Auditions at Austin Playhouse for The Liar by David Ives, November 23, 2013

(photo: Michael Brosilow via Wall Street Journal)

Austin Playhouse is seeking actors (age range 20’S – mid 30’S) for THE LIAR, translated and adapted by David Ives from the classic French comedy by Pierre Corneille, directed by Don Toner. Auditions are on Saturday, November 23 (possible callbacks on Monday, November 25)
Performance dates are February 7 – March 9, 2014, Thursdays – Saturdays at 8 pm, Sundays at 5 pm with possible added Wednesdays. Austin Playhouse is a professional theatre. All roles are paid. Equity and non-Equity actors will be hired.
APPOINTMENTS REQUIRED: To schedule an audition, please email info@austinplayhouse.com Auditions will consist of readings from the script.


From the author of the recent Broadway hit Venus in Fur comes this sophisticated, playful adaptation of the classic French comedy by Pierre Corneille: Paris, 1643. Charming, handsome, and an incorrigible liar, Dorante has come to Paris seeking pleasure. He falls head over heels for the beautiful Clarice, but mistakes her name for that of her best friend, Lucrece. After lying his way into a world of trouble, can Dorante lie his way back out again? Fiendishly clever and a bit naughty, the wordplay and swordplay of The Liar make for an evening that's filled with delights!

"What's the funniest play ever written? I used to think it was Noises Off, but now that I've seen THE LIAR, David Ives' English-language adaptation of Pierre Corneille's 1644 comedy about a compulsive liar, I'm not so sure… I laughed so hard that I was sore the next day…By wedding [Ives'] verbal prestidigitation to Corneille's mistaken-identity plot, Mr. Ives has come up with a play in which the laughs flow freely and joyously." —Terry Teachout, Wall Street Journal.
"Astonishingly fresh, funny, and totally appealing to modern audiences." —Washington Examiner.

ROLES AVAILABLE:

Dorante: A young man just arrived in Paris. A newly trained lawyer and a liar.
Cliton: Dorante’s servant who cannot tell a lie, enamored with Isabelle
Alcippe: Dorante’s friend, secretly engaged to Clarice
Clarice: A young lady of Paris
Lucrece: Clarice’s best friend
Isabelle/Sabine: Servant to Lucrece/Clarice
Philiste: Alcippe's friend, enamored with Sabine

2013-2014 Austin Playhouse Season

2013-2014 Season

Join us for another year of extraordinary

comedies, dramas, and musicals!

Season tickets for our 5-play season are on sale now!

Call 512.476.0084 or online at www.austinplayhouse.com.

Already a subscriber? Make reservations for the season now!

1) Man of La Mancha

by Wasserman, Darion, & Leigh

September 6 - October 6, 2013Against all odds, a man sees good and innocence in a world filled with darkness and despair. This musical adventure is a classic tale of the triumph of man over his own follies. Starring Rick Roemer, Boni Hester, Jacob Trussell, Huck Huckaby, Ben Wolfe, Brian Coughlin, Claire Grasso, Wendy Zavaleta, Josh Wechsler, Leslie Hethcox, Ann Richards, Stephen Mercantel, Paul Koudouris, Brian Losoya, Glenn DeVar, and Patrick Crowley.

2) And Then There Were None

by Agatha Christie
November 22 - December 22, 2013A murder-mystery from the queen of suspense!

When ten houseguests gather on a secluded island, the situation is ripe for misfortune. One by one, each guest meets their fate.

Who's the murderous culprit? And who will be next?

3) The Liar

by David Ives
February 7 - March 9, 2014Paris, 1643. From absurd misunderstandings and a series of breathtakingly intricate lies springs one of the Western world's greatest comedies, a sparkling urban romance as fresh as the day Pierre Corneille wrote it, brilliantly adapted by David Ives.

4) Roaring

by Cyndi Williams
April 4 - May 4, 2014

We're thrilled to present the world premiere of a new play by award-winning local playwright Cyndi WIlliams! At an underground retirement center a mysterious phenomenon traps residents and visitors, isolating them from the rest of the world. In the ensuing hours, ghosts appear, romances spark, and the youthful spirits of the past are released.

5) TBA
May 23 - June 22, 2014

Our original choice to close out the season, Neil Simon’s The Sunshine Boys, has been restricted due to a possible Broadway production. We are looking for another great comedy to close the season!

 ______________________________

Special Productions

This year Austin Playhouse is producing two special off-season productions!

The Dead Presidents' Club

by Larry L. King

October 18 - November 3, 2013

LBJ, Nixon, Truman, and Coolidge are back!

Our most popular comedy returns for a limited run! And join us on October 18th for a special Opening Night Party benefiting Austin Playhouse's Production Fund! Great food, fantastic drinks, silent auction, and a party with the presidents! *Contains adult language.

Venus In Fur

by David Ives, January 3 - 26, 2014.

Sexy. Provocative. Hilarious. The smash Broadway hit makes its Austin debut in a delicious new production.

Hailed as "seriously smart and very funny" by the New York Times, Venus in Fur is a laugh-out-loud study of the politics of power that's guaranteed to charm and delight. *Contains adult language.

T he Dead Presidents' Club and Venus in Fur are not part of our subscription season, but Austin Playhouse subscribers and their guests may purchase tickets for half-price!

*Tickets for The Dead Presidents' Club Opening Night Benefit and Don Toner's Birthday Party on October 18th are not discounted.

Auditions for Man of La Mancha, Austin Playhouse, June 10, 2013 by Appointment

Auditions for the Austin Playhouse production of the musical Man of La Mancha will be held on Monday, June 10 at Austin Playhouse. Don Toner will direct the production with musical direction by Michael McKelvey.

All performers are compensated.Equity and non-Equity will be hired. All ethnicities encouraged.

Rehearsals begin August 10, 2013. Performances are September 6 - October 6, 2013

Auditions are by appointment only.

Please email info@austinplayhouse.com or call (512) 476-0084 for an audition slot. Please bring a headshot and resume and prepare 16 bars to show your range (traditional/classical musical theatre preferred). An accompanist will be provided.

Matching Capital Grant Challenge: Austin Playhouse's New Theatre

Austin Playhouse's funding appeal at

   About This Campaign


After ten years in our previous home, a renovated warehouse at Penn Field, we found ourselves paying almost $150,000 a year in rent - and the rent was about to rise even more. We started looking for a place to build a permanent home for Austin Playhouse and found an ideal location at the Mueller Austin redevelopment. (http://www.muelleraustin.com/)



We have been raising funds for over two years to build a new home at Mueller adjacent to the new Austin Children's Museum. We have made significant progress, raising almost $1 million in individual contributions. The project is now fully permitted and shovel ready. We expect to break ground this summer.



Thanks to a $25,000 matching grant from the Carolyn Rice Bartlett Charitable Foundation, all new building fund donors through June 13, 2013 will have their gifts matched up to our $25,000 goal! We're launching this campaign to reach new donors, especially those in the Austin arts community, who would like to see their impact doubled.


If you have the capacity and would like to donate at a higher level than those listed with this campaign, please contact us directly to hear about naming opportunities: development@austinplayhouse.com.

We welcome multi-year pledges too!



We believe that Austin needs another first-class facility, built by and for artists with a long-term stake in this community. We're asking for your support. Thank you.


As Austin Playhouse is a 501(c)3 nonprofit, all donations are fully tax-deductible!

More information available at the Austin Playhouse IndieGoGo page. . . .

Other Desert Cities by Jon Robert Baitz, Austin Playhouse, January 25 - February 24, 2013

by Michael Meigs

In an age when 'dysfunctional' all too often is appended to 'American family' in the U.S. theatre, Jon Robin Baitz's Other Desert Cities spends much of its two acts appearing to explore yet another meltdown.


Lyman and Polly Wyeth are prosperous California retirees with backgrounds in Hollywood and Republican politics. Their children are several sorts of messes. The older son got into drugs and then into political violence, getting implicated in a deadly firebombing before disappearing forever from a ferry in the waters outside Seattle. The daughter, Brooke, a promising writer, wound up in a psychiatric institution and is only now crawling back to reality. The younger son's a cynical survivor who produces a television show where small claims are decided by a retired judge and a jury of freaks.

Rick Roemer, Lara Toner (photo: C. Loveless)

Just your average California family, so to speak. And to add some zip, it's Christmas, and the recovering daughter has written a tell-all autobiography that she wants her parents to embrace.


Baitz's script is carefully crafted, loading us up with exposition over the first twenty minutes or so and only slightly stretching our creduility. We're helped by Toner's casting, for Babs George and Rick Roemer give their characters good solid Republican self-assurance. She comfortably inhabits the sharp-tongued, steadily bibulous mother, and Roemer radiates warmth and charisma, no doubt much like that of Ronald Reagan. 

Brooke the wayward daughter is annoying. She suffers from cognitive dissonance, determined to publish the exposé and yet wanting the victims of the revelations, her family, to approve the exercise. Lara Toner does the best she can with the character's whining intensity.


This is a spiritually amorphous California-American family, not anchored anywhere except in bourgeois comfort. Polly is from a Jewish family, but she's not in the least engaged in faith; Lyman's a man of bonhomie and appearances. That is, at least in part, what the play's about: what is really important to these characters, deep down, as Polly threatens to punish their daughter by refusing to speak to her ever again?

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

OTHER DESERT CITIES by Jon Robin Baitz, Austin Playhouse at Highland Mall, January 25 - February 24, 2013

(performing in 2013 at Highland Malll -- click for instructions and map)

presents

Other Desert Cities

by Jon Robin Baitz

directed by Don Toner

January 25 – February 24, 2013

Thursdays–Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 5 p.m.

Austin Playhouse at Highland Mall, 6001 Airport Blvd., Austin, TX 78752

WEB: www.austinplayhouse.com

TICKETS: $28 Thursday/Friday, $30 Saturday/Sunday

$37 Opening Night with champagne reception: Friday, January 25

Box office 512.476.0084 or online at: www.austinplayhouse.com

DISCOUNTS: All student tickets are half-price.

Austin Playhouse is proud to bring Austin audiences Baitz’ powerful family drama. In the award-winning Other Desert Cities, Baitz brings us an emotionally charged play about a family coming to terms with long-held secrets. “Baitz’ latest familial drama manages to be funny, cutting, and illuminating. Secrets, lies, and betrayals play out against a backdrop of Californian affluence and restraint. This is rich dysfunction – zingers are delivered with a whiskey chaser.” –The Huffington Post

Brooke Wyeth (Lara Toner) returns home to Palm Springs after a six-year absence and a mental breakdown to celebrate Christmas with her parents (Babs George and Rick Roemer), her brother (Jacob Trussell), and her aunt (Bernadette Nason). Brooke announces that she is about to publish a memoir dredging up a pivotal and tragic event in the family's history—a wound they don't want reopened. In effect, she draws a line in the sand and dares them all to cross it.

The play premiered Off-Broadway in January 2011 to critical acclaim and transferred to Broadway in November 2011, marking the Broadway debut of a Baitz play. The play was named Outstanding New Off-Broadway Play by the Outer Critics Circle and won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play. It was a finalist for the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. (Click to view Wikipedia article)

Jon Robin Baitz’s plays include My Beautiful Goddamn City, Ten Unknowns, The Paris Letter, Mizlansky/Zilinsky or Schmucks, A Fair Country, The Substance of Fire, and an adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler. His television credits include The West Wing, Alias, and Brothers and Sisters, which he created.
Production Team Don Toner is the director. Buffy Manners is the costume designer. Don Day is the lighting designer. Set Design is by Don Toner and Patrick Crowley.
Critical Praise "The most richly enjoyable new play for grown-ups that New York has known in many seasons…In his most fully realized play to date, Mr. Baitz makes sure our sympathies keep shifting among the members of the wounded family portrayed here. Every one of them emerges as selfish, loving, cruel, compassionate, irritating, charming and just possibly heroic…leaves you feeling both moved and gratifyingly sated." —NY Times. "Astutely drawn…juicy and surprising." —NY Daily News. "Spending time with these messed-up, complicated people is a genuine pleasure." —NY Post. "Power, passion, and superbly crafted palaver stippled with blowdarts of wit—this is what Baitz does best." —New York Magazine.
Austin Playhouse at Highland Mall
Austin Playhouse is currently performing at Highland Mall. The mall’s South entrance is the most convenient to Austin Playhouse. Take the escalator down to the lower level and turn right. Austin Playhouse is on your right, across from the Express.

Austin Playhouse is a professional theatre currently performing its 13th season. Under the leadership of Producing Artistic Director Don Toner and Associate Artistic Director Lara Toner, Austin Playhouse has grown from a three-play season on the campus of Concordia University, to a year-round operation producing an average of eight plays a year. Austin Playhouse is currently building its own two-performance venue space in the heart of the new Mueller Redevelopment Town Center, adjacent to the new Austin Children’s Museum.

