I was invited this past weekend to attend the closing performance of Steel Magnolias, produced at the First Baptist Church, 901 Trinity Street, by the aptly named Trinity Street Players.
The audience filled the black box theatre, a converted space on the upper floor of the church, in which banks of raised seating stood on three sides of the rectangular playing space.
Both the venue and the disposition of the stage brought to mind one of the essays in UT philosopher Paul Woodruff's book last year, The Necessity of Theatre: The Art of Watching and Being Watched (Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press, 2007). After thirty years of work, like me, he returned to an early passion for the theatre. "Instead of writing about Aristotle," he comments in the introduction, "I have written a kind of poetics of my own."
Noted in the Statesman's XL listings and then located on-line:
Trinity Street Players present
Steel Magnolias Friday, July 31 - Sunday, August 9, 2009 First Baptist Church Black Box Theater 901 Trinity Street,Austin, TX View Google map
Reserve your FREE tickets now to see Steel Magnolias in FBC's Blackbox Theater! Written by Robert Harling but based on the true story of a small town, Steel Magnolias is a heart-warming play full of laughter tears and great eighties hair-dos!
Directed by Cathy Jones and assisted by David McCullars Steel Magnolias stars Ann Pittman, Mary Jane Smith, Julie Latimer-Spears, Elspeth Silva, Arleigh DeLeon and Linda Miller Raff.
Shows are almost completely sold out so we've added a Thursday night performance Aug. 6th! Call 476-2625 or 913-7636 to reserve your tickets for July 31, Aug 1, 6, 7, 8 at 8pm or Sundays Aug 2, 9 at 2:30pm!
