THE USUAL SUSPECTS, SLAPDASH FLIMFLAMMERY X by Loaded Gun Theory at the Off Center, August 24, 2013

presents

The Usual Suspects
Slapdash Flimflammery X

August 24 at the The Off-Center, 2211-A Hidalgo Street, near E. 7th Street and Robert Martinez (behind Joe's Bakery) , 8 p.m.

Loaded Gun Theory's yearly 24-hour play festival rounds up the usual suspects. This year we'll lock 7 writers in a dark theater and have them write all night. The actors and directors will show up in the morning and rehearse all day for your enjoyment at 8 pm that night.

Cast and Crew

Writers

E.D. Harrelson.Timothy Thomas,Travis Holmes,Anna Larson,Trey Deason, Paul Emig

Directors

Robert Deike, Ian LeClair, Bill Arnold, Ian King,Julie Winston-Thomas, Lynn Beaver, Karen Jambon

Actors

Frank Benge, Le Easter,Amy Lewis, Jessica Medina. Kurt Hildebrand, Thisbe Lara, Zach Pettichord,Darren Scharf, Jean Budney, Roxy Becker, Jennifer McKenna, Andy Smith, Courtney Hopkin, Kera Blay, , Gino Sandoval, Marc Balester, Miriam Rubin, Craig Kanne, Carrie Stephens, Derek Jones, Mary Roark, Amy Minor, Marsha Sray

Head Improvisor

Renee Stewart

Assistant Stage Stallion

Jacob Stahl

Board Op

Gina Lopez

Stage Goddess

Madeline Winston

(Click to go to the AustinLiveTheatre front page)

Tent Revival fundraiser for Robert Matney at the Off Center, July 17, 2013

 

Tent Revival

Performance Benefit for Robert Matney

Robert Matney

 Weds July 17th,
doors open at 8 p.m., kick-off at 8:30 p.m.
The Off Center, 2211 Hidalgo, Austin TX 78702 - click for map
Join us at the Off Center for a healing crusade by the power of awesomeness in honor of Robert Matney. Stand beside this linchpin of the Austin theatre community, this excellent human, and help him he-yal from the evils of a malignant melanoma.

Scheduled guests currently include:

 

Steven Tomlinson
Manateeman
Cami Alys
Shoulders

 

special guest deejays Graham Reynolds, Michael Joplin, and Peter Stopschinski
a prayer by Kirk Lynn
hosted by the Rev Lowell Bartholomee
more to come...

And be ready to bid on the best silent auction items you've ever seen!

Sponsored by Tequila 512, Pluckers, Ruby's BBQ, Don't Panic Hispanic, Real Ale, Live Oak, Tito's Vodka

Hosted by the Rude Mechs
Co-produced by the Hidden Room Theatre, Street Corner Arts, A Chick and A Dude, Palindrome

Want to join our host committee? Starting at just $250 write or raise, you can support the Fishneys and join us for a private pre-show champagne party. Comment below or PM for more information. Can I get an AMEN?

DONATE HERE:
www.youcaring.com/matneyvscancer

CLICK HERE to view the video by Lowell Bartholomee

(Click to go to the AustinLiveTheatre front page)

Tent Revival fundraiser for Robert Matney at the Off Center, July 17, 2013

Join us at the Off Center for a healing crusade by the power of awesomeness in honor of Robert Matney.
Weds July 17th, 8PM - 11PM
The Off Center
2211 Hidalgo, Austin TX 78702
Scheduled guests currently include:
Steven Tomlinson
Manateeman
Cami Alys
special guest deejays Graham Reynolds, Michael Joplin, and Peter Stopschinski
a prayer by Kirk Lynn
hosted by the Rev Lowell Bartholomee
more to come...
And be ready to bid on the best silent auction items you've ever seen!
Sponsored by Tequila 512, Pluckers, Ruby's BBQ, Don't Panic Hispanic, Real Ale
Hosted by the Rude Mechs
Co-produced by the Hidden Room Theatre, Street Corner Arts, A Chick and A Dude, Palindrome
Want to join our host committee? Starting at just $250 write or raise, you can support the Fishneys and join us for a private pre-show champagne party. Comment below or PM for more information. Can I get an AMEN?
(Click to go to the AustinLiveTheatre front page)

HOLIER THAN THOU by Bastion Carboni, Poison Apple Initiative, June 20 - July 6, 2013

[performing at The Off-Center, 2211-A Hidalgo Street, near E. 7th Street and Robert Martinez (behind Joe's Bakery) -- click for map]

presents

Click to view five short videos prepared for the premiere production in January-February, 2012

