Video Promo: River of Gruel, Pile of Pigs: The Requisite Gesture(s) of Narrow Approach by Sibyl Kempson and Rude Mechs at the Salvage Vanguard, opening April 3, 2014

From www.newdramatists.org via Salvage Vanguard Theatre:

From the Pig Pile:

The Requisite Gesture(s) of Narrow Approach opens April 3

by Sibyl Kempson

For three {hundred thousand} years now the Pig Pile has squirmed and squealed its way across a vast landscape of deep associations and histories between seemingly unrelated objects. The closer we get to the complicated, complicated porcine truth of what it means to be human, the more our numbers have dwindled, to where we now begin to fear we are on the brink of extinction. Only you can help us to piece these pieces together so that we may know what we have learned, before it’s too late. Note: If you have any wooden items that you wish to be preserved for all eternity, you may please to bring them with you to the occasion.

Trailer with scenes from Fusebox Festival workshop performance at the Off Center, April, 2013

This is a collaboration between Austin-based theater companies Rude Mechs and Salvage Vanguard Theater, and a New Dramatists resident playwright. The group has gathered four times a year for three years in a chaotic work format known as a Pig Pile, with little discernible leadership or centralized structure - neither of narrative nor of process – and has assembled an unwieldy and highly associative collection of seemingly unrelated imagery, geography and aromas, that over time and layers of work has revealed an emerging, intimately connected web of enfolded and implicate mythology.

This project is one of five institutional New Dramatists/Full Stage USA Commissions for new work at an eclectic mix of producing organizations across the country. The Full Stage USA initiative, conceived by New Dramatists and underwritten by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, addresses the field-critical issues of new works “stalling” in development with no resulting full production and the special challenge of securing subsequent productions after a world premiere. Each partnership provides a $25,000 commission to a writer; supports two years of enhanced writer-driven development in New Dramatists’ Playwrights Lab; and culminates in the full production staged by the partner theater.

Read as posted at the New Dramatists website: click here

Arts Reporting: Salvage Vanguard Season, 2011-2012

Salvage Vanguard Theatre artistic director Jenny Larson has announced the program of the SVT's own productions. The venue will be hosting many other companies, including the Trouble Puppet Theatre Company, Palindrome Theatre Company, Gnap! Theatre Project, the Church of the Friendly Ghost, Spank Dance, KDH Dance and many more. On the SVT's plate:

Nov 3rd- 19th 2011. Guest by Courtesy by Hannah Kenah and Jenny Larson

The story of two cousins. One is married, wealthy, and fancy; the other is single, poor, and drab. We find these cousins unfolding their bizarre
relationship over the course of a failing tea party. The cousins are little girls, society women, clowns, bitter rivals, and family. Will these women, hovering at the edge of sanity, go crazy in the end or instead manage to set the world on its head? Original score by Graham Reynolds.

January and February 2012 (dates tbd) WPA - Works Progress Austin.

Featuring the development of two Austin grown pieces: Pig Pile (working title)- a collaboration between playwright Sibyl Kempson, SVT, Rude Mechs, Physical Plant, and Rubber Rep. Set to premiere in the spring of 2013. And Séance (working title)- a séance re-enactment at the Eponymous Garden with the creative team of Sterling Price McKinney and Jenny Larson.

February 16th- March 10th, Civilization (all you can eat) by Jason Grote.

A man-eating pig, a showbiz sell-out, a daughter gone wild, and a comedian all dance around issues of violence, racism, sex, and just getting by, in this absurd reflection of American life. Featuring Florinda Bryant and Cyndi Williams. Directed by Jenny Larson.

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 . . . .