Upcoming: Graves End, a musical, staged reading by the Red Dragon Players, Austin High School, March 9 and 10

present

GRAVES END

a New Musical based on Edgar Alan Poe

by James Merillat & Jesse Johnson

Public Performances
Friday, March 9 at 8:00 p.m.
Saturday, March 10 at 2:00 p.m.

Larry Preas Theatre, Austin High School, 1715 W. Cesar Chavez (click for map)

Free Admission

Composer and writer, James Merillat & Jesse Johnson, from New York City, are our guest artist. They are working our students to develop and write a new Gothic-horror musical called GRAVES END. This new piece is based on the works of Edgar Alan Poe, and there will be a staged reading performance this weekend.


Featuring: Katie Berlin, Jack Corcoran, Maura Kampa, Louise Root

With… Isabella Bontorin, Andrew Newton, Felipe Ramirez, Catherine Schwartz

Upon A Midnight Dreary, Last Act Theatre Company, July 14 - 23

Edgar Allan Poe is a deceptively attractive figure for theatre makers. We've all read with a delicious shiver his best-known short stories. His themes of death, madness and mystery are so very elemental that they have never gone out of style. The elaborate early 19th century style of his poetry may be a challenge, but the simple sardonics of his short stories, often in first person, appeal to our desire for intensity.

As long as you're doing your own adaptation or interpretation, you don't have any royalties to pay, either, since the dissolute Mr. Poe collapsed on the streets of Baltimore in 1849 and died shortly thereafter.

The newly established Last Act Theatre Company has a genesis typical of ambitious young theatre groups in Austin. Five of the six members of the board are theatre graduates of Texas A&M Corpus Christi. They got started in Austin last October with Theatre de Grand Guignol at the Hideout Theatre and they have announced three more works for 2011-2012: a modern adaptation of Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus and original scripts by Gary Jaffe and by Bretton B. Holmes.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Auditions for Upon A Midnight Dreary (Two by Edgar Allan Poe), The Last Act Theatre Company, April 30

Received directly:

The Last Act Theatre Company will be holding

auditions for our next production

Upon a Midnight Dreary, a night of Edgar Allan Poe

on April 30 at the Dougherty Arts Center, 1110 Barton Springs Road (click for map).

We are looking to cast 5 men, 1 female and 2-3 female walk-on roles to participate in our adaptations of The Cask of Amontillado (Act 1) and The Tell-Tale Heart (Act II). Note: We are also looking for a sound board operator for the run of the show (dates below).

Character Breakdown:

Bernie- boisterous, offensive, sleazy business man, prideful, possibly alcoholic

Jack- seemingly a docile push-over, but is actually calculating, patient and vibrant in times of vengeful thought

Bartender- attractive woman who works in an upscale country club bar; feisty and curt

Mary- pre-cast

Doctor- pre-cast

John- married to Mary, shot in the stomach during a mugging and currently trying to keep his wife at bay while she is dealing with her unique injury

Officer #1- investigates scream in the middle of the night

Officer #2- investigates scream in the middle of the night

Walk-ons (3)- attractive females for country club party and street scenes; will wear designer dresses

We are open to all ages and ethnicities. The audition will be comprised of cold readings. Please bring a headshot and resume as well as email kalvarado1984@yahoo.com to RSVP an audition spot. Auditions will be held Sat, April 30th from noon until 4pm at the Dougherty Art Center. If this date/time does not work for you, please let me know and we can arrange something else. Also feel free to forward this audition notice to anyone you think will be interested.

The timeline for this production is as follows:

Rehearsals: starting late May; 3-4 times/wk from 7-10pm

Tech: July 12-13th at La Pena Art Gallery (3rd and Congress); 6pm-?

Run: July 14-16th and July 21-23rd at La Pena Art Gallery; call 6:30pm, curtain at 8pm

Also, be aware that this will be an unpaid gig and that we may ask the men to supply their own costume (based on what you already own of course). Most likely this would be a suit and/or business attire comprised of dark colors.