ZEUS IN THERAPY by Douglass Stott Parker, Tutto Theatre at Rollins Theatre, Long Center, August 18 - 25, 2013

presents
Zeus in Therapy
by Douglass Stott Parker
directed by Gary Jaffe
August 16 - 25, 2013
Rollins Theatre, Long Center, 701 Riverside at South First, Austin, TX - click for map

Tutto Theatre Company proudly announces the world premiere of Zeus in Therapy, an original theatrical experience adapted from the unpublished poetry of Douglass Stott Parker by the company, and directed by Gary Jaffe. 

When a god has questions, you know those really big questions…life or death…slave or free…savagery or civilization…fair or cloudy…her or her sister…, where does he go? And will there be cashews?

A long-time Austin resident, Parker was an improvisational jazz trombonist, a renowned translator of ancient comedy, an explorer of fictitious landscapes, and a profess of ancient languages and creativity at UT-Austin. He is best known for his work in Greek and Roman comedy, particularly his translations of Aristophanes’ plays Lysistrata (1964), The Wasps (1962), and The Congresswomen (1967). His Lysistrata has had over two hundred productions and is currently the translation published in the Signet Classics series. His The Congresswomen (Ecclesiazusae) was among the Finalists for The National Book Award in the category of Translation in 1968.

In 1979, he began writing Zeus in Therapy, a cycle of 52 poems which imagines Zeus on the therapist’s couch. Parker did not ‘finish’ it, though he stopped writing in about 1993, and left it unpublished during his lifetime. Every new poem in the cycle was shared both on his office door and with his classes on a weekly basis for some 25 years. Parker’s poetry is whimsical and profound, cosmic and quotidian, thoughtful and irreverent, but always heartfelt and true. Our translation of Zeus in Therapy into a theatrical experience will bring the power of his words to an even larger audience.

In our adaptation, a diverse ensemble of eleven performers play Zeus, giving Parker’s words a dynamic range of expression. Beginning with the classic binary image of therapy: therapist in chair, patient on couch, we expand as Zeus’s fracturing mind becomes a multitude of bodies and voices. As Parker’s words reverberate, and as actors scramble about the stage to perform the various travails of his life, we come to understand that Zeus, just like the rest of us, finds himself overwhelmed by expectations. 

The production features the award-winning acting talents of Aaron D. Alexander, Karen Alvarado, John Austin, Suzanne Balling, Joe Hartman, Court Hoang, Chris Humphrey, Annamarie Kasper, Julie Linnard, Nathan Osburn, and Justin Scalise; with Scenic Design by Justin Cox; Lighting Design by Natalie George; Costume and Hair & Make-Up Design by Austin M. Rausch; Choreography by Lynn Raridon; Video Design by Kakii Keenan; and Music by Chris Humphrey & Court Hoang.

Zeus in Therapy runs August 16th through 25th at the Rollins Studio Theater in The Long Center for the Performing Arts. Tickets available via The Long Center for the Performing Arts.

In the last six years, Tutto’s seven most recent productions: The Twelfth Labor (Summer 2012), The Alien Baby Play (Winter 2012), The Dudleys!: A Family Game (Spring 2011), I Witness (Summer 2010), Murder Ballad Murder Mystery (Fall 2009), Black Snow (Summer 2009), and Ophelia (Fall 2008) together have collected 64 nominations, garnered 27 awards, and appeared on 11 annual top listings from local media.


Founded in 2002, Tutto Theatre Company set out to elevate cross-disciplinary communication in the Austin artistic community. In 2008, we fused to our original purpose the artistic ambition to enhance, imaginatively, the expanding arts community in Austin. Imagination is the engine of the impossible, and ours is an Impossible Theatre. Embracing the theatre—a realm where impossibilities interpenetrate—we access the deeper meaning that lies beneath human experience. We create a space to carve into the unexpected, to dissect its viscera, and to lay bare its provocative sinews in ever more impossible ways. Ours is a theatre of dreams and of fantasies, of memory and of nostalgia, of desire and of disorientation, of imagination and of contradiction, an arena where the mundane grapples with the sublime. Thus, we commit tutto (everything) to the exploration of new forms and of new works that inscribe their fearful symmetries and incalculable geometries within our hearts, minds, and bodies.


We feel a profound responsibility both to new and timeless theatre. Our work, therefore, consists in: (1) producing experiences of high-quality both small and large; (2) developing new work and production opportunities for up-and-coming playwrights; and (3) helping our community to nurture its place as a world-class arts destination, providing local educational opportunities, and bringing artists from around the world to develop their work in our city. Thus we defy the grim reality of theatre making in the 21st century, declaring: Everything is possible in this our Impossible Theatre!

This project is funded and supported in part by the City of Austin through the Cultural Arts Division believing an investment in the Arts is an investment in Austin’s future.

(Click to go to the AustinLiveTheatre front page)

Video: Austin Live Theatre Talks with James Venhaus, Author of 'The Happy Couple' (Last Act Theatre Company, May 8 - 25, 2013)

Austin Live Theatre talks to playwright James Venaus about the upcoming
 

production of

The Happy Couple

by James Venhaus

May 8-25, 2013, Wednesdays - Saturdays at 8:00 p.m.

The White House Ranch, 3410 E. Pennsylvania Ave. (click for map)

To celebrate their anniversary, Michael and Mary Elizabeth visit the first home they ever lived in together. But the visit takes an unexpected turn when they discover a group of squatters living in the house. Last Act Theatre Company is proud to present this moving story about what happens when circumstances force people to face the reality of their situations. See what truths bubble to the surface when two different worlds collide!

Tickets available via BuyPlayTix

Extra: Derek Vandi's rehearsal week 1 blog entry with photo, April 7

THE WOMEN OF JUAREZ by Isaac Gomez, Cohen New Works Festival at University of Texas, March 25 - 28, 2013

presents






by Isaac Gómez, Bianca Sulaica and others

March 25: 8pm
March 26: 8pm
March 27: 8:30pm
March 28: 5:30pm

All performances for "The Women of Juarez" will be performed on the B. Iden Payne Stage in the F. Loren Winship Drama Building at the University of Texas at Austin.

"Before the war on drugs took precedence in our border country of Mexico, Ciudad Juarez had a bigger problem. Told through an ensemble of Latina women, The Women of Juarez explores the ways in which the stories of the women of Juarez – the missing and the lost; the murdered and the ones left behind – are honored and told in unconventional and untraditional ways."

As part of the Cohen New Works Festival presented by the University Co-op (www.coopnwf.org/www.facebook.com/events/545755898779591 for more information), "The Women of Juarez" hopes to honor the real testimonios of the real women in Juarez and the stories they have to tell.

Challenging the ways in which these stories are often told in books, film, and scholarship, our project activates an ensemble of ten latinas, a devised/collaborative script that doesn't follow a traditional "playwrighting" format, and a process that pulls from movement/gestures, real testimonies, generated text, public record, Mexican folkclore, and Mexican music; the world in this play is a complicated one and does not fit in the same scope a "traditional" play does.

Producer and Co-Writer Bianca Sulaica says, "For these Latina women, it's about recognizing yourself in these pictures of these missing women. And as a Latina woman, how you identify knowing that these women who are being targeted much because they are women and what they look like, and how you can related to being a possible victim because of what you look like."

Dramaturg Madilynn Garcia says, "This is a story that is going to change people. And I know it, because it's already changed me. These are stories that aren't told and having this space and this place for the stories of these women is so very important."

Featuring: Karen Alvarado, Dana Arismendez, Jenefer de la Fuente, Briana Garcia, Estrella Gonzalez, Lisa Veronica Martinez, Christen Perez, Graciela Reyna, Karen Rodriguez, and Bianca Sulaica.

Production Team: Isaac Gomez, Bianca Sulaica, Madilynn Garcia, Victoria Solorio, Melinda Wright, Mose Brown, Moses Park

"The Women of Juarez" will premiere as part of the Cohen New Works Festival presented by the University Co-op March 25-29, 2013.

All performances for "The Women of Juarez" will be performed on the B. Iden Payne Stage in the F. Loren Winship Drama Building at the University of Texas at Austin.

(Click to go to the AustinLiveTheatre front page)

Auditions for The Happy Couple by James Venhaus, Last Act Theatre Company, January 12

Auditions for The Happy Couple, an original script by Texas native James Venhaus, to be directed by Last Act Artistic Director Karen Alvarado. Auditions will be at the Dougherty Art Center, 1110 Barton Springs Road Austin, TX 78704 on Jan 12th, Sat 10 am-2 pm –you will need to be available for at least 2 of the 4 hours -- and on Jan 14th, Mon 6-9pm -anybody who can't audition Sat can come on Mon. Callbacks are tentatively scheduled for January 20th or 21st.

Casting male and female squatter, any age; male lawyer, 30s-40s; male blues musician, over 30. 

 Performances will be Wednesdays - Saturdays, May 8-25, 2013 at The White Horse Ranch. Sides will be available at the audition but also emailed out a few days prior. Please email LATco Business Director, Sara Billeaux at lastacttheatre@gmail.com to schedule your audition time. Please include your resume and headshot in your email.

To celebrate their anniversary, Michael and Mary Elizabeth visit the first home they lived in together. But the visit takes an unexpected turn when they discover a group of squatters living in the house. Last Act Theatre Company is proud to present this moving story about what happens when circumstances force people to face the reality of their situations. See what truths bubble to the surface when two different worlds collide!

Rehearsals would start April 1st. Table reading in Feb and/or Mar as well. This is a site specific show with 12 performance dates.


Click to view list of characters with descriptions at AustinLiveTheatre.com. . . .

Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe, Last Act Theatre Company, October 12 - 28

by Michael Meigs

Faustus, why do you torment me so? This production of the work of the mercurial Christopher Marlowe, an exact contemporary of Shakespeare, stabbed to death in a tavern at the age of 29, held me at an uneasy distance despite its robust verse and stark dilemma.


Austin's Last Act Theatre Company, just over a year old, demonstrates its art and vaunting ambition in daring to take on this text. Their productions for love of the art have been low-budget stagings in a succession of found locales around town. Doctor Faustus is presented, appropriately enough, behind a tavern -- the Pour House on Burnett Road -- in an edifice in stone that must have been used as a garage, judging from the stout girders, chains and decommissioned hoist overhead. Lengths of black curtain mask the corners. The audience is seated in the depth of the room and the principal entrances are through the same wide doorway that gave spectators access to the space. Props are few and simple; director Kevin Gates relies on his cast of 13 to create this work in the style that it would have been done in a tavern courtyard or a church portico.

Karen Alvarado, Ben McLemore (image: Jim McKay)

In theme and presentation Doctor Faustus is directly in the tradition of the medieval mystery plays. Few texts of them are extant. Those works may have been largely improvised, but both the French and English manuscripts that remain confirm the traditions of staging Bible pageants to communicate to the people the stories mostly sealed up in the impenetrable Latin of Jerome's Vulgate. The struggle to translate the Bible into vernacular languages didn't really begin until the mid-1500's. 


Marlowe wrote this text, his second drama, in about 1588 (before Shakespeare had produced anything he could put his name to). It was probably based upon a German text of about that date, registered in English translation only in 1592. To complicate matters further, Marlowe's work exists in two variants, the first printed in 1604 and the second printed in 1616. Theatre entrepreneur Philip Henslowe recorded in his account book for 1602 that he had paid two dramatists for additional scenes to be added to Doctor Faustus. The drama continued to be produced up until 1642, shortly before Cromwell and the Puritans closed the theatres.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .
 

Love in Pine by Gary Jaffe, Last Act Theatre Company at Broken Neck, February 16 - March 3

by Michael Meigs

Gary Jaffe's Love in Pine is a coming-of-age story, a coming-out story and a fable with a tree spirit and ghosts, all this with multiple realities and time periods anchored in the fictitious town of Pine, Texas at a time of conflagrations. This is unmistakably Bastrop, at about the time that Jaffe left Yale Drama School to return to his hometown of Austin. One wonders uneasily how much of this is auto-therapy, considering that a central character is seen job hunting on the east coast and then returning via some magical transport to the Texas that she holds in disdain.

Just now as I put the header on this piece, my fingers of their own volition typed Love in Pain instead of Love in Pine. That was a Freudian slip, not a an effort to be snide. There is a lot of pain in all of these characters and they work over the past obsessively as those big flames draw nearer.

Jaffe denies names to them. His characters have generic appellations both on the program card and as they speak of one another: Sister, Girl, Teacher, Boy and Tree. I found that precious and a bit off-putting, particularly given the closeness of their relations -- two sisters, a couple destined never to make it to the big prom, a trusted high school teacher (all right, I'll waive my objection in the case of the tree spirit).

The central obsessive incident is clearly depicted on the poster: on their way to their high school prom, with arrangements in place for post-dance coitus, the couple crashes against a huge pine tree -- ironically, the same one in which they carved their joined initials when they were thirteen years old. Just as Sister and Teacher had done when they were the same age, some years before that.

[image: Last Act Theatre Company]

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

Titus Andronicus, Last Act Theatre Company at CTC Garden, October 20 - 31

Austin likes its hellish Halloweens and on that score Titus Andronicus deserves standing-room-only audiences and ticket queues around the block, down there on César Chávez Avenue just a few blocks east of Interstate 35.

Forget all that stuff about Shakespeare they taught you in high school and college. This one he wrote really early in his career, in 1591 or so when he had only a couple of comedies and the three-part history Henry VI under his belt. The wannabe playwright gleefully embraced the new and popular genre of the blood-and-gore revenge tragedy pioneered by Thomas Kyd with The Spanish Tragedy, or Hieronimo is Mad Again (ca. 1585, published in 1592).

Looking for shivers? Try these: agéd Roman general Titus Andronicus returns to Rome after forty years of battles in which twenty-one of his twenty-five sons have been killed. He parades in captured Goth queen Tamora and her three sons; despite her pleading he orders his troops to take reprisal by killing the eldest and burning his corpse. Titus refuses the people's choice of him as their emperor and moves them to acclaim Saturninus, son of the former emperor.

Now emperor, Saturninus selects Titus' daughter Lavinia as his wife, thereby depriving his brother Bassanius of a sweetheart; Titus' sons refuse and spirit away their sister. Furious at this disobedience, Titus kills his own son Martius. Only after Titus' brother Marcus intervenes does the old warrior permit them to place the corpse of Martius in the family mausoleum. Annoyed at Bassanius' "rape" -- kidnapping -- of Lavinia, the emperor decides to take Goth queen Tamora to wife, giving her and her two remaining sons Roman citizenship. Tamora counsels new hubby Emperor Saturninus to stay calm, promising him "I'll find a day to massacre them all,/and raze their faction and their family. . . "

And that's just the first act.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Auditions for Titus Andronicus by Shakespeare, Last Act Theatre Company, August 20

Received directly from

Audition notice for

Last Act Theatre Company’s production of Titus Andronicus

The Last Act Theatre Company is audtitioning on August 20 and 21 for all roles for its upcoming production of Titus Andronicus . LATco. encourages actors of all age ranges and ethnicities to audition. Rehearsals begin September 6^th and the show runs October 20^th-30^th.

NOTE: This production deals with mature subject matter, including violence and rape, and will involve some intense fight choreography.

Roles:

Titus Andronicus – Roman general beloved by the people for his noble sacrifices over many years. His strict adherence to tradition leads him to make a series of unfortunate choices, spawning a cycle of revenge that makes up the action of the play. As the tragic protagonist of the play, Titus is both victim and perpetrator.

Marcus Andronicus – Titus’s brother and stalwart companion throughout the play. He is the voice of reason and stoicism amidst a whirlwind of violence and madness.

Lucius – Titus’s last surviving son. Over the course of the play he betrays his father, is exiled from Rome, raises a Goth army, and returns to pick up the pieces of a fractured nation.

Aaron – A Moor (Elizabethan term for a person of north or west African descent), and Tamora’s lover. His evil machinations spur much of the action of the play, but his cruelty is tempered by flashes of humanity, such as the affection he shows for his newborn son.

Tamora – Queen of the Goths, and then Queen of Rome after Saturninus weds her. She thus obtains the power to take revenge on Titus for executing her son Alarbus.

Lavinia – Titus’ only daughter. She is betrothed to Bassianus, but is coveted by Saturninus, as well as by Chiron and Demetrius who will eventually rape and disfigure her, leaving her mute and without hands.

Note: This role involves a scene of sexual assault. No nudity is required, and the actual rape does not take place onstage, but the actress should be prepared to tackle the intense subject matter. See contact info below for questions regarding the role.

Saturninus – The eldest son of the late emperor who inherits the throne by receiving the endorsement of Rome’s beloved general, Titus. He is an impetuous ruler, quickly taking the queen of Rome’s enemies as his bride and allowing her free reign to terrorize the Andronici.

Bassianus – The second son of the late emperor, and the ruler Rome should have had, if not for Titus’s endorsement of his brother, Saturninus. He sparks the wrath of both men by fleeing the palace with Lavinia, to whom he is betrothed.

Chiron and Demetrius – The ruthless sons of Tamora, who mercilessly rape and mutilate Lavinia.

Note: These roles involve a scene of sexual assault. No nudity is required, and the actual rape does not take place onstage, but the actors should be prepared to tackle the intense subject matter. See contact info below for questions regarding the roles.

Aemilius – A noble Roman and loyal servant to the throne. The actor playing this role will also play Alarbus and several other small roles.

Martius and Quintus – Two of Titus’s sons falsely accused for the murder of Bassianus. The actors playing these parts will also play several other small roles.

Mutius – One of Titus’s sons, killed by his father when he defends Bassianus’s right to Lavinia. The actor playing this part will also play several other small roles.

Nurse – A servant of the queen who bravely, and foolishly, brings Aaron his and Tamora’s illegitimate son. The actor playing this role will also play several other small roles.

Auditions will be held Saturday, August 20^th from 12:00 to 4:00 p.m. and Sunday August 21^st from 7:00-10:00 p.m. at Manos de Cristo: 4911 Harmon Avenue, Austin, TX 78751. Callbacks will be held on Wednesday, August 24^th from 7:00 to 10:00 p.m. at the same location.

Please submit a headshot and resume. You may submit an electronic headshot and resume in lieu of bringing a hard copy to the audition. Auditioners will be supplied with sides by email in advance of the audition. Please arrive at the beginning of the audition time and be prepared to stay for the duration. If you are not able to arrive until later, or if you cannot make any of these audition dates, please let us know the time when you will be arriving or of another way we may be able to accommodate you. Additional info about The Last Act Theatre Company can be found at lastacttheater.com

To Schedule Audition, Contact: Sara Billeaux – sbilleaux@gmail.com

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 . . . .

Upcoming: Upon A Midnight Dreary, Last Act Theatre Company atLa Peña Art Gallery , July 13 - 23

Received directly:

presents

Upon A Midnight Dreary

three pieces based on stories by Edgar Allan Poe

July 14 - 23
Thursdays - Saturdays at 8 p.m.
Manos de Cristo Community Center, 4911 Harmon Avenue (click for map)

Price:$15; reduced cost ($12) tickets available with a food donation at the door - see website for more details

The Last Act Theatre Company will be staging an unforgettable night of adaptations from Edgar Allan Poe’s canon of enthrallingly visceral prose. LATco.’s Upon a Midnight Dreary will include Poe’s infamous The Conqueror Worm, The Cask of Amontillado and The Tell Tale Heart. These uniquely chilling yarns will be dramatized in light of new relevance to today’s audience focusing on the most grotesque details of the human dilemma and examining the challenge of avoiding madness in an increasingly mad world.

We hope to offer every detail of this production as an opportunity to feature and celebrate Austin’s thriving community of artists. To that end, The Last Act Theatre Company has collaborated with local writers, clothing designers and sketch artists who have been working hard to handcraft almost everything that you will see on stage. Upon a Midnight Dreary promises to be a production unlike any other.

Upcoming: Woyzeck by Georg Buchner, Poison Apple Initiative, June 1 - 18

Received directly:

presents

Woyzeck

by Georg Büchner

directed by Bethany Perkins

June 01, 2011 - June18

Space 12, 3121 E. 12^th St.

Buy tickets on-line at Brown Paper Tickets ($15 + $1.62 service fee)

“Every man is a bottomless pit; you get dizzy when you look down.”

Woyzeck is the story of a military barber’s struggle to support his common-law wife and child. He is ridiculed by society and subjected to inhuman experiment s by a doctor. After a year of eating only peas he begins to hallucinate and, when Marie begins to turn her attentions elsewhere, their disconnection ends in violence. Incorporating found and original text, vivid visual tableaus, and live music by Reverend Glasseye, the piece will be performed in the intimate Space 12, a multi-use performance space in East Austin.

Directed by Bethany Perkins. Original music by Reverend Glasseye. Original text by Bastion Carboni, Sarah Saltwick, and the cast. Featuring Paul Szent-Miklosy, Karen Alvarado, Bastion Carboni, Melody Herron, John Cooley, Sergio Alvarado, Kara Juarez, Jordan Cooper, and Joshua Baker. Designed by Taylor Finley (scenic) and Jen Brown (costume).

Poison Apple Initiative is pleased to close its third season with its re-reinvention of Buchner’s surreal class drama. We are an independently-run local theatre company dedicated to the production of sharp, dark tragicomedies by local and national artists. Through our participation in the FronteraFest Long Fringe, Mi Casa Es Su Teatro, and the ArtSpark Festival, we’ve garnered a reputation for giving audiences “a razor-edged experience, one with a vibration and intensity that no video or cinema is going to provide” (Austinlivetheatre.com). Next fall we will embark on our fourth season featuring the regional premier of Jakob Holder’s post-Shepardian fever-dream Housebreaking, Bastion Carboni’s reality TV satire Holier Than Thou, and new supplementary programming including the Playwriting Slam and NeWorks Reading Series.

Upcoming: Woyzek, Poison Apple Initiative, June 1 -18 (plus a funding appeal)

Received directly, an appeal to help fund Poison Apple Initiative's Woyzek via www.kickstarter.com:

About This Project: Following our successful fundraiser for our production of Crumble (Lay Me Down, Justin Timberlake), Poison Apple Initiative is drumming up support for a new production of Georg Büchner's working class tragedy Woyzeck. This fundraiser will allow us to pay our cast, production team, band and crew for a project that has been six months in development. Our minimum goal is $1,000, but any funds raised beyond that will allow us to pay our amazing team even closer to what they deserve (which is at least $1000 a piece). Please visit www.kickstarter.com to learn more and to donate what you can.

Woyzeck is the tragic tale of a military barber's struggle to make ends meet and support his common-law wife and baby. He is ridiculed by society and subjected to inhumane experiments by a doctor. After a year of eating only peas, he begins to hallucinate, Marie turns her attentions elsewhere, and their disconnection ends in violence.

Incorporating found text, vivid visual tableaus, and live music by Adam Glasseye Beckley and his band, Reverend Glasseye, this new production of Woyzeck will be performed in the intimate Space 12, a multi-use performance and cafe space in East Austin. Directed by Bethany Perkins and featuring Paul Szent-Miklosy, Karen Alvarado, John Cooley, Kara Juarez-Jones, Sergio Alvarado, Melody Herron, Bastion Carboni and Jordan Cooper.

Keep an eye out for video interviews and clips of the rehearsal process, and please join us for the performances (Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday nights, the first three weeks of June 2011) even if you are unable to donate to this campaign.

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.

The Story Seekers by Katherine Craft, Exchange Artists at the Elizabeth Ney Museum, March 25 - April 10

The Elizabeth Ney museum on E. 44th Street in Hyde Park is already haunted. A crowd of stark white plaster figures and busts stand in the shabby shaddows of the odd small Austin-stone castle that was Ney's final residence in studio from 1902 to 1907. Among them is a bust of German writer and philologist Jacob Grimm that she sculpted of the old man in Berlin in the 1850's.

Grimm would have approved of Kattherine Craft's Story Seekers. He and his brother Wilhelm were Germany's most famous folklorists, seeking out and transcribing the vivid and often nightmarish imaginings of simple folk in the forests and farms. Tales those folks told to their children and to one another weren't the Disneyfied lore of Cinderella or sweet Hansel and Gretel. The stories spoke of abuse, menace, dark woods, shape changers and really really wicked stepmothers. An essential message was that the world was full of dangers, so children had really better watch out.

Director Rachel Wiese from the Exchange Artists has assembled some of Austin's most attractive and dedicated young adult theatre artists for this piece. With a pass of her director's magic wand and a consensus of the cast, she has transformed them into children, aged probably from eight to twelve.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Upcoming: The Story Seekers, Exchange Artists at the Elizabeth Ney Museum, March 25 - April 10

Found on-line:

present

[image: Kelly Bland, by Kimberley Mead]

The Story Seekers

by Katherine Craft

March 25 - April 10

Thursdays - Sundays at 7 p.m.

A new play on the grounds of The Elisabet Ney Museum

304 E. 44th Street, Hyde Park neighborhood, Austin

Tickets are a suggested $15 donation and can be reserved by emailing exchangeartists@gmail.com or calling (979) 255-8292.

A band of children live as prisoners in an alternate world, never changing as long as the storyteller who trapped them holds the endings to their stories in her book. Some of these characters are familiar – Lupe, who escapes La Lorona; Abini, the Yoruban miracle child; and Hans, who followed the Pied Piper out of Hamlin – but there are other children caught in the forest as well. Only when a young princess, Bet, flees her comfortable castle after catching a glimpse of the future through a magic window and finds herself trapped in the storyteller’s world do the children find hope of escape. Hope in the form of a gardener’s son: Bet’s best friend Gil.

THE STORY SEEKERS, a new play by Katherine Craft, developed in collaboration with Exchange Artists actors, transforms the grounds of Hyde Park’s landmark castle into the setting of a fantastical drama. The performance is participatory in nature with actors leading the audience throughout the grounds as the stories and the mysteries of the space unfold.

THE STORY SEEKERS cast includes Karen Alvarado, Isaac Arrieta, Kelli Bland, Jen Brown, Bastion Carboni, Bridget Farr, Emily Kennedy, Sidharth Khanejar, Steffanie Ngo-Hatchie, Mindy Rast, Michael Slefinger, Karina Dominguez Smith, and Frederic Winkler. Set and lighting design is by Spencer Pharr, Costume design by Katherine Craft, with Props and Crafts by Katie Richter. Choreography and direction by Rachel Wiese.

In the event of any rain cancellations, makeup performances will be held April 15, 16, and 17. Please bring a flashlight and wear shoes for walking on the museum grounds.

Spirits to Enforce, Capital T Theatre at FronteraFest LF, January 19-30 and February 10 - 12

With 12 superheroes on stage, who ya gonna call? I picked over the suite of portraits at Capital T Theatre's website and I was seriously tempted by blonde Jenny Gravenstein as The Page with the come-hither eyes, particularly since Capital T is using her for one of its promo posters.

That would be a sexist indulgence in fantasy, though, so I settled on Austin newcomer Jay Fraley, who mans the central slot at the phone bank as Emory (secret identity: Ariel; yes, that Ariel, and a hint as to just why these impoverished superheroes, victorious so recently against Dr. Cannibal and his hoardes, are trying to raise donations so that they can put on a theatrical production of The Tempest).

Besides, Fraley has more than a passing resemblance to playwright Mickle Maher of Chicago's Theatre Oobleck. And when the super-rubber hits the road, Ariel's performance in the theatre before a crowd including Dr. Cannibal as chief theatre critic is a self-confessed disaster. Judging from the rest of this speedy, hectic, amusing play, that's just the sort of joke that Maher would play on himself.

Capital T's first-time director Gary Jaffe puts all superheroes on stage, all the time. They hardly move from their stations at the telethon table, except for LaTasha Stephens as The Bad Map, but the psychic energy sizzles. Jaffe has assembled a cast that is its own microcosm of valiant Austin actor-heroes, all of them in their 20's and 30's, most of them familiar and welcome to theatre junkies. They mirror pretty well the very demographic that Capital T has courted so successfully over the past couple of years: energetic folk who are smart, self-referential, creative and a touch arrogant.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Upcoming: Spirits to Enforce, Capital T Theatre at the Blue Theatre, January 19 - February 12

Found on-line:

Capital T presents

Directed by Gary Jaffe

for FronteraFest 2011

Wednesday Jan 19th at 7pm
Saturday Jan 22nd at 8pm
Friday Jan 28th at 9pm
Sunday Jan 30th at 1pm

with three additional performances

Thursday Feb 10th at 8pm
Friday Feb 11th at 8pm
Saturday Feb 12th at 8pm

at the Blue Theatre, 916 Springdale Rd (click for Google map)

Twelve superheroes take up residence in a secret submarine to hold a fundraising drive for their upcoming production of William Shakespeare’s The Tempest. Seriously. Infusing elements of Shakespeare’s language, comic book lore, and choral arrangement, Mickle Maher’s Spirits to Enforce is formally innovative, wryly humorous, deeply compassionate — and holds firmly to the belief that the the theater can create anything out of nothing at all.

Click to read about the cast and the playwright at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Upcoming: Crumble (Lay Me Down, Justin Timberlake), Poison Apple Initiative at the Blue Theatre, December 1 - 18

Received directly:

Poison Apple Initiative Announces the Southwest premiere of

Crumble (Lay Me Down, Justin Timberlake)

by Sheila Callaghan

directed by Bastion Carboni

December 1 - 18, Wednesdays - Saturdays, 8 p.m.

Blue Theatre, 916 Springdale

General admission $15 tickets available on-line

Wednesdays are Actor and Crew Benefit performances. Thursdays are Pay-What-You-Can at the door. Show runs approximately 1 hour and 20 minutes with no intermission.

"How can this little body wrap itself around such a moment without falling apart?"

Janice and her mother Clara live in an apartment that's begun to deteriorate since the freak accidental death of the father the previous Christmas. The Apartment, irked by his and the family's states of disrepair, is plotting to kill them while Janice, inspired by visits from Justin Timberlake, hatches her own plan (involving doll heads and hazardous chemicals) to "make things right again.” An obsidian comedy about trying to keep it together when it won't stop falling apart.

Directed by Bastion Carboni, dramaturged by Georgia Young, and stage managed by Lisa Kettyle.Featuring Elizabeth Bigger, Karen Alvarado, Michael Slefinger, Natalie Kabenjian, and Micah Goodding. Designed by Geoffrey Aaron Douglas (lighting), Taylor Finley (scenic), Brett Hamaan (sound), Lauren McKinley (costume), and Staci Paradis (properties).

Poison Apple Initiative is pleased to begin its third and most ambitious season to date with the Southwest premiere of Sheila Callaghan's incisive and thoughtful play. We are an independently-run local theatre company dedicated to the production of sharp, dark comedies by local and national artists. Through our participation in the FronteraFest Long Fringe, Mi Casa Es Su Teatro, and the ArtSpark Festival, we’ve garnered a reputation for giving audiences “a razor-edged experience, one with a vibration and intensity that no video or cinema is going to provide” (Austinlivetheatre.com). This fall we are embarking on our third, and most ambitious season yet. In November we’ll be producing Sheila Callaghan’s Crumble (Lay Me Down Justin Timberlake), followed in January by the premier of Sometimes Callie and Jonas Die by Artistic Director Bastion Carboni. We’ll close out the season in May with The Woyzeck Project, a re-imagining of the 19th century play by Georg Buchner.

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 se
ason! @ 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: 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)