Nursery Crimes by Greg Klein, Last Act Theatre Company at Dougherty Arts Center, November 8 - 24, 2013

by Michael Meigs

Sara Cormier, David Boss (photo: Will Hollis Snider)

David Boss with his resonant baritone and weary dead-pan styling makes a fine Philip Marlowe, or, in acknowledgment of the film noir inspiration for playwright Greg Klein and the company, a good Bogey. 

Klein's play is an homage to that very distinctive style, so much so that the first half of the Kickstarter promo video was a 1940s-style dramatization with first-person narration, video-recorded in stark black and white by director Will Hollis Snider.

You could write a straight film noir play script and make it work; you could even do a parody version that could amuse both film buffs and the casual public. 

Klein's choice is different. He's soberly respectful of the genre as he mines his Mother Goose for characters. The protagonist sleuth is Jack Horner, and he's certainly sitting in his corner while his good-natured seen-it-all secretary Donna (presumably Mother) Hubbard (Peggy Schott) laboriously types his reports and answers his phone.


Sara Cormier is the attractive bad news that comes his way, asking for help. She's Bo Peep, and her sheep have disappeared. Her father's the farmer Old MacDonald (Travs Bedard). We run across some baddies, Jack (D. Heath Thompson) and Jill (Elena Weinberg), who use the cheerful dolt Humphrey aka Humpty (Bobby DiPasquale) for some of their bad business. Peggy Schott checks in also as Marjorie Daw; Bedard as the gruff avuncular cop Guy Blue; DiPasquale as Peter Piper; and Mary quite contrary (Weinberg) is hopelessly dependent upon her drug dealer boyfriend King Cole (Thompson). While the sleuth's nosing around through the underworld he runs across the three blind mice (DiPasquale, Thompson and Bedard). Double crosses, bad temper, murder, the big shadowy metropolis. You know. The city that never sleeps and kept hick middle-class America on the edge of its cinema seats.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

NURSERY CRIMES by Greg Klein, Last Act Theatre Company at the Dougherty Arts Center, November 8 - 24, 2013

presents

Nursery Crimes

Sara Cormier, David Boss (poster photo: Will Hollis Snider)

Written by Greg Klein

Directed by Will Hollis Snider

November 8 - 24

Thursdays - Saturdays at 8:00 p.m, Sundays at 2:00 p.m.

*Saturday, Nov. 9 and Friday, Nov. 15 are artist benefit nights. All ticket and concession sales go to the cast, crew and other artists who made this show possible.
*Thursday, Nov. 14 and Sunday, Nov. 17 are “pay what you can” shows.

Dougherty Arts Center, 1110 Barton Springs Road, Austin, TX 78704

Tickets are $15. Student tickets are $12 with valid student ID. Tickets can be purchased online at https://secure.buyplaytix.com/lastacttheatre/reserve/nursery_crimes.html and at the door. Attendees can also reserve seats online and still pay at the door. Last Act Theatre Company accepts all major credit cards, cash and 

 checks.

Little Bo Peep has lost her sheep and she doesn’t know where to find them. So, she turns to private eye Jack Horner to crack the case. But will it turn out to be more than he bargained for?

Quick dialogue moves this story full of childhood characters from what seems to be a humble beginning through a series of twists and turns, in a grown-up tale of murder, deceit and mystery.

Cast
David Boss - Jack Horner
Sara Cormier - Bo Peep
Peggy Schott - Donna Hubbard and Marjorie Daw
Elena Weinberg - Jill and Mary Contrary
Travis Bedard - Thomas McDonald, Guy Blue and Blind Mouse
Heath Thompson – Jack, Cole Kingsley and Blind Mouse
Bobby DiPasquale - Humpty Dumpty, Peter Piper and Blind Mouse

(Click to go to the AustinLiveTheatre front page)

Auditions for The Sniper's Nest by Lisa Soland and Mocha by Eleanor Burgess, Last Act Theatre Company, November 1 and 2, 2013

Last Act Theatre Company, which produces pathos-driven works promoting local and independent artists and embracing unconventional venues, will be holding auditions for 2 shows at once: Lisa Soland's The Sniper's Nest and Mocha by Eleanor Burgess. Both productions will be in FronteraFest 2014’s The Long Fringe.

Texas School Book Depository, Dallas, 1963

Auditions will take place on Friday, Nov. 1 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. (or later, if need be) at Manos de Cristo (4911 Harmon Ave.) and Saturday, Nov. 2 from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at the Dougherty Arts Center (1110 Barton Springs Road). Callbacks are scheduled for Monday, Nov. 4 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Dougherty Arts Center.

Both shows will be directed by Elizabeth V. Newman (Yale, BA - Theatre; Boston University, MFA - Film), who recently assistant-directed Thom Pain (Based on Nothing) at Hyde Park Theatre. Mocha will be co-produced with Elizabeth’s company, EVN Productions (evnproductions.com).

Rehearsals for The Sniper's Nest and Mocha will go from mid-November to mid-December, with some additional rehearsal dates in early January. Locations to be announced. Performances of both shows will run for 4 days between Jan. 20 and Feb. 2, 2014. Exact rehearsal and performance dates and times to be announced.

The Sniper's Nestwill be a B.Y.O.V. (Bring Your Own Venue) FronteraFest show. The venue name will be announced at a later date. Mocha will be performed at Salvage Vanguard Theater (2803 Manor Road).

THE SNIPER'S NEST is a tension-filled drama telling the story of the 1963 love affair between Lee Harvey Oswald and cancer researcher Judyth Vary Baker.
It is a two-character play, based on Baker's autobiography Me & Lee: How I Came to Know, Love and Lose Lee Harvey Oswald. Their relationship would end up having world-changing historical significance, and this play looks at the infamous Oswald in an unexpected light. (Click for character descriptions.)

MOCHA When film star Eliot Henessey arrives in Indonesia to adopt a baby, she attracts the interest of a journalist who questions her motivations, a bureaucrat who hopes to use her to publicize the islands and a foster father who believes that Eliot’s fame and personal life leave her little room for a child. Meanwhile, Ted and Carol, an infertile couple in the American suburbs, initiate a more conventional adoption process, but find that the expense, uncertainty and invasive examinations reveal rifts in their desires to have a family. (Click for character descriptions.)

Actors are encouraged to look into the original source material for "The Sniper's Nest." Audition sides for both shows will be emailed ahead of time to those confirmed to audition.

For more information or to schedule an audition, contact us at info@lastacttheater.com. We look forward to seeing your best!

Funding Appeal: Nursery Crimes by Greg Klein, Last Act Theatre Company

Kickstarter funding appeal for $5000 to help fund






production of
Nursery Crimes
by Greg Klein

via





[click Kickstarter logo to go to info/donations page]

Last Act Theatre Company is a local Austin theatre company that aims to produce works promoting local and independent artists. Nursery Crimes, written by Greg Klein, will mark the final play of our third full season, and will be directed by the talented and handsome Will Hollis Snider. Last Act has continued to grow with each production, and Nursery Crimes will be no different, taking place at the Dougherty Arts Center, November 7–24.

Nursery Crimes is a stylized crime noir parody using nursery rhyme characters. Bo Peep has lost her sheep, and it's up to Private Eye Jack Horner to find them. Quick dialogue moves the story from what seems a humble and straightforward beginning to a series of twists and turns, as these childhood characters are all grown up in this tale of deceit, murder, and mystery.

Auditions for Nursery Crimes by Greg Klein, Last Act Theatre Company, June 1 and 3 2013

Last Act Theatre Co. is seeking multiple actors of all ages and races for the premiere of their stylized crime noir, Nursery Crimes, and holding auditions over two days on Saturday, June 1, 10am – 2pm at the Dougherty Arts Center, 1110 Barton Springs Rd (click for map )and on June 3, 6pm – 8:30pm at the Carver Library, 1165 Angelina (click for map ). Two audition times are available for actors that may have conflicts on either days. Callbacks will take place the following week, on June 8 and 10, same respective times.


Bo Peep has lost her sheep, and it’s up to Jack Horner to find them. While not his usual fare, Private Eye Jack Horner is a sucker for a damsel in distress. What seems like an open and shut case about a few missing sheep spirals into a world of deceit, murder, and mystery. Nursery Crimes features the gritty, underbelly versions of characters like Jack Horner, Bo Peep, and Humpty Dumpty that have no idea they are the subject of children’s poems.

Actors should bring a headshot and resume and come prepared with a one minute monologue.


Please email lastacttheatre@gmail.com to reserve an audition slot.


Rehearsals will begin in late September. Nursery Crimes is a brand new play, so the script will be workshopped between now and September. Actors will have the chance to help define their characters as well as help refine the pacing and dialogue of the script. Actors should ideally be available for one rehearsal a week between now and September.


Nursery Crimes runs November 7th - 24th at the Dougherty Arts Center, and is written by Greg Klein and will be directed by Will Hollis Snider. Compensation may be provided. Details to be determined.

Click to read a list of characters & descriptions at AustinLiveTheatre.com

Video: Austin Live Theatre Talks with the Cast of The Happy Couple by James Venhaus, Last Act Theatre Company, May 8 - 25, 2013

Austin Live Theatre talks to Lindsay McKenna, Derek Vandi and Rob Novak 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

Video: Austin Live Theatre Talks with leads Suzanne Balling and Scot Friedman about 'The Happy Couple' (Last Act Theatre Company, May 8 - 25, 2013)

Austin Live Theatre talks to leads Suzanne Balling and Scot Friedman 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

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

Call for Scripts and Directors, Last Act Theatre Company

The Last Act Theatre Company is accepting script and directing submissions for our next season beginning January 2014. Please know that we are a small group in Austin, Texas, with a very modest budget. You would not be paid for your services but if your submission is chosen by our administrative board, we will produce a full-length play of your original work and/or direction.
If you are interested in submitting, please know that you can submit:

• -script proposal w/ no director in mind

• -script and director proposal

• -director proposal (you can specify whether you are interested in directing regardless or if you are interested contingent on the shows that will comprise the season)

Our 2013-2014 season will be comprised of two shows with three week runs and one FronteraFest piece.
For those interested in submitting a script proposal, the options are:

• -original plays

• -adaptations of classics (anything royalty free)

• -existing play w/ a fundraising plan to cover the royalties

Submission deadline is March 16, 2013 at 5:00 p.m. We will make our decisions by April 30, 2013 for the season. Directors may be chosen at that time or if needed we can send scripts to interested participants and then pick directors by May 31, 2013.
If you would like to submit, or have any questions about the process, please contact us at lastacttheatre@gmail.com.

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. . . .

L.G.B.T., THE MUSICAL, Equalilty Texas at the Old School Bar & Grill, Sunday afternoons December 2, 9, 16

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 . . . .
 

Auditions for Marlowe's Dr. Faustus, Last Act Theatre Company, July 27 - 29

Last Act Theatre Company is casting twelve roles for our upcoming production of Christopher Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus. Audtions will be July 27-29 by appointment. If you have any questions, or would like to make an appointment, please email us at lastacttheatre@gmail.com.

Audition sides will be provided prior to the audition. The show will involve some stylized movement, especially for the chorus. Dancers are encouraged to audition, but no dance experience is required. If you are interested in auditioning for dance only, please prepare a brief (up to one minute) routine in any style. 

When Doctor Faustus, a well-respected scholar, grows dissatisfied with the limitations of traditional knowledge, he begins practicing magic. His first act after learning the black arts is to summon Mephistopheles, a devil in service to Lucifer. Soon after meeting Mephistopheles, Doctor Faustus sells his soul to Lucifer in exchange for 24 years of service from Mephistopheles.

The show will run Thurs.-Sun. October 11-28, 2012, with a special show on Wednesday, October 31, 2012. 

Click to view the list of characters at AustinLiveTheatre.com

Auditions for Conscience Hesitatus, Last Act Theatre Company, April 16 and 19

Last Act Theatre Company is casting for our upcoming production of Conscience Hesitatus. Auditions will take place on Monday April 16 from 7:00-10:00 p.m. at the Austin Creative Alliance (701 Tillery - click for map) and on Thursday April 19 from 5:30-9:00 p.m. at the George Washington Carver Cultural Center and Museum (1165 Angelina St. - click for map). If you are interested in auditioning, please contact us at lastacttheatre@gmail.com with your preferred date and time. Audition sides will be sent out via email prior to the audition.

Rehearsals will begin on May 1, and the show will run July 16-28, 2012, Monday-Saturday evenings at 8:00 p.m. Below is a brief synopsis of the show. We are unable to offer payment for this production, but all actors will be featured on the company website, www.lastacttheater.com.

After his wife is arrested for the abuse of their children, corrections officer Will Davenport is confronted by the parenting practices of his new roommate and co-worker Dirk Mapleton, trouble at his job, and his feelings toward his mentally unstable wife. While under the watchful eye of Dr. Thomas Wolfe, the county shrink, and Mr. Stevens, the social worker assigned to his case, Will must choose his path carefully, for the custody of his children and his future hang in the balance.

Click for list and descriptions of characters at AustinLiveTheatre.com

Call for Directors & Script Proposals, Last Act Theatre Company, Deadline March 16

Call for Submissions: 2012-2013 Season

The Last Act Theatre Company is accepting script and directing submissions for our next season beginning October 2012. Please know that we are a small group with a very modest budget. You would not be paid for your services but if your submission is chosen by our administrative board, we will produce a full-length play of your original work and/or direction.

If you are interested in submitting, please know that you can submit:

- a script proposal w/ no director in mind

- a script and director proposal

- a director proposal (you can specify whether you are interested in directing regardless or if you are interested contingent on the shows that will comprise the season)

For those interested in submitting a script proposal, the options are:

-original plays, novelas, poetry, etc. (no limitation or genre specifications)

-adaptations of classics (anything royalty free)

-existing play w/ a fundraising plan to cover the royalties

Submission deadline is March 16, 2012 at 5:00 p.m. We will make our decisions by April 30, 2012 for the season. Directors may be chosen at that time or if needed we can send scripts to interested participants and then pick directors by May 31, 2011.


If you would like to submit, or have questions about the process, please contact us at lastacttheatre@gmail.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 . . . .

Upcoming: Love in Pine by Gary Jaffe, Last Act Theatre Company at Broken Neck, February 23- March 3

Found on-line:

presents

Love in Pine

written and directed by Gary Jaffe

February 23 - March 3, Thursdays - Saturdays at 8 p.m.

Broken Neck, 4701 Red Bluff Road (off E. Cesar Chavez below Springdale Rd - click for map)

Admission $15 - one night's proceeds will be donated to Bastrop Fire Relief

Love was in the air on prom night in the town of Pine, TX, but Boy and Girl didn’t make it to the dance – a fatal head-on collision with a pine tree trapped their souls inside the tree itself. Two years later, the lonely town Librarian and Girl’s guilt-racked Sister try to find them a different ending to prom night, but how exactly does one change the past? And how can they stop the wildfire scorching its way through the county? And why does the Tree herself want to keep them there? A heartbreaking, supernatural twist on the traditional American prom night story, Love in Pine is a bold, poetic, relevant new play by local writer/director Gary Jaffe set in the pine woods of central Texas, where trees talk, prom lasts forever, and love, for better or worse, is love.

Last Act Theatre Company website Last Act Theatre Company on Facebook

Auditions for Love in Pine by Gary Jaffe, Last Act Theatre Company, November 18 - 19

Found on-line:

Auditions for Love in Pine by Gary Jaffe

Friday evening, November 18 and Saturday morning, November 19
Austin Creative Alliance, 901 Tillery Street (click for map)

Love was in the air on prom night in the town of Pine, TX, but Boy and Girl didn’t make it to the dance – a fatal head-on collision with a pine tree trapped their souls inside the tree itself. Two years later, the lonely town Librarian and Girl’s guilt-racked Sister try to find them a different ending to prom night, but how exactly does one change the past? And how can they stop the wildfire scorching its way through the county? And why does the Tree herself want to keep them there? A heartbreaking, supernatural twist on the traditional American prom night story, Love in Pine is a bold, poetic, relevant new play by local writer/director Gary Jaffe set in the pine woods of central Texas, where trees talk, the prom lasts forever, and love, for better or worse, is love.

CHARACTERS

TREE – Female, age 20 – 40. Born a human woman, she was trapped inside a pine tree during the Civil War, when she hanged herself from its branches to spite her father. Now the resident spirit of the tree, she harbors the young souls of the teenage couple who hit her with their car on prom night. Like nature itself, her mood can swiftly shift from gentle and benevolent to vicious and destructive, especially when it’s drought season and there are wildfires nearby…

LIBRARIAN – Male, age 25ish. Gay-ish. Driven by a sense of responsibility and heavy feelings of guilt, he has worked tirelessly for two years to free the Boy and the Girl from the Tree. He was unusually close to them and they looked up to him as a brother and a mentor, culminating in their visiting his house on the way to prom night, where things happened which are not easily forgiven…

GIRL – Female, age 18. Was smart, sensible and put-together before she drove herself and her date, Boy, into a tree on prom night. Now, she’s a twisted knot of resentment and suspicion, and she has every right to be…

BOY – Male, age 18. Sort of a puppy dog, loves everything and everyone, and is willing to try everything. Or at least he was, before the accident. His needs are always immediate and he doesn’t necessarily think before he acts…

SISTER – Female, age 25ish. The semi-estranged older sister of Girl and old sort-of flame of Librarian. After she finished school up north, she stayed, cutting herself off from her old life in Pine, TX, a separation only exacerbated by the death of her sister. But now there’s a wildfire cutting across the county, and her sister’s soul in danger, so what’s a guilt-ridden sibling to do…?

To schedule an audition time, please contact Gary Jaffe at gary.s.jaffe@gmail.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 . . . .

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

Received directly and explored on-line:

presents

October 20 - 31 (no performance October 29)

Thursdays - Saturdays at 7 p.m.

CTC International, 1102 E. Cesar Chavez (click for map)

Tickets will be available through Austix

The Last Act Theatre Company is staging a production of Titus Andronicus, Shakespeare’s first, and bloodiest, tragedy. Set in the modern day, this story of honor, war, and revenge proves just as relevant today as in Shakepeare's day.

Staged in the beautiful and intricate CTC Stone Garden and featuring some of the finest talent in Austin , including artist Angel Laveaux and fashion designer Lorelei Hutchings, along with performances by Travis Bedard, Bridget Farias, and Karen Alvarado; Last Act Theatre Company presents Shakespeare like you’ve never seen him before. And just in time for Halloween!