Upcoming: Manchild in the Wasteland by Barton Bryan, Hideout Theatre, April 19 - 29

presents

Manchild in the Wasteland

by Barton Bryan

directed by Kyle Evans

stage design by Ann Marie Gordon

April 19 - 29 ,

Hideout Theatre, 617 Congress Avenue (click for map)

Thursdays-Saturdays at 7:30 p.m., Sundays at 3 p.m.

Manchild in the Wasteland is a coming of age play that takes the audience on a roller coaster ride beginning with Barton's drive to join the Peace Corps. Faced with the harsh realities of living in a rural village in West Africa, Barton must discover new reasons to stay and fight for what he believes in to finally become a part of the village.

Barton was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Mauritania, West Africa from 2001-2003. He debuted Manchild in the Wasteland in New York City in 2006 and has taken the show to both coasts for several years. He has performed Manchild locally at the Vortex and at the Carver.

[image: www.letsgotoafrica.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

Upcoming: MilkMilk Lemonade, Shrewd Productions at the Hideout Theatre, September 8 - 25

Received directly:

presents

MilkMilk Lemonade

by Joshua Conkel

September 8 - 25, Thursdays - Saturdays at 8 p.m.

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

Tickets: $15-25 - Buy online

Meet Emory, an 11-year-old boy who lives on a farm with his chain-smoking Nanna and his only friend, a giant chicken named Linda. Nanna wishes Emory would put that barbie down, stop choreographing elaborate dance numbers and act more like a boy. Elliot, the bully down the road, wishes the parasitic twin living inside him would stop making him do awful things. Linda wishes she could pursue a career as a stand-up comedian instead of a main course meal. And Emory… he just wants to reach for the stars!

Shrewd Productions is proud to present this wickedly funny, delightfully strange and decidedly shrewd exploration of sex, gender, growing up - and how we fight to be who we are, no matter what.

Shrewd's production of MilkMilkLemonade in September of 2010 received 5 Austin Theatre Examiner nominations and 4 Austin Critics' Table nominations, winning Best Supporting Actress for Shannon Grounds and receiving a special citation award for Amelia Turner's makeup design. MilkMilkLemonade is directed by Jason Hays and stars Chris Hejl, Joe Hartman, Chris Humphrey, Shannon Grounds and Mike Slefinger, with set design by Nick Renaud, lights by Jon Derrington, sound by Bryan Schneider, makeup by Amelia Turner, choregraphy by Sharon Sparlin and costumes by Pam Friday.

“In this Shrewd Productions rendition of Joshua Conkel's play, the actors put themselves on the line, and the story stays with you after you leave."
- Barry Pineo - Austin Chronicle, "Top 10 Most Memorable Locally Produced Live Performance Offerings That I Chanced To See in 2010"

“by far the most non-stop hilarious show I have seen in a very, very long time."
- Olin Meadows, AustinOnstage.com

“A bizarre, but beautiful, journey into the world of youth...one of the most original, but delightful plays to hit the scene in some time“
- Ryan Johnson, Austin Theatre Examiner

"a touching and charismatic romp through childhood dreams and disillusions“

- Cate Blouke, Austin American-Statesman

Chesapeake by Lee Blessing with Charles Stites, Paladin Theatre, April 7 - 23

Sometimes the miracle happens.

Theatre is a collusion between actors and the audiences: You pretend to be somebody and I'll pretend to believe you. In the subtitle to his 2010 book-length essay The Necessity of Theatre, UT philosophy professor Paul Woodroof calls it "the art of watching and being watching." Writing for a rationalist public in 1817 Coleridge defended the use of the fantastical in poetry by invoking "that willing suspension of disbelief for the moment, which constitutes poetic faith.

"I love the collusion. My suspension is just about as elastic as they come, and I'll watch just about any offering of narrative theatre.

In his few short sentences on the back of the program card for Chespeake Charles P. Stites, solo player in this piece and director of himself, precisely captures that feeling: "My will to suspend my disbelief is on a hair trigger. As soon as the lights go down in a theatre, I will immediately go anywhere the actors and playwright want to take me."

And sometimes, so very rarely, a text and a performance so transcend that common transaction that you find yourself living from word to word, from gesture to gesture, in a trance of belief that's almost an out-of-body experience. You see through the actor into a succession of images, shaped by language and unexpected turns of plot and character, to a point that when the experience ends, when the lights fade out and you've finished with your convulsion of applause for this suddenly unfamiliar individual in front of you, you linger in that world of imagination for long minutes. As you make your way out of the theatre, navigate downtown streets, locate your car and drive home, you're still out there, somewhere.

Stites' delivery of Lee Blessing's Chesapeake was the most gripping act of theatre imagination I've ever seen in Austin. Take that with as many grains of salt as you like. I've been assiduously attending narrative theatre events here since mid-2008 when I instituted Austin Live Theatre as a blog, and I've written more than 400 reviews in that time.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Upcoming: Chesapeake by Lee Blessing, Charles P. Stites and Paladin Theatre Company at the Hideout Theatre, April 7 -23

Received directly:

The Paladin Theatre Company proudly presents
the Austin, Texas Premiere of

CHESAPEAKE

a one-character comedy by Pulitzer prize finalist Lee Blessing

directed and performed by B. Iden Payne award winner Charles P. Stites

“It’s a dog’s life...and the next one is, too.”

Thursday,April 7 - 23, Thursdays-Sundays
8 p.m. on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, and 5:30 p.m. on Sundays.
TICKETS: $10.00 on Thursdays, $12.00 on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays

Performances will be held at The Hideout Theatre, 617 Congress Avenue (click for map)

For tickets and information: Call AusTIX at (512) 474 - TIXS or order online at: http://www.NowPlayingAustin.com/Austix .

Tickets purchased at the door are cash only.
Email: info@paladintheatrecompany.com

When Kerr, a gay performance artist in New York, is publicly attacked by an ultra-conservative southern senate candidate named Therm Pooley, Kerr seeks revenge on both the politician and his political mascot, a Chesapeake Bay retriever named Lucky. When the plan goes haywire, Kerr is doomed to spend the next life as his worst enemy’s dog. Chesapeake is an uproarious, rousing comedy about passion, art, vengeance, forgiveness, and eternity.

Upcoming: Theatre du Grand-Guignol, @Theatre Project, Halloween and November 2

Received directly:

presents

Theatre Du Grand-Guignol
French theatre of horror

Halloween Evening, Sunday, October 31, 8 p.m. and 10 p.m.

Tuesday, November 2, 8 p.m.

The Hideout Theatre, 617 Congress Avenue Tel. (512) 443-3688

Join us on Halloween night for some dark and scary theatre! The @Theatre Project presents two short shows, "The Lighthouse Keepers" and "The Final Kiss." Directed by Alexis Arredondo, Victoria Alvarez and Producted by Karen Alvarado. Shows at 8:00 and 10:00 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 31 and Tuesday, Nov. 2 at 8:00 p.m. All at The Hideout Theater. Total running time for both shows is 45 mins. There is no charge for the show, but a $5 suggested donation will be accepted at the door. Beverages will be available at The Hideout Theater. Not for the faint of heart.
Come in costume and bring anyone who is looking for a theatre thrill for this spooky season! @ Theatre Project hopes to see you at our Theatre Du Grand-Guignol event!


www.alternatheatre.org ( to learn more about @ Theatre Project)
info@alternatheatre.org ( to contact us)

Upcoming: Insomnia, a musical comedy by Crank Collective at the Hideout Theatre, March 25 - April 10

UPDATE: KOOP-FM's Lisa Schepps interviews director John Cecil and the cast, and they perform two numbers from the show, March 22 (30 min.)

Found on-line:

Insomnia: A Musical Comedy

March 26 - April 10, Fridays and Saturdays, 8 p.m.

Hideout Theater, 617 Congress Avenue (Mainstage, first floor, not the improv space upstairs)

(Google directions and map) Running Time: 60 minutes

Ticket Price: $15, general admission; $12 student/senior

Tickets by Phone: 866-811-4111 or on-line at theatermania.com

• “Insomnia Patch activates the body’s own “alert centers,” creating a sense of well-being, enhancing productivity, and ELIMINATING THE NEED FOR SLEEP.”

Another light musical comedy from Crank Collective, who produced last year’s H1N1-themed Epidemic of Fear, The Influenzical. Insomnia is directed by John Cecil, and features Kacey Samiee, Joshua Meindertsma, Gail Hebert, Phil Rodriguez, Brett Tribe, Tracy Medberry and Kate Caldwell. Live music provided by Mikey Walters, Chris LaCava and the Hoyle Horns.

Crank Collective is a sponsored project of the Greater Austin Creative Alliance, a non-profit arts service organization, working to advance, connect and celebrate Austin's creative life. Insomnia is funded and supported in part by the City of Austin through the Cultural Arts Division.

More information and media at www.insomniashow.com, or contact John Cecil at insomniapatch@gmail.com or 512-569-6155.


Cast: Brett Tribe, Kacey Samiee, Phil Rodriguez, Tracy Medberry, Josh Meindertsma, Gail Hebert, Kate Caldwell (click image for bios)

Video montage from the 2008 production of Insomnia in Bucharest



Crank Collective is a sponsored-project of Austin Circle of Theaters, and this project is funded and supported in part by the City of Austin through the Cultural Arts Division

Images: John and Jen, Penfold Theatre at Hideout Theatre, February 4 - 21

Click for ALT review, February 8




UPDATE: Click for Michael Lee's interview with Michael McKelvey on KUT's "Arts Eclectic," with music from the production (2 min.)

Images received directly from






from its fourth production,
at the Hideout Theatre:

john & jen

directed by Michael McKelvey
with music by Andrew Lippa and lyrics by Tom Greenwald
February 4 – 21. Thursdays – Saturdays at 8 p.m, Sundays at 5 p.m.

john & jen takes audiences on a forty year journey from the mid-50s to mid-90s, exploring the relationships between brothers and sisters, and parents and children, during four decades of change. With a cast of only two persons, john & jen is a tour-de-force for two actors who take Jen and John from childhood, through adolescence and beyond.

Featuring Sarah Gay and Andrew Cannata. Artistic team includes David Utley (sets), Glenda Barnes (costumes), Steve Saugey (piano) and Trevor Detling (percussion).

Penfold theatre at the Hideout Coffee House & Theatre, 617 Congress Ave, Austin, TX 78701.

Tickets: $20 General Admission; $15 Students, Seniors and Groups; $10 Student Rush. Buy tickets online or through www.penfoldtheatre.com or call (800) 838-3006.

Upcoming: John and Jen, Penfold Theatre at Hideout Theatre, February 4 - 21

Click for ALT review, February 8



UPDATE: Unsigned review at AustinOnStage.com, February 8

UPDATE: Review by Jeanne Claire van Ryzin at Statesman A360 "Seeing Things" blog, February 8

UPDATE: Click for Michael Lee's interview with Michael McKelvey on KUT's "Arts Eclectic," with music from the production (2 min.)

Received directly:






stages its fourth production at the Hideout Theatre:

john & jen

directed by Michael McKelvey
with music by Andrew Lippa and lyrics by Tom Greenwald
February 4 – 21. Thursdays – Saturdays at 8 p.m, Sundays at 5 p.m.

john & jen takes audiences on a forty year journey from the mid-50s to mid-90s, exploring the relationships between brothers and sisters, and parents and children, during four decades of change. With a cast of only two persons, john & jen is a tour-de-force for two actors who take Jen and John from childhood, through adolescence and beyond.

Featuring Sarah Gay and Andrew Cannata. Artistic team includes David Utley (sets), Glenda Barnes (costumes), Steve Saugey (piano) and Trevor Detling (percussion).

Penfold theatre at the Hideout Coffee House & Theatre, 617 Congress Ave, Austin, TX 78701.
Tickets: $20 General Admission; $15 Students, Seniors and Groups; $10 Student Rush. Buy tickets online at www.penfoldtheatre.com or call (800) 838-3006.

The production features some of Austin's brightest musical theatre talent: Andrew Cannata (The Pajama Game, 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee), Sarah Gay (Grapes of Wrath, The Cherry Orchard) and stage/music director Michael McKelvey (Evil Dead, Sweeney Todd, The Last Five Years).

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Penfold Theatre Company is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to opening and operating a professional theatre in the north Austin metro area. It is the first professional theatre specifically dedicated to serving the over 350,000 residents in north Austin, Round Rock, Pflugerville, Cedar Park, Georgetown and Leander. In addition to its mainstage productions, Penfold offers a variety of education and outreach programs. For more information, visit www.penfoldtheatre.org.

Ongoing: Wonderland by Flying Theatre Machine, improv for children, Hideout Theatre, Sundays September 13 - October 25

Received directly from Flying Theatre Machine (improv for kids):

Hi Flying Theater Friends!

Our brand new run called Wonderland opens September 13. We had a preview last week at the festival and it is going to be really special. You totally get to help us make Wonderland really wonderful.


For online tickets ($7) you can go to: http://www.hideouttheatre.com/shows/flyingtheatermachine .

Fly High!
Jessica Arjet (aka Penelope Foolish)

Ongoing: Fairly Silly Fairy Tales, Flying Theatre Machine at Hideout Theatre, Sunday afternoons till September 21

Found on-line:








Fairly Silly Fairy Tales

participatory improv for children
by The Flying Theatre Machine
at the Hideout Theatre
2 p.m. Sundays through September 21

What happens when some of Austin's best improvisers get together and wonder why there's no improv their kids can watch? They decide to put together Flying Theater Machine.

Born in 2007, FTM aims to fill a shocking gap in Austin's improv scene: improv for kids and their grown-ups.

We want to make sure that everyone has a great time, so we mix it up with games, stories, music, juggling and a little bit of whatever we found in the closet. We know how much kids love to take part, so we designed a show that gets kids involved, shouting out the suggestions we base the stories on, and even coming up on stage to make it all happen.

Plus, we get our friends to come and help us with a song, magic trick, or special story each week. Take a look at some of our past and upcoming guests.

Review of Flying Theatre Machine by Carolyn Lindell, Austin Statesman, September 20, 2008

Upcoming: 40-Hr Improv Marathon Fundraiser, Hideout Theatre, June 26 - 28

UPDATE: Review in the Austin Chronicle, July 2, by Robert Faires, who sat in on hours 39 & 40, Sunday morning: "sharp, focused and riotously funny."

UPDATE: Robert Faires' interview of Andy Crouch concerning the 40-hr marathon, Austin Chronicle of June 25

UPDATE: Erik Adams' interview of Jeremy Lamb concerning the 40-hr marathon, Austin.Decider.com of June 25

Found on-line at KEYE-TV:

An Austin institution known for its improv is getting a second life after 10 years of comedy in the Capital city.

Roy Janik, Kareem Badr and Jessica Arjet are taking over The Hideout Theatre, a local improv comedy club where they were all once students. Despite the lease running out and the previous owner stepping down after 10 years, these three wanted to keep the laughs going.

“We didn’t want to see it die because that’s where we learned improv, and we love it,” stated Janik.

Arjet even put her life’s savings on the line. “I have an inheritance, which is all my savings in the entire world. My husband was like, are you sure you want to do this?”

She is sure, she says, because you can’t put a price on making people feel good.

“Who needs material things when you have theater?”

In order to accomplish their goal of reviving the theater, the three new owners will be hosting a 40 hour improv marathon next weekend. This marathon will not only help save the theater, but will also fund other acting programs in Austin.

Badr said, “It’s the worst idea ever, it’s going to be amazing.”

[photo by Peter Rogers, published in the Austin Chronicle]

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change, NxNW at the Hideout Theatre, September 19 - October 12

This cheery cabaret production is a strawberry parfait, a delicious concocoction highly appealing to the eye with lots of sugar and self-confident sophistication. The North by Northwest Theatre Company has enlisted four attractive and highly talented actor/singers to create in Austin the first presentation of I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change, a piece that played for 12 years off Broadway. Its 5000+ performances put the run of this simple musical second only to the Fantastiks.

ILYYPNC is playing for only four weekends here in Austin, Friday through Saturday through October 12 at the Hideout Theatre at 617 South Congress.

For non-initiates such as us, from the street the Hideout looks like an ordinary coffee shop & bar, conveniently located for a subsequent crawl of the bars and pubs along 6th street. But they deal in entertainment as well as coffee, beer, wine and snacks. On Saturday ILYYPNC was playing in the downstairs 100-seat “black box” while upstairs at the same time, the announcement read, “a crew of Austin's finest improvisers take the stage in full Federation uniform and, based on audience suggestions, create a wholly original ‘episode’ set in the Star Trek Universe.”

The ladies in the ticket office took one look at us and commented, “Nah – they’re not here for the Trekkies.”

We hated being so obvious, but then, we had in fact made an on-line reservation for ILYYPNC.

Our four actor/singers are accompanied by a keyboardist and violinist for a zippy evening of black-out sketches and songs, themed loosely on the lines of courtship, marriage, parenting and the pleasant puzzles of romance at middle age and later. Onstage for almost two hours with a 15-minute break halfway, Michelle Cheney, Joe Penrod, David Sray and Wendy Zavaleta deliver along with their rapid fire of very funny skits not fewer than 21 musical numbers, ranging from solos to a finale (“I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change”) that starts with an a capello worthy of Lambert, Hendricks and Ross.

The show has the bright, derisive flash of New York – it is fun poked by sophisticate singles and the New York artist community at the dilemmas of the love life of bourgeois middle America. Most of the skits are silly, mugging cartoon send-ups of all too familiar life dilemmas, and the audience responds with hilarity at the send-ups.

In the first half the show has a merry time making fun of the insecurities of dating, sexual posturing, the lack of eligible beddable bachelors, guy behavior as opposed to girl behavior, well-intended parental interventions in romance, and the panic of proposals and weddings. The downtown audience howled and sometimes shouted out recognition and encouragement – most of those attending were of college age or in late 20s and early 30s, and they were clearly getting happy shocks of recognition.

So imagine this scene: superb actors, clowning and singing their hearts out with midtown Manhattan sophistication, and a youngish audience that was drinking beer as if it were going out of style. Again and again, spectators descended the center stairs and crossed in front of half the stage on their way out and back to the bar and the bathroom. Early on, they usually waited for the blackouts, but as the evening wore on and the alcohol level rose, occasionally someone would cross in front of an actor/singer hard at work.

Too bad there wasn’t a rear stair for those folks. Or a trap door.

But with everyone so well launched, the second half was equally successful.

Leaving aside that growsing, what talented and attractive actors these are!

Chameleons all, they appeared in constantly changing relationships to one another.


Above, David plays the oblivious self-centered engineer blathering on as Wendy wonders whether all available single men are all such losers. Below left, Joe delivers a quiet, wondering paean to the wonder of staying in love with the same woman for more than thirty years. Below right, Michelle is captivated by a “chic flic” (while the guy at her side struggles unsuccessfully to remain manfully indifferent).

The music is mostly up tempo, the lyrics witty and the melodies engaging but ultimately forgettable. The magic is in the actors themselves. For example they take four swivel chairs and turn them into a family car, complete with obnoxious kids in the back seat:



That one is an anthem marking the lasting love affair between Joe, father of the family -- and his vehicle.

Examples of other transformations, quickly:

Michelle, singing of the miseries of serving always as a bridesmaid, never as a bride – and assembling a collection of never-reusable bridesmaid’s outfits.










David on the superhero fantasies of geeks and nerds.







The whole company, when Michelle and Joe as the parents learn at Thanksgiving that after two years of living together son David and fiancée Wendy have decided to break up:


After trouncing Joe yet again on a fourth date, Wendy maneuvers him out of his gentlemanly distance and persuades him to come over for lasagna (“and you’ll bring the wine and the condoms, right?”) She closes that scene with an inspired little jump of glee.

And my personal favorite is a solo turn by Wendy, with not a note of music. She plays a woman recently divorced, still hurt and angry, who is reluctantly recording a video for a dating service -- and impulsively lays it all out, not giving a damn about masquerading as younger, more accessible or invulnerable.

So open your browser or pick up your telephone, and make your reservations now. If we are lucky, North by Northwest might get this show extended or repeated. But for now, you have your choice of only three remaining weekends, Friday to Sunday, to schedule this delightful dessert.


Producer's comments on opening night, including a reviewer in the front row (not me!)

Lambert, Hendricks and Ross doing "Swingin' the Blues"

Mothers of Invention, Hideout Theatre, September 5, 6, 12, 13

Click here for Barry Pineo's Austin Chronicle review of this one-woman show (1 hr. 10 min.) by Laura Poe at downtown's Hideout Theatre.