(Click to go to the AustinLiveTheatre front page)

Upcoming: Now Now Oh Now, Rude Mechanicals at the Off Center, May 17 - June 9

present

Now Now Oh Now

May 17 - June 9, Thursdays - Sundays

multiple sessions each night, starting as needed at 7:30 and 8 p.m.; possibility of adding 7 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. start times

audience limited to 30 persons per session

at the Off Center, 2211-A Hidalgo, behind Joe's Bakery and near E. 7th and Robert Martinez (click for map)

Tickets are $25 for general admission on Fridays and Saturdays, and "Pay What You Wish" on Thursdays and Sundays. Advance tickets go on sale staring April 17th. Tickets will also be available at the door for cash or check only. For more information and advance ticket purchases, visit www.RudeMechs.com.

The Rude Mechs will debut the first fully-mounted production of the original work Now Now Oh Now on May 17th through June 9th at The Off Center. Previously presented in various workshop versions under the working title CL1000P, the fully-realized staging creates interactive puzzle about the importance and impermanence of selecting pleasure over survival.

The concept, structure and content of the work were developed by Madge Darlington, Thomas Graves, Hannah Kenah and Shawn Sides. With a book by Kenah and staging by Sides, the production will feature actors Graves, Kenah and Sides joined by Robert Fisher, Lana Lesley and Jason Liebrecht.

Inspired by evolutionary biology, the Brontës, and live-action-role-play communities, Now Now Oh Now is performed as "a triptych tribute to everyone's inner geek." Embodying Rude Mechs' desire to create a more tangible, social, active and personal experience for their audiences, the performance marries serious scientific content and virtuosic movement with the nerdy pleasure of puzzles and gaming - with the guilty pleasure of Murder Mystery Theatre.

An intimate consideration of how individual choices lead us through life and impact the world, the staging takes a locked room puzzle, a lecture on sexual selection in evolutionary biology and the world's weirdest night of Dungeons and Dragons - and weaves them all together to "paint a picture of why the things you find beautiful are important to the world," according to the creative team.

Now Now Oh Now is a recipient of the New England Foundation for the Arts' National Theatre Pilot. The goal of the program is to encourage artists and their collaborators to create high-quality works of contemporary theater - and provide for extended life of these works through touring to multi-disciplinary presenters, producing theaters and other venues.

Performances will be staged on Thursday through Sunday nights at The Off Center. Now Now Oh Now will be performed for an intimate audience of only 30 people per show, so several showings of the performance will be offered each night. Tickets will first be sold for a 7:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. showings each night. If these performances sell out, additional performances will be added at 7 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.

Upcoming: The New Russian Drama Festival at the Off Center, March 9 - 11

Friday, March 9 through Sunday, March 11

The Off Center
2211 Hidalgo Street, Austin, TX 78702 (click for map)

Thanks to generous support from the Center for International Theatre Development and Austin's Fusebox Festival, NRDFest is free and open to the public.

Festival Schedule

Friday, March 9

8:00pm - (American Premiere) The Schooling of Bento Bonchev

Saturday, March 10

• 2:30pm - Staged Reading: The Right of the Captain of the R.M.S. Carpathia, by Maksym Kurochkin, translated by John J. Hanlon, directd by James Loehlin
• 4:30pm - Staged Reading: Vodka, Fucking and Television, by Maksym Kurochkin, translated by John J. Hanlon, directed by Liz Fisher
• 6:30pm - A Conversation: Avant-Garde Theater in Austin and Moscow with Maksym Kurochkin, John Freedman and Robert Faires
• 8:00pm - Performance: The Schooling of Bento Bonchev

Sunday, March 11

• 3:00pm - Maksym Kurochkin's plays and contemporary Russian culture - a conversation with UT experts Tom Garza and Elizabeth Richmond-Garza
• 4:15pm - Staged Reading: Dancing, Not Dead by John Freedmanh, directed by Daria Davis
• 6:00pm - Contemporary Russian Theater - Closing remarks and a look forward, by John Freedman
• 8:00pm - Performance: The Schooling of Bento Bonchev

Click for additional information about the author and the translator at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

---

Upcoming: Look Back in Anger by John Osborne, Out of Context Productions at the Off Center, Mondays - Wednesdays, November 28 - December

Found on-line:

presents

Look Back in Anger

by John Osborne

directed by Tyler King

November 28-December 14, Mondays-Wednesdays at 7:30 pm

at The Off Center, 2211-A Hidalgo Street, near 7th St. and Robert Martinez (click for map)

Recommended for Mature Audiences

**October Presale - All tickets $8**

Admission: Student/Military ID - $10, General - $15, Super Patron - $25 (Tax included)

Presented in London in 1956, Look Back in Anger revolutionized the British stage with its searing portrayal of the struggling working classes. Now fifty-plus years later, the play takes on a completely new relevance as we in America struggle to fix our jobs market, bolster our economy and escape a second recession. Passionate and unforgiving, Osborne challenges us to examine our human nature during times of uncertainty and ultimately take responsibility for our own future.


Set and Costumes by Leslie Turner; Lights by Becca Plunkett

Upcoming: The B. Beaver Animation, Rude Mechs' recreation of the Mabou Mines 1990 piece, October 27 - November

Located on Facebook via Twitter:

mount a faithful reanimation of

The B. Beaver Animation

(1974 and 1990 by the Mabou Mines of New York City)

and give Austin an extraordinary opportunity to relive history.

co-directed by Madge Darlington and Shawn Sides

October 27, 28, 29, 30; November 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 11, 12, 13 at 8 p.m.

The Off Center, 2211-A Hidalgo, behind Joe's Bakery on E. 7th Street (click for map)

Tickets on sale October 5, 2011 at brownpapertickets.com - Sliding scale: Free-$25.

After wowing Austin two years ago with a remounting of the Performance Group's Dionysus in ‘69, the ever-daring Rudes reach back in time for another contemporary classic: Mabou Mines' The B. Beaver Animation.

B. is a devastated and stuttering beaver – a beaver who’s forgotten how to construct his dam! Debilitated by the prospect of his family being washed away because of his spontaneous deficiencies, he awaits mail order dam-building manuals and sorts through the damning messages damming his mind!

This seminal work confounded and provoked its 1974 audiences by introducing to the stage a radical style of story telling, an eclectic patchwork of words and action some called a “Performance Poem”. Writer/director Lee Breuer combined such diverse influences as Brecht, Grotowski, Bunraku puppet theater, rock and roll, and the collective input of the Mabou Mines ensemble, to create a deeply personal performance about his struggle with writer’s block. Part monologue, part manifesto, part slapdash circus, B. Beaver muddles the real and the symbolic, relating common themes in uncommon ways.


CAST & CREW:
Adriene Mishler as JoAnne Akalaitis
Elizabeth Doss as Ruth Maleczech
Ellie McBride as Dawn Gray
Aron Taylor as David Warrilow
Caroline Reck as Terry O’Reilly
and
Robert Pierson as Fred Neumann as B. Beaver

Click to read the review by Mel Gussow of the Mabou Mines 1990 re-mount of the B. Beaver Animation, May 24, 1990

Upcoming: Back to the Flim Flam, Part 8, Loaded Gun Theory, October 1

Received directly:

presents

October 1, 8 p.m.

at the Off Center, 2211-A Hidalgo Street (click for map)

Tickets $15 ($13 for members of the Austin Creative Alliance) Click to buy tickets on-line

24 hours before showtime 7 writers are locked in a theater. They give a line, they take a line. They write all night.

Early the next morning groggy directors, actors, and stage managers show up to rehearse frenetically and produce a fantastic night of theater for you at 8 p.m.

So what's the special sauce this year? We can't say much. But it has a little something to do with time...

Upcoming: ReDucks & Peter and the Wolf, Dys Theatre at the Off Center, March 3 - 12

Found on-line:

Dys Theatre presents

ReDucks

based on David Mamet

and

Biophiliac Productions'

Peter and the Wolf

March 3 - 12, Thursdays - Saturdays at 8 p.m.\

Off Center, 2211-A Hidalgo Street (behind Joe's Bakery on 7th St.) (click for map)

Click to donate to DysTheatre or to buy ReDucks tickets ($15)

Click for Dys Theatre on facebook

Upcoming: New Russian Drama Festival, Breaking String, Rude Mechs, Scriptworks and UT at the Off Center, January 28 - 31

Found on-line:

in association with the Rude Mechanicals and the Fusebox International Theatre Festival proudly presents

The Breaking String New Russian Drama Festival

at The Off Center 2211 Hidalgo Street, Austin, TX 78702 (click for map)

January 28th through January 31st

Thanks to support from the Center for International Theater Development and its director, Philip Arnoult, Breaking String is proud to host two of Russia’s most important contemporary playwrights: Maksym Kurochkin and Olga Mukhina.

All Festival events, except performances Flying, are free and open to the public. Join us!

Friday, January 28

• 8:00 PM: North American Premiere of Flying by Olga Mukhina, translated by John Freedman.

Saturday, January 29

• 12:30 PM: Discussion on New Russian Drama. Panelists: Olga Mukhina and Maksym Kurochkin
• 2:00 PM: Panel Discussion: New Russian Drama in Context. Panelists from the University of Texas at Austin: Elizabeth Richmond-Garza, Thomas Garza, and Seth Wolitz
• 4:00 PM: Staged Reading of YoU, by Olga Mukhina, translated by John Freedman. Directed by Liz Fisher
• 8:00 PM: Flying by Olga Mukhina, translated by John Freedman

Sunday, January 30

• 1:00 PM: Discussion of the Center for International Theatre Development's New Plays for Russia Initiative, with CITD Director Philip Arnoult
• 3:00 PM: Staged reading Repress and Excite, by Maksym Kurochkin, translated by John Freedman. Directed by James Loehlin.
• 8:00 PM: Flying by Olga Mukhina

Monday, January 31

• 6:00 PM: Austin Scriptworks Panel Discussion on new play development in Russia and the United States. With Scriptworks Director Christi Moore, Olga Mukhina and Maksym Kurochkin.

Upcoming: So Much to Go Crazy by Sibyl Kempson and Mike Iveson Jr. at the Off Center, December 2-4

Received directly from the Rude Mechanicals:

So Much to Go Crazy (The Show Might Go On) (Sehr Langsam)

New Work by Sibyl Kempson and Mike Iveson, Jr.

with Ilan Bachrach and Ben Williams

Love and Death, Objects vs. Products: a conglomeration, in song and video.

Dec. 2-4 (Thurs-Sat) at 8 pm at the Off Center, 2211-A Hidalgo Street
Tickets are $10 (First come, first serve at the door)

Fusebox Festival presents another Kempsonian/Ivesonian assault waged against the innocent citizens of Austin, TX. In a return marked by triumphant shame after last year's debacled victory CRIME OR EMERGENCY - they come this time with crooning, preening heartbreaker Ilan Bachrach and again with the dashing, heroic Ben Williams in tow. Their sacred and profane research continues in a fashion crippled and enabled by generously inadequate scheduling and finances. Layering hand-maiden video with Brahms lieder and an ignorantly yet blissfully attempted translation of Knut Hamsun's play Ved Rigets Port: Forspil, they probe to find the heart of all that they have delicately refused. Co-presented by Rude Mechs as part of our Rude Fusion series. Developed at New Dramatists, NYC.

Read about the artists at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Upcoming: The Backroad Homeshow and Not Winehouse, The Truck Project at the Off Center, November 23-24

Received directly from the Rude Mechanicals:

The Truck Project turns the back of a 24' Budget rental truck into its own mobile performance venue.
On its debut tour this fall, the Project will present a pair of solo performance installations.

Jean Ann Douglass's riff on American nostalgia

The Backroad Homeshow

will transform 24 square feet of empty space into the most unlikely vaudeville theater you will ever encounter.

Eric Meyer's

Not Winehouse

invites you to meet the singer we all know and love, reinvented as an American guy who happens to look a lot like Eric Meyer.
Tuesday Nov. 23rd and Wednesday Nov. 24th at 8pm
The Off Center (outside - dress for the weather!)

Tickets: $8 Click to purchase tickets on-line.
Advisory: Please be aware that guests will walk up a Budget Truck loading ramp to enter the theater, and approximately four guests will stand and four guests will sit on cushions on the floor during one of the pieces.

About The Truck Project The Truck Project creates original works of theater performed and toured in rented moving trucks. For each work, the truck interior is transformed into a dynamic playing space, based on the needs of each piece. As much an installation as it is performance, one show creates a vaudeville theater, complete with lobby and concessions, while another is performed in a barren, dark space where all audience members are led to their seats with flashlights. Each configuration of the truck can seat 20-35 people, and several short works are performed in repertory each evening. Our premiere in Brooklyn, NY held 10 performances in one evening, with an estimated audience of 250 total patrons, with many more unfortunately turned away at the door for lack of room. In Autumn 2010, we are expanding and solidifying our repertory and going on tour with two 25-minute works. Starting in Brooklyn, we will then tour to Spartanburg, SC (performing in the alley next to HUB-BUB), New Orleans, LA (performing under the auspices of the New Orleans Fringe Festival), and Austin, TX (performing in the parking lot of the Off Center).

Upcoming: The Death Show, Geppetto Dreams Puppet Company at the Off Center, March 20 - 21

Received directly, from Ricki Vincent of the now-defunct Geppetto Dreams Puppet Company:

After losing their beloved Eastside Art Center , Geppetto Dreams returns to Austin with a brand new show funded in part by the COA and The Texas Commission of the Arts, as well as the last donation from long time benefactor Steve Spencer:

The Death Show
Saturday, March 20 at 8 p.m. and 10 p.m., Sunday, March 21 at noon and 1:30 p.m.
The Off Center, 2211 Hidalgo St.

is GDPC’s first collaboration with Austin’s music scene favorites That Damned Band, and it'[s unlike anything they’ve presented before. This unique puppet operetta is a mixture of 7 vignettes, some dark and deep, some introspective, and some quite silly. But all of them deal with that most final of curtains. And all of them underscored by the haunting sounds of That Damned Band, an accordion-driven group of multi-talented songsters who pay musical tribute to eastern European, Yiddish, and old-time vaudevillian-era music and styles. Video cameras trained on the stage action will give the audience up-close views of the detail of each puppet as well as the artistry of puppeteers and musicians at work. The show runs 50 minutes, followed by a 10 minute Q and A to satisfy the curiosity of audience members who want a closer look at how the show operates.

The Troupe is performing at their favorite venue, The Off Center located at 2211 Hidalgo Austin 78702. Opening Night is March 20th with 2 shows at 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. Ticket’s are $12.00 in advance or 1$5.00 the day of the show. Sunday there will be two Pay-What-You-Can Matinees at noon and at1 p.m.

“Pay what you can literally means that,” say’s GDPC Director Ricki (Geppetto) Vincent. “If all you have is a buck and a stick of gum you’re in the door! We want all of Austin to be able to take part in and enjoy our puppety madness!” Seating is limited and advance tickets are suggested.




To purchase online go to http://www.geppettodreams.com/death.htm and http://www.myspace.com/thedeathshow3.20.10 through Pay Pal.

Images: A Midsummer Night's Dream, Chaotic Theatre Company at the Off Center, February 26 - March 7

Click for ALT review, March 10


Images of A Midsummer Night's Dream, received directly from Chaotic Theatre Company:

February 26 - March 7
by The Chaotic Theatre Company
at the Off Center, 2211 Hidalgo Street

Shakespeare's famous story takes place in the days leading up to the wedding of King Theseus and his love Hippolyta. Hermia, daughter of Egeus, is desperately in love with Lysander. But Egeus will only give consent to Demetrius and demands that Hermia be put to death if she refuses. Fearing for her life, Lysander and Hermia decide to run away together.

Helena, desiring the hand of Demetrius, informs him of their departure. Demetrius decides to go after the couple and Helena follows quickly behind. The four lovers find their way into the junkyard outside of the city and are soon completely lost. But there is more in the junkyard than the eye can see.

This particular junkyard is host to Oberon and Titania, king and queen of the fairies. They bring with them a train of fairies and one mischievous sprite named Puck. Soon, the lovers are entangled in a battle of wills between the king and queen that will change their lives forever.

Further complicating matters is a troupe of actors from the city who are rehearsing a play for King Theseus' wedding celebration. It isn't long before they too fall prey to Puck's mischievous magic.

Shake off that winter chill by bringing someone you love down to The Off Center and let yourselves get lost in A Midsummer Night's Dream. With live music from rock band 11 Cent Confidence, the experience is sure to be unique.

View more images at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Upcoming: A Matter of Taste by Basion Carboni, late nights, November 12 - 21

Received directly from author/producer/director Bastion Carboni:

. . . wanted to notify you of Poison Apple Initiative's remounting of

A Matter of Taste

(new and improved). The straight deets, as they say, are these:

Boy lives with girl. Girl comes home early and walks in on boy shaving the leg of a corpse. Other girl on-again-off-again dates boy. Girl finds boy in bed with his sister. A raucous cycle of short, acrid comedies about suicide, cannibalism, racism, and the perils of visceral reactions. And performance art.

Nov. 12-14/ 19-21 at 11 p.m. (you're gonna be out anyway. Might as well get cultured pre-inebriation).
at The Off Center (2211 Hidalgo)
Cost: $10

Click to view ALT review of A Matter of Taste and other pieces by Bastion Carboni done at the FronteraFest, January 2009

Click here or on image to enlarge (so as to read the notes on the fridge)(.pdf 2.6MB)