Auditions in Bulverde for Drinking Habits by Tom Smith, August 18, 2013

 






Spotlight Theatre & Arts Group Etc, Inc. (S.T.A.G.E., Inc.) 1300 Bulverde Road , Bulverde, Texas, 78163-0575


Auditions for DRINKING HABITS, a comedy by Tom Smith, directed by Lou Garza Sunday August 18, 2013 4:00 pm 

Accusations, mistaken identities and romances run wild in this traditional, laugh-out-loud farce. Two nuns at the Sisters of Perpetual Sewing have been secretly making wine to keep the convent's doors open, but Paul and Sally, reporters and former fiancées, are hot on their trail. Wine and secrets are inevitably spilled as everyone tries to preserve the convent and reconnect with lost loves

Characters: SISTER PHILAMENA - 20-50s; SISTER AUGUSTA - 20-50s; GEORGE - 20s; MOTHER SUPERIOR - 40-50s; PAUL - 24; SALLY - 20s; SISTER MARY CATHERINE - 24l FATHER CHENILLE - 50s

Brides of the Moon, Weird Sisters Theatre Collective at the Red Barn, June 20 - 29, 2013

by Brian Paul Scipione

Farce in Space

Describing the new work by Austin’s all-female theatre group the Weird Sisters Collective is like recounting a good Saturday night party at work on Monday morning. While at the party the most inane things take on catastrophic significance, in a dull office space they come off as decidedly dotty. Your cell mates behind their respective desks might smile, nod and chuckle, but try as you might, the terms hamburgoo, sergonic drift and consensual monkey sex will be pretty much lost on them.

Also like a party the renditions of what happened that night are as varied as the priorities and moods of the guests. Sci-fi geeks will want to talk about the futuristic landscape of Brides of the Moon and the intricacies of space travel gone awry. Slyly commenting on an all too likely future, the Weird Sisters have distilled the predominant elements of our society into their most ugly and extreme manifestations. Earth has been dominated by a corporation and renamed IASSWAA, Inc. (the politically correct, Disney-ish ‘It’s A Small World After All’). GMO food products have evolved (more properly, de-evolved) into food-like substances like meat paste (hamburgoo) synthesized out of genetically engineered cattle-derived animals called hamburganimals. Slaving away at the factory from 9 to 5 is still the order of the day but the products used to take the edge of have become even more effective and to the point: sedative-laced sodas, Sed-A-Colas, to relax you or methamphetamine spiked pops like Dr. Upper to pick you up. TV shows like Blameshifters and Crumblestix numb the mind and keep people passively couch-bound. And if this is all not enough, the government may conveniently re-program you with futuristic self-help manuals on tape.

Perhaps personal relationships and human drama are more your bag. Then you might come away from BotM talking about the quiet sadness of sacrificing old friendships for career growth or the confused relations between daughters and mothers. The Brides themselves are sent to the Moons of Pygo to ‘comfort’ the male astronauts stationed there. While on the inter-galactic airwaves they may present themselves with smiles and batting eyelashes, when the cameras are turned off the harsh reality of their situation is openly lamented. The mission may make them get married but it won’t make them fall in love. 

 The monkey, Dai Dai, sums this up best in her own video diaries. “We have fun playing,” she signs “but we are just friends.” The monkey signs the word love many times but in the Shakespearean fashion gives the word a different meaning every time. 

The story begins when Earth-bound factory worker Carmen admits that her mother is a strong, intelligent and powerful woman but sadly didn’t realize it until it was far too late. Another very poignant moment can be read in the tear-filled eyes of the husband who catches a glimpse of the woman he loved years ago when she is able to break temporarily out of the spell of madness the government has imposed on her.

Or perhaps you just go to parties for a laugh, in which case you would still have plenty of material to regale your co-workers with on Monday morning. They were trapped in a space-time warp dominated by 1970’s radio hits by Bad Company, you might say. Then there was the moment when the astronauts' SDIS (sex drive implants) went awry and they all had sex under, next to and on top of the spaceship's dashboard: legs and cleavage were everywhere. Did I mention the space ballet during the moments of zero gravity? Oh yes, they had a cigarette brand called Bitch which provided tons of tongue in cheek jokes. A cheerleader, a butch Russian and a French debutante walked into the room and they all worked for a company called CokTek (with the missing c pronounced). And then they found a RV with old TV dinners. Oh, and did I mention the cleavage?

Whatever you're seeking at a party, or in this case a dramatic production, you'll will find it in this madcap parody. The play was written by five people and is bursting with gibes and witticisms from a wide range of viewpoints, but in the end you realize that its the story of a woman reclaiming her life’s purpose thanks to a chance encounter with a broken microwave. (No, really!) 

Chris Humphrey accomplishes with stellar aplomb one of the greatest challenges to actors of any age: channeling madness. Part King Lear and part Betty Crocker, she begins the play on the periphery, having been pushed aside by the greedy male-dominated government. Addicted to Bitch cigarettes, meat paste, and Dr. Uppers, she wants what many housewives want: a happy family. She is so far gone that it seems she will never realize that to obtain the respect she deserves, she must re-capture her own true self. 

This metaphor about the role of woman in the evolution of society is the central thesis of this piece. It might be easily missed in the near-constant zany antics of this voyage through space and time.

With only seven performances in a remote space in north Austin, The Red Barn at 6701 Burnet (click for map) , this play may pass you by like fiery comet blazing through the sky. Those of us too tired from a day filled with mindless work and mind-altering carbonated beverages to get up and watch that meteor shower at 4 a.m. will indeed miss out. Just keep in mind, even if you missed it, the world, the galaxy, and those you love but don’t take the time truly to get to know, will go on without you.

Brides of the Moon runs from June 20 to June 29. Tickets can be discovered at www.brownpapertickets.com





and more information can be explored at www.weirdsisterscollective.com. Catch it if you can…

LADIES' MAN by Georges Feydeau by the Exchange Artists at the Blackheart, April 25, 2013

present

The Exchange Artists are thrilled to present the third date in their Hot Nights series matching a bit of theatre with a hot local band. Georges Feydeau’s 20 minute one-act LADIES’ MAN, which will begin at 8pm, reveals one evening in the life of two cousins who have unknowingly fallen for the same cad. The play will be underscored by the infectious pop concoction that is ADRIAN AND THE SICKNESS. Adrian’s bombastic rock and roll will come back after the play for a full set starting at 9pm. Velvet Dust, a new online Austin fashion magazine, will host a pre-show, Marie Antoinette-rocker beauty bar with glitter and dust and oooh-la-la for all! Show stylist Laurel Kinney of Trophy Boutique will also style models to walk the space and set the mood for the evening. The Blackheart Bar will provide specialty themed cocktails. This one-time-only event will be Thursday, April 25th, 2013 at The Blackheart, 86 Rainey Street, Austin, TX, 78701. The doors will open at 7:00 pm. The cover is $5 cash at the door.

So what are Hot Nights? That’s easy! Short Play. Long Set. Big Party.

LADIES’ MAN features Vanessa Marie as Angelique — a young widow who married her elderly husband for money and is now seeking a younger, more dashing suitor; extravagant and now independent, Angelique is used to having her way — and Briana Miller McKeague as Valentine — Angelique’s younger cousin, sweet and naïve with a habit of not thinking before she speaks, Valentine is a bit silly though genuine and eager to have the lifestyle of her older cousin. The Exchange Artists’ Bridget Farr directs with support from Rachel Wiese.

ADRIAN AND THE SICKNESS has been wowing live audiences with sweet melody and sheer sonic power since their debut in February 2004. Guitarist Adrian Conner also plays lead in Hell’s Belles, an AC/DC tribute band so fearsome that Angus Young is a devoted fan. She’s a deft soloist and a sure hand with a stinging riff. She’s also a formidable pop-rock songwriter, penning honest, forthright songs spiked with catchy, irresistible hooks. Her original music has been called “exciting, rambunctious and kinda scary” in Guitar Player Magazine (2007). In 2008, Adrian’s endearing melodies as well as her scalding six-string caught the attention of fellow Austin resident, songwriter and bassist for the Go-Go’s, Kathy Valentine, who produced the band’s fourth CD, B.F.D. (2009). Adrian and the Sickness released B.F.D. under their own label, Fantom Records, which charted on CMJ stations across the US and Canada, in early 2010. Today, Adrian and the Sickness continue their rock-n-roll pursuit, touring the US and Europe, and constantly writing and recording new music. In July 2011 they launched their fifth independent release "Criminal/Dog Days" and their first on 7-inch vinyl. Adrian and the Sickness is an action-packed world-class rock experience and it's coming straight at you.

Velvet Dust is an online, contributors-based quarterly magazine dedicated to the arts and the community. We operate as a platform for emerging designers to showcase their work. Our team and our contributors explore fashion and culture through styled editorials, photography, journalism, interviews, video art, and other forms of digital media.

About The Exchange Artists: As Exchange Artists we create theatre inspired by cultural exchange at home in Austin, TX and abroad. Through international collaboration and community engagement we empower our artists and audiences with fresh perspectives, new experiences and a strengthened sense of connection.

LADIES’ MAN with ADRIAN AND THE SICKNESS will be Thursday, April 25th at 8:00 pm at The Blackheart, 86 Rainey Street, Austin, TX 78701. The doors open at 7:00 pm for pre-show Hotness and the cover is $5.00, cash only.

For more information visit www.exchangeartists.org.

(Click to go to the AustinLiveTheatre front page)

Upcoming: Don't Dress for Dinner, Gaslight Baker Theatre, Lockhart, March 11 - 26

Found on-line:

DON'T DRESS FOR DINNER
A Comedy/Farce By Marc Camoletti/Adapted by Robin Hawdon

Directed by Tysha Calhoun

March 11 - 26

Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm
MATINEES - Sun Mar. 20 & Sat Mar. 26, 2011 at 2 pm
Regular Adult Tickets $12, Senior & Children Tickets $10

Click to purchase tickets on-line

Bernard is planning a weekend with his chic Parisian mistress in a French farmhouse. He has arranged for a cordon bleu cook to prepare gourmet delights, is packing his wife Jacqueline off to her mother's and has even invited his best friend to provide an alibi. It's foolproof; what could possibly go wrong? Suppose Robert turns up not knowing why he has been invited? Suppose Robert and Jacqueline are secret lovers? What happens if the cook is mistaken for the mistress and the mistress is unable to cook? An evening of hilarious confusion ensues as Bernard and Robert improvise at breakneck speed.

"Hurtling along at the speed of light, [this] breathtaking farce is a near faultless piece of theatrical invention." - Guardian

The Clean House, Zach Scott Theatre, July 10 to August 17

Everyone in the full house at the Whisenhunt Stage at the Zach Scott enjoyed this four-actor comedy by Sarah Ruhl, winner in 2006 of a MacArthur “genius” fellowship.

I was lucky to be able to see the show at all. As a newcomer to the Zach Scott, I had assumed that the reduced prices for Wednesday evening shows were intended to scrape up an audience – after all, almost none of the other companies in town function on Wednesdays.

When I showed up 35 minutes before the curtain, I found myself given a “standby pass” for my $15. I was number 14 in the line of hopefuls. We watched the mixed crowd file happily into the theatre ahead of us; at curtain time the house manager brought out ten tickets and passed them out. He spotted an additional seat during the wait; and then a single spot was left. The couple holding numbers 12 and 13 decided not to split their evening, so I arrived as the final bottom to fill a seat, still not knowing what to expect.

The show started with a lithe young Brazilian woman telling a joke – in Portuguese. A super-title helpfully explained, “A young woman tells a joke in Portuguese.” And in fact, it was funny – not for the text, which I followed only vaguely (“A doctor tells his patient to . . . “) but for the abandon, the hip motions, and the timing of the final “boom – boom – boom.”). Given the suggestive pose of the poster, I wasn’t at all certain what we were about to receive.

From there, Ruhl’s piece rapidly set up the farce: we begin in the living room of middle-aged but very well kept and attractive Lane, a physician (Lauren Lane, billed for her 6 years on the TV series The Nanny and now teaching at Texas State at San Marcos). She discovers that her newly-hired Brazilian maid (Smaranda Ciceu) has been sitting glumly in the house and not cleaning. Lane is discomfited, uneasily suggesting to Mathilde, the maid, that perhaps she might wish to do something about the bathroom. . . .

Uh, oh, I thought, we are in for an exploration of social class and exploited migrant labor. . . . but no, in a rapid set of developments Lane’s plain, socially stunted sister Virginia (Barbara Chisholm), a fanatic for cleaning, arranges to sneak into the house and do Mathilde’s job for her; Mathilde tells of her deceased parents, “the greatest jokesters in Brazil” (who obligingly appear as fantasies, incarnated by Tom Green and Alicia Kaplan); the women gradually realize that Lane’s surgeon husband Charles must be having an affair; and eventually Lane discovers both their conspiracy and that of Charles, who has run off with one of his aged patients immediately after performing her mastectomy.

Lots of commotion, lots of fast and zany dialogue, and suddenly Charles and his new paramour Ana are announced at the front door. Blackout, intermission.

In the second act, these characters collide with the agreeable energy of pinballs. Charles and Ana (played by Green and Kaplan) earnestly explain that they have found in one another their soul mates, and entreat the others to understand; Mathilde, briefly fired by Lane and then reinstated, is immediately at home with Ana, who is from Argentina. When Lane sends away the new couple, Mathilde winds up splitting her time between the two domiciles. But Ana’s cancer quickly recurs and she determinedly rejects medical care. . . prompting Charles to silly, desperate tactics and serving to realize a series of reconciliations.

There are many delights here. Smaranda Ciceu as Mathilde the maid is appealing - - for her earnest devotion to following up her parents’ love for jokes and her adroit portrayal of miscomprehensions both cultural and linguistic. Her concentration and big-eyed intensity in reacting to the other characters speak worlds of innocence – and in a crucial scene near the finale, her bewonderment and grief are heart-breaking.

Lauren Lane merits her star billing. She functions as the “straight man” for all the others’ eccentricities but her superb timing and subtle, visibly progressing reactions hold her at the center of the action. Here is a disadvantage of theatre in the round – inevitably she has her back to some part of the audience, who get a completely different “read” of the action, unable to follow it in her face. The tradeoff, of course, is proximity, so that the audience feel that they are sharing a living room with the characters. Director Dave Steakley has worked conscientiously with his blocking to minimize the disruption, but the fact is that if one were seated across the playing space, one would see a different play.

The author and director at times happily disrupt the audience's suspension of disbelief, provoking sudden laughter with "magic realism" when hallucinations become shared or defined playing spaces unexpectedly, absurdly merge. Suddenly the sea becomes the living room becomes an Alaskan snowstorm, to our shared delight.

Each actor completely inhabits his or her character. . . and yet, and yet. . . .At the end I joined the good-hearted ovations for the actors, but later, upon reflection, I found myself profoundly uneasy with the play.

Not for the presentation, but for the text itself. And all the more because of the plaudits given to the author.

This is cruel comedy, as all comedy is, and it is administered with a stiletto touch.

These characters are as thin as paper dolls. For example, Charles, the successful surgeon, is presented as a genial idiot (no blame accrues to Green, who does wonders with a character written as impossibly simple-minded).

This is a play for and about women. Lane and Virginia, the sisters “who do not look alike” are differently obsessed with control and are unable to deal with men or with their own emotions. The melancholy Mathilde has no back story other than that of her joke-infatuated parents and her desire to become a comedian. (How did she get to the United States? How did she wind up as Lane’s employee?) Mathilde serves as the “Innocente,” foil to Ana, and observer of the madness of others. And the noble Ana. 30 years a widow - - when facing death, she becomes the voice of commitment to whim and of resistance to the medical establishment.

And what is the Great Joke, the best joke in the world, the one that Mathilde seeks without cease to articulate? This is the secret that she communicates to Ana as the end approaches. We are left to imagine it – and to suppose that the Great Joke may turn on the futility of passion, on the incomprehension between the sexes, or on the fact that whatever we do or seek, we are all doomed to die, leaving our ends unaccomplished.

“The Clean House” is a box of chocolates laced with belladonna. One might taste and enjoy it just once, without harm, but one is tempted to dip into that box again and again.

Click for:

Austin Statesman review by Jeanne Claire van Ryzin, July 17

Interview with Lauren Lane by Jeanne Claire van Ryzin, July 17

Lauren Lane on early sci-fi influences, Austin Chronicle, July 24

Austin Chronicle review by Elizabeth Cobbe, August 1

On the Road - in Washington DC

The Imaginary Invalid by Molière

In their 22-year history in the nation’s capital Michael Kahn and collaborators have created a theatre based on the classics, one that has no equal on this side of the Atlantic. Even the great British contemporary theatres must find these Americans hard to match. In April of 2007 I saw the Royal Shakespeare’s Coriolanus at the Kennedy Center one night, and on the next, the Americans’ Titus Andronicus in the much smaller and more traditional Landsburg Theatre on 5th street. Titus was the better play. And in my memory, their Washington Coriolanus of 2000 was a better production than that of the Royals in 2007. Eve Ziebert’s article on the competing presentations published in the Washington Post adroitly contrasted Shakespeare’s plays while tactfully omitting any direct comparison of the players.

Chicago has the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, out on downtown Navy Pier near the Ferris wheel, but it's a highly marketed, populist affair (the upcoming season includes "Willy Wonka" and their current Comedy of Errors puts Shakespeare's short early comedy into a dubious framework of a film company working during the London blitz -- amusing stuff but with a treacly overlay in the pre-war style of Shepperton Studios).

In Washington, however, Kahn has progressively attracted patronage of the Great and mostly Good, and last year the company opened a huge new theatre at the Harmon Center in downtown, just across from the former MCI center, home to sports events and circuses. They expanded their season from five to eight plays or more running drawn from the classical repertory (which stretches at times into the twentieth century). Each runs for a month or more. Currently you can attend Antony & Cleopatra and Julius Caesar, alternating in the Harmon Center, and from this past week, Molière’s Imaginary Invalid at the Landsburg, just two blocks away.

When we were season ticket holders back from 1997-2000, we always brought along our two children. In 1998 they were 14 and 11 years old – the youngest audience members by several decades. Although our younger one usually couldn’t stay awake past the third act, both were deeply impressed by the theatre. They are Shakespeare lovers today.

The Washington company offers an astonishing deal to subscribers under 30 years of age. Last year they charged only $120 for my daughter’s season ticket to the eight-play season – $15 a show, while full-price mid-week tickets at the box office cost $60 and up.

In addition to entertaining at a high level, the company offers the public a superb education about its plays. Their mail-out brochure for each play offers history, commentary, biographies of principal directors and players, and insights into the production and into the art of the theatre. For all there are Podcasts available on the website, along with videos, generally featuring the director and an academic expert exploring the play and the choices for the production.

Keith Baxter, director of the Imaginary Invalid, re-establishes the “new theatre” that Molière created in 1660s for Louis XIV, France’s “Sun King.” The farce gives a linear narrative – in this case, the intrigue is that of hypochondriac Arpagan to wed his tender daughter to a physician so as to guarantee “in-house” services for bleeding, enemas, and similarly ghastly treatments. This is the text that is regularly presented even today. But Baxter and the company provide as preface, interludes and celebratory coda graceful and amusing ballet, songs, and slapstick drawn directly from the Italian tradition of the commedia dell’arte. The show recreates in their imagination and ours the 4th performance of the piece at the court on February 17, 1674 – including the homages to the Sun King and at the last moment, the unexpected appearance of that regal figure onstage.

Rubber-faced René Auberjonois is a self-mocking delight as Molière playing one of his most famous characters. The actors’ diction is uniformly superb throughout, mime and business are subtle and so manifold that one could attend three nights in a row and not catch all the physical jokes. The broad style was perfectly appropriate – let’s call it Marx brothers done declamatory fashion in brilliant costumes and graced by acrobats.

The younger members of the family reported that a couple of 30-somethings seated in front of them got up and left abruptly during the first half (perhaps unwilling to stretch themselves beyond ‘Seinfeld’ -- maybe they should get their theatre at Chicago's Navy Pier). But the rest of us stayed and enjoyed it a great deal.