(Click to go to the AustinLiveTheatre front page)

Arts Reporting: Austin Playhouse Signs Contract for Theatres at Mueller

Posted by Lara Toner at the Austin Playhouse blog, January 20:

Signing The Contract

Dear Friends,

Yesterday afternoon Don Toner signed our contract to purchase our building site in the Mueller Town Center. We are the first business to have a signed contract for the Town Center portion of the Mueller development and we are incredibly proud. We have accomplished a tremendous amount already, and we're confident we're on the right path to making our dream a reality. Thank you to everyone who has helped us reach this milestone and especially to our attorney, Gary Greif and our architect, Scott Ginder.

What we've already done:
-Our site plan was submitted in November. The site plan approval process can take several months, so it was crucial that we started the process as soon as possible.
-We have raised almost $400,000 in pledges and contributions. During the first phase of our fundraising efforts we reached out to our long-time supporters. We've been very gratified by their initial outpouring of support for this project.

What will happen next:
-We anticipate closing within 60 days as soon as the remainder of our financing is in place.
-We will begin construction as soon as closing occurs and the site plan is approved. We are currently estimating construction will begin in late February. Construction will take six to seven months to complete and we will open our new theatre in Fall 2012.
-We will expand our fundraising efforts to include the greater Austin community, foundations, and corporations. [. . . ] If you would like to make a contribution or pledge, please visit our website.

Upcoming: Boeing Boeing, Austin Playhouse at Mueller Development, January 27 - February 26

Received directly:

by Marc Camoletti adapted by Beverley Cross

directed by Don Toner

January 27 - February 26, Thursdays - Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 5 p.m.

Special Performance: Valentine’s Day, February 14th at 8pm, $40 tickets, $70 for couples, includes dessert reception

Austin Playhouse at Mueller, Temporary facility at 1800 ½ Simond Ave. (click for map)
www.austinplayhouse.com and on Facebook and Twitter
Tickets $26 Thursdays and Fridays, $28 Saturdays and Sundays, $35 Opening Night
Box office phone 512.476.0084 - tickets available online at: www.austinplayhouse.com; e-mail austinplayhouse@aol.com
All student tickets are half-price for regular performances.

From the author of our hit comedy Don't Dress for Dinner comes another hilarious modern farce! Boeing, Boeing follows one man's attempt to juggle the affections of three lovely international flight attendants. His fine-tuned plans turn to chaos with bad weather and the introduction of a faster Boeing jet.

A New Year's Message from Austin Playhouse

Received directly from Lara Toner and the Austin Playhouse:

Dear Friends,

2011 was an incredible year for Austin Playhouse. We opened the year with one of our biggest hits, Oscar Wilde's classic comedy The Importance of Being Earnest. We followed that success with an intimate production of Proof, Neil Simon's Laughter on the 23rd Floor, and the musical Stop the World I want to get off! Rick Roemer, seen first as Lady Bracknell in Earnest, led the Stop the World cast as Littlechap; a double-take that highlighted the depth of talent and versatility throughout our wonderful Acting Company.

And then, at the end of May, our company packed up our Penn Field space to embark on a truly amazing adventure. After a Summer full of contract negotiations and fundraising endeavors, we finalized a permit for a temporary location at the Mueller redevelopment. On October 18 our temporary building arrived. For one month, Producing Artistic Director Don Toner and a crew of dedicated volunteers worked tirelessly to create a theatre in a field. On November 18 we opened our acclaimed production of The Lion in Winter.

Our first audiences were true pioneers. We are so grateful to everyone who came with the spirit of adventure and supported us during this time. While there was so much to celebrate about the temporary space, we still faced many unexpected challenges. We eventually mastered temperature regulation and by closing weekend the space heaters were effective and fairly quiet! We learned that a de-humidifier was necessary even when it wasn't raining outside in order to keep condensation from becoming overwhelming inside the tent. And we learned that the gas gauge on our generator was almost entirely unreliable. We learned so much and are excited about making your next visit to our temporary home even better.

In 2012 we will break ground on our new home. Our permanent facility will house Austin Playhouse as well as providing much-needed space for other arts organizations and outreach programs. This will be an incredible achievement and we could not get there without your support. Along the way, we'll continue producing the theatre you love. Our next production is the fast-paced comedy Boeing, Boeing. In March, we will produce a world-premiere adaptation of E.M. Forster's beloved story, A Room With A View, and we will follow that with the classic comedy, Born Yesterday. We look forward to all our adventures in 2012 and know that together we can Build this Dream.

Happy New Year and our best wishes for a 2012 filled with laughter and adventure!

with admiration and love,

the Austin Playhouse family

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
musical direction by Oliver Worthington
choreography by Danny Herman & Rocker Verastique
April 22 - May 22, 2011
Austin Playhouse Main Stage, Penn Field, 3601 South Congress (click for map)
Tickets are $26 Thursday and Friday and $28 Saturday and Sunday. All student tickets are half price!

Call (512) 476-0084 for tickets or visit http://www.austinplayhouse.com.

Austin Playhouse is proud to present the classic musical: Stop the World – I Want to Get Off! A thought-provoking tale about the fleeting nature of worldly success, this beloved musical celebrates its 50th year in 2011.

Stop the World! - I Want to Get Off is set in a circus and tells the timeless tale of a Littlechap, played by Rick Roemer, who recently starred as Lady Bracknell in our production of The Importance of Being Earnest. The show is a musical classic—a boundless, humorously entertaining, and tender story about the choices we make and the opportunities we get during our lifetime.

"Stop the World" is directed by Don Toner with musical direction by Oliver Worthington and choreography by Danny Herman and Rocker Verastique. The show stars Rick Roemer as Littlechap and Angela Davis as Evie with an ensemble that includes Kimberly Barrow, Rachel Dendy, Hildreth England, Emily Everidge, Kasey Erin Kelly, Eedann McCord, Stephanie Ngo-Hatchie, Ann Pittman, Hannah Rose, and Jennifer Blakeney Young.

OPENING WEEKEND HALF-PRICE SPECIAL!!! We're offering 20 half-price tickets (that's only $14 each!) for our first Saturday and Sunday performances: April 23rd and 24th. Call 476-0084 and mention the opening weekend special or use discount code: "Littlechap" when you order tickets online at www.austinplayhouse.com. Not valid with any other discounts.

Main Stage Subscribers - Reserve your tickets by phone at 476-0084 or email austinplayhouse@aol.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: Laughter on the 23rd Floor, Austin Playhouse, February 25 - March 27

Received directly:

Laughter on the 23rd Floor

by Neil Simon

directed by Don Toner

Feb. 25 - March 27

Austin Playhouse Main Stage, Penn Field, 3601 S. Congress (click for map)

Tickets are $26 Thursday and Friday and $28 Saturday and Sunday.

All student tickets are half price!

For Tickets, Call (512) 476-0084 or click here to order tickets online.

Hot on the heels of our most successful show ever, we're thrilled to bring theatrical legend Neil Simon's nostalgic comedy Laughter on the 23rd Floor to the stage! Set in 1953, Laughter recalls Simon's days as a young writer on Sid Caesar's Your Show of Shows. The play is a fast-paced and very fun comic romp through the behind-the-scenes antics in the writers' room.

Laughter features an all star cast including Kimberly Barrow, Brian Coughlin,Huck Huckaby, Jenny Larson, Jason Newman, Steve Shearer, Blake Adam Smith, David Stahl, and David Stokey!

For more information, visit our website!

The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde, Austin Playhouse, January 14 - February 13

This "Trivial Comedy for Serious People" opened in 1895 and it was the last shining moment for Wilde's career as writer and dramatist. Soon afterwards he found himself in court, accused of immoral behavior and then sentenced to gaol. Because of that scandal the original production closed after only 86 performances. Since then it has become one of the most dependable and regularly revived comic satires on the boards.

Wilde's earnest young men show themselves of strenuously conventional Victorian morality in society but entirely subversive in their private lives.

Both Algernon Moncrieff (Jason Newman) and Jack Worthing (Benjamin Summers) have secret identities. Algernon goes "Bunberrying," using the excuse of a mythical ailing relative to escape from unappealing social engagements and to sail off on devil-may-care exploits.

Jack uses the excuse of his mythical brother "Earnest" to get away from the tedium of the country and the responsibilities of his guardianship for the fetching but bubble-headed Cecily, his ward and the daughter of his deceased benefactor. Masquerading as "Earnest" while in London, Jack is courting Algy's cousin Gwendolen.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Upcoming: The Importance of Being Earnest, Austin Playhouse, January 14 - February 13

Received directly:

presents Oscar Wilde’s

The Importance of Being Earnest:

A Trivial Comedy for Serious People

Directed by Don Toner

Featuring Rick Roemer as Lady Bracknell and Bernadette Nason as Miss Prism

January 14 – February 13; Thursday–Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 5 p.m.

Austin Playhouse, 3601 S. Congress, Bldg. C

www.austinplayhouse.com and on Facebook and Twitter

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

Can be purchased at the box office 512.476.0084 or online at: www.austinplayhouse.com

To become a subscriber: call 512.476.0084

Austin Playhouse produces Oscar Wilde’s light effervescent comedy The Importance of Being Earnest. Written in 1884 and first produced the following year, The Importance of Being Earnest is directly influenced by Great Britain’s late Victorian era. Wilde continuously makes light of the era’s mores, social customs, marriage, and particularly the pursuit of love.

The play features Jack, who is a seemingly responsible and respectable young man; but Jack leads a double life. At his country estate, Jack is known as Jack, but in the city, he is known as Ernest. Even Jack’s best friend Algernon who has known him for years, thinks he is Earnest. As Jack begins to fall in love with a woman who believes his name is Earnest, he finds himself in peculiar and amusing situations.

The Importance of Being Earnest has been considered Wilde’s artistic breakthrough—combining self-parody and a humorous commentary on the melodramatic genre in which he had already had so much success.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

The Trip to Bountiful by Horton Foote, Austin Playhouse, November 19 - December 18

This is a memory play, an exercise in yearning -- not only for the principal character Carrie Watts, but also for playwright Horton Foote and for the audience. Where are they, those vanished earlier times, and what were they really like? Depending entirely on her son and her daughter-in-law in their apartment somewhere in the Houston of 1953, Carrie Watts longs to return to her home, a house somewhere in rural Texas at a crossroads with the melancholy, ironic name of "Bountiful."

The place still exists, as we learn while following Carrie's great escape, but as she inevitably discovers, there's no longer much of "home" about it, other than the sagging structure of the homestead.

Christopher Loveless's images make the point powerfully. In the publicity photo Carrie and her bags sit before a light-filled rural road -- as out-of-place and as photo-shopped as a 19th century portrait taken before a painted backdrop. In performance all that light and liberty disappears, for director Toner situates these actors in a virtually featureless black box, provided with minimal props and simple furnishings. The concept is so stark and featureless that the Playhouse lists no credit for stage design.

The story is intimately tied to the simple human ity of the characters and the authenticity of the voices given to them by the cast. The accents, rhythms and the perceptive costuming by Buffy Manners situate them in that specific moment in urbanizing Texas as director Toner and the cast deliver Foote's simple, powerful parable.

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

Arts Reporting: Austin Playhouse Announces Move to Mueller Development

Reported by Jeanne Claire van Ryzin on the Statesman's Ausin360 'Seeing Things' blog, November 19

Austin Playhouse announces move to Mueller

By Jeanne Claire van Ryzin Friday, November 19

After nearly ten years at its South Congress Avenue location, Austin Playhouse plans to build a $4 million new theater in the Mueller redevelopment in East Austin, theater officials announced Friday.

Catellus Development Group, the master developer of Mueller, confirmed that it had signed a letter of intent with Austin Playhouse.

The theater would be located in the Mueller town center, roughly north of Mueller’s Lake Park. The town center is planned to be a mix of retail, restaurant and entertainment venues. However, no date has been set to start that phase of the Mueller project.

“We’re excited about the opportunities the Austin Playhouse would bring to Mueller,” said Greg Weaver, managing director for Catellus Development Group, the master developer of Mueller. “The Austin Playhouse will help activate a new area of the Mueller community, draw new visitors to experience other elements of the development and provide another primarily nighttime venue to move Mueller toward a 24/7 community.”

The community theater group [SIC] plans to build a 17,000-square-foot two-theater complex with classrooms, a gallery, offices and ground-floor space to sublet to a bar or restaurant.

Don Toner, executive director of Austin Playhouse, said he expects construction to begin in 2011. He said the $4 million price tag includes about $2 million for the property and 100 parking spaces and $2 million for construction, fundraising and other project costs.

Toner said that $265,000 in pledges and cash has been raised so far.

The 39 Steps, Austin Playhouse, September 10 - October 30

Austin Playhouse scheduled Alfred Hitchcock's The 39 Steps for a run of almost two months, but I didn't manage to use my season tickets until the penultimate weekend of the run. Not that I expected to be disappointed; The 39 Steps won an Olivier award for best comedy in 2007 and the Broadway version, with the added tag tying it to Hitchcock, ran for two years before moving off-Broadway. And not too far off Broadway -- to New World Stages at 340 West 50th Street, where it is still playing. A road version did a limited tour in 2009-2010.

Alfred Hitchcock's The 39 Steps was nominated for six Tony awards in 2008 and walked away with two. The marketing people don't mention that those Tonys were for best lighting design and best sound design.

Never mind all that. The important thing is that it's more fun than a barrel of actors. The West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds, England, pioneered this one, applying the ingenious notion of using only four actors to put onstage the entire plot of the Hitchcock movie. Here in Austin, Benjamin Summers as Richard Hannay is the only player with an immutable role (unless you count his momentary masquerade as a milkman in order to flee from the police). Lara Toner gets to play three characters -- a German-accented femme fatale who rapidly becomes a femme morte, much to Hannay's surprise, a dreamy lassie in the wilds of Scotland, and a self-assured young blonde who winds up kidnapped and handcuffed to the fleeing Hannay.

The comic duo of Michael Stuart and David Stahl play everyone else in the movie -- oops, I mean, in the play. Bad guys, local notables, a dour Scots crofter, an innkeeper and his wife, the red-turbaned mysterious professor, a pair of vaudeville clowns and many, many more. In fact, the two of them are listed in the program simply as Clown #1 and Clown #2. They change identities as easily as changing hats, and sometimes they're carrying three hats at a time.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris, Austin Playhouse, May 20 - June 27

This is a pleasant and inconsequential little evening of cabaret. Go and listen to the Austin Playhouse staging of Blau and Shuman's 1968 compendium Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris. If you concentrate on the words, you may get a pale and distant impression of the genius who was Jacques Brel.

These are the problems of translation. The music stands outside language, but Brel's stories and lyrics are deeply embedded in the time, the culture, the national character and the man himself.

Let's try a visual equivalent, with American painters. Think of Edward Hopper's stark cityscapes or of Andrew Wyeth's haunting painting "Christina's World." Here they are; you can click the images to view larger versions.

Then imagine that you'd never seen the originals. Your only access was via a sketch done in twenty minutes with a blunt charcoal pencil by a 20-year-old art student. The detail disappears, color is gone and the context is lost, because you have no information about the rest of the artists' work.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Upcoming: The Mousetrap by Agatha Christie, Austin Playhouse, November 20 - December 20

UPDATE: Click for ALT review, December 30

Received directly:

Austin Playhouse presents

The Mousetrap
by Agatha Christie

November 20 – December 20, 2009
Thursday - Saturday at 8pm, Sunday at 5pm
(No performance on Thanksgiving, Nov. 26)

Agatha Christie’s classic murder mystery takes the stage!

Giles and Mollie Ralston have just completed renovating the imposing Monkswell Manor into a charming country inn. The first night the inn is open for business they’re quickly snowed in with four guests and a stranded motorist. A detective arrives on skis to warn the group that he believes a murderer may be on the way, but when one of the guests is found dead, it becomes clear that the murderer may already be at Monkswell Manor. As the detective attempts to discover the truth, everyone becomes a suspect and long-hidden secrets are revealed.

[graphic based on HarperCollins' UK 50th anniversary edition, 1995]

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Upcoming: Frost/Nixon, Austin Playhouse, September 11 - October 11

Click for ALT review of October 4

UPDATE: Review by Olin Meadows at AustinOnStage.com, October 1

Received directly:

Austin Playhouse presents

Frost/Nixon
by Peter Morgan
September 11 - October 11, 2009

Austin Playhouse proudly opens their 10th anniversary season with the Austin premiere of Peter Morgan’s Tony Award-winning play, Frost/Nixon.

Frost/Nixon is set three years after Richard Nixon resigned from the Presidency in disgrace. Throughout those three years Nixon remained silent. But in the summer of 1977 the former commander-in-chief agreed to sit for an interview to confront the questions of his time in office and the Watergate scandal that ended his presidency.

Nixon selected David Frost as his interviewer, confident that he would outwit the lightweight British talk show host. But as cameras rolled, a charged battle of wits resulted. Would Nixon evade questions of his role in one of the nation's greatest disgraces? Or would Frost confound critics and elicit a confession from the man who'd built a career out of stonewalling?

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .