BLOC ANNOUNCES NEW PLAY ABOUT AUSTIN TITLED

“AUSTIN IS A PLACE (YOU ARE HERE)”

Following September’s successful premiere production of Dennis Bailey’s JUST OUTSIDE REDEMPTION, Theatre en Bloc is thrilled to announce their new piece currently in development titled AUSTIN IS A PLACE (YOU ARE HERE). It is slated to open this coming April and tour to a variety of locations throughout the capitol city bringing a story of Austin to Austin’s people. 

 The piece, a sponsored project of the Austin Arts Council, will be developed over a six month long process where cast members rehearse in a workshop style environment while also interviewing hundreds of Austin residents to gather their stories about the city. This search is intended to uncover the diverse perspectives and truths of the people who are affecting/ being affected by the city’s expansion. This collected material will be used as the inspiration to generate a new piece of devised theatre that uses both movement, spoken text, and music to explore the themes of migration, labor, and identity/home. Set in our capitol city of Texas, the play seeks to explore the struggle to maintain Austin’s cultural identity while still allowing for population and city growth to take place.

Directed by Derek Kolluri, Jenny Lavery, Tyler King and Jessica Hughes and featuring a seven person cast with original music by Blake Addyson, AUSTIN IS A PLACE (YOU ARE HERE) marks the company’s third full scale production since the November 2011 premiere of Larry Mitchell’s AMERICAN BEAR.

People interested in being interviewed for the project or who are interested in sharing their story are encouraged to contact Theatre en Bloc attheatre.enbloc@gmail.com. To stay current with news about this show or any of Theatre en Bloc’s other shows visit www.theatreenbloc.org or follow us on Twitter @bloc_en_bloc.

Theatre en Bloc is a creative laboratory where brave experiments with theatrical

traditions collide with new voices, styles, modes and aesthetics. The result is honest new

work crafted for and designed to unite diverse communities. At our core, Theatre en Bloc

is driven by the belief that great art fosters great communities.

Auditions for The Austin Project, Theatre en Bloc, October 30 - 31

Auditions Tuesday and Wednesday, October 30th and 31st between 6 pm and 9 pm at the Dougherty Arts Center (1110 Barton Springs Road, Austin 78704) (click for map) for The Austin Project. We are assembling a collection of unique artists to devise a new work based on our collected interviews with hundreds of Austin residents. The interviews we do will be the basis of our creative process. The artists will then take the material and weave it into a visually arresting and deeply personal theatre piece. This production will be guided by Derek Kolluri, Jenny Lavery, and Tyler King.

To schedule an audition: Email Jenny at theatre.enbloc@gmail.com.

Why This Play? Why now? Austin is in an important moment in her life. The city is growing at rapid speeds, and, as most American cities, this growth puts Austin in a dilemia. All of Austin’s residents, workers, and politicians are making decisions they think are in her ‘best interest’. But, how will Austin meet the needs of quick expansion, yet retain it’s counter-culture “weird” identity? The implications of today’s decisions will forever affect the Austin residents and the fabric of the city. Theatre en Bloc's Austin Project will examine why so many people are proud to call Austin, TX 'home' and explore how the city can retain the identity that we all love. Capturing Austin's social identity means casting racially, ethnically, religiously, sexually diverse people. While we respect everyone's privacy, this will be an intimate exploration of ourselves and our communities. We encourage all artists to show us what makes you unique.

Performances will be March 28 to April 28 at various locations including Mexita's and the Boyd Vance Theatre at The Carver Museum.

Pay: All roles are paid.

How do I schedule a time? Please email Jenny Lavery. If you are only available during certain times, please tell us so. We will send you a confirmation email with your audition time. *If you are not available on Tuesday and Wednesday, October 30th and 31st, please send us an email indicating that and we will work to find a time to see you.

What should I prepare? In order to build a cohesive ensemble to create this new work, we are looking for open minded, daring individuals who display a curiosity and yearning to challenge themselves and be challenged by other like-minded individuals. We are looking for individuals who are willing to explore many theories and practices that will test the traditional conventionality of theatre. This piece will require all artists to be open to strenuous movement, extreme emotionality, and a strong sense of group think and group do. Over the course of 6 months, we will develop a detailed working vocabulary together, so that we have the tools to create the content of the show collaboratively.

If interested in joining us, please prepare:

1. A monologue or text that you know well and are willing to experiment with. If you do not have a monologue, we will provide you with text.

2. Generate something that shows us who you are. Be creative. (up to 2 mins.)

3. Ready to talk about your personal/artistic strengths and weaknesses

When are callbacks? TBD. Callbacks will be in the style of a full company workshop. We are looking for collaboration and group dynamics.

Video Funding Appeal: Just Outside Redemption by Dennis Bailey, Theatre en Bloc

Theatre en Bloc is appealing via

to raise $10,000 for Dennis Bailey's play Just Outside Redemption depicting the events in Austin leading up to the James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Act in 2001. 

Click logo or click here to go to the IndieGoGo page. Derek Koluri and Jenny Lavery explain the project:

Redemption Pitch from Derek Kolluri on Vimeo.


A precursor to the National Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, the James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Act was passed in Texas in 2001. It served as a huge win for those fighting for human rights and was firmly planted as a reminder that together our potential to overcome adversity is stronger than a lone voice crying for help. However, it was the voice of one amazing woman that led the charge to include Gay Rights in the legislation. Based on actual events in Austin, Texas (with a little dramatic license) Dennis Bailey's play is more than a history lesson, rather a celebration of the monumental win for Human Rights in Texas and the people who helped make it happen.
Since the bill was passed in Texas, there have been over 1,200 hate crimes reported, but only a dozen have been convicted. There is still work to be done.
Theatre en Bloc is partnering with several LGBT organizations including Equality, TX to continue this necessary fight for justice and equality.

The Impact The fight for justice never ends. Homophobia and racism still exist. Hate Crimes still exist. And while there is much to celebrate in the passing of laws like The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, this play is a reminder that the big wins only come by way of small acts of compassion from dedicated individuals who refused to back down in the face of great adversity.
While this play will resonate wholly as the story of one woman's fight, we hope her story will inspire others to take up the sword and shield to defend justice for all people, no matter who they are. We are partnering with LGBT and human rights service organizations to create a movement of people who will not tolerate violence toward anyone predicated on hatred.
We want to the ground to rumble with the sound of people stomping out the rhythm of equality! Where today people fear they might be harrassed or murdered for who they are - we want would be murderers to fear the multitude of people who stand together, ready to defend civil liberty!
The message of acceptance and inclusion is always necessary. This production lives perfectly in between a gripping night of theatre and a social call to action. We feel the reach of this project will be immense.

What We Need & What You Get We are asking for $10,000 and we want to build confidence with you, our potential funders, by letting you know exactly where we're going to spend every dollar.
First, Theatre en Bloc is an itinerant company and we hve to pay for a space to do the show. Our venue contract is for $3900. That covers a three week run for a toal of nine performances.
Second we like to pay our artists for their time. We are a small, young organization and cannot pay the wages these talented folks deserve, but we we are offering them stipends. The actors, all nine of them, will receive $300 each. Our designers for the lights, costumes, sound and projections are each receiving $300 for their work as well. We also need to pay 3 individuals to help run the scene changes, light board and sound board. Those three folks will get a $100 stipend each.
The total price tag for these modest stipends is $4200.
We need to provide budgets for materials for the designers to use to execute their designs. The set design has an $800 budget. Costumes have a $400 budget. Sound has a $100 budget and lights have a $200 budget. The total budget for the materials for the show is $1500.
Lastly, we are going to need to promote the show. We have budgeted $900 to cover poster and print material printing, photos and a professionally filmed promotional video that will spread across Yputube, Vmeo and Facebook. We also need to print out surveys to track our audience data for grant pruposes and for better marketing strategies as our small organization gets bigger.
The total comes out to around $10,500. So why aren't we asking for the full amount? Some of these expenses will be covered by in-kind donations.
We also have some very simple and unique prizes that we are offering. Among them, Copies of the script, photo books commemorating the show as well as personal video thank yous from the cast and production team including actress Beth Broderick.

Other Ways You Can Help Today, we live in a world where our voices, when used with passion and shared widely, can make a difference. We have the power to make this world a better place one small action at a time. By reaching out to others and sharing your passion for the importance of this story and encouraging them to make any contribution they can, we can raise the funds necessary to produce this important, albeit unfortunately relevant play. Thanks again for listening to our story and thanks in advance for your support.

American Bear by Larry Mitchell, Theatre en Bloc at the Hideout Theatre, November 25 - December 17

Larry Mitchell's American Bear has an undeclared kinship with the 'kitchen sink' school of drama of 1950s Britain, grim depictions of working class life pioneered by John Osborne's Look Back in Anger (curiously enough, also playing in Austin this week and next). Sam Shepard has explored similar terrain and Tracy Letts followed him there with sardonic tales you might call the Grand Guignols of Trailer Park Trash.

American Bear offers a world that is more credible than those. Mitchell's characters are from America's white underclass -- a waitress, a truck driver, and an unemployed layabout whose world is starkly delimited by the one-room set littered with beer cans and positioned between the parentheses of a senseless, ever-running television and a telephone that's the emblem of the lack of communication. The set by Derek Kolluri is eloquently claustrophobic.

Eddie's a regular at a Memphis truck stop. We meet this inarticulate man at the lunch counter where waitress Lonnie is wrapping the flatware in paper napkins. The communication between them is not conversation -- it's more like random semaphore signals. These two have seen one another again and again. This time, however, Eddie asks her to come home to Kansas with him. His parents have died in an automobile accident. Without thinking about it too much, and with little to anchor her at the truck stop, Lonnie agrees. In Kansas, Eddie's brother Jules is cocooned away on the sofa, huddled under a rumpled blanket.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Upcoming: American Bear by Larry Mitchell, Theatre en Bloc at the Hideout Theatre, November 25 - December 17

Received directly:

presents

American Bear: A play about home

by Larry Mitchell

November 25 - December 17, Thursdays - Saturdays, 8 p.m.

Sunday matinees at 5 p.m. on November 27, December 4, December 11

Hideout Theatre, 617 Congress Avenue (click for map)

Tickets are $15 and can be reserved by contacting Theatre en Bloc at theatre.enbloc@gmail.com, or by calling 512.522.4083
Tickets will be available for “walk-up” purchase at 7PM each performance night
For more information, visit theatreenbloc.org.

American Bear is a play about how we define home and family, especially during times of family crisis. Is family forever? How far can the bonds of family be stretched before they snap? Why is it that families tear themselves apart. When isn't blood thicker than water?

American Bear is the journey of two brothers, Eddie and Jules, struggling to find themselves in the wake of their parents’ untimely death. Eddie, who has been gone for many years, returns to the boys' childhood home for the funeral with his new fiancée, Lonnie, in tow. As the three work through the history of family strife, it is more than sibling rivalry that comes between the two brothers.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Kickstarter Appeal: American Bear by Theatre en Bloc, Austin

Notice received directly:

appeal by

American Bear

by Larry Mitchell

to be produced November 25 - December 17

Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 5 p.m.

at the Hideout Theatre, 617 Congress Avenue (click for map)

Tickets are $15. Reserve via the Theatre en Bloc website or by leaving a message at (512) 522-4083

American Bear: A play about home, is the first production of Austin's latest artistic development Theatre en Bloc. This production also marks the world premiere of the fully realized script by Theatre en Bloc's resident playwright Larry Mitchell.

This project will be funded only if at least $1,500 is pledged by Friday Nov 18, 6:00pm EST.
As of October 24:

0 Backers 0$ pledged of $1,500 goal 25 days to go

American Bear is a play about how we define home and family, especially during times of family crisis. Is family forever? How far can the bonds of family be stretched before they snap? Why is it that families tear themselves apart. When isn't blood thicker than water?

American Bear is the journey of two brothers, Eddie and Jules, struggling to find themselves in the wake of their parents’ untimely death. Eddie, who has been gone for many years, returns to the boys' childhood home for the funeral with his new fiancée, Lonnie, in tow. As the three work through the history of family strife, it is more than sibling rivalry that comes between the two brothers.

American Bear is a provocative play that finds a subtle and refreshing balance between humor and drama. Mitchell is a craftsman. While there are tones of great playwrights like O'Neill or Sheppard in the piece, Mitchell's perspective, voice, humor and love for his characters ring true. Theatre en Bloc is excited to bring this play to Austin and is working to publish Mitchell's script to be distributed to other theatres looking to produce new American plays.

Click for additional information at AustinLiveTheatre.com

Click HERE or on the image to go to Kickstarter for the video slideshow or to pledge

Dead White Males by William Missouri Downs, Sustainable Theatre Project, August 19 - September 11

Fascism isn't funny but it offers huge targets for satire.

The premise is familiar: an eager novice takes up a new calling, infused with idealism, and finds that not only is the actual day-to-day work grueling but the authorities are self-serving, hypocritical and exploitative.

Dead White Males is a valentine to those teacher-victims and a savage attack on administrators of educational systems. The Sustainable Theatre Project stretches a bit by linking the play to recent battles over the Texas education curriculum, but that wouldn't bother the likely audience in Austin for this staging. In fact, the company gave the intro an Alamo Drafthouse feel by running news clips and cartoons for the twenty minutes or so before the start of the live action.

Downs sets the tone from the very first moments, with a trio of evaluators sitting in on one of the first classes of tender, earnest Janet, a newly recruited teacher. Janet (Molly Fonseca) struggles to maintain discipline in the class from hell as the administrators interrupt her with impossible, smarmy instructions and corrections. Our villains are a useless Ph.Ed named Dr. Ozzy Mandias (flashing neon sign here! cf. Shelley's poem of the same name about the statue of an ancient, vanished mighty king), a sycophantic "master teacher" Woods (Beth Burroughs) and non-committal Principal Pettlogg (Dennis Kelleher Bailey). The lesson is a fiasco, mostly because poor Janet never gets the opportunity to present it.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Call for Actors: Dead White Males by William Missouri Downs, Sustainable Theatre Project

Received directly:

Sustainable Theatre Project is currently looking for actors for its upcoming production...

Sustainable Theatre Project is currently looking for actors for their upcoming production of Dead White Males by William Missouri Downs and directed by recent ALT APPLAUSE award recipient Derek Kolluri. The production is still in the early stages of development and we are looking for interested parties. The tentative dates for the production run are 3 weeks in August with rehearsals starting around July 1st. All actors will receive a stipend. The roles that we are looking to fill are:

Doris: An older science teacher certified to teach history. 30-50ish.
Ms. Woods: An art teacher certified to teach science. 30-40ish.
Principal Pettlogg: The principal. 40-50ish.
Master Teacher Burns: A master teacher. 30-50ish.
Dr. Ozy Mandias: A new member of the school board. 40-50ish.

Once we've recevied your info we'll contact you with more information about audition dates and send a set of sides for you to read and prepare.

For information about our company's mission and previous productions, please visit our website at www.sustainabletheatreproject.org

If you are interested in setting up an audition please send a resume to sustainable.theatre.project@gmail.com

Contact: Sustainable Theatre Project sustainable.theatre.project@gmail.com
Website: www.sustainabletheatreproject.org

Jack and Jill, Sustainable Theatre Project at the Hyde Park Theatre, March 18 - 27

Jack and Jill is "a romance," according to playwright Jane Martin, the mysterious alter ego of Jon Jory, retired artistic director of the Theatre of Louisville. The Mother Goose reference implies a jaunty comedy approach, but Jack and Jill is anything but that.

Martin's two-character play is energetic and witty, but it's a portrait of two individuals incapable of merging two I's into a We. Jack is a big, bashful stumbling guy, all thumbs and vulnerability -- the anti-macho -- and Jill is bright, together, to-the-point, competitive and irredeemably selfish -- the antithesis of traditional femininity. Act I presents their courtship, marriage and frustrations; Act II presents their lives and successive encounters after divorce. They remain linked in the syzygy of mutual attraction, closer and then farther apart, unable to live together and yet unable to live apart.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Dying City by Christopher Shinn, Capital T Theatre at Blue Theatre, January 19 - February 6 (seven performances)

Emptiness echoes from our first moments with Dying City. Motionless on the sofa, Liz Fisher as Kelly sits listening vacantly to Stephen Colbert's bright, acerbic chatter. She fingers a book; shifts her position; pushes at the stack of papers on the coffee table. An open cardboard box on the floor suggests packing or at least some interrupted task of organization. The buzzer sounds. Someone is downstairs and wants to come up.

Dying City is not about Iraq. It's not about politics, either or about the war. Unless it's the war between men and women, made vivid for us by two gifted actors and three characters as a persistent, largely silent guerrilla war of emotional attrition.

Kelly's a therapist, psychologist and counselor. And, since this time last year, a widow. She's a young woman for whom time has slowed and meaning has ebbed away.

She understands that she needs to heal herself, but she lacks the will and energy to do so.

We learn this gradually, by witnessing her reluctant reception of Mark Scheibmeir as Peter, her brother-in-law. In an acute emotional crisis he has sought her out, unannounced, renewing his previously failed effort to establish some sort of complicity with her.

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

Images and Interviews: Dying City by Christopher Shinn, Capital T at Blue Theatre, January 19 - February 6

Click for ALT review, January 27

UPDATE: Review by Ryan E. Johnson at examiner.com, January 26

UPDATE: Review by Jeanne Claire van Ryzin at the Statesman's Austin360 "Seeing Things" blog, January 25

UPDATE: Review by Dan Solomon at Austinist.com, January 21

UPDATE: Capital T Literary Manager Carrie Klypchak interviews playwright Christopher Shinn, January 15

Photos received directly, interviews found on-line at Capital T's website:

Dying City
by Christopher Shinn
Capital T Theatre at the Blue Theatre, 916 Springdale Road
for the FronteraFest Long Fringe
January 19, 24, 28, 29
February 3, 4, 6

with Mark Scheibmeier and Liz Fisher
directed by Derek Kolluri







Capital T Artistic Director Mark Pickell interviews director Derek Kolluri, January 11




Capital T Literary Manager Carry Klipchak interviews playwright Christopher Shinn, January 15

Upcoming: StarCo Readings, Penfold Theatre, Round Rock, Tuesday, September 8

Received directly from

Hello friends!

Join us after work for a fun and relaxing evening of 10-minute comedies, as read by some of Austin's newest talent. No charge for admission. Come and go as you please. Sip a cup o' Joe and let us treat you to a buffet of playwrights from David Ives to Shel Silverstein.

When: Tuesday, September 8 from 5:30pm to 7:00pm.

Where: StarCo Coffee (114 East Main Street in Round Rock)

Featuring: Nathan Jerkins, Ryan Crowder, Molly Fonseca, Derek Kolluri and Sarah Tufts.

Coming soon...

Three Days of Rain by Richard Greenberg

Orestes, Cambiare Productions at the Off Center, July 31 - August 15

Hidden Treasures from Afghanistan's National Museum are now on exhibition at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, the last of several stops in a 15-month tour of the United States. I caught the exhibit in Washington DC last year, but you may have seen it this spring in Houston.

A haunting diorama of a barren Afghan plain shows how the unimaginable golden treasures were preserved in hidden subterranean vaults for thousands of years, even as the fabulous palaces of antiquity above them were torn down for re-use as construction material.

I had hoped that Will Hollis Snider's Orestes would offer us reworked antique treasures, but he provides instead an empty, echoing structure constructed from the pulled-down palaces of Greek myth.

The structure is not entirely barren. One clever touch is to convert the ravaging Erinyes or Furies from avenging spirits to fantasms of Orestes' mind, embodying the murdered -- his sister Iphigenia, sacrificed at Aulis by their father Agamemnon; Agamemnon himself, murdered by his wife, their mother Clytemnestra, upon his return from Troy; and Clytemnestra, whom Orestes has just killed, on instructions from the god Apollo.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .