Upcoming: SIng, Muse, Vortex Repertory, August 3 - 11

VORTEX Repertory Company

presents

Sing Muse

A devised ensemble work by VORTEX Repertory Company

Conceived and directed by Rudy Ramirez

August 3-11, 2012 Two Weeks Only!
There will be a talkback session after every performance for the audience to have a conversation with the artists who created the piece.

at The VORTEX, 2307 Manor Rd. Austin, TX 78722 (click for map) Free Parking. Bus Route.
The Butterfly Bar@The VORTEX--open nightly at 5pm

TICKETS ARE NOW ON SALE!
Tickets: $30-$10
Sliding Scale: $30-$25 Priority Seating,
$15-$20 General Admission, $10 Starving Artists
Available at www.vortexrep.org or call 512-478-5282.
Limited seating.

Sing Muse draws on the classical art forms of poetry, theatre, music, dance, history, and astronomy to bring a long-forgotten myth to the VORTEX stage for two weeks only.

Few remember Thamyris, the once-legendary poet of Ancient Greece who was the first man to fall in love with another man. But the Muses remember. Thamyris claimed he could make art superior to the Muses’ and failed. After defeating him, they sentenced him to an eternity in Hell. However, eternity is a long time, and now The Muses will give Thamyris one last chance to redeem himself. Together they tell a story about searching for the one thing more elusive than love: inspiration.

This production of Sing Muse is the initial phase of its artistic development. VORTEX welcomes audience response in order to assist in the future revision and production of this piece for VORTEX’s upcoming 25th season. There will be a talkback session after every performance for the audience to have a conversation with the artists who created the piece.


VORTEX Repertory Company members Jennifer Coy, Krysta Gonzales, Jonathan Itchon, Chelsea Manasseri, Betsy McCann, and Melissa Vogt-Patterson join with guest artists Hayley Armstrong, Nickclette Izuegbu, Laura Ray, and Karen Rodriguez to create a new theatre piece under the direction of Rudy Ramirez. These artists collaborated on original material all year to develop and devise Sing Muse.

Directed by Rudy Ramirez, Scenic design by Ann Marie Gordon, Lighting design by Patrick Anthony, Costume design by Haydee Antunano.

The Cast:
Hayley Armstrong: Urania, Muse of Astronomy
Jennifer Coy: Polyhymnia, Muse of Hymns and Religious Poetry
Krysta Gonzales: Terpsichore, Muse of Dance
Nickclette Izuegbu: Calliope, Muse of Epic Poetry
Chelsea Manasseri: Euterpe, Muse of Music
Betsy McCann: Melpomene, Muse of Tragedy
Laura Ray: Clio, Muse of History
Karen Rodriguez: Thalia, Muse of Comedy
Melissa Vogt-Patterson: Erato, Muse of Love Poetry
Jonathan Itchon: Thamyris, a poet


Tickets and more information www.vortexrep.org

Images by Kimberley Mead: Lear, Vortex Repertory, May 20 - June 18

Images by Kimberley Mead:

presents

Lear

by William Shakespeare in a new adaptation by Rudy Ramirez

starring Jennifer Underwood

directed by Rudy Ramirez

May 20 - June 18

Thursdays - Sundays at 8 p.m.

Vortex Repertory, 2307 Manor Rd. (click for map)

(Jennifer Coy as Regan, Suzanne Balling as Cordelia)

In an age when women hold more power and in a time when the media turns the private into the public a mother divides her empire among her daughters. As her world crumbles and her family turns its back on her, can she face the storm and find love, forgiveness, and peace? A Celtic legend made into a Renaissance masterpiece, The VORTEX now re-imagines William Shakespeare's King Lear as a female leader for the modern world, where globalization blurs the line between governments and corporations and names like Clinton, Palin, Thatcher, Stewart, Wintour, and Winfrey have inspired admiration, contempt and controversy. Jennifer Underwood leads a cast of Austin's finest actors in a story of gender and power, family and business, compassion and betrayal.

Click to view additional images by Kimberley Mead at AustinLiveTheatre.com. . . .

Short Take: Lear by Shakespeare, Vortex Repertory, May 20 - June 18

Short take:

The Vortex version of Lear features several accomplished Austin actors, including most notably Jennifer Underwood in the title role, but director Rudy Ramirez trivializes Shakespeare's great epic of royal folly and delusion. Lear's rage against the storm is converted into a confused confrontation with paparazzi, and key narration is projected as sound-bites from MSNBC-style talking heads, proving that style can defeat substance. Cross-gender casting for the roles of Kent and Edda (Edgar) is puzzling; less so for Shannon Grounds as the Fool. Underwood doesn't really get going until the mad scene in Act IV, scene 6. Other standouts in the cast include Micah Goodding as the wily and wicked bastard Edmund, Jen Coy as Regan and Tom Truss as Cornwall. The last third or so of the production -- from the blinding of Gloucester onward -- has impact and conviction.

Upcoming: Lear by WIlliam Shakespeare with Jennifer Underwood, Vortex Repertory, May 20 - June 18

Found on-line:

presents

Lear

by William Shakespeare

starring Jennifer Underwood

directed by Rudy Ramirez

May 20 - June 18

Thursdays - Sundays at 8 p.m.

Vortex Repertory, 2307 Manor Rd. (click for map)

In an age when women hold more power and in a time when the media turns the private into the public a mother divides her empire among her daughters. As her world crumbles and her family turns its back on her, can she face the storm and find love, forgiveness, and peace? A Celtic legend made into a Renaissance masterpiece, The VORTEX now re-imagines William Shakespeare's King Lear as a female leader for the modern world, where globalization blurs the line between governments and corporations and names like Clinton, Palin, Thatcher, Stewart, Wintour, and Winfrey have inspired admiration, contempt and controversy. Jennifer Underwood leads a cast of Austin's finest actors in a story of gender and power, family and business, compassion and betrayal.

Produced by VORTEX Repertory Company. Adapted from Shakespeare and Directed by Rudy Ramirez. Scenic Design by Ann Marie Gordon, Lighting Design by Jason Amato, Video Design by Sergio R. Samayoa, Costume Design by Pam Fletcher Friday. Stage Management by Tamara L. Farley.

Starring Jennifer Underwood as Lear with Suzanne Balling as Cordelia, David Boss as France/Ensemble, Jennifer Coy as Regan, Mick D'arcy as Gloucester, Trey Deason as Oswald, Joseph Garlock as Burgundy/ Ensemble, Micah Goodding as Edmund, Shannon Grounds as The Fool, Chelsea Manasseri as The Doctor/Ensemble, Toby Minor as Albany, Mindy Rast as Curan/Ensemble, Laura Ray as Lear's Gentlewoman/ Ensemble, Andrea Smith as Goneril, Tom Truss as Cornwall, Amelia Turner as Edda, and Julianna Elizabeth Wright as Kent.

VORTEX Repertory Company is funded and supported in part by the City of Austin through the Cultural Arts Division, by the Texas Commission on the Arts, and by a and an award from the National Endowment for the Arts, which believes that a great nation deserves great art.

Upcoming: Cardigan by Trey Deason, added performances at UT, February 5 and 6

Received directly:

Purple Crayon Theatre presents

Cardigan

by Trey Deason

reprised from FronteraFest 2011

Saturday, Feb 5th and Sunday, Feb 6th at 8PM
Rm 2.112, The Winship Theater
UT Campus, corner of 23rd and San Jacinto
Suggested Donation: $10 (no one turned away!)

Edgar Cardigan is a world-renowned author and university professor: beloved by his students, courted by publishers, desired by women. Or he's a pathological liar compensating for life's disappointments by indulging in a world of fiction. As he assails his students with the story of his fateful date with Mary, a waitress with acting aspirations, the line between truth and fiction becomes blurred beyond distinction.

Click for ALT review, January 30

Cardigan by Trey Deason, Purple Crayon Theatre at FF Long Fringe, January 20 - 29

Maybe a playwright shouldn't act in his own play. Unless, of course, he's one of those comedy yuksters who speaks directly to the audience and makes smartass observations about his own life exeriences and surroundings.

Trey Deason, the playwright, plays the lead character in Cardigan, a piece expanded from a well-received 2010 Short Fringe offering. His assumption of that identity may be disconcerting to those who have run into him in so-called real life.

Deason is reticent, polite and quiet almost to a fault, at least with those whom he doesn't know well. As Edgar Cardigan, writer, arriving to lecture to us for a class in creative writing, he's emphatic, dismissive, vulgar and as hopped-up as if he were on speed. One is tempted to suppose that this is a portrait of Deason's Evil Twin, a sort of exercise in personal psychodrama. The writer is writing about a writer who is quickly revealed as a compulsive fabricator, and most of what follows is demonstration both of misogyny and misanthropy.

Perhaps director Rudy Ramirez shouldn't have allowed Cardigan to have have snarled so quickly and viciously at Angelia Davis, the actress planted in the audience to play the student. Perhaps Deason should have done breathing exercises so that his character would be less twitchy at the start. Or perhaps just have entrusted the role to another actor.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Upcoming: The Elementals: Air, Vortex Repertory, February 18 - March 20

Found on-line:

presents the world premiere of

The Elementals: AIR

Sacred Dance Theatre
conceived andd irected by Bonnie Cullum, music by Chris Humphrey
Feb.18-Mar.20, 2011; Thursdays-Sundays @ 8 p.m.

Tickets: $30-$25 Priority Seating, $20-$15 General Admission, $10 Starving Artists
Thursdays and Sundays 2-for-1 admission with donation of 2 non-perishable food items for SafePlace Pantry.

Limited seating. Advanced purchase recommended.

[image: "Towering Clouds," Shi Yali, www.stockphoto.com

Fresh Breezes. Heavenly Song. Fearless Flying.
Storm Winds. Gentle Floating. Sweet Scent.
Pulsating Didgeridoo. Glowing Sunrise.
Soaring Eagle. Starfinder.

The Elementals: AIR celebrates the gifts and stories of Air through dance, song, poetry, and sacred intention. AIR features aerial dance, live music, poetic narrative, and illuminating imagery on a multi-level playground. Environmental themes focus on the precious Elemental Forces of Air. Spirits of the Air include Eagle, Butterfly, Sylph, Dragon, Phoenix, Harpy, Angel, and Airbender. AIR is the first in a unique series of five sacred elemental explorations (Air, Fire, Water, Earth, Spirit) to be created collaboratively with performers and designers over the next several years at The Vortex.

The Elementals: AIR features VORTEX veteran performers Gabriel Maldonado, Betsy McCann, Andy Agne, Jennifer Coy, Krysta Gonzales, Justin LaVergne, and Alejandro Rodriguez. Making their VORTEX debuts with AIR: Celeste Bliss, Bethany Summersizzle, Courtney Brock, Joanna Wright, Kylie Baker, Jenny Lavery, and Carole Metellus.

Scenic Design by Ann Marie Gordon. Lighting Design by Patrick Anthony and Jason Amato. Costume Design by Talena Martinez.

The Elementals: AIR is funded in part by VORTEX Repertory Company, the City of Austin under the auspices of the Austin Arts Commission, and the Texas Commission on the Arts.

Auditions: Lear with Jennifer Underwood, Vortex Repertory, appointments for November 8

Received directly:

VORTEX Repertory Company announces

Auditions for

LEAR

By William Shakespeare

Starring Jennifer Underwood as Lear

Featuring Jennifer Coy as Regan and Andrea Smith as Goneril

Directed by Rudy Ramirez

When: Monday, November 8, 2010, 6pm-10pm by appointment

For an audition appointment email vortex@vortexrep.org or call Bonnie Cullum at 512-478-LAVA (5282)

Where: The VORTEX, 2307 Manor Rd. Austin, TX 78722

Seeking actors to fill the following roles:

Women: Cordelia

Men: Albany, Cornwall, Oswald, Edmund, Gloucester

Women or Men: Edgar, The Fool, Kent, ensemble

Ethnic diversity encouraged and desired. Performers will be compensated. Performances in May, June 2011.

Audition Preparation: Please prepare a Shakespearean (or other Renaissance) monologue. You may also be asked to do cold readings of monologues from King Lear.

Please bring a resume and headshot/photograph.

“Oh, how this mother swells up towards my heart!” –King Lear, Act 2, Scene 4

Sleeping Beauty, Vortex Repertory, April 2 - May 9

The Vortex's Sleeping Beauty is a riot of costumes and color, music and dance. Bonnie Cullum and composer-librettist Content Love Knowles keep that cast of 20 swirling in the vortex around the spiral staircase at stage center, animated by Knowles and three other musicians perched high above stage right. Many of the players play double roles. Costumes by Pam Fletcher Friday and Griffon Ramsey are inventive, playful and brilliantly colored, with the witty use of found fabrics and objects, as if the players had discovered a treasure trove of dress-up clothes in grandma's attic.

Jennifer Coy as the Fool deserves the lead image for this musical. In good fool tradition, she is the only real adult in this happy ensemble of gifted adult-sized characters and artists. Coy has a brash, raucous side to her, a knowing wink at this nonsense, and she winds it up with a solo epilogue addressing the audience, making sure that they enjoyed the spectacle and crowing, "And now let's all have a drink!"

Playtime at the Vortex gives us a sprightly retelling of the Sleeping Beauty story full of incident and relatively bereft of deeper meaning. The first act establishes the court, the statuesque Queen (Betsy McCann) yearning for a child, some Disneyesque jumpin' jive in the castle, a long funny number as the Queen is offstage in labor, celebration, and a long, long naming song that saddles the kid with about fifteen names.

And then there's the extended business of fairies bringing gifts. Because the heedless top-hatted King (Adam Smith) neglected to invite her, the impressively salamander-like fairy Ixlamere (Suzanne Balling) curses the newborn with the prediction that she'll prick her finger on a spindle and die.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Upcoming: Sleeping Beauty, Vortex Repertory, April 2 - May 9

UPDATE: The Vortex has extended Sleeping Beauty to May 9

Click for ALT review, April 11

UPDATE: Review by Jeanne Claire van Ryzin, Austin Statesman's "Seeing Things" blog, April 8

UPDATE: Jeanne Claire van Ryzin interviews Bonnie Cullum about Sleeping Beauty, April 1

UPDATE: Lisa Schepps on KOOP-FM interviews leading singer-actors Jonathan Itchon and Julia Lorenz, as well as creators Bonnie Cullum and Content Love Knowles on her program "Off Stage and On the Air," March 29

Received directly:

Vortex Repertory Company
presents

Sleeping Beauty

A new musical faery tale
by Bonnie Cullum and Content Love Knowles
April 2 - May 9 Thursdays-Sundays 8 p.m.
ASL-Interpreted Saturday, May 10, 2010
Audio Description Saturday, May 17, 2010
Faery Masque Ball on Saturday, May 1
The Vortex, 2307 Manor Rd. Austin 78722. Free Parking. Bus Route. Lovely café.

Tickets: $30-$10 Available at 512-478-LAVA (5282) or www.vortexrep.org
$30-$25 Priority Seating, $20-$15 General Admission, $10 Starving Artists. Thursdays and Sundays 2-for-1 admission with donation of 2 non-perishable food items. Limited seating.

VORTEX Repertory Company proudly presents Sleeping Beauty, a magical new musical by Bonnie Cullum and Content Love Knowles. Loosely based on the Grimm Brothers’ faery tale, this dynamic production joins the musical theatre cannon with a feminist, revisionist re-telling of a well-beloved faery tale. While this production is not designed for children (scary faeries), we welcome audiences of all ages (PG-13 with no nudity or foul language). This is not your mama’s faery tale.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Talking With by Jane Martin, North by Northwest Theatre Company at the City Theatre, October 9 - 18

The solo monologue is one of the purest demonstrations of the art. These six women come individually to you in the intimacy and immediacy of the City Theatre's small house. In each scene the actress takes that text with your complicity and, before your eyes, becomes the character.

"Jane Martin" is probably a pseudonym for Jon Jory, who has directed all of her ten plays. The mysterious Jane has never been seen. She twice won the American Theatre Critics' award for a new play and was nominated for a Pulitzer prize. Jory simply declines to discuss the matter -- perhaps a ploy, perhaps an artist's staking out the liberty to explore his feminine side.

Because each of these characters is vividly, irrevocably female. Michelle Cheney as the actress finishing her makeup as "fifteen minutes!" to curtain time is called; Renee Brown as the housewife who escapes daily reality; Wendy Zavaleta as a daughter grieving the death of her otherwise indomitable mother; Jennifer Coy as a brash auditioner perfectly willing to use blackmail; B.J. Machalicek as a dreamer at McDonald's; and Marsha Sray as a girl explaining the meaning of baton twirling.

That's just the first act.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Upcoming: Talking With, North by Northwest Theatre Company at City Theatre, October 9 - 18

Click for ALT review, October 13

From NxNW Theatre Company:

Talking With

by Jane Martin
directed by Joni McClain
October 9 - 18

A young woman tests her faith by handling poisonous snakes. A destitute woman longs to live in McDonald’s where the sick are cured by Big Macs. A housewife makes a daily escape to the magical land of Oz. Pulitzer nominated playwright Jane Martin gives us the provocative and heartfelt stories of these and other women who are ostracized by the American dream. Talking With is a powerful show, both funny and sad, that examines courage, awaking from complacency and the value of eccentricity. Starring Renee Brown, Michelle Cheney, Jennifer Coy, BJ Machalicek, Marsha Sray and Wendy Zavaleta.

October 9 - 18
Eight Performances Only!
Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat at 8:00, Sun at 2:00
Tickets $20, $18 students/seniors
The City Theatre, 3823 Airport Blvd

Nunsense, City Theatre, June 11 - July 5

This saucy, sparkling production of a popular favorite plays merrily with its basic premise: even if you're very, very good, you can laugh and dance to the joy of life.

Dan Goggin's idea is so simple that it started out as a line of greeting cards. Their immediate popularity prompted him to put his mischievous nuns on stage. He reworked a warmly received trial run (of 38 weeks!) into a longer piece that opened off Broadway in 1984 and then moved uptown for a ten-year run and 3.672 performances. Nunsense is the second-longest running Broadway musical -- surpassed only by The Fantasticks, also playing currently in Austin. Nunsense has played in 26 languages and 6000 productions worldwide, with a combined cast of about 25,000 women.

The Georgetown Palace did the show last August. That production was perky, fun and well applauded. The City Theatre version now on stage has the same energy and good humor, in the up-close intimacy of a playing space seating only a quarter the size of the Palace. Andy Berkovsky's version borrows virtually nothing from the Palace, other than the most important feature of all: its leading Reverend Mother, Mary Regina, created by Melissa McAtee.

Click to read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Upcoming: Nunsense, City Theatre, June 11 - July 5

UPDATE: Click for ALT review, June 16



From City Theatre Austin:

NUNS OF FUN!
Madcap Musical
Nunsense
Comes to Austin This Summer
June 11 - July 5

The early summer forecast for City Theatre calls for giggles, guffaws, chortles, and good old fashioned belly laughs…and it’s all thanks to the famed Little Sisters of Hoboken. The City Theatre Company is preparing to get thee to a nunnery with Nunsense, the hit musical comedy celebrating its 25th anniversary and filled with so much sisterly love and good cheer that it has had audiences around the world rolling in the aisles. The nuns strut their stuff June 11 - July 5.

Produced by The City Theatre Company, the musical comedy will be directed by Artistic Director Andy Berkovsky (The Boys Next Door, Alice in Wonderland, Glengarry Glen Ross) with choreography by Jessica Kelpsch.

It will feature the all-star cast of Melita McAtee (Reverend Mother), Michelle Cheney (Sister Mary Amnesia), Jen Coy (Sister Robert Anne), Glenna Bowman (Sister Mary Leo), and Dorothy Mays Clark (Sister Mary Hubert).

Thursday – Saturday at 8:00 p.m. Sunday 5:30 p.m.
*Last Weekend - No show July 3 & 4. July 5 – two shows 2:30 & 5:30. Added show Wed., July 1 8:00 p.m.
General Seating $20, Seniors $18, Guaranteed Reserved Seating $25, Students $15 Thursday all seats $15, Group discounts available.

Website: www.citytheatreaustin.org

The City Theatre
3823 Airport Blvd. – east between Manor Road and 38 ½ St.
Reservations 512-524-2870 or info@citytheatreaustin.org.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

The Secret Lives of the InBetweeners, Vortex Repertory, February 6 - March 7

Aaron Brown's musical at the Vortex benefits from a strong cast, Bonnie Cullum's assured direction, and a bouncy score, well executed by a five-piece band including piano, keyboard, guitar/bass, drums and a cello. You can relax and laugh, sympathize with the dilemmas of poor Joe (Jonathan G. Itchon, below) and his acquaintances, and generally have a good time.

But as for those Inbetweeners -- they seem to be the target audience for this piece, folks of university age or just beyond, who are likely to sympathize with an aspiring artist suffocated by the selfish embrace of his horrible mother (Jennifer Coy, seen only in silhouette, even during the curtain call).

This is plotting by the numbers. Central character Joe is frustrated artist who flees vulnerable woman photographer Tina (Sarah Gay) who's powerfully attracted to him ; comic relief is hairy geek Waldo (!) (Trey Deason) who lives in a computer game dream world but falls for a sassy, self-assured blonde, Charlotte (Jo Beth Henderson). Joe is putting on a play featuring Charlotte, so geek Waldo insinuates himself into rehearsals as the prop manager. Tender Tina obsesses over Joe, asks Charlotte for advice, has her telephone messages to Joe erased by the wicked Mom.

Okay, we could probably work with that. But what comes along then? A mephistophelian figure Fear (Rudy Ramirez) in black clothing, mascara, and black lipstick, balanced by Hope, a sort of happy urban gypsy played by Betsy McCann.

Let's review the Greatest Writing Clichés once again: #1, "It Was All Just A Dream"; #2, "He Dies and Goes to the Afterlife and Gets Another Chance"; and now this one: #3, "Indecisive Human Has a Devil on One Shoulder and an Angel on the Other, and the Supernatural Guys Make A Bet on Temptation and Salvation."

In all this mess, the most interesting character is None of the Above.

Errich Petersen (right) as Harry is probably meant to be the real-life devil. In a coffee shop he overhears the girls dramatizing Tina's plight and he intrudes, coming on to Tina with the casual assertion that she should pay attention to a real man. They expostulate and leave, but Tina comes back for her forgotten cell phone, and she's hooked. Harry is rich, or he pretends to be; he is out for a good time; and when Tina gets knocked up, bad old Harry urges her to turn to "a doctor that my parents have."

One problem with this stereotype is the actor. Errich Petersen is simply too credible for the character. He doesn't camp it up, so we can hiss him; he has good control over himself, his emotions, and his singing. I wound up thinking that the whole musical would have been a lot more interesting if it had been written about Harry. Oh, sure, give him a tough love lesson; but that would be a better dénouement than the one we get -- Joe finally storms out of Mommy's house to seek his fortune and Tina finds him for Instant Happiness.

Okay, maybe that's too cranky a summary of these goings on. I will confess that I'm far beyond the age of the Inbetweeners, so maybe that's why a predator is more attractive than a martyr.

Every one of these actors is talented and they give their all. Never mind me. Go and have a good time, cut 'em some slack. Especially if you're an Inbetweener!

Joey Seiler's review on the Statesman Austin360 blog, February 9.

Pre-production interviews by Priscilla Totiyapungprasert of the Daily Texan, published February 12

KUT.org audio piece published February 16

Review by Ryan E. Johnson on Austin.com, February 18