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 . . . .

The Dragonfly Queen, Vortex Repertory, September 5 - 27

The Vortex production of The Dragonfly Queen is a triumph for costume designer Lauren Matesic and for makeup & hair designer Helen Hutka, who also appears onstage.

This is a manga world of eerie creatures locked in mortal combat. The program gives the background about the quest of Princess Mala. It includes a summary of the 2007 Vortex/Ethos production of The Dragonfly Princess, an outline of the 11 years elapsed since then in story time, and a synopsis of the events that you're about to witness.

Let me boil that synopsis down a bit further, avoiding most of the names, drawn from incomprehensible etymologies. (If you need the names to complete your mental history, click on the .pdf of the program at the end of this piece.)

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Upcoming: The Dragonfly Queen, Ethos at the Vortex Repertory,

Click for ALT review, September 10

UPDATE: Robert Faires interviews director Bonnie Cullum about story and staging of upcoming The Dragonfly Queen, Austin Chronicle, August 28

Found on-line:

Ethos at Vortex Repertory
presents the World Premiere of

The Dragonfly Queen

A Fantasy Faery Opera
by Chad Salvata
Directed by Bonnie Cullum
Sept.04-27, 2009
Thursdays-Sundays at 8 p.m.

Ethos roars back with its signature impressive spectacle in the world premiere of a new opera, The Dragonfly Queen. “The Queen” is the sequel to the critically acclaimed opera, The Dragonfly Princess, which received the 2008 B. Iden Payne Award for Outstanding Original Score. [Photo: Melissa Vogt-Patterson as Mala the Dragonfly Princess in the 2007 production.]

Immerse yourself in the dark fantasy antics of Mala, Joji, Qlye and their Faery warriors as they journey on the great White Shell Ship. Join them as they uncover the ruthless outcome of the faery wars and the spiritual mysteries of the Orca.

Ethos Artistic Director, Chad Salvata, assembles another award-winning team of artists to bring his new opera to the stage at The Vortex in September.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .