The Language Archive by Julia Cho, Different Stages at City Theatre, January 10 - February 1, 2014

(www.main.org/diffstages)

by Michael Meigs

Julia Cho's The Language Archive is a gently sentimental tale built inside a concept, similar to the way nesting birds inhabit a hedge. The theme is the failure of communication, and the metaphor is a collection of recordings and documents describing extinct languages curated by George, a fussy, white-coated linguist who's tongue-tied when it comes to expressing any sentiment.

Cho writes her characters as variations on that theme. The gulf between George and his wife Mary is so unbridgeable that Mary tucks cryptic notes into his belongings and denies having done so. George babbles frantically of what's on his heart -- but he addresses the audience instead of Mary. Alta and Resten are the last speakers of an obscure, apparently Central European language, but they're constantly furious with one another and refuse to use that language of intimacy, to the dismay of George the archivist. George's assistant of five years, Emma, loves him beyond reason but also, unfortunately, beyond telling. Esperanto, the completely artificial world language, turns up repeatedly, principally because of its perpetual failure to flourish.

Jennifer Underwood, Norman Blumensaadt (photo: Bret Brookshire)

There's a lot of quiet desperation here, confirming the conventional wisdom that effective comedy is really built on pain. How glad we all are -- playwright, actors and audience -- that by the very action of participating in this evening's performance, we're confirming our own attachment to communicating and to receiving the messages of this story.

Comedy there is, too. Different stages regulars Jennifer Underwood and Norman Blumensaadt as the feisty, querelous and mutually scornful old couple in tribal dress get off one zinger after another, both verbal and mimetic. Their vivid tussles are all the more amusing for those who know that Blumensaadt the company founder has often directed Underwood in her leading roles. Each time she's eloquent and expressive, but her grumpy, silent fury and glowering in this piece remind us that she's a knockabout comedienne, as well.

Read more at Central Texas Live Theatre. . . .

Arsenic and Old Lace by Joseph Kesselring, Different Stages at Vortex Repertory, November 15 - December 14, 2013

(www.main.org/diffstages)

by Michael Meigs

Arsenic and Old Lace by Joseph Kesselring is one of those whimsical comedies that just won't die. The playwright wins our sympathies with a pair of comforting maiden aunts, their capable journalist nephew Mortimer and a sweet parson's daughter. He then plays a series of clever modulations in madness -- from the harmless to the surprising to the pathological.

The play and the Jimmy Stewart movie are familiar, so this review's not likely to spoil it for anyone. You already knew about the poisoned elderberry wine, right? And the fact that Mortimer's brother Teddy, nutty as a fruitcake, has been helping his aunts by excavating 'Panama Canal locks' in the basement for use as the final resting places for a succession of lonely old men?

If you didn't, my apologies to you. But don't worry, for that surprise comes early in the action, as much for our protagonist Mortimer as for the audience. His quandary is how to deal with this revelation that, incredibly, has escaped his attention for months or maybe for years.

Karen Jambon, Jennifer Underwood (photo: Bret Brookshire)

Entirely normal except for their characters' belief in the beneficial effects of poison, Jennifer Underwood and Karen Jambon as the maiden aunts are mild, sweet and droll. It's a treat to see these partners playing together. Jambon's little-lady bird-steps are a bit affected, but otherwise these ladies are the sorts with whom you'd love to bake gingerbread.

Joe Hartman's bully portrait of Teddy (not) Roosevelt is a lot of fun, too -- especially in those moments when he backs ecstatically wide-eyed into the basement stairway. And while we're handing out compliments, bravo for Sarah Danko as Mortimer's girlfriend/fiancée Elaine. The lines assigned to her were written for a meek and progressively frustrated young thing, but Danko gives them an indignant bite often enough to suggest that maybe she's more of a woman that the hapless Mortimer actually deserves.

Click to read more at Central Texas Live Theatre

ARSENIC AND OLD LACE, Different Stages at Vortex Repertory, November 22 - December 14, 2013

Different Stages

presents

Joseph Kesselring’s

Arsenic and Old Lace

November 22 – December 14

The Vortex, 2307 Manor Rd

Thursdays - Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 7 p.m.

No performance on Thanksgiving November 28

Added performance on Wednesday December 11

“Pick your Price: $15, $20, $25, $30

Call 512-478-5282

Different Stages opens its 2013-2014 season with the classic comedy Arsenic and Old Lace. Drama critic Mortimer Brewster must deal with his crazy, homicidal family and local police in Brooklyn as he debates whether to go through with his recent promise to marry the woman he loves. His family includes two spinster aunts who have taken to relieving the loneliness of old men by inviting them in for a nice glass of homemade elderberry wine laced with arsenic, strychnine, and “just a pinch” of cyanide. Add to the mix his two brothers - one who thinks he's Teddy Roosevelt, and one who is a serial killer. Toss in a police officer who thinks he's a playwright, sprinkle in a few corpses and you have one of the most hilarious and enduring comedies in American theater. The New York Times called Arsenic and Old Lace "so funny that none of us will ever forget it."!

Directed by Norman Blumensaadt (Night Must Fall) Arsenic and Old Lace features Jennifer Underwood (Well) and Karen Jambon (The Skin of Our Teeth) as the Brewster sisters. Tyler Jones (Little Shop of Horrors) plays Mortimer and Sara Danko plays his fiancé. His brother Teddy is played by Michael Harlan (La Cage aux folles) and his gangster brother Jonathan is played by Steven Fay. Also in the cast are Mick D’Arcy, Andy Brown, and Sebastian Garcia (You Can’t Take it with You), Porter Gandy(Good People) Mike Dellens and Grayson Little.

Performances are Thursdays through Saturdays at 8:00 p.m. and Sundays at 7 p.m. No performance on Thanksgiving Thursday November 28 and added performance on Wednesday December 11. Tickets are Pick your Price: $15, $20, $25, and $30.

For tickets and information call 512-478-5282

Auditions for The Language Archive by Juilia Cho, directed by Karen Jambon, September 23 - 24, 2013

* * * AUDITIONS * * * for The Language Archive by Julia Cho, directed by Karen Jambon

Monday, September 23 AND Tuesday, September 24, 7 pm - 9 pm

Dougherty Arts Center, 1110 Barton Springs Rd.

3 WOMEN AGE 25-65, 2 MEN AGES 27-65

Production Dates: January 2014 at City Theatre, 3823 Airport Blvd

By appointment only; telephone Carol Ginn (512)444-3303 for appt

George is a man consumed with preserving and documenting the dying languages of far-flung cultures. Closer to home, though, language is failing him. He doesn't know what to say to his wife, Mary, to keep her from leaving him, and he doesn't recognize the deep feelings that his lab assistant, Emma, has for him.

Auditions for Arsenic and Old Lace, Different Stages at the Vortex Repertory, August 24 and 31, 2013

AUDITIONS AUDITIONS AUDITIONS

for Arsenic and Old Lace by Joseph Kesselring, directed by Norman Blumensaadt
Saturday, August 24 and Saturday, August 31, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. each day at the Vortex Repertory Company, 2307 Manor Rd. - click for map
Martha and Abby Brewster, spinster sisters, are the kindest, sweetest ladies in the neighborhood. They give out presents to children, they care for the sick and their poor brother Teddy, and they open their house to any lonely soul in need of a place to stay. And their famous homemade elderberry wine ensures a steady stream of visitors, some of whom never leave. Jennifer Underwood and Karen Jambon are playing the roles of Abby and Martha Brewster. Playing November 22 - December 14 at the Vortex.

Casting for 1 woman , age 25 - 35 and 9 men, ages 27 - 70. To make an appointment, call Carol Ginn at 444-3303. Actors are strongly urged to read the script before the auditions.

NEXT FALL by Geoffrey Nauftts, Paradox Players, June 14 - 30, 2013

(













Paradox Players, performing at Howson Hall, Unitarian Universalist Church, 4700 Grover Avenue - click for map )

present

Next Fall

By Geoffrey Nauftts
Directed by Karen Jambon

June 14-30, 2013

Friday and Saturday at 8:00pm ~ Sundays at 3:00pm
Friday, June 21st–SOLD OUT
Make reservations or pre-purchase tickets online with PayPal.

Location ~ Howson Hall at First UU Church

FREE CHILDCARE available on certain days if reserved 7 days in advance. Email childcare@austinuu.org to reserve.

View details for Friday and Saturday, or Sunday performances.

We close the season with Geoffrey Nauftts’ riveting new play, Next Fall. Luke believes in God. Adam believes in everything else. Next Fall portrays the ups and downs of this unlikely couple’s five-year relationship with sharp humor and unflinching honesty. It paints a beautiful portrait of a modern day romance, asking the hard questions about commitment, love, and faith (adult language).

“The funniest heartbreaker in town! Smart, sensitive, and immensely appealing.” NY Times

(Click to go to the AustinLiveTheatre front page)

Auditions for 'Next Fall' by Gregory Nauftts, Paradox Players, April 29

Paradox Players Auditions for the play Next Fall by Gregory Nauftts

April 29 at 7 p.m.
Howson Hall at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Austin - 4700 Grover
Performance Dates: June 14-30

Guest Directed by Karen Jambon (kjambon@sbcglobal.net)

Show Description: Luke believes in God. Adam believes in everything else. Next Fall portrays the ups and downs of this unlikely couple’s five-year relationship with sharp humor and unflinching honesty. It paints a beautiful portrait of a modern day romance, asking the hard questions about commitment, love, and faith.

Roles Available: Two males (20 to 30) -- One male (45 to 55) -- One female (25 to 35)

GOOD PEOPLE by David Lindsay-Abaire, Different Stages at the CIty Theatre, April 19 - May 11, 2013

presents

Good People

by David Lindsay-Abaire
April 19 – May 11, 2013
City Theater, 3823 Airport, Suite D -- click for map

Directed by Karen Jambon

With humor and pathos, Good People, explores the struggles, shifting loyalties, and unshakeable hopes that come with having next to nothing in America. Set in Boston's Southie neighborhood, where a night on the town means a rousing night of bingo, where this month's paycheck barely covers last month's bills, we meet Margaret Walsh. Margaret has lost her job, is facing eviction, and scrambling to catch a break. When she re–acquaints with a friend from the old neighborhood, someone who is now a very successful doctor, she attempts to use their childhood acquaintance as a ticket to turning her life around. Good People is tough and tender and explores the tension of class in America.
(Click to go to the AustinLiveTheatre front page)

Auditions for Good People by David Lindsay-Abaire, Different Stages, January 28 and 29, 2013

 
Auditions for Good People by David Lindsay-Abaire, directed by Karen Jambon, by appointment on Monday, January 28 and Tuesday, January 29, 7 - 9 p.m. at the Dougherty Arts Center, 1110 Barton Springs Rd (click for map ). 

Seeking one African-American woman age 30-40 and one male, age 25-35. All other roles are cast. Production dates April 19 - May 11 at City Theatre. 


Welcome to Southie, a Boston neighborhood where a night on the town means a few rounds of bingo, where this month's paycheck covers last month's bills, and where Margie Walsh has just been let go from yet another job. Facing eviction and scrambling to catch a break, Margie thinks an old fling who's made it out of Southie might be her ticket to a fresh new start. But is this apparently self-made man secure enough to face his humble beginnings? Margie is about to risk what little she has left to find out. With his signature humorous glow, Lindsay-Abaire explores the struggles, shifting loyalties and unshakeable hopes that come with having next to nothing in America.


For appointments and information contact Carol Ginn at 444-3303. Actors are strongly urged to read the script before the auditions; available to be checked out. Contact (512) 926-6747.

Different Stages Announces Its 2012-2013 Season

announces its 2012-2013 season:

You Can’t Take It With You

by George Kaufman and Moss Hart

November - December 2012

The Vortex, 2307 Manor Rd

Director-Mick Darcy

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, this comedy introduces us to the Sycamores, a family that delights in eccentricity.  They may seem mad, but they show us that those who pursue convention for its own sake and who need to conform to society’s conventions are the maddest of us all.  This play about living life to the fullest, following your own dreams, and daring to be unconventional has been a perennial since its debut in 1936. 

Quills

by Douglas Wright

January 2013,

City Theater, 3823 Airport, Suite D

Director-Norman Blumensaadt 

Sex. Perversion. Violence.  These are the themes of the tales that drip from the ink-laden quills of the notoriously irreverent Marquis de Sade in this Obie Award winning play. Confined to the Charneton Asylum for the Insane for the outlandish escapades he’d committed during the Napoleonic Era, the Marquis continues to pen his stories to the delight of the young seamstress, Madeleine, and to the scorn of Charenton’s devout Abbe DuCoulmeir.  When the Abbe attempts to silence the Marquis by taking his quills, his ink, and his paper, something intriguing occurs: the Marquis still finds a way to voice his scandalous yarns.  As the Abbe’s religious devotion clashes with the Marquis’s dedication to freedom of expression, the audience is treated to a tale of wit, irony, blasphemy, philosophy, and the struggle for power told partly as a blend of comedy of manners and Grand Guignol with a dash of grotesque exaggeration and a soupcon of gore.

Good People

by David Lindsay-Abaire

April – May; City Theate

3823 Airport, Suite D

Director-Karen Jambon 

With humor and pathos, Good People, explores the struggles, shifting loyalties, and unshakeable hopes that come with having next to nothing in America.  Set in Boston’s Southie neighborhood, where a night on the town means a rousing night of bingo, where this month’s paycheck barely covers last month’s bills, we meet Margaret Walsh.  Margaret has lost her job, is facing eviction, and scrambling to catch a break.  When she re-acquaints with a friend from the old neighborhood, someone who is now a very successful doctor, she attempts to use their childhood acquaintance as a ticket to turning her life around.  Good People is tough and tender and explores the tension of class in America.  Pending availability of performance rights.

Child’s Play

by  Robert Marasco

June – July

The Vortex,  2307 Manor Rd

Director-Bob Tolaro 

Something is amiss in a Catholic boys’ boarding school.  The students have become sinister, furtive, and conspiratorial as they steal up and down staircases after hours.  The menace erupts in savagery as the students torture one of their members and then another and then….  What is the disease that has settled in their souls?  Who is torturing the crotchety classics professor by sending obscene photographs to his dying mother?  And why? - The answer is hate in its devilish forms of pride, envy, and jealousy- a hate so perverse that is has infested the students and the staff.  The New York Times called this play “a powerful melodrama the will thrill audiences for a long time to come.” Pending availability of performance rights. 

 

ALL PLAYS, LOCATIONS AND DATES SUBJECT TO CHANGE.

Two ALT Reviews: The Children's Hour by Lillian Hellman, Different Stages at the City Theatre, January 6 - 28

By Catherine Dribb

Having attended the performance with a friend who, while a fan of theater, nevertheless believes that scripts written after 1950 that don’t take into consideration the average attention span of adults reduce their art to inconsiderate babbling, I became concerned when the greeter at the box office said, “the show runs over two hours but has two intermissions.” My pragmatic thespian friend, while relenting since The Children’s Hour was written in 1934 (before writers could be held accountable for taking into account the attention span of post-television-watching-post-Atari-playing adults), nevertheless gave me a look when I passed along the greeter’s information and pointed him toward the one-stall bathroom.

However, The Children’s Hour, produced by Different Stages, was not only well staged, but also well timed and neither of us was troubled by the length. Director Karen Jambon used Lillian Hellman’s solid script to keep the show well paced and entertaining, despite the troubling nature of its themes.

Karen Wright, played by Nikki Zook, is one of the two teachers of an all girls school, falsely accused of being a lesbian in relationship with fellow founder Martha Dobie (Bridget Farias). Zook brings to our senses the agony of harassment, unfounded and unrepentant. From her initial interaction with student and accuser Mary Tilford, darkly and acutely played by Laura Ray, to releasing her fiancé, a sincere but human Dr. Cardin (Errich Petersen), to finally resigning herself to a lonely, branded life after her best friend and alleged lover Martha takes her own life, Zook’s character is strong and compelling. These dramatic performances were accented by the school children’s caricaturistic performances (notably those of Helen Hulka and Bethany Harbaugh), which provided necessary comic relief against the evil of a conniving child’s web of lies.

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

Upcoming: The Children's Hour by Lillian Hellman, Different Stages at the City Theatre, January 6 - 28

Found on-line:

presents

The Children's Hour

by Lillian Hellman

January 6 - 28, Thursdays – Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 2 p.m.

at the City Theatre, 3823 Airport Road (behind the Shell station)(click for map)Pick your Price Tickets: $15, $20, $25, $30
** Reservations: 926-6747 **

Different Stages continues its 2011 – 2012 season with The Children's Hour. Award–winning playwright Lillian Hellman entered the world of the theater with a resounding thunder of acclaim in 1934 with this, her first and most famous play. The Children's Hour is the story of how a selfish child's whispered accusation destroys the lives of two young schoolteachers. A devastating story of deceit, shame and courage, its potent exploration of a culture of fear remains startlingly relevant.

Karen Jambon (Mornings at Seven) is the director of The Children's Hour. Playing the two schoolteachers, Karen and Martha, are Nikki Zook (Spider's Web) and Bridget Farias (Titus Andronicus). Erich Peterson (Suddenly Last Summer) plays Doctor Joe Cardin, Karen's boyfriend, the only male character. Laura Ray (Agnes of God) plays Mary Tilford, the student who accuses the two teachers. Rae Petersen (The Red Balloon) plays Mary's grandmother, Mrs. Tilford, and Miriam Rubin (Eurydice) plays Martha's meddling aunt, Mrs. Lily Mortar. Rounding out the cast are Molly Bentley, Bethany Harbaugh, Helen Hutka, Katie Kohler, Sara Billeaux, and Nguyen Stanton.

Performances are Thursdays through Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 7 p.m. Tickets are Pick your Price: $15, $20, $25, and $30. For tickets and information call 926–6747.

Dont forget to "Like" us on Facebook!

Visit www.main.org/diffstages for more information about Different Stages!

Guest Artist by Jeff Daniels, Paradox Players, October 14 - 30

Steubenville, Ohio -- with all respect due to the inhabitants of that town of 19,000, it sounds about as far away from theatre civilization as one could get. It's in those rough hills of east Ohio, forty miles west of Pittsburgh and facing east into West Virginia. Playwright Daniels uses the Steubenville bus station as the run-down unlikely setting for the encounter of a famous playwright on his way down and an awestruck aspiring writer dreaming of a future not centered in the wing-nut and fastener factory that's the family business.

Steubenville's the birthplace of Dean Martin, a point of local pride commemorated by a poster next to the doors to the toilets. Further background, not communicated: it was also the birthplace of porn and B-film actress Traci Lords and of playwright Jeffrey Hatcher (Hatcher's Wikipedia entry calls it "a gritty Ohio River town better known for its mob connections, houses of ill repute and industrial detritus than for its literary sons and daughters"). Steubenville's downtown Grand Theater movie alace has been closed since 1979 and only just escaped demolition in 2010 due to the efforts of a community group.

Tyler Jones as the earnest young writer Kenneth Waters assures visiting playwright Joseph Harris that the Steubenville community theatre group is really quite good; their director won a 'Steubie' last season. "A what?" snaps Joe Penrod as the visitor, who has been sleeping on a bus station bench because Waters had dozed off while waiting for the arrival of his 1:30 a.m. bus.

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

Auditions for Jeff Daniels' play 'Guest Artist,' Paradox Players, August 15

Received directly from

AUDITIONS for 'Guest Artist' by Jeff Daniels
directed by Karen Jambon for Paradox Players
Aug 15 at 7:00 p.m.

Howson Hall at First Unitarian Universalist Church, 4700 Grover Ave. (click for map)

Auditioning for role of Harris, a 50-plus playwright who is convinced his best plays are behind him. He is cynical, articulate, and a dedicated drunk.

About 'Guest Artist': This comic drama examines the challenges encountered by all creative people getting started, becoming successful, staying hot. A cast of three men explores the tangled relationship of youthful dreams, the cynicism of age, and the imperative of artistic truth.

Scripts are available for checkout from the Paradox Players mailbox in the mailroom of the church, M-F, 9-4. Please contact us at info@paradoxplayers.org if you need to make other arrangements for borrowing a script.

Rehearsals start Sept 6. Performance Dates October 14-30. For more info, check out www.paradoxplayers.org

Upcoming: Peter Pan, Scottish Rite Children's Theatre, July 2 - August 14

Found on-line:

presents

July 2 - August 14

Scottish Rite Children's Theatre, 207 W. 18th at LaVaca (click for map)

Saturdays at 10 a.m., Sundays at 2 p.m.

Tickets are $10 for adults, $8 for children ages one through 12, and $4 for infants under one year of age.

For more information and reservations, call (512) 472-5436 or visit www.srct.org.

Peter Pan, Tinkerbell and Wendy fly to Neverland for the Scottish Rite Children's Theatre summer production of Peter Pan. Created for children ages three to ten, the theatre show plays July 2nd through August 14th at the historic downtown Austin theatre. Written by D.H. Thompson and directed by Karen Jambon, this play will encourage children to "follow the second star to the right and straight on till' morning!" in an original, interactive theatre production set in Neverland - where there are no parents, candy is the breakfast of choice, and no one ever grows up. The audience is enlisted to "think happy thoughts" and help Peter defeat Neverland's biggest bully - the crooked Captain Hook.

Since 2004, the Scottish Rite Community and Children's Theatre has provided year-round, quality and affordable family entertainment for children. Since construction in 1869, the building - previously a Masonic Temple - has enjoyed a vibrant history hosting decades of theatrical productions and social events.

Images by Bret Brookshire: Night of The Iguana by Tennesse Williams, Different Stages at City Theatre, March 18 - April 9

Images by Bret Brookshire, from the Different Stages website:

Tennessee Williams'

Night of the Iguana

March 18 – April 9
City Theater, 3823 Airport Suite D ( ^map)
Thursdays – Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 2 p.m.
Pick your Price Tickets: $15, $20, $25, $30
Reservations: 474–8497

Different Stages continues its 2010 – 2011 season with The Night of the Iguana. This Tony-Award-winning play by two-time Pulitzer Prize-winner Tennessee Williams is a provocative exploration of human struggle and passion — full of intense drama, biting wit, and sexual tension. Defrocked priest T. Lawrence Shannon now scrapes out a living as a tour guide in Mexico. On the verge of a collapse, he abducts his tour group to a crumbling seaside hotel on the edge of the jungle. As a fierce tropical storm rolls in, Shannon must wrestle with the passions of the women around him – the wrath of a Texas school teacher, the advances of a lustful teenager and the jealousies of the widowed hotel owner – as he seeks solace with a new arrival, a gentle spinster traveling with her grandfather – the world's oldest living poet.

Directed by Norman Blumensaadt (The Carpetbagger's Children), The Night of the Iguana features Tom Chamberlain (The Goat or Who is Sylvia?) as the Rev. Shannon, Content Love Knowles (Murder Mystery Ballad) as the hotel proprietor Maxine and Rebecca Robinson (Circle, Mirror, Transformation) as the artist Hannah Jelkes. Also In the cast are Donald Bayne (The Duck Variations) as the poet Jonathan Coffin, Karen Jambon (Mary Stuart) as the Music Teacher Judith Fellowes and Chloe Edmundson (The Skin of Our Teeth) as her music student Charlotte Goodall. Rounding out the cast are Brian Brown, Ben McLemore, Scott Friedman, Phoebe Greene, Carrie Stephens, Justin Smith, Tony Salinas, Carlos Saenz and Ashley McNerney.

On Saturday March 26 join the cast for a Tennessee Williams Birthday Party, in honor of the Williams centennial.

Click to view additional images by Bret Brookshire at AustinLiveTheatre.com. . . .

Upcoming: Night of the Iguana by Tennessee Williams, Different Stages at the City Theatre, March 18 - April 9

Found on-line:

presents

Tennessee Williams'

Night of the Iguana

March 18 – April 9
City Theater, 3823 Airport Suite D ( ^map)
Thursdays – Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 2 p.m.
Pick your Price Tickets: $15, $20, $25, $30
Reservations: 474–8497

Different Stages continues its 2010 – 2011 season with The Night of the Iguana. This Tony-Award-winning play by two-time Pulitzer Prize-winner Tennessee Williams is a provocative exploration of human struggle and passion — full of intense drama, biting wit, and sexual tension. Defrocked priest T. Lawrence Shannon now scrapes out a living as a tour guide in Mexico. On the verge of a collapse, he abducts his tour group to a crumbling seaside hotel on the edge of the jungle. As a fierce tropical storm rolls in, Shannon must wrestle with the passions of the women around him – the wrath of a Texas school teacher, the advances of a lustful teenager and the jealousies of the widowed hotel owner – as he seeks solace with a new arrival, a gentle spinster traveling with her grandfather – the world's oldest living poet.

Directed by Norman Blumensaadt (The Carpetbagger's Children), The Night of the Iguana features Tom Chamberlain (The Goat or Who is Sylvia?) as the Rev. Shannon, Content Love Knowles (Murder Mystery Ballad) as the hotel proprietor Maxine and Rebecca Robinson (Circle, Mirror, Transformation) as the artist Hannah Jelkes. Also In the cast are Donald Bayne (The Duck Variations) as the poet Jonathan Coffin, Karen Jambon (Mary Stuart) as the Music Teacher Judith Fellowes and Chloe Edmundson (The Skin of Our Teeth) as her music student Charlotte Goodall. Rounding out the cast are Brian Brown, Ben McLemore, Scott Friedman, Phoebe Greene, Carrie Stephens, Justin Smith, Tony Salinas, Carlos Saenz and Ashley McNerney.

On Saturday March 26 join the cast for a Tennessee Williams Birthday Party, in honor of the Williams centennial.

Morning's at Seven by Paul Osborne, Different Stages at the Vortex Repertory, November 19 - December 11

Different Stages lives up to its name with this affectionate recreation of a vanished America. Paul Osborn created for his 1930's audiences a comforting family portrait, set in a small town. All three acts of Morning's at Seven take place in a back yard shared by two wooden framed houses, and all except one of the nine characters are related.

This gentle comedy was a quirky oldies play. All four of the Boulton sisters are in their sixties, as are the three husbands (one sister, Aaronetta, never married). The vigor and humor of this cast mask the gerontological aspect. In the 1930s, life expectancy for the average American man was 61; for the average American woman it was 65. (Today the figures are 80 and 76, and as I write this, my 85-year-old father-in-law sits across from me, studying the Wall Street Journal).

The only outsider, Myrtle, is a sweet-tempered spinster hoping to become an insider. Her beau of twelve years, mama's boy Homer, has finally invited her home to meet the folks, an event that in this bounded little world is something like the appearance of Halley's comet.

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

Upcoming: Morning's at Seven by Paul Osborne, Different Stages at the Vortex Repertory, November 19 - December 11

Received directly:

Different Stages opens its 2010–2011 season with Paul Osborn’s comedy

Morning’s at Seven

November 19 - December 11
at the Vortex Repertory, 2307 Manor Road

This story is about the intertwined relationships and long standing sibling rivalries of the four aging Gibbs sisters. Three of them have lived next door to one another for fifty years and the eldest sister lives only a few blocks away. Living so close has taken its toll. The quiet lives these women share with their husbands start to come unhinged when some of them begin to question what to do with their remaining years. Tensions rise when Ida’s 40–year–old son brings his fiancé of 12 years to the house for the first time. A story about growing old, growing up, and letting go.

Directed by Karen Jambon (Eurydice), Morning’s at Seven features Jennifer Underwood (The Carpetbagger’s Children), Lana Dieterich (Vigil), Bobbie Oliver (Spider’s Web) and Kathleen Lawson (On Golden Pond) as the four Gibb sisters. Playing the three husbands are Michael Hankin (The Skin of Our Teeth), Richard Craig (Lettice and Lovage), and San Damon (Spider’s Web). Playing Ida’s son and his fiancé are Jonathan Urso (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof) and Anne Hulsman (The Carpetbagger’ss Children).

Performances are Thursdays through Saturdays at 8:00 p.m. and Sundays at 7 p.m. There is no performance on Thanksgiving, Thursday November 25. Added performance on Wednesday December 8 at 8 p.m. Tickets are Pick your Price: $15, $20, $25, and $30. For tickets and information call 478-5282.

Upcoming: An All-Female Staged Reading of The Taming of The Shrew, Austin Shakespeare at the Curtain Theatre, March 25 - 27

Click for ALT review, March 26


Received directly:

Austin Shakespeare presents an all female cast in

The Taming of the Shrew

A Slapstick Comedy for the Lighthearted
written by William Shakespeare, directed by Ann Ciccolella
Friday, March 25 – Sunday, March 27 at 8 p.m.
at Richard Garriott’s Curtain Theater on the shores of Lake Austin, 7400 Coldwater Canyon Dr. (click to view Google map)
Tickets $24, available at www.nowplayingaustin.com or at the door.
Discount tickets available.
or follow Austin Shakespeare on Twitter: @austinshakes

After the success of packed houses during the run of Mary Stuart, Austin Shakespeare continues its 25th anniversary season with an all-female cast in a staged reading of the classic Shakespeare comedy. The Taming of the Shrew will play at Richard Garriott’s own Curtain Theater, a scaled replica of an Elizabethan outdoor theater nestled along the banks of Lake Austin, March 25 through 27 at 8 p.m.

“In Shakespeare’s time, only men were allowed on stage, even to play the female roles,” said Ann Ciccolella, artistic director of Austin Shakespeare. “We wanted to turn the tables and see a full cast of charismatic women to bring this comedy to life on a stage that resembles one of Shakespeare’s own.”

The story is based on the beautiful merchant’s daughter Bianca, and her admirers Lucentio, Gremio and Hortensio. Her father insists that she will not marry until her after her older, shrewish sister, Kate does, so Bianca's suitors persuade fortune-seeker Petruchio to court her. Bianca's suitors pay for any costs involved, even Kate's dowry, but Kate shows in no uncertain terms how opposed she is to marrying anyone.

The Taming of the Shrew is among one of Shakespeare’s earlier comedies and it shares characteristics with his other romantic comedies such as Much Ado About Nothing and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The play is lighthearted, with slapstick humor, disguises and deception, replete with a happy ending.

The Curtain Theater is located in the heart of Garriott’s Castleton Village that is tucked away in a pecan grove along Lake Austin and features a fort, ship, lighthouse and jail. The Curtain Theatre is off City Park Rd., near Rts. 2222 and 360. (click for Google map)

THE CAST for TAMING OF THE SHREW

Jill Swanson as Petruchio, Gwen Kelso as Kate; with Babs George, Jill Blackwood, Linda Nenno, Karen Jambon, Kara Bliss Galbraith, Bernadette Nason, Jenny Larson, and Mary Alice Carnes.

ABOUT AUSTIN SHAKESPEARE

Now in its 25th anniversary season, Austin Shakespeare (formerly Austin Shakespeare Festival) presents professional theater of the highest quality with an emphasis on the plays of William Shakespeare to Central Texas. Bringing to the public performances that are fresh, bold, imaginative, thought- provoking, and eminently accessible, Austin Shakespeare connects the truths of the past with the challenges and possibilities of today. Founded in 1984, Austin Shakespeare offers fall and spring sessions of "Shakespeare Studio," the organization’s professional actor training courses. In addition, actors, teachers, parents and students are welcome at the "Shakespeare Aloud" year-round weekly reading group. Austin Shakespeare also offers summer camps for high school students at St. Edward's University, and camps for children at Scottish Rite Children's Theatre, downtown. Austin Shakespeare is a member of the Austin Circle of Theatres, and is funded in part by the City of Austin through The Cultural Arts Division and by a grant from the Texas Commission on the Arts.