Showing posts with label Sarah England. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sarah England. Show all posts

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Lost Land by Jennifer A. Kokai, Wogglebug Theatre, FronteraFest 2011 at Blue Theatre, January 19 - 29


Lost Land by Wogglebug Theatre




Jenny Kokai's Lost Land is engaging and entertaining but unfocussed, a multifold parable in which a sunken fiberglass whale is the narrator. Four stories are anchored at one place: "Lost Land," a lake at the center of a Disney-style theme park. The stories are widely separated in time.

The unseen leviathan narrator speaks either from outside time or from some date far in the future. Fred Bothwell is the voice of "Moby," a resigned, lightly humorous chorus slowly disintegrating in the depths of the waters. Three other stories are developed seriatum over the course of the evening:

-- In the 1950's with the Lost Land park in operation, two young women take jobs as wharf rat characters. They emerge periodically to hug visitors and to sign autographs. In the park's employee changing room, one impulsively kisses the other. Their mutual attraction confuses them. They lose their jobs when the theme park goes bust. One woman plans breathlessly for a little home and family in the suburbs; the other can't imagine such an existence but can't articulate an alternative, either.

-- At some other time, possibly contemporary with us, a young career woman is planning a real estate development around the lake. The theme park buildings have decayed and mostly disappeared. Having learned she's pregant, the woman sheds an unwanted boyfriend and elects to become a single mother. The baby girl's congenital defects require lengthy neonatal hospital treatment and surgery. Nurses intervene coolly, keeping the mother at a spirit-killing distance from the child.

-- At some future date after global catastrophe, a young man named Brown Bear lives in primitive conditions next to the lake. Minder, a wandering young woman, shows up. The two distrust one another at first but gradually come to an accommodation. We learn through their exchanges that the world has been devastated by plague. Eventually the young woman begins to show signs of the disease.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Saturday, September 11, 2010

Upcoming: Julius Caesar, Austin Drama Club, September 17 - October 3

Received directly from Japhy Fernandes and Austin Drama Club:


Julius Caesar, Austin Drama ClubWelcome to the toga party!

Julius Caesar

by William Shakespeare will blow your mind. Its plays Sept 17th through Oct. 3rd on Fri, Sat,and Sunday nights at 8 pm. Opening weekend is free for any who arrives wearing a toga!

Come to our country location between Oak Hill and Dripping Springs off Fitzhugh Rd @ 12345 Pauls Valley Rd (click for map). We have a big sign up out there. It's easy to find and there is plenty of parking.


But you may ask yourself, "Why would I possibly want to go see a long Shakepeare play about some old dudes. I mean the last time I went and saw a Shakespeare play i was bored out of my freaking mind!"


It's true. Plenty of boring ass Shakespeare plays can and will be seen. They do exist out there some where. You can have a great cast, stunning scenery, in a great comfortable location and still a production can be a total flop. "How is that possible?" you might ask. If a director takes away an actor's freedom and liberty or if a director rejects the actors imagination and vision, then a play can turn into a load of bullcrap and you cant sell bullcrap even if you put a pretty ribbon on it. When you come see Julius Caesar you won't be disappointed at the end of the night or we'll give you your money back and free video from the gift shop! You should just prepare to have your mind blown!


Who needs to see Julius Caesar? Lawyers! and Legal eagles! Debate team captains and would be politicians. Lovers of the Republic and Roman historians, Those who seek to preserve the English language and those that would wish to learn it. And of course, actors who are wise enough to come study the great thespians of their age so they borrow tricks and riffs.


If your going on a first date it should be to this play. Shakespeare makes a great first date cause you don't have to talk to each other that much but at the end of the evening you will have shared an epic experience, like watching the NBA playoffs or the Daytona 500. You'll never forget it.


The Austin Drama Club is also the perfect place to learn new catch phrases like "You must needs." "You must needs clean your room. You must needs take a bath. You must needs brush your teeth." And new ways to say good-bye like "Farewell and adieu" or "Go! But do it quickly" or my personal favorite, "Get thee gone. We will hear ourselves again tomorrow."


Forget about your credit score and start thinking about your IQ score because it's bound to rise after a night of theatre.


Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare is co-directed by Christopher Harris and Casey Allen.... who each take lead roles. They are joined by Julio Mella, Sabrina Taributton, Steven Brandt, Bobby Dean, Sarah England, and Java Blume.


I took these promo photos last night and I'll be doing lights and sets for the production and it is my extreme pleasure to do so. Its been a privilege to stand back and watch these top guns of the Austin Drama Club put Julius up in record time with poise and grace and love.


Best wishes,

Japhy Fernandes...artistic director...Austin Drama Club

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Macbeth, Austin Drama Club, February 4 - 20






Sarah England's opening turn as the witch in Macbeth for Austin Drama Club felt so, so right. She's one witch for three, huddled over a trash can lit from below and sporadically spouting CO2 smoke. Her cutting voice and spooky moves make you see that she believes, believes that there is dark magic at work here.

That belief is the underpinning for the Austin Drama Club, an almost inexplicable group of devotees to the dark art of theatre make believe, folks intent on pondering many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore.

Or not so forgotten. ADC under Japhy Fernandes' leadership is in its fourth season now in their quasi-hideout on East 7th street between the Texas State Cemetery and Huston -Tillotson University, and they are well into a twelve-play season for 2010. This Macbeth is the first of eight major works by Shakespeare. They did Oedipus Rex in January and in non-Shakespeare months they plan to do Brecht's Mother Courage (next month), Peter Shaffer's Equus (September) and Molière's Tartuffe in November.

No other theatre in town has a schedule that comes even close to that level of challenge and commitment.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .