We Were Nothing by Will Arbery, Poison Apple Initiative, December 11 - 21, 2013

by Michael Meigs

You may want to budget some extra time for locating the venue if you don't already know Monstrosity Studio or have an informative friend involved in the Poison Apple Initiative production of We Were Nothing by Will Arbery.

I wound up driving through a series of parking lots surrounding rental barracks south of Oltorf, then got warmer when I crossed west across South First. It's been dark for quite a while by 7 p.m. and other than the street signs at intersections, you're not going to find many helpful postings of house numbers. I got lucky. Artistic Director Bastion Carboni was standing out on the sidewalk talking on the phone.

Turns out that the studio is in a two-story structure behind the modest bungalow at 2514 Wilson Street. Once upstairs, I slipped into a spot on the stretch of floor in front of the assortment of chairs clumped on one side of the bare studio with the high ceilings. A wall of brown wrapping paper had been improvised across one corner of the room, table lamps were set directly on the floor to our left and right, and high overhead some floodlights hung from rails duct-taped to the ceiling.

The apparent anonymity of the venue contrasted with the evident ease of the crowd of friends sipping St. Arnold's beer. Carboni has an extensive circle of acquaintances in Austin's respectable underworld of creatives, engaged over the past three years as he and others of the Initiative have presented challenges ranging from Sartre to Büchner's Woyzek to Neil LaBute to Carboni (several times). For a couple of years his acerbic theatre reviews livened up the Austin Chronicle, but he gave that up to spend more time on his own writing.

Arbery's piece for two young women is, in fact, about anonymity and friendship -- or to be more precise, anomie in friendship. Kelly and Shelly don't resemble one another physically, but they're as millenially alike as two peas in a pod. The actresses Kayla Newman and Tarah Zolman -- ironically, even their real names resemble one another -- appear on either side of that bare space when the lights come up. Their speech is off-handed, incomplete, distracted, a shorthand of social communication that inquires, reassures, offers random observations -- but doesn't really go anywhere. We realize quickly that in the story they're not sharing the physical space at all: they've been besties since high school but they've drifted farther and farther apart.

Click to read more at Central Texas Live Theatre. . . . 

WE WERE NOTHING by Will Arbery, Poison Apple Initiative, December 11 - 21, 2013

UPCOMING

Auditions for Two New Plays, Poison Apple Initiative, October 14 - 16, 2013

 

POISON APPLE INITIATIVE is holding auditions for two new plays by two emerging theatre artists. For more information or to schedule an-audition, email poisonappleinitiative@gmail.com with your headshot and resume, and indicate which play you would like to audition for (you may audition for both). Auditions and callbacks will be held on October 14^th-16^th from 6:30-9PM at the Dougherty Arts Center (click for map ). Sides will be provided.

Our 2014 season begins with:


WE WERE NOTHING! by Will Arbery, directed by Bastion Carboni, December 2013

A play about how absence makes the heart grow inarticulate. Rehearsals begin in November with performances on Wednesday-Saturday December 4^th-14^th. We’re looking for 2 women between the ages of 18 and 25.

&

PEOPLE WILL TALK ABOUT YOU SOMETIMES by Sarah Matusek, directed by Lindsey Sikes, January – February 2014

Inspired by Sarah Kane’s 4.48 Psychosis, PEOPLE WILL TALK ABOUT YOU SOMETIMES tracks a supportive network of otherwise strangers who respond to a mutual friend’s suicide attempt. PEOPLE WILL TALK will premiere at Salvage Vanguard Theatre as part of FronteraFest Long Fringe in January 2014. The play will be extended 1-2 weeks beyond the initial run in an alternative space. Cast must be available through mid February.

In addition to staging rehearsals in January, the cast will be asked to aid in the development process of this new play during November and December for approximately 1 reh/week (no holiday rehearsals). Actors interested in devised work strongly (SO STRONGLY) encouraged to audition!

IZZY – recently hospitalized for a suicide attempt; 18-20s

AUDRE – Izzy’s professor; anxious about her maternal instincts towards her student, compensates with baking and letter writing campaigns; 30s

EZRA/ELIZA – Izzy’s coworker; insecurity fueled adoration bordering on jealousy for his/her coworker; 20s (this role can be male or female)

KILLIAN – Izzy’s brother; emotionally unstable to the point of maniacal at times; deeply effected and in much deeper denial; 18-20s

NICK – Izzy’s boyfriend; deeply in love with Izzy, or the idea of her, and struggles with his identity apart from her; 20s

MAEV – Izzy’s nurse in the psych ward; an observer; any age

Videos for Upcoming: Holier Than Thou by Bastion Carboni, Poison Apple Initiative at the Off Center, June 20 - July 6, 2013

Video answers recorded by Bethany Perkins for

Five Short Answers

for One Big Question:

What Would You Do

with the Powers of Jesus?

Answer Number 1:

CJ3P0 from Bethany Perkins on Vimeo.

Click 'Read more' for additional answers . . . .

AN OBVIOUSLY FOGGOT by Bastion Carboni, Poison Apple Initiative at Castro's Warehouse, May 23 - June 2, 2013

Dan Solomon's review of the permiere for the Austin Chronicle, April 1, 2013

[performing at Castro's Warehouse, 213 W. 4th Street -- click for map]

presents

AN OBVIOUSLY FOGGOT 



a new play by written/ directed by Bastion Carboni 

Poison Apple Initiative is making a loud play in a gay bar. Again.

We did this before; see Dan Solomon's review:
http://www.austinchronicle.com/arts/2013-04-12/an-obviously-foggot/

We're stoked to present a 2-weekend encore run of AN OBVIOUSLY FOGGOT, a train wreck of found/ original text, mashed-up pop songs, and dance parties that asks, "When and how exactly does It Get Better?"

What happens when a haven is... a little less than safe?

DETAILS:
Where: Castro's Warehouse (213 W. 4th St.) (click for map)
May 23-26 and May 30-June 2 (Thurs-Sun)
How much: $10

Featuring Avalisa Gallo, Zac Car, Nick Fuentes, Caleb Perkins, Estevan Labrado, and Brennan Gallagher.
Tickets available on-line via







 

“So you've got this group of guys, right, who've been emasculated basically their entire adolescence, didn't get a lot of dating mistakes out of the way, and never lost their attraction to masculinity. And you put them in this place with all this booze and drugs and make it so loud they can barely hear each other. What the fuck do you think is gonna happen?"
Poison Apple Initiative closes its 3rd season with a remount production of Bastion Carboni’s new play An Obviously Foggot, a non-linear mash-up of original text, reconstituted pop songs, and dance parties addressing internalized homophobia and transphobia in the gay bar climate.
Poison Apple Initiative makes newer and original plays (mostly) about important things (mostly). We do them in theatres, bars, or some guy's house and believe in the basic idea that theatre is for conversation, inspiration, and change. Rebellions should be staged.

(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)

Auditions for 'An Obviously Foggot' by Bastion Carboni, Poison Apple Initiative, February 20 and 21, 2013

Poison Apple Initiative is about to make a loud play in a bar. You should absolutely audition for it. We're proud to present the workshop premier of AN OBVIOUSLY FOGGOT by Bastion Carboni to be presented April 4-6 and 11-13 at The Basement.



The play: a mash-up of original/ found text, smashed-together pop songs, and movement pieces about the internalization of homo- and transphobia in the gay bar climate. Will be fun. We're looking for 5 MEN (early 20's- mid-30's) and 1 TRANSWOMAN (early 20's-mid-30's)


Auditions are by appointment Feb 20th (6.30-9.30) and February 21st (6.30-7.30) and will consist of cold readings from the script. Please prepare a few bars of a pop/ rock song to be sung a cappella. We want to hear you sing like you do in the shower/ car.

Callbacks will be held on Feb 21st at 7.30 and will consist of simple choreography and cold readings. Rehearsals begin in early March. Actors will be offered a stipend.

To reserve a slot/ check out the script, shoot a line to poisonappleinitiative@gmail.com with resume/ headshot.

Best, PAI

Tonight: Staged Reading of Her Little Prince by Katherine Craft, Poison Apple Initiative at the Blue Theatre

This past July marked the first ever Austin SLAM! A competition produced by Poison Apple Initiative in which local playwrights have five minutes to share their work and engage a mixed audience of theater professionals, theater lovers and generally enthusiastic people. Plus boyfriends.

Our congratulations go to Katherine Craft, who was declared winner of the first ever SLAM for her short play "Her Little Prince"! As winner, a collection of her short plays will be presented at a staged reading tonight, August 29, at the BLUE Theatre. Doors open at 7:30 and reading begins at 8 p.m..

Join us in celebrating the work of this talented local artist, and enjoy a romping good time with six short works which will have you pondering, chuckling and thoroughly creeped-the-fuck-out.

Featured in the works are local actors: Sam Mercer, Rachel Weise, Zac Carr, Elizabeth Bigger, Michael Kranes, Cassadie Petersen, Jessica Hughes, Spencer Driggers

Bring your friends. Bring your grandmother. Bring your love for new works on the Austin stage! $5 suggested donation; no one turned away.

Bastion Carboni: Profile and Interview by Dan Solomon for the Austin Chronicle, July 12

Bastion Carboni (photo: John Anderson)

Bastion Standard Time

Austin theatre's 'enfant terrible' swapped his poison pen for a Poison Apple, but he still gets people talking

Dan Solomon, Fri., July 13, 2012

Playwright, actor, director, and onetime theatre critic Bastion Carboni has a weird sense of humor. He'll start a sentence by laughing loudly at something he just thought of and say the joke that just occurred to him out loud. It doesn't always get the same reaction from others.

This time, we're at Home Slice Pizza, and Carboni has just come up with an idea that he's thrilled with for a photo to accompany this Chronicle profile. "It should be a photo of me with an apple shoved into my mouth, like a suckling pig, in skin-tight jeans, with the words 'c'est ne pas un enfant terrible,'" he declares, a reference to a number of things: René Magritte's famous painting, The Treachery of Images, of course, but also the name of the theatre company that he started last year, Poison Apple Initiative, as well as a blog post by local author Spike Gillespie, in which she castigated Carboni as an "enfant terrible" for his decidedly no-holds-barred approach to theatre criticism. 

Carboni served in that role for the arts and culture website Austinist for a little over a year, finally leaving last February to pursue his endeavors with Poison Apple Initiative full time, and, one can safely conclude, because he was tired of how angry people got with him for saying the things that he said about Austin theatre.

Read more at the Austin Chronicle. . . .

Upcoming: Neighborhood 3: Requisition of Doom by Jennifer Haley, Poison Apple Initiative and Vestige Group at the Blue Theatre, July 12 - 28

Neighborhood 3: Requistion of Doom

by Jennifer Haley

July 12 - 28, Thursdays - Saturdays, 8 p.m.

and Wednesdays July 18 and 25, 8 p.m.

Blue Theatre, 916 Springdale (click for map)

“Sometimes you need a place to be sick.”

In an unnamed, familiar suburban housing division the kids are fixated on an online horror video game. As the sirens get louder and things go missing, their parents begin to realize that the game isn’t quarantined behind the computer screen.

Poison Apple Initiative and The Vestige Group are hella-stoke-jazzed to present the regional premiere of Blackburn Award-winning playwright Jennifer Haley’s pitch-dark allegorical play. That involves zombies.

Featuring Michael Kranes, Cassadie Petersen, Olivia Frierson, and Zac Carr. Stage Managed by Lana Marks. Set/ props design by Mallory McKenney, costume design by Haydee Antunano, and lighting/publicity design by Geoffrey Aaron Douglas.

BRASS TACK DEETS:

When: July 12-28 @ 8pm (Thurs-Sat with additional Wednesday performances July 18 and 25)

Where: The Blue Theatre (916 Springdale)

How Much: Sliding Scale $12-$20.
Pay-What-You-Can Wednesdays.
$10 Thursdays.

For reservations/ info on group rates email poisonappleinitiative@gmail.com.

Hartdsz,
The PAI kids.

Upcoming: Poison Apple Initiative Play Slams, July 1 - 22

presents

Slams (like the poetry kind but with plays!)

Saturdays, July 1 - 22 at Wardenclyffe, 1101 Springdale Road (click for map)

• Beloveds. There comes a time in every young company's life when ancillary programming becomes possible, like when you can afford pot to go with your beer. That time, for PAI, is nigh. So SLAM is basically this: 1. 8-10 playwrights bring in 10 minutes of a larger work. This can be an older piece that's finished or a fresh-from-the-brain-womb play with wobbly legs like a fawn. 2. Playwrights draw actor names from a hat. Said actors perform 5 minutes of that playwright's work COLD. 3. A beer-misted/-soaked audience opines good-naturedly (or else). A panel considers audience input and chooses 4-5 of those plays they want to see more of. Selected playwrights choose their actors and have 10 minutes to give notes before presenting the full 10 minutes of their selection. 4. The winning playwright goes to the finals on July 22nd where they'll present 15 minutes of their work. The SLAM winner receives a staged reading of their piece hosted by Poison Apple Initiative. OTHER BRASS TACKS: 1. BEER. We'll have it. It's a major contributing factor. 2. Suggested donation for audience/ participants- $5. 3. ABSOLUTELY ANYONE is urged to participate regardless of experience or prestigious grants or crippling stage fright or whatever. Playwrights should bring enough sides for all necessary characters. Actors should be prepared to feel some stuff. 4. SLAMs will be held on July 1, 8, 15, and 22 with one finalist from each. There will be a regular-type SLAM before the finals on the 22nd. For more info shoot a line to bethany@poisonappleinitiative.com. In radness, PAI

Auditions: Neighborhood 3, Requisition of Doom, Poison Apple Initiative and Vestige Group auditioning for allegorical zombie play, June 3

Poison Apple Initiative in conjunction with the Vestige Group, is making a play. We want you to audition for it. It's got allegorical zombies and weaponized weedwackers and blood.  Auditions are June 3 from 2:00am [sic -- see more below!] until June 4 at 9:30pm at Wardenclyffe, 1101 Springdae Road (click for map) In an unnamed suburban housing division the kids of the neighborhood become fixated on an online horror video game. As things go missing and sirens get closer, their parents begin to realize that the game might not just be confined behind the computer screen. BRASS TACKS: 1. We need 4 actors comfortable with playing multiple nuanced characters: a male and female in their late 30s-mid 40s and a male and female in their late teens-early 20s. These are Westlake-type people. 2. AUDITIONS will be held Sun, June 3rd from 1-4 with additional auditions/ callbacks on Mon, June 4th. Sides will be provided. A dialog sample can be found on Google Books. 3. REHEARSALS begin June 9th and will be held Mon-Thurs evenings with some Saturdays. PERFORMANCES are Weds-Sat, July 12-28th. 4. Actors will be paid a stipend. If you've any questions or would like to schedule an appointment, email bastion@poisonappleinitiat ive.com In radness, PAI

Videos for Upcoming: Holier Than Thou, Poison Apple Initiative for FronteraFest, Salvage Vanguard Theatre, January 26 - February 4

Received directly from

Five Short Answers

for one big question:

(For a FULL set of answers, see Holier Than Thou by Bastion Carboni, Poison Apple Initiative at FronteraFest, Salvage Vanguard Theatre, 1/26, 1/28, 1/31, 2/04)

Answer Number 1:

Dominic the Bominic from Bethany Perkins on Vimeo.

Click for additional answers at AustinLiveTheatre.com. . . .

Housebreaking by Jakob Holder, Poison Apple Initiative, at a private venue, December 1 - 17

A MILESTONE for ALT:

With this post AustinLiveTheatre.com has published 2500 articles about Austin theatre since June, 2008!

by Hannah Bisewski and Michael Meigs

What does a theatre space feel like? How is it supposed to make us feel? Those of us in the small crowd gathered for the opening of the premiere run of Jakob Holder’s Housebreaking were asking ourselves those questions in some form or other. People from the Poison Apple Initiative funneled us into a cramped living room nook in a discreet East Austin housing venue. We found ourselves in the kitchen of a fairly average but rundown home. But that’s a part of the story, too.

The play opens with a painfully long blackout, finally interrupted by the entrance of two men through an oddly placed kitchen door. One of them, Chad, has brought home with him a homeless man – Carmine -- he met outside a bar. Chad treats him with an erratic combination of pity and disgust. With dark, voyeuristic curiosity about the hobo’s lifestyle, he drills the baffled Carmine with questions, only to express repulsion at his responses. Carmine once had a home but has lived on the streets since it burnt to the ground. The exchanges reveal more and more deficiencies in life of each man.

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

Upcoming: Housebreaking by Jakob Holder, Poison Apple Initiative, at venue to be announced, December 1 - 17

Found on-line:

presents

Housebreaking

by Jakob Holder

directed by Bastion Carboni

December 1 - 17, Thursdays - Saturdays at 8 p.m.

Central location in Austin, accessible by public transportation, to be revealed to patrons with confirmation of reservation

Tickets $12 - 20; Thursdays, pay what you can
Purchase on-line via

“Everyone seems nice in a kitchen on a quiet night.”

Chad has stumbled home from the bar with a new friend, Carmine. Chad is obviously worn out from a night of drinking. Carmine is obviously homeless. Chad is about to take a chance that will permanently, drastically alter his life and Carmine's. And his tattered younger sister, Magda, and unmoored, sports-obsessed father? Collateral damage.

Poison Apple Initiative is thrilled to kick off its third season with the world premiere of New York playwright Jakob Holder's striking powder keg of a play Housebreaking, a tightly-wound drama that exemplifies the adage“You don't know what you've got 'til it's gone.” Presented in a showcase in New York as part of the Cherry Lane Mentor Project, Housebreaking was refined under the guidance of Charles Mee (Big Love).

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

Auditions for Housebreaking by Jakob Holder, Poison Apple Initiative, October 16 and 17

Found at AustinActors.net:

Poison Apple Initiative is stoked to announce auditions for its first show of the 2011-2012 season, "Housebreaking" by Jakob Holder.

Chad, a low-level worker drone, has grown sick of his life. After an altercation one night at a bar he brings home a homeless man named Carmine and gives him everything: his wallet, his whiskey, his house, and "custody" over his alcoholic father and troubled sister. When Carmine is in the shower he dons the man's clothes and steals off into the night. Two years later he breaks back into the house to find that Carmine has become the new "Chad" and he is expected to become the new "Carmine". A sharp, obsidian comedy that questions how responsible someone can actually be in creating their own identity.

CHARACTERS TO BE CAST:

Chad- early/ late 30s; pseudo-intellectual; dead-end job slave.

Carmine- mid/ late 30s; homeless, quiet, unexercised- not unintelligent; wary

Dad- late 40s/ mid 50s; lost in life, televised-sports enthusiast; mentally stressed.

BRASS TACKS: Auditions will be held Saturday, Oct. 16th from 1-4 and Monday, Oct. 17th from 6-7.30, with callbacks to be held on Monday from 7.30-9.30. Rehearsals are slated to begin in late October; the show will be performed Dec. 1-17 (Thurs-Sat.) Sides will be provided at the audition. Actors will be stipended. For more information and/ or to schedule an appointment, please email: poisonappleinitiative@gmail.com

An Invitation to Protest the Legislature's Cuts for Funding of Planned Parenthood, September 13 & 14

Received directly from Bastion Carboni of the Poison Apple Initiative:

A PERFORMATIVE ACTION IN SOLIDARITY WITH PLANNED PARENTHOOD

September 13 rehearsal at Dougherty Arts Center, 1110 Barton Springs Road (click for map)

September 14, 10 a.m. Protest Performances in the traditions of the "invisible" and "guerrilla" theatre movements

Press Release

In response to the state’s recent decision to cancel Title X funding for various women’s health clinics, Poison Apple Initiative is planning a demonstration that will process from Republic Square Park to the Capitol. The performative action, in the traditions set by the “invisible” and “guerrilla” theatre movements, will feature local actresses and other citizens concerned by the decisions recently made by our state’s government. We will process along Congress, performing a short piece three times and end at the Capitol for a visual representation of the numbers of women and men benefited by the work of Planned Parenthood, People’s Community Clinic, and El Buen Samaritano. The performance will be recorded and sent viral as both a rallying and warning cry for other communities. We are inspired by U.S. District Judge J. Thomas Martin’s recent decision to overturn Kansas’ denial of state funds to Planned Parenthood and we aspire to affect a similar change here. Where there is precedent, there is hope.

A Call for Participation (from the FaceBook event page)

So, here's the deal: in response to our state's decision to strip Planned Parenthood of government funds, we're planning a performative action in Downtown Austin on Wednesday, Sept. 14th at 10am. This is not so much a protest as a call for action; we as Texans have entered a new realm of social obligation. This amazing org and others like it (People's Community Clinic and El Buen Samaritano) have been hit hard. It's now it's our duty and right to keep it alive through our direct contributions and raising awareness that this is happening and has already spurred awful consequences.

SO: Details.

1. A REHEARSAL for the action will be held on TUESDAY, SEPT. 13TH AT 7PM AT THE DOUGHERTY ARTS CENTER. We'll take that time to choreograph simple actions in conjunction with the performance that'll be happening. The result will be visually striking and generally rad.

2. The action is scheduled for WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 14TH AT 10AM. We will be convening at REPUBLIC SQUARE (Guadalupe between 4th and 5th) (click for map) at 9.15AM and the procession will end at the Capitol. There will be fliers and arm bands handed out at that time. Please wear jeans and a mono-color shirt.

3. The action will be filmed and will go viral. We are contacting media outlets of all ilk and working on getting coverage of the event. If you know someone who might be interested in speaking with us or would like more info, please email poisonappleinitiative@gmail.com.

4. Tell your friends. Let's rip it up, kids.

Solidarity and respect,
PAI (Poison Apple Initiative)

About us: Poison Apple Initiative is a local theatre company specializing in sharp, dark comedy with a social consciousness. We’ve garnered a reputation for giving audiences “a razor-edged experience, one with a vibration and intensity that no video or cinema is going to provide” (Austinlivetheatre.com). Now in our fourth year, we’re taking to the streets.

Upcoming: Woyzeck by Georg Buchner, Poison Apple Initiative, June 1 - 18

Received directly:

presents

Woyzeck

by Georg Büchner

directed by Bethany Perkins

June 01, 2011 - June18

Space 12, 3121 E. 12^th St.

Buy tickets on-line at Brown Paper Tickets ($15 + $1.62 service fee)

“Every man is a bottomless pit; you get dizzy when you look down.”

Woyzeck is the story of a military barber’s struggle to support his common-law wife and child. He is ridiculed by society and subjected to inhuman experiment s by a doctor. After a year of eating only peas he begins to hallucinate and, when Marie begins to turn her attentions elsewhere, their disconnection ends in violence. Incorporating found and original text, vivid visual tableaus, and live music by Reverend Glasseye, the piece will be performed in the intimate Space 12, a multi-use performance space in East Austin.

Directed by Bethany Perkins. Original music by Reverend Glasseye. Original text by Bastion Carboni, Sarah Saltwick, and the cast. Featuring Paul Szent-Miklosy, Karen Alvarado, Bastion Carboni, Melody Herron, John Cooley, Sergio Alvarado, Kara Juarez, Jordan Cooper, and Joshua Baker. Designed by Taylor Finley (scenic) and Jen Brown (costume).

Poison Apple Initiative is pleased to close its third season with its re-reinvention of Buchner’s surreal class drama. We are an independently-run local theatre company dedicated to the production of sharp, dark tragicomedies by local and national artists. Through our participation in the FronteraFest Long Fringe, Mi Casa Es Su Teatro, and the ArtSpark Festival, we’ve garnered a reputation for giving audiences “a razor-edged experience, one with a vibration and intensity that no video or cinema is going to provide” (Austinlivetheatre.com). Next fall we will embark on our fourth season featuring the regional premier of Jakob Holder’s post-Shepardian fever-dream Housebreaking, Bastion Carboni’s reality TV satire Holier Than Thou, and new supplementary programming including the Playwriting Slam and NeWorks Reading Series.

Upcoming: Woyzek, Poison Apple Initiative, June 1 -18 (plus a funding appeal)

Received directly, an appeal to help fund Poison Apple Initiative's Woyzek via www.kickstarter.com:

About This Project: Following our successful fundraiser for our production of Crumble (Lay Me Down, Justin Timberlake), Poison Apple Initiative is drumming up support for a new production of Georg Büchner's working class tragedy Woyzeck. This fundraiser will allow us to pay our cast, production team, band and crew for a project that has been six months in development. Our minimum goal is $1,000, but any funds raised beyond that will allow us to pay our amazing team even closer to what they deserve (which is at least $1000 a piece). Please visit www.kickstarter.com to learn more and to donate what you can.

Woyzeck is the tragic tale of a military barber's struggle to make ends meet and support his common-law wife and baby. He is ridiculed by society and subjected to inhumane experiments by a doctor. After a year of eating only peas, he begins to hallucinate, Marie turns her attentions elsewhere, and their disconnection ends in violence.

Incorporating found text, vivid visual tableaus, and live music by Adam Glasseye Beckley and his band, Reverend Glasseye, this new production of Woyzeck will be performed in the intimate Space 12, a multi-use performance and cafe space in East Austin. Directed by Bethany Perkins and featuring Paul Szent-Miklosy, Karen Alvarado, John Cooley, Kara Juarez-Jones, Sergio Alvarado, Melody Herron, Bastion Carboni and Jordan Cooper.

Keep an eye out for video interviews and clips of the rehearsal process, and please join us for the performances (Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday nights, the first three weeks of June 2011) even if you are unable to donate to this campaign.

Upcoming: Crumble (Lay Me Down, Justin Timberlake), Poison Apple Initiative at the Blue Theatre, December 1 - 18

Received directly:

Poison Apple Initiative Announces the Southwest premiere of

Crumble (Lay Me Down, Justin Timberlake)

by Sheila Callaghan

directed by Bastion Carboni

December 1 - 18, Wednesdays - Saturdays, 8 p.m.

Blue Theatre, 916 Springdale

General admission $15 tickets available on-line

Wednesdays are Actor and Crew Benefit performances. Thursdays are Pay-What-You-Can at the door. Show runs approximately 1 hour and 20 minutes with no intermission.

"How can this little body wrap itself around such a moment without falling apart?"

Janice and her mother Clara live in an apartment that's begun to deteriorate since the freak accidental death of the father the previous Christmas. The Apartment, irked by his and the family's states of disrepair, is plotting to kill them while Janice, inspired by visits from Justin Timberlake, hatches her own plan (involving doll heads and hazardous chemicals) to "make things right again.” An obsidian comedy about trying to keep it together when it won't stop falling apart.

Directed by Bastion Carboni, dramaturged by Georgia Young, and stage managed by Lisa Kettyle.Featuring Elizabeth Bigger, Karen Alvarado, Michael Slefinger, Natalie Kabenjian, and Micah Goodding. Designed by Geoffrey Aaron Douglas (lighting), Taylor Finley (scenic), Brett Hamaan (sound), Lauren McKinley (costume), and Staci Paradis (properties).

Poison Apple Initiative is pleased to begin its third and most ambitious season to date with the Southwest premiere of Sheila Callaghan's incisive and thoughtful play. We are an independently-run local theatre company dedicated to the production of sharp, dark comedies by local and national artists. Through our participation in the FronteraFest Long Fringe, Mi Casa Es Su Teatro, and the ArtSpark Festival, we’ve garnered a reputation for giving audiences “a razor-edged experience, one with a vibration and intensity that no video or cinema is going to provide” (Austinlivetheatre.com). This fall we are embarking on our third, and most ambitious season yet. In November we’ll be producing Sheila Callaghan’s Crumble (Lay Me Down Justin Timberlake), followed in January by the premier of Sometimes Callie and Jonas Die by Artistic Director Bastion Carboni. We’ll close out the season in May with The Woyzeck Project, a re-imagining of the 19th century play by Georg Buchner.