Ann Pittman's Austin Theatre Favorites in 2013

From her blog aNNpITTMAN, posted January 12:

Top Ten Twenty-Thirteen Theatre

Ann Pittman (via Blogspot)

Everyone has their favorites. And everyone's weighing in (Chronicle critics: AdamRoberts, Robert Faires ... a cat).

Of course, I have my own opinions :)

So here's my credential-free pick for Austin's Top Ten 2013 Theatre Experiences (p.s. I don't include national tours or shows I was in on this list... tours obvs. aren't Austin, and despite my first girl-on-girl kiss this year, its probably biased to nominate performances I was a part of). Of the over twenty shows I saw this year, here's some moments, people and experiences that I loved (in no particular order)...

1. Barbara Chisholm in Fixing King John. This was a fun, smart show by the Rude Mechs, and pulling her hair out in the middle of it was a brilliant Barbara Chisholm.

2. The amazing set of Nursery Crimes (the DAC has never been better utilized) and the supporting characters trio of Travis Bedard, Bobby DiPasquale, and Heath Thompson. Kudos to Last Act's Will Snider for some great choices.

3. Ryan Crowder's big fat crocodile tears (in addition to the rest of his performance) in Penfold Theatre's Red.

4. Martin Burke's final monologue in Harvey. Lovely.

5. Kristi Brawner in general. From Sally in Reefer Madness to Lucy in Charlie Brown, she is quickly becoming Austin's most versatile 20 Something (sorry guys, she's taken).

6. HPT's Ken Webster as Thom Pain. Again.

7. Mad Beat Hip & Gone. I cannot understand why this didn't get more critical attention. Whatev. You guys, it was great. And those lightbulbs...

8. The Drawbridge/Gangplank lowering and raising set piece thing in Austin Playhouse's Man of La Mancha. Awesome and daunting. Broke up the play and the mood perfectly appropriately.

9. Little Shop of Horrors' colorful costumes at Zilker Park.

10. ZACH's A Christmas Story set. You'll shoot your eye out.

AND what I really, really wanted to see (which might have influenced the above list), but, alas, life had other exciting adventures...

1. Mical Trejo in Teatro Vivo's Confessions of a Mexpatriate

2. And Then There Were None by Austin Playhouse

3. Tongues (in the swimming pool!) by Theatre at the J

4. Fat Pig by Theatre En Bloc

So there you have it! Of the Austin theatre events I saw, these were the most super-duper. Maybe next year I'll be brave enough to give you The Worst Of... who knows! In the meantime, here's looking forward to more great, funny, meaningful, important, silly theatre in the heart of Texas in 2014!

Martin Burke Interviewed about his One-Man 'It's A Wonderful Life' at Zach Theatre

Posted at






Freelancer Jacey Little of Houston interviews 'Austin's favorite actor':

Q: For most Americans Frankl Capra's It's A Wonderful Life is a Christmas classic. What was your previous relationship with the film?

Martin Burke: I grew up watching this movie every Christmas. My Mother and Father loved Jimmy Stewart so I was fortunately exposed to all of his classic movies. I honestly love It’s a Wonderful Life. I say that in the play and it’s 100% true.

Read more at artsandculturetx.com . . . .

Harvey by Mary Chase, Zach Theatre, Topfer Theatre, May 15 - June 16, 2013

Martin Burke (image: Kirk R. Tuck)

by Christine Mendez


Harvey by Mary Chase at the Zach Theatre, directed by Dave Steakley, is a laughter-inducing good time. It centers around Elwood P. Dowd , a charming, generous and altogether very pleasant man who happens to have an invisible six-foot rabbit named Harvey as his best friend. 

 Martin Burke’s comic performance is flawless, once again. His subtle gestures and affably earnest conversations with Harvey have you almost seeing the giant white rabbit yourself! Burke portrays Elwood’s genuinely friendly without out a single false note.

Elwood’s sister (Lauren Lane) and her daughter Myrtle Mae (Erin Barlow) have spent years of hiding the invisible and unseemly Harvey from society, and they decide the time has come to commit Elwood to a sanitarium. A mix-up confines the wrong person, and a happily unaware Elwood continues on his pleasant way with a smile in place.

Lauren Lane (image: Kirk R. Tuck)

Lane and Barlow as mother and daughter duo have you feeling the shame and hilarity of the situation simultaneously. Lauren Lane’s predicaments had the audience laughing all evening long – so much so that at times one had to strain to hear the dialogue. A week of preview performances should have been sufficient to adjust the timing – but perhaps the audience for the official opening night was particularly exuberant. I wished the ladies would have another beat before delivering their lines, but they definitely succeeded in keeping us amused.

Liz Beckham, Martin Burke, Jacob Trussell (image: Kirk R.Tuck)

Elwood’s gentle courtesy makes Nurse Kelly (Liz Beckham) feel appreciated and cherished even when the man she has her eyes set on, Dr. Sanderson (Jacob Trussell), treats her poorly. Elwood’s unwavering chivalry is refreshing, disarming and disconcerting to the other characters.

The Pulitzer-Prize-winning play from 1945, familiar to many from the Jimmy Stewart movie, poses a still relevant question about delusions, social propriety and responsibility. Is it right to lock up a friendly, generous and good-natured man who is harmlessly out of contact with reality as we conceive it? What’s the danger to us if he imagines he has a giant invisible rabbit as companion and best friend? People reject behavior they do not understand, so they instinctively move to counter it and exclude Elwood, even though he’s charismatic and kind.

Harvey the rabbit remains invisible, but his presence is palpable and apparent in the set design by Michelle Ney. Rabbit figures are to be found littered throughout the set. I was pleasantly surprised to detect a few rabbits in portraits on the walls of the sets, and I spent much of the intermission trying to find them all. The revolving stage was a quick and fun way to change between the two sets. The contrast between the warm library and the cold, almost empty environment of the sanitarium was stark – but it had no effect on the effervescent Elwood.

I recommend that you hop over to Zach Theatre to catch this performance of Harvey before he disappears!

HARVEY by Mary Chase, Zach Theatre, May 15 - June 16, 2013

(Zach Theatre, S. Lamar at Riverside (parking on Riverside and on Toomey Rd, one block south),


HARVEY

by MARY CHASE
directed by DAVE STEAKLEY
featuring MARTIN BURKE and LAUREN LANE

Previews May 15-22 - Champagne Opening and Press Night is Thursday, May 23 at 7:30 p.m., followed by a reception with the stars of show.

LGBT Wilde Party with pre-show mixer is Thursday, May 16. 

Performances continue Wednesdays - Saturdays at 8 p.m., and Sunday at 2:30 p.m. through June 16, 2013.

To order tickets call 512-476-0541 ext. 1 or visit www.zachtheatre.org. Tickets range from $25-$65. 
Student Rush Tickets: $18 one hour before showtime (with valid ID).

 ZACH’s full bar featuring signature cocktails and hors d'oeuvre boxes opens one hour prior to showtime and remains open for one hour post-show.


at ZACH’s new Topfer Theatre, 202 South Lamar Blvd., (corner of Riverside Drive and South Lamar Blvd.)

In this 1945-Pulitzer Prize-winning comedy "Austin's favorite actor" (The Austin Chronicle), Martin Burke stars as Elwood P. Dowd, a happy-go-lucky chap with a kind word for everyone he meets, especially his invisible best friend, a six-foot tall rabbit named "Harvey." When Elwood's social-climbing sister decides to have him committed, this delightful play embarks on a madcap discovery that is by turns hilarious and endearing. Maybe our dreams are more important than we ever imagined.


ZACH’s Producing Artistic Director Dave Steakley says: “Martin Burke and the role of Elwood in HARVEY is a marriage made in heaven. Martin’s charm, ability to make us see Harvey as a fully-realized ‘pooka’, and gift for comedy will be a large amount of fun for all of us. Martin is joined by actress Lauren Lane, who is such a gifted interpreter of physical comedy, which makes her a natural for this project. This Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Mary Chase, as funny as it is, was also her indictment of McCarthyism in telling the story of the easy-going dreamer with a vivid imagination who is pitted against those who want him to conform to an accepted version of reality. I couldn’t help but think about local First Amendment hero John Henry Faulk when I read this play. John Henry was Karen Kuykendall’s uncle, which makes this show very appropriate to this particular inaugural season on the Karen Kuykendall stage.”

ZACH’s production of HARVEY features an all-star cast:  

MARTIN BURKE as Elwood P. Dowd, LAUREN LANE as Veta Louise Simmons, ERIN BARLOW as Myrtle Mae Simmons, LIZ BECKHAM as Ruth Kelly, R.N., DAVID JARROTT as Judge Omar Gaffney, FRITZ KETCHUM as Betty Chumley, SCOTTY ROBERTS as E.J. Lofgren, MICHAEL STUART as William R. Chumley, M.D., VICTOR STEELE as Duane Wilson, JACOB TRUSSELL as Lyman Sanderson, M.D, and M.J. VAN DIVIER as Mrs. Ethel Chauvenet

Scenic Design by MICHELLE NEY · Lighting Design by MATT WEBB · Costume Design by SUSAN BRANCH TOWNE · Sound Design by CRAIG BROCK · Properties Design by JUSTIN COX · Stage Management by LISA GOERING

ZACH’s production of HARVEY is sponsored by Executive Producers: James Armstrong and Larry Connelly, Carolyn and Marc Seriff, Carla Tyson Photography

Free Balcony Play series in conjunction with HARVEY

The second Balcony Play, to be launched in conjunction with HARVEY, opening May 15, will be a new comedic riff on A Midsummer Night's Dream. All Balcony Plays are FREE and open to the public. Concessions will be available; no tickets or reservations are necessary. See the schedule here: http://www.zachtheatre.org/content/balcony-plays-mad-beat-hip-gone-conversations.


ZACH Theatre is Austin’s leading professional producing theatre, employing more than 600 actors, musicians, and designers annually. Founded in 1932, ZACH is the longest running theatre company in Texas, serving 95,000 adults and youth annually. ZACH creates its own nationally recognized plays and musicals that ignite the imagination, lift the spirit, and engage the community under the proven leadership of Producing Artistic Director Dave Steakley and Managing Director Elisbeth Challener. Launching its 80th season in 2012, ZACH continues to expand and engage with Austin, adding the new 420-seat, 32,000-square-foot Topfer Theatre to its performing arts campus, nearly doubling ZACH’s capacity while retaining its hallmark intimate theatre-going experience. Visit www.zachtheatre.org for more information.
ZACH Theatre is sponsored in part, by Applied Materials, Austin Catering, Four Hands Home, Holiday Inn-Lady Bird Lake, Kirk Tuck Photography, Marquee Event Group, OnRamp, Austin American-Statesman, KXAN TV 36, and Time Warner Cable; and by grants from Junior League of Austin, The Shubert Foundation, The National Endowment for the Arts, Texas Commission on the Arts, and the City of Austin through the Cultural Arts Division, which believes an investment in the arts is an investment in Austin’s future. Visit Austin at NowPlayingAustin.com.

(Click to go to the AustinLiveTheatre front page)

Promo Video: Design for Living, Austin Shakespeare at the Rollins Theatre, February 6 - 24, 2013

Jonny Pascoe's video for the

 

presentation of

Design for Living

by Noel Coward

February 6 - 24, 2013
Rollins Theatre of The Long Center for the Performing Arts

Tickets on sale now at thelongcenter.org or (512) 474-5664.

Join us in this merry dance of three friends who begin as Bohemian artists and rise to high society, as they discover that real love and true friendship often collide. Delight in Noel Coward songs, too! Featuring Martin Burke, Helen Merino and Michael Miller in the lead roles.

Design for Living by Noël Coward, Austin Shakespeare at the Rollins Theatre, Long Center, February 6 - 24, 2013

by Christine El-Tawil and Michael Meigs

Kara Bliss greets you with song as you enter the Rollins Studio Theater at the Long Center for Austin Shakespeare’s production of Design for Living by Noël Coward. Jason Connor accompanies her on the upright piano. 


 Bliss’s soulful delivery of witty and fun compositions by Coward and by Cole Porter instantly transports you to the 1920’s. The puns and clever humor set the audience laughing even before the action began, particularly with references to “gay” behavior. In Coward’s time, “gay” usually meant “loose” or “sexually libertarian” rather than “homosexual,” but our 21^st-century audience took the modern meaning. Director Ann Ciccolella’s interpretation of the progressive partnering within this free-thinking trio was exactly in line with that modern understanding.


Bliss and Connor perform before the show and at each of two intermissions in this three-hour production. They function as a cheerful and attractive chorus, for the songs allude to themes and social issues explored throughout the play. Their final offering is Coward’s “Marvelous Party,” an account of lovely drunken frivolity foreshadowing the happy ending.

Michael Miller, Martin Burke, Helen Merino (photo: Austin Shakespeare)

Coward wrote the play in 1932 for his friends Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne, and the three of them appeared in it in New York to great acclaim. London audiences didn’t get to see it until much later because the ménage-à-trois and sexual innuendo were judged inappropriate by British authorities.


Design for Living tells the story of three young aspiring artists struggling up from poverty. They’re firm friends who first met in bohemian Paris. At the opening, Helen Merino as Gilda the designer is in a terrible flutter, and we soon discover why. Living unmarried with one of her male friends, she has just spent the night with the other. 


The dilemmas of sentiment and coupling are the heart of the play; these spirits scorn convention but jealousies upset and bewilder them. The three protagonists portrayed this drama and comedy so powerfully and effortlessly that the audience found itself gasping one moment and then laughing in the same breath.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Quick Comment: Design for Living, Austin Shakespeare at the Rollins Theatre, Long Center, February 6 - 24

 
by Michael Meigs

The songs performed by chanteuse Kara Bliss highlight Noël Coward's sly wit, but Ann Ciccolella's staging of Design for Living proves he was no mere champagne dandy. Marvelously articulate dialogue pops and snaps, and it's full of emotion. Michael Miller, Martin Burke and Helen Merino deliver the most exuberant, mischievous and riveting ensemble work I've seen in many a day.

Design for Living by Noël Coward, Austin Shakespeare at the Rollins Theatre, Long Center, February 6 - 24. Tickets via thelongcenter.org or at (512) 474-5664.

Zach Theatre Auditions for Harvey, January 7

ZACH Theatre announces auditions for Harvey by Mary Chase on January 7, 2013 from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. in the ZACH Nowlin Rehearsal Studio located at 1426 Toomey Road. Dave Steakley will be directing this Pulitzer Prize-winning comedy which recently had a successful run on Broadway at the Roundabout Theater. 

"Austin's favorite actor" (according to the Austin Chronicle) Martin Burke stars as Elwood P. Dowd, a happy-go-lucky chap with a kind word for everyone he meets, especially his invisible best friend, a six-foot tall rabbit named "Harvey."

Rehearsals begin on April 22, 2013. The first preview performance is on Wednesday, May 15, 2013 and opening night is Thursday, May 23, 2013. Performances will be Wednesdays through Sundays weekly with the final performance on Sunday, June 16, 2013.

Please be prepared to read sides from the play for the character for which you are interested in auditioning. Click here to download sides.

Actors will be seen by appointment only. To schedule an appointment, please send an email with your name, phone number, email address, and the character(s) auditioning for to auditions@zachtheatre.org. All actors should bring a headshot and resume to the audition. For general information about ZACH please visit us at www.zachtheatre.org.

We are seeking both AEA and non-AEA actors.

Click here for a list of characters with descriptions at AustinLiveTheatre.com

Design for Living by Noel Coward, Austin Shakespeare at the Rollins Theatre, Long Center, February 6 - 24, 2013

presents

by Noel Coward

Savor the wit of Noel Coward's provocative comedy Design for Living!

February 6 - 24, 2013
Rollins Theatre of The Long Center for the Performing Arts

Tickets on sale now at thelongcenter.org or (512) 474-5664.

Join us in this merry dance of three friends who begin as Bohemian artists and rise to high society, as they discover that real love and true friendship often collide. Delight in Noel Coward songs, too!

Featuring Martin Burke, Helen Merino and Michael Miller in the lead roles. This will be Martin Burke's first time with Austin Shakespeare. Martin has been drawing crowds at ZACH for more than a decade. Local audiences can see him currently in The Santaland Diaries at ZACH. Austin Shakespeare audiences are familiar with Helen Merino for her performances in Mary Stuart, Anthem and Hamlet. Our audiences will remember Michael Miller as Mr. Darcy in our recent production of Pride and Prejudice.

FULL CAST

Otto - Michael Miller

Gilda - Helen Merino

Leo - Martin Burke

Ernest - Michael Dalmon

Miss Hodge - Kathy Lagaza

Mrs. Helen Carver - Sara Cormier

Mr. Henry Carver/Mr. Birbeck - Ben McLemore

Chanteuse - Kara Bliss McGregor

Introducing Martin Burke to Austin Shakespeare: ZACH: The Santaland Diaries (1998-2012), Fully Committed (2003 & 2012), The Laramie Project (2002 & 2012), The Laramie Project: 10 Years Later, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, The Drowsy Chaperone, Take Me Out, Shakespeare’s R&J, The Mystery of Irma Vep, Angels in America. Imagine That Productions: House of Several Stories, A Writer's Vision(s), Down the Drain. Other: Celebrity Autobiography (The Long Center), Greater Tuna with Joe Sears, Twelfth Night (Sneck Up!, Vortex), Richard III/2 Actors (Public Domain), Shopping and F**king and Fur (Vortex).


Awards: Austin Critics' Table Award "Best Actor in a Leading Role" forThe Drowsy Chaperone, B. Iden Payne Award “Outstanding Ensemble” for The Drowsy Chaperone, The Laramie Project, and Shakespeare’s R&J; B. Iden Payne Award “Outstanding Lead Actor, Comedy” for House of Several Stories; B. Iden Payne Award “Outstanding Featured Actor in a Drama” for Take Me Out; Austin Critics’ Table Award “Best Actor, Drama” and B. Iden Payne Award “Outstanding Lead Actor, Comedy” for Circumference of a Squirrel; Austin Critic’s Table Award “Best Actor, Comedy” for The Santaland Diaries; B. Iden Payne Award “Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play” for Twelfth Night, Angels in America: Perestroika and Family Affair; Austin Critic’s Table special citation, “Show Savior” for Richard III/2 Actors, Family Affair, and Lucifa. Martin holds a B.F.A. in Acting from UT.

Join us in this merry dance of three friends who begin as Bohemian artists and rise to high society, as they discover that real love and true friendship often collide. Delight in Noel Coward songs, too!

(Click to go to the AustinLiveTheatre front page)

The Santaland Diaries by David Sedaris with Martin Burke, Zach Theatre, November 24 - December 23

by Michael Meigs



The Zach says that this is the last time -- for a while -- they'll stage David Sedaris' The Santaland Diaries. This is the 15th (!) season they've done it, so perhaps it's time for retirement, but if like me you've abstained from witnessing this Zach holiday ritual, it's time to swing on board before the caboose gets out of reach. Director Dave Steakley notes that Martin Burke has been doing his role as Crumpet the elf since the first production. Burke took a sabbatical of sorts in 2009 when African-American Espy Randolph did the show to appreciative reviews but the Austin originator was back again in 2010. For the 2012 run they're selling tickets only through the 23rd. On that Sunday Martin Burke does his last Crumpet the Elf at two shows, one at 2:30 p.m. and the other at 7 p.m.

Sedaris' text is smug and sarcastic, an appropriate antidote to all the sugar swirlilng in the air at this time of year, but Martin Burke himself is the reason to go see these sayanora performances. Burke has the fresh, guileless enthusiasm of a child, regardless of the scores -- no, hundreds -- of times that he has done this material. The contrast between that expressive, often beaming face and the cynical account of a season working as an elf-by-the-hour in Macy's Santland triggers your funny reflexes, and Burke has such happy charisma that he's instantly your friend. He's practically within reach, for the Zach's Whisenhut stage is a 150-seat theatre in the round.

Since the Macy's bit is intense but short, Zach and other companies that do this popular piece inevitably couple it with something else. The Zach production opens with a different Sedaris monologue, with Burke as an enthusiastic boy who discovers that his working class mother is friends through her job with a real, live workin' prostitute. The script is not so amusing in itself, but Burke's wide-eyed enthusiasm makes it pleasing. (The Playhouse in San Antonio is balancing its 'Santaland Diaries' featuring Jimmy Moore with 'Season's Greetings,' also by Sedaris, featuring Molly Cox -- slugging down booze from the bottle in the production promo photos.)

Zach's presentation is spiced up by some sly and somewhat naughty Christmas songs delivered femme fatale style by Amy Downing during the week and by Jill Blackwood on weekends, to the accompaniment of Jason Connor, the man with the accomplished fingers and unflappable presence of a lounge player who has smiled at it all.

I shared this experience with a friend from out of town, transplanted back to the United States after decades in Europe. He was particularly impressed by the warmth of Burke's performance and the man's ability to move our emotions in an instant from jolly mocking laughter to an unexpected pang of sympathy by capturing us with his actor's heart-catching sincerity. My friend vowed that this was a particularly American artistic characteristic and he found Burke marvelous at it.

Perhaps The Santaland Diaries has indeed arrived at the end of its useful life as a holiday chestnut and revenue raiser for 'Austin's theatre.' But we're blessed to have little big man Martin Burke still very much with us. He's scheduled to inhabit Elwood P. Dowd, friend of Harvey the rabbit, this coming May and June. You can be certain that the performance will be unique, perhaps with just the tiniest echo of Jimmy Stewart, but with a great deal of the charisma of Mr. Burke.

EXTRA

Click to view excerpts from the Zach's program for The Santaland Diaries with Martin Burke

Upcoming: The Santaland Diaries by David Sedaris and Joe Mantiello, Zach Theatre, November 24 - December 23

presents


THE SANTALAND DIARIES

written by David Sedaris • Adapted for stage by JOE MANTELLO • Directed by DAVE STEAKLEY • Starring MARTIN BURKE, AMY DOWNING (for evening performances) and JILL BLACKWOOD (on matinees)

Musical Director and Arrangements by JASON  CONNOR
Original Set Design by HEYD FONTENOT • Lighting Design by JASON AMATO • Sound Design by CRAIG BROCK • Properties Design by BLAKE REEVES • Costume Design by BLAIR HURRY

THE SANTALAND DIARIES previews November 23 - Opening night is Saturday, November 24 (Press night) - Performances continue through December 23, Wednesdays - Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 2:30 p.m.
To order tickets call 512-476-0541 ext. 1 or visit www.zachtheatre.org. Tickets range from $35-$65.

Student Rush Tickets: $18 one hour before showtime (with valid ID). 
 ZACH’s bar opens one hour before showtime.

ZACH’s intimate Whisenhunt Stage, 1510 Toomey Road, (Toomey intersects S. Lamar Blvd. between W. Cesar Chavez and Barton Springs Rd.)

ZACH’s production of THE SANTALAND DIARIES is sponsored in part by Lina’s Cocoa Couture.

Austin's favorite irreverent elf returns in the 15^th — and final — edition of Sedaris' hysterical tale of elfin woe. Enjoy the real-life story of Sedaris' tour of duty at Macy’s as Crumpet the elf, and what it takes to juggle tots and tottering Santas during a painfully festive time of the year. A laugh 'til you cry evening of merrily subversive entertainment to delight adult audiences! (Note: mature themes.)


For real-time updates on ZACH Theatre news, events and happenings, visit http://www.zachtheatre.org/blog, be a fan of ZACH Theatre on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/zachtheatre, and follow ZACH on Twitter @zachtheatre http://www.twitter.com/zachtheatre.


About ZACH Theatre ZACH Theatre is Austin’s leading professional producing theatre, employing more than 600 actors, musicians, and designers annually. Founded in 1932, ZACH is the longest running theatre company in Texas, serving 95,000 adults and youth annually. ZACH creates its own nationally recognized plays and musicals that ignite the imagination, lift the spirit, and engage the community under the proven leadership of Producing Artistic Director Dave Steakley and Managing Director Elisbeth Challener. Launching its 80th season in 2012, ZACH continues to expand and engage with Austin, adding the new 420-seat, 32,000-square-foot Topfer Theatre to its performing arts campus, nearly doubling ZACH’s capacity while retaining its hallmark intimate theatre-going experience. Visit www.zachtheatre.org for more information.


ZACH Theatre is sponsored in part, by Applied Materials, Austin Catering, Four Hands Home, Holiday Inn-Lady Bird Lake, Kirk Tuck Photography, Marquee Event Group, OnRamp, Austin American-Statesman, KXAN TV 36, and Time Warner Cable; and by grants from Junior League of Austin, The Shubert Foundation, The National Endowment for the Arts, Texas Commission on the Arts, and the City of Austin through the Cultural Arts Division, which believes an investment in the arts is an investment in Austin’s future. Visit Austin at NowPlayingAustin.com.


(Click to return to the AustinLiveTheatre front page)

Upcoming: Fully Committed with Martin Burke, Zach Theatre, June 8 - September

presents

Fully Committed

June 14, 2012 - September 2, 2012
Whisenhunt Stage

By BECKY MODE | Directed by DAVE STEAKLEY | Starring MARTIN BURKE
Please arrive early for parking.

Tickets $40 available on line

Student Tickets: $18 One Hour Before Showtime (with Valid ID)
Bar opens 1 hour before showtime. Drinks welcome inside the theatre

By popular request, one of ZACH’s biggest hits returns! In this delicious comedy, desperate diners resort to threats, bribes, name-dropping, name-calling and downright begging for that all-important reservation at a posh new restaurant. Martin Burke gives a tour de force performance as the high-strung maître d’ plus 39 other characters!

"A thrill ride for an audience! Martin Burke is a truly chameleon-like actor with perfect comic timing. He operates his multi-line phone, intercom and chef hotline like a virtuoso, dashing from one end of the room to another with that nimble Burke trot. His combination of satire and insight makes for an hour and a half of real delight!" - The Austin Chronicle

The Laramie Project, Ten Years Later, Zach Theatre, April 18 - May 13

by Michael Meigs

You know these people; you're comfortable with them.  Most likely because you attended their portrayal in March and April of The Laramie Project, but possibly also because you recognize them as the Zach regulars who have appeared before you so many times.  The Laramie Project 10 Years Later has the reassuring buzz of a class reunion, which is something like the way it must have been for the Tectonic Theatre Project as they undertook the visits and research in 2008 that led to this text.

The Laramie Project featured the looming absence of gentle Matthew Shepard, the boy-man who was enticed by two men from a bar into a pickup and then driven out to be beaten almost to death, left tied to a fence in a remote and desolate location.  It was crafted to tell the horrific, inexorable story of that spectacular event, the investigation and the actions in response both of the justice system and the townspeople of Laramie, a town of fewer than 30,000 persons on I-80 just north of the Colorado border. The work had a necessary beginning in outrage, a middle of reflection and discussion and an end featuring retribution and mercy.

10 Years Later has no such clean plot line, although Moisés Kaufman and the credited collaborators of the Tectonic Theatre Project worked assiduously to give it one.  They discovered that the vivid accounts at the trial and in the newspapers were no longer a daily reality in Laramie but instead the story of Matthew Shepard had undergone transformation, partly due to the collective process of healing via forgetfulness and partly due to disinformation from a national investigative television program that claimed drug use and drug dealing lay behind the murder.  The theatre troupe's interviews and re-enactments battle those claims, trying to re-establish for their wider audience the picture of a despicable hate crime.  They also chart the successful emergence from the closet of a woman who won a seat in the legislature and the ideological combat there over a proposed amendment to the Wyoming constitution to define marriage as consisting solely of the union between a man and a woman.

[images by Kirk R. Tuck]

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Zach Theatre Announces 2012-2013 Season

Received directly from:

ZACH’s 2012-13 Mainstage Season features:

• Ragtime
• White Christmas
  
• 33 Variations
• Harvey
• Mad Beat Hip & Gone
  
• And a Broadway-bound musical TBA

Season extras are:

• Tru
• The Santaland Diaries
  

“I’m thrilled to bring Austin so many firsts, filled with unforgettable moments, in our first spectacular season in the Topfer Theatre,” says Producing Artistic Director Dave Steakley. “From Ragtime – the largest and most extraordinary musical ZACH has ever produced, to the world premiere of a new play written especially for us by Steven Dietz, the most-produced playwright in America and an Austinite; from the dazzling holiday favorite White Christmas brimming with effervescent Irving Berlin hits, to a riveting drama starring Anton Nel, one of the greatest concert pianists in the world; and from a brand new Broadway-bound musical to a fresh revisioning of the beloved classic comedy Harvey, starring Martin Burke, the funniest man in Austin. For an artist like myself with a 20-plus year commitment to this city, it’s a dream come true. There will be so many delicious moments for all of us who love this city to savor and inspire and celebrate!”

Click for additional details about the upcoming Zach season

Upcoming: If You Give A Mouse A Cookie, Zach Theatre, February 18 - March 24 (Saturdays)

Found on-line:

presents Martin Burke in the title role of

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie

based on the book by Laura Joffe Numeroff and adapted for the stage by Jody Davidson.

Public performances on Saturdays at 10 a.m. and 11:30 a.m.

February 18 and 25; March 3, 10 and 24

(Schools performances 10 a.m. and 11:30 a.m., Tuesdays - Fridays, February 16 - March 30)

Whisenhut stage "theatre in the round' 1510 Toomey St. near South Lamar (click for map)

Tickets for reserved seats at public performances $14 for youth, $16 for adults plus $3 processing fee for on-line service -- purchase on-line

It all starts so simply – a day like any other. A boy stays home alone when his mom goes to visit Aunt Rose. With a few cookies and a good spot to read, everything seems so perfect. When the Mouse shows up, hungry – talkative – and not to be ignored. What can the boy do but give the Mouse a cookie? So... what do you get when an energetic mouse and an obliging boy spend the afternoon together? Cookie crumbs, spilled milk, and a whole lot of outrageous physical comedy that will have you rolling in the aisles.

Upcoming: Down the Drain by John Boulanger, Hyde Park Theatre, August 11 - 28

Found on-line:

Imagine That

presents its latest production

Down the Drain

written and directed by A. John Boulanger

August 11 - 28, Thursdays-Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 2 p.m.
Hyde Park Theatre, 511 W. 43rd Street at Guadalupe (click for map)

Click to purchase tickets on-line ($15 and $20)

When an earthquake in China (coupled with a bottle of vodka) forces Teddy to his bathroom floor, he doesn’t think his life could sink any lower. And then it does.

After the successful premiere of House of Several Stories, Boulanger teams up again with Austin sweethearts Martin Burke and Meredith McCall for the development of a new play, Down the Drain. The cast also includes Breanna Stogner (seen in Boulanger’s A Writer’s Vision(s)) and Judd Farris. Costume design by Jillan Hanel; set design by Ia Enstera.

Kickstarter Appeal by John Boulanger: Down the Drain, Hyde Park Theatre in August

Notification received via Twitter:

John Boulanger, author of House of Several Stories, has recruited Austin actors Meredith McCall and Martin Burke for Down the Drain, planned by his company Imagine That! Productions for the Hyde Park Theatre in August. He's asking via www.kickstart.com fr pledges of financial backing of $3750 to do the show. To read the whimsical pseudo-interview and view the video in a larger format, click here to go to the Down the Drain page on Kickstarter.

Review from Elsewhere: Ba

Quoted in its entirety, from Austinist.com:

FronteraFest Long Fringe 2011 Review:

A Writers Vision(s) at Salvage Vanguard Theater

John Boulanger knows American absurdism. His precedent-setting House of Several Stories, which garnered the ACTF National Student Playwrighting Award in 2008, presented a refreshing reminder of the genre's ability to stun and strike a deep, resonating cord. Viewers expecting something like a repeat of this stylistic acrobatics show be forewarned: despite typical elements like negligent mothers, incompetent therapists, and general confusion about reality, this show is only absurdist-ish. It's straight-up zany. This show simply won't allow you to take it seriously. Don't bother trying.

It's not just mad-cap and unleashed; there's technically a through-line narrated Seuss-style about a struggling writer visited a la Christmas Carol by three representations of his sub-conscious in his efforts to unclog unclear-to-him blockages in his latest creative process. It hardly matters though; the ridiculousness effervescing through the piece suffices in the place of any real meaning (though admission of this at the end of the piece comes across as unnecessarily defiant). It's a rambunctious pastiche of farce, absurdism, and pop cultural weirdness stuffed with appearances of local theatrical luminaries like Babs George, Jill Blackwood, Martin Burke, and Laura Lane that, in lieu of receiving Equity-scale pay, revel in enjoying themselves on-stage. Most successfully, it’s masturbatory and thoroughly self-amusing without being alienating. Like its lead character in the end, it simply refuses to take the process of writing "seriously" and is all the better for it.

By Bastion Carboni in Arts and Entertainment on January 25, 2011

Images by Kirk R. Tuck for The Santaland Diaries, Zach Theatre, November 26 - January 3

Photographer Kirk R. Tuck documents on his blog The Visual Science Lab the creation with Martin Burke and Meredith MCall of publicity images for Zach Theatre's David Sedaris' The Santaland Diaries:

The Santaland Diaries
November 26, 2010 - December 31, 2010
Written by David Sedaris• Adapted for stage by Joe Mantello • Directed by Dave Steakley • Starring ZACH's Original Little Macy's Elf Martin Burke with Meredith McCall and Jason Connor

Martin Burke and Meredith McCall are reunited this holiday season in David Sedaris' The Santaland Diaries - where our little Macy’s elf knows a thing or two about faking the Yuletide spirit. But you won’t be faking a good time when your sides split as David Sedaris’ comedy tells the real-life story of Sedaris’ tour of duty as the elf Crumpet, and what it takes to juggle tots and tottering Santas during a painfully festive time of the year. A laugh ’til you cry evening of merrily subversive entertainment to delight adult audiences!

As seen in ZACH's recent production of The Drowsy Chaperone, Martin Burke and Meredith McCall are a hilariously potent duo. For more info, including bios of cast and crew, go to the Zach Theatre website.

Read posts by Kirk R. Tuck:

Shooting Theater Ads with LEDs. Yes you can light a set. November 6

The Holidays Are Upon Us, November 16

Click to view additional images at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Upcoming: The Santaland Diaries by David Sedaris, Zach Theatre, November 26 - January 2

Received directly:

(image by Kirk R. Tuck)

ZACH’s Original “Little Macy’s Elf” Returns !

ZACH Theatre presents
The 2010 Edition of David Sedaris’

The Santaland Diaries

Adapted for the stage by Joe Mantello • Directed by Dave Steakley
Starring Martin Burke and Meredith McCall, winners of The Austin Chronicle’s 2010 Readers’ Poll for “Best Actors,” with Jason Connor on piano.
November 26, 2010 – January 2, 2011
Wednesday-Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2:30 p.m.

ZACH Theatre’s intimate Whisenhunt Stage at 1510 Toomey Road (near Riverside Dr. and S. Lamar.)

David Sedaris’ wickedly funny THE SANTALAND DIARIES tells the real-life story of Sedaris’ tour of duty as the Little Macy’s Elf – Crumpet, and what it takes to juggle tots and tottering Santas during a painfully festive time of the year. A laugh ‘til you cry evening of merrily subversive entertainment to delight adult audiences.

Tickets available online at www.zachtheatre.org, ZACH’s box office at (512) 476-0541 ext. 1 or, in person, at 1510 Toomey Rd.
Special pricing available for groups of 8 or more, seniors and students.

For real-time updates on ZACH Theatre news, events and happenings, visit http://www.zachtheatre.org/blog/. Add ZACH Theatre as a friend on Facebook, and follow ZACH on Twitter @ http://www.twitter.com/zachtheatre.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .