Martin Burke Interviewed about his One-Man 'It's A Wonderful Life' at Zach Theatre

Posted at






Freelancer Jacey Little of Houston interviews 'Austin's favorite actor':

Q: For most Americans Frankl Capra's It's A Wonderful Life is a Christmas classic. What was your previous relationship with the film?

Martin Burke: I grew up watching this movie every Christmas. My Mother and Father loved Jimmy Stewart so I was fortunately exposed to all of his classic movies. I honestly love It’s a Wonderful Life. I say that in the play and it’s 100% true.

Read more at artsandculturetx.com . . . .

Robert Faires Interview: Murder Ballad Murder Mystery Saloon Tour

 



'Murder Ballad Murder Mystery'

Paper Chairs resurrects its hit musical as portable, hit-and-run bar entertainment
 
By Robert Faires, Fri., Nov. 15, 2013

Usually, when a play reaches the end of its run, it's dead, departed, gone with the wind. Once in a while, though, a show gets pulled back from oblivion, and such is the case with Murder Ballad Murder Mystery, the backwoods musical by Elizabeth Doss (book) and Mark Stewart (score) that scored critical raves and multiple awards when it premiered in 2009. Now, like the ghost-faced killers who populate its swampy setting, it once more walks among us – only this time the show won't be haunting a theatre as it did in its original co-production by Tutto Theatre and Vortex Repertory Company, and it won't be the full-length, site-specific spectacle seen before. Paper Chairs, the company that grew out of that staging, has reconceived the show as a shorter, portable production to be presented in saloons. The new incarnation will debut at three local watering holes, as well as one in New Orleans (for the New Orleans Fringe Festival), and one in Marfa. The cast has been whittled down to eight characters, and director Keri Boyd and designer Lisa Laratta have worked to make the space adaptable to any environment. Playwright/performer Doss explains the show's second life in an email exchange.

Click to read interview at the Austin Chronicle

Interview with Matthew Cassi, Director of Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson at the Woodlawn Theatre, San Antonio, Playing November 8 - Dember 1, 2013

Published in the Woodlawn Theatre blog:

Interview with Matthew Cassi, director of Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson

by Hannah Wood October 30, 2013

Recently, I had the privilege of interviewing Matthew Cassi, director of Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson. It’s coming out November 8th in the Black Box and it sounds like tons of fun. You know how people tend to get really bright-eyed and excited when you ask them about something they like to talk about? That’s Matthew Cassi personified. Thus, he was an extremely fun person to interview.

HW: How long have you been working here at the Woodlawn?

MC: This is the second production that I have directed. Last season, I directed a play called Eurydice here in this small Black Box space as well. I’ve worked with Greg Hinojosa, the artistic director of the Woodlawn a few times at other theatres, so we’ve had a working relationship for four or five years. But this’ll be my second production here at the Woodlawn.

HW: What is Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson about to you?

MC: Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson is an comedic, punk rock view into politics of the 19th century, including the eradication of the Native Americans. It looks at the president like a celebrity and it looks at him – you know today’s perspective of how we look at celebrities and how celebrities act? It looks at the presidency of the seventh president from that perspective and reveals things that correlate it to today, politically and socially as well.

HW: How does this show measure up to others that you’ve directed? Is it more difficult or less difficult? Why? And why do you think so?

MC: I’m kind of known, and I say that unpretentiously – if there’s a way – I’m kind of known for directing comedies and dramas. [. . .] I’m originally from Seattle and I’ve been here about seven years. I went to school in Seattle and worked as an actor and director for several years before I went here. So, in this town, I’m more known for farces and over-the-top comedies and dramatic plays. People don’t know me as a director of musical theatre. It can be pretty challenging. I wouldn’t say it’s any more challenging than any other production I’ve directed. Every production has some challenges. Comedies are hard, dramas are hard, musicals are just as hard. 

Some of the elements in this show are harder because I have 13 cast members and each of them has about five or six different characters they play. So, multiply 13 by five or six and that’s the number of costume pieces that I have to coordinate with props and all of that. That can be pretty complicated. So, some of the elements in this production consume more time for me as a director and for the actors as well. 

It can get pretty tiring and cumbersome. But, I don’t look at my productions as harder than the rest. I look at every one as just as challenging as the last. And, the way I approach things, I don’t want to do things I can do in my sleep. I want to be challenged and this is just as challenging as the last four or five that I’ve done. With each show, I have to examine the complexities of it and set a game plan. I do a lot of preparation and research even before I get into the rehearsals for a production. And that’s just me. For me, I look at every production from the same lens. And I just have to adjust accordingly based on the complexities or requirements of the things within the show. . . . Does that make sense?

Read more at the Woodlawn Theatre blog. . . .

Interview with Matthew Cassi

on October 30, 2013 in Main Stage with No Comments

Recently, I had the privilege of interviewing Matthew Cassi, director of Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson. It’s coming out November8th in the Black Box and it sounds like tons of fun. You know how people tend to get really bright-eyed and excited when you ask them about something they like to talk about? That’s Matthew Cassi personified. Thus, he was an extremely fun person to interview.

HW: How long have you been working here at the Woodlawn?
MC: This is the second production that I have directed. Last season, I directed a play called Eurydice here in this small Black Box space as well. I’ve worked with Greg Hinojosa, the artistic director of the Woodlawn a few times at other theatres, so we’ve had a working relationship for four or five years. But this’ll be my second production here at the Woodlawn.
HW: What is Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson about to you?
MC: Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson is an comedic, punk rock view into politics of the 19th century, including the eradication of the Native Americans. It looks at the president like a celebrity and it looks at him – you know today’s perspective of how we look at celebrities and how celebrities act? It looks at the presidency of the seventh president from that perspective and reveals things that correlate it to today, politically and socially as well.
HW: How does this show measure up to others that you’ve directed? Is it more difficult or less difficult? Why? And why do you think so?
MC: I’m kind of known, and I say that unpretentiously – if there’s a way – I’m kind of known for directing comedies and dramas. I’m not really know for musical theatre in this town. I’m originally from Seattle and I’ve been here about seven years. I went to school in Seattle and worked as an actor and director for several years before I went here. So, in this town, I’m more known for farces and over-the-top comedies and dramatic plays. People don’t know me as a director of musical theatre. It can be pretty challenging. I wouldn’t say it’s any more challenging than any other production I’ve directed. Every production has some challenges. Comedies are hard, dramas are hard, musicals are just as hard. Some of the elements in this show are harder because I have 13 cast members and each of them have about five or six different characters they play. So, multiply 13 by five or six and that’s the number of costume pieces that I have to coordinate with props and all of that. That can be pretty complicated. So, some of the elements in this production consume more time for me as a director and for the actors as well. It can get pretty tiring and cumbersome. But, I don’t look at my productions as harder than the rest. I look at every one as just as challenging as the last. And, the way I approach things, I don’t want to do things I can do in my sleep. I want to be challenged and this is just as challenging as the last four or five that I’ve done. With each show, I have to examine the complexities of it and set a game plan. I do a lot of preparation and research even before I get into the rehearsals for a production. And that’s just me. For me, I look at every production from the same lens. And I just have to adjust accordingly based on the complexities or requirements of the things within the show. . . . Does that make sense?
- See more at: http://woodlawntheatre.com/blog/?p=52#sthash.JIz6vYWU.dpuf

Interview with Matthew Cassi

on October 30, 2013 in Main Stage with No Comments

Recently, I had the privilege of interviewing Matthew Cassi, director of Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson. It’s coming out November8th in the Black Box and it sounds like tons of fun. You know how people tend to get really bright-eyed and excited when you ask them about something they like to talk about? That’s Matthew Cassi personified. Thus, he was an extremely fun person to interview.

HW: How long have you been working here at the Woodlawn?
MC: This is the second production that I have directed. Last season, I directed a play called Eurydice here in this small Black Box space as well. I’ve worked with Greg Hinojosa, the artistic director of the Woodlawn a few times at other theatres, so we’ve had a working relationship for four or five years. But this’ll be my second production here at the Woodlawn.
HW: What is Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson about to you?
MC: Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson is an comedic, punk rock view into politics of the 19th century, including the eradication of the Native Americans. It looks at the president like a celebrity and it looks at him – you know today’s perspective of how we look at celebrities and how celebrities act? It looks at the presidency of the seventh president from that perspective and reveals things that correlate it to today, politically and socially as well.
HW: How does this show measure up to others that you’ve directed? Is it more difficult or less difficult? Why? And why do you think so?
MC: I’m kind of known, and I say that unpretentiously – if there’s a way – I’m kind of known for directing comedies and dramas. I’m not really know for musical theatre in this town. I’m originally from Seattle and I’ve been here about seven years. I went to school in Seattle and worked as an actor and director for several years before I went here. So, in this town, I’m more known for farces and over-the-top comedies and dramatic plays. People don’t know me as a director of musical theatre. It can be pretty challenging. I wouldn’t say it’s any more challenging than any other production I’ve directed. Every production has some challenges. Comedies are hard, dramas are hard, musicals are just as hard. Some of the elements in this show are harder because I have 13 cast members and each of them have about five or six different characters they play. So, multiply 13 by five or six and that’s the number of costume pieces that I have to coordinate with props and all of that. That can be pretty complicated. So, some of the elements in this production consume more time for me as a director and for the actors as well. It can get pretty tiring and cumbersome. But, I don’t look at my productions as harder than the rest. I look at every one as just as challenging as the last. And, the way I approach things, I don’t want to do things I can do in my sleep. I want to be challenged and this is just as challenging as the last four or five that I’ve done. With each show, I have to examine the complexities of it and set a game plan. I do a lot of preparation and research even before I get into the rehearsals for a production. And that’s just me. For me, I look at every production from the same lens. And I just have to adjust accordingly based on the complexities or requirements of the things within the show. . . . Does that make sense?
- See more at: http://woodlawntheatre.com/blog/?p=52#sthash.JIz6vYWU.dpuf

Conspire Theatre, Austin: Interviews with Artists Working with Incarcerated Women

Discussions with the co-founders of Conspire Theatre, Austin, TX: Katherine Craft in a KLRU interview from February, 2013, and Michelle Dahlenburg speaking with www.cuedialogue.org on October 11:

Michelle Dahlenburg is the co-Artistic Director of the Austin, TX-based Conspire Theatre, a company that provides theatre programs for women during and post-incarceration. I recently talked with Michelle about her work.

So to begin, could you talk a little bit about Conspire? Your mission, your work, how you got involved.

Sure. So the mission of Conspire Theatre is “to offer incarcerated women and their allies a healing and empowering experience through theatre and creative writing. Our vision is that every woman realizes her potential as a creative, worthy being.” We’re working on shifting some of the language with our mission statement, actually. We don’t like the label of “incarcerated women,” and are trying to shift more towards “Theatre with Women During and Post-Incarceration” as our tagline, especially as our projects grow and change.

Oh interesting. So has that become part of your focus as well, working with women post-incarceration?

Yes, just recently! Before I get into that, though, I’ll give you a quick background of conspire and how I got involved, if that’s okay?

Yes, that’s perfect.

In 2009 my friend Katherine Craft had just finished her MA in Applied Theatre. She founded Conspire Theatre in Austin as a 10-week theatre/writing workshop for women incarcerated at the Travis County Correctional Complex in Del Valle, TX (near Austin). Meanwhile, in 2008, I was in Chicago preparing to go to graduate school in Drama and Theatre for Youth and Communities)at UT. I found out about Still Point Theatre Collective in Chicago, who do many great projects, one of which is working with women during and post-incarceration. I saw their show “Strong Women” with released women and got really interested in working with women currently incarcerated. I met with the artistic director there and we talked about a possible internship with them. So in summer 2009 after my first year of school, I went back to Chicago and did an internship with Still Point. I got to co-teach a class at the Cook County Jail with another teaching artist. It was really hard, and intense at times, but the work was incredibly rewarding. I loved it.

So then I went back to Austin and happened to meet Kat. We both had a similar interest in using joy and play as a way of connecting with women in jail, as opposed to having the women just talk about why they were in jail/prison (also important, but sometimes tends to [. . . ]. In summer 2011, I was finishing my thesis, and Kat asked if I would be interested in teaching at the TCCC with her. I said yes, and we had a fantastic 10-week workshop. At the end of the summer we decided to take the next step and move Conspire Theatre from an occasional 10-week project to becoming an organization.

Here’s how the programming stands now: the whole project is called “The Possibilities Project.” It has two parts: “Rehearsing Possibilities” and “Performing Possibilities” RP is the in-jail program. We have two weekly classes, one in minimum security and one in max. They last about 1.5 hours each and are pretty self-contained each week because the participant turnover is so high. So it’s very difficult to do something like a play. So we structure it so there’s a small sharing of some kind at the end of each class, because we might never see some of them again. So that’s challenging. It’s taught me a lot about how to create space and connections REALLY quickly.

(read more at www.cuedialogue.org)

Prakash Mohandas Prepares 'Om Shanti Om' for Dell Hall, Long Center - Austin Statesman, July 7, 2013

Uncredited feature published July 7 in the Statesman's 'Love My Job' feature

Click to go to the Statesman's video interview of Prakash Mohandas





 Love My Job: Prakhash Mohandas

(photo: Austin Statesman)

 Watching Prakash Mohandas direct cast members for his upcoming production, “Om Shanti — Once upon a Time in Bollywood,” it is hard to believe engineering was his mainstay up until a few months ago. [CLICK to view 'Upcoming' announcement page at AustinLiveTheatre.com]

The actor, dancer, musician and filmmaker is obviously in his realm on the stage, but Mohandas is also a successful entrepreneur. He is founder and CEO of Agni Entertainment, the burgeoning film and theater company which produces, promotes and distributes independent film and theater projects with a South Asian focus.

“Coming from India, I never thought that all of my artistic interests could be translated into a profession,” he said. “I think one of the things the U.S. has taught me is that anything can be a profession if you are really passionate about it, provided that you put in some thought about how you can make that passion of yours monetarily viable.”

Mohandas’ passion for the arts came at an early age. He began learning hip hop and jazz in India at age 6. When he was 11, he took up Indian classical music. He also participated in theater throughout school and continued to pursue dance, theater and music during his undergraduate studies.

“Most of my artistic abilities came from my early education in India,” he said. “But culturally, the community has a stigma against artistic careers; they aren’t considered lucrative enough to make a living. Culturally, I was raised to go toward a path of engineering, medicine, law or an MBA.”

Mohandas left India to attend graduate school in engineering at The University of Texas. Engineering was never something Mohandas questioned; instead, he said he followed suit with many of his peers and moved to the U.S. to pursue his graduate studies.

“Over there, all my artistic interests were considered hobbies — even through I was really passionate about them, I never thought of them as a career path,” he said.

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

Click to view article at Austin Statesman. . . .

Video: ATX Classical Interviews Michelle Haché, Princess Ida for Gilbert & Sullivan Society of Austin, June 13 - 23, 2013

(www.gilbertsullivan.org)

Marc van Bree's interview (7:45) of the B.-Iden-Payne-award-winner Michelle Haché about playing Princess Ida; published by

June 10 by Marc

Video Interview with Michelle Haché

In our second ATXclassical video interview, we sat down with local soprano Michelle Haché who will be performing the title role in Princess Ida with The Gilbert & Sullivan Society of Austin the next two weeks. We talk about the upcoming performances and explore the opera’s satirization of feminism, and even discover what Princess Ida and Princess Turandot have in common.

You can find more information about The Gilbert & Sullivan Society of Austin’s nine performances from June 13-23 in our calendar section or at gilbertsullivan.org.

Click to go to interview with artistic director Rafe MacPhail, Jr.

LGBTQ Stories Sought for OUT IN AUSTIN, Untitled Theatre Works

 DO YOU HAVE A STORY TO TELL? ARE YOU A LGBTQ PERSON LIVING IN AUSTIN? WE NEED YOU!

Untitled Theatre Works is seeking participants for our latest theatre project: 

OUT IN AUSTIN

OUT IN AUSTIN is a docu-drama about the experiences of various members of Austin’s LGBTQ community. The text of the piece will be derived from interviews with real people just like you. It will focus on the trials and joys of living and loving in the State Capitol of Texas.

How you can help: Have you had an exceptionally exciting, emotional, strange, funny, unusual life in Austin, TX? Do you want to talk about your experiences in our city, both good and bad? We want to hear from you! We are currently seeking 10-12 LGBTQ of varying ages, ethnicities, and backgrounds to have their words featured in our upcoming theatrical production OUT IN AUSTIN.

How it works: Email us at untitledtheatreworks@gmail.com with the subject “OUT IN AUSTIN Interview Project” to let us know that you are interested. We will respond with a basic questionnaire. Fill out all of the answers honestly and return it to us via email. After reviewing your questionnaire, we will contact you if we’d like to follow up with an in-person interview where we will sit down and listen to your story. Your interview will be recorded and used as the basis for OUT IN AUSTIN.

What’s in it for you: If chosen for an in-person interview, UTW will provide one complimentary ticket to any performance of OUT IN AUSTIN when it premieres in late 2013. Participants will be listed in the final script/playbill as a contributor, although you may remain anonymous, if desired. UTW Membership will also be offered at a reduced cost. Aside from these perks, you would also get to be involved in a unique theatrical experience that speaks to you, your city and your community.

If you have any further questions about OUT IN AUSTIN please email us at untitledtheatreworks@gmail.com.

TCG Interview: Amparo Garcia-Crow on Latino Theatre, May, 2013

From Theatre Communications Group -- a post as part of the Diversity & Inclusion blog salon led by Online Curator Jacqueline E. Lawton for the 2013 TCG National Conference: Learn Do Teach in Dallas. Check out further Diversity and Inclusion interviews on Jacqueline’s blog.)

Plays Are About Humans

JACQUELINE LAWTON: First, tell me about the work you do as a theatre artist or administrator.

AMPARO GARCIA-CROW: I am an inter-disciplinary artist who acts, directs, sings, writes plays, screenplays and songs; I am also a film artist currently working on a documentary film and supplement all of these delights by being a teaching artist at Austin Community College where I teach playwriting, intro to theatre and stage movement. A strong focus (and area of employment) for the last few years has been in storytelling and the development of solo work; I direct and coach a handful of performance artist/storytellers.

JL: How do you identify in terms of race, ethnicity, culture, and heritage? How has this identity influenced the work that you do?

AGC:I am Mexican American with a Chinese Mexican great grandmother and I am also a Tejana. (original Texan of Mexican descent) As a writer my race, ethnicity, culture and heritage became “a burden of representation” at the beginning, meaning I was committed to giving expression to every nuance of being exactly the combination I embody; as I mature I no longer limit what I write to any one focus, I let the muse dictate what wants to be created; as a professional actor, I still struggle with the narrow opportunities available to what used to be termed in film and television as “the exotic”; thankfully the breakdowns are finally stating after the name of the character– “all ethnicities considered”, however, the reality is that they still do not cast outside the box kind of the way Latino plays might be read at new work stage reading events but rarely produced; the most freedom I experience is in directing (and dramaturgy) where I get to cross all boundaries, bringing to life what the piece requires with the added awareness I have that I wish to create realities that are not bound by race, in fact the more I can push the expectations in any of these areas, the better.

JL: How has this identity impacted your ability to work in the American Theatre? Have certain opportunities been made available to you owing to “who” you are? Have certain doors been closed to you?

AGC: When my play Under a Western Sky was produced Off-Broadway and received a stellar New York Times review, I was disappointed to receive letters from mainstream publishers (Broadway Play Publishing, Samuel French and Dramatists Play Service) to whom I submitted the play for publication–in essence they were saying similar things: “We think this is a provocative play but we do not think it will have a big enough audience” which was essentially saying, “we don’t think a play about a small Mexican American town in Texas where all but one of the characters is white” will sell. This was in the 1990s, don’t know that I would get that response now but it certainly was telling at the time that they had unquestioned beliefs about what an audience is willing to view if it involves characters outside the mainstream “ethnic” and racial demographics. I personally have never thought of plays that way–I’ve never said, “I don’t want to read or see Chekhov cause he writes about Russians.” It is assumed that plays are about humans and then we go from there.

Click 'Read more' for continuation at AustinLiveTheatre.com OR click here to view full text at www.tcg.com

Jennymarie Jemison - Qs and As with the Austin Chronicle, May 20, 2013

Austin actress and designer Jennymarie Jemison was interviewed by Wayne Alan Brenner of the Austin Chronicle for the All Over Creation blog, in connection with the Seattle showing of the film The Quiet Girl's Guide to Violence. Here are the Qs and As:

Austin Chronicle: Acting and graphic design aren't necessarily complementary skill sets, though you seem to have an instigating talent for both. How'd you choose to work in both areas?

Jennymarie Jemison: I always acted, all through high school – president of the thespians and all that – and then I was a National Merit Scholar. And, without really thinking about it, I decided I was gonna go to Southern Methodist University – because they have a bad-ass theatre program and it was just five hours away from my hometown in Arkansas. And most of my friends were going to the University of Arkansas, and I felt like I could go back and visit my friends, visit my parents, and still be at this bad-ass theatre school. But SMU was a school I did not belong in. I mean, my god. And I didn’t get into the theatre program. Long story about why I didn’t, but, um, I didn’t. And I couldn’t change schools, because once a National Merit Scholar designates the school they’re going to, they can’t change their mind. So I literally took out the course book and looked through it, trying to find some major, that wasn’t theatre, that I could live with. And I found the course description for the creative advertising track, and it seemed really interesting – and that was it.

AC: And from there, right into the industry?

JJ: Before I graduated, I was at a video-game company as an advertising intern. And by the time I graduated, I was the art director. I worked there for a year, did the box for the game Max Payne, and I was hired at Rockstar Games. So I moved to New York City in 2001 – the day before September 11th. I’d never been there before, and I was sixteen blocks away from the World Trade Center.

AC: Whoa. Jesus.

JJ: Yeah. [shakes her head] And I worked at Rockstar for three years. And I loved the work, and I loved the people I worked with. But the people that run that company? Are like the, I mean, I don’t even know if they’re human. They’re awful. It was soul-depleting to work there. I was in my early twenties, and I was like, “I don’t know if this is how I want to spend my youth, feeling like shit, and my best friend crying in the bathroom everyday.” It was horrible, just a very toxic workplace. So I left Rockstar and I was freelancing for Viacom and other tv networks, mostly Spike TV. And I didn’t know, like, how can I feel like I used to, when I was younger? I was only 25 and I was so burned out. And I was on the subway one day, and I saw a girl reading a script, and I thought, “Oh, yeah!” So I went to acting school – I went to Atlantic Theatre Company’s acting school that William H. Macy and David Mamet started, and it was great.

AC: And so again: You went to school, you graduated, and then boom?

JJ: I got some interviews with two commercial agents, and they both agreed to send me out on one freelance audition to see what would happen. And that first one I went on, I was completely terrified and intimidated – I was all meek, and the casting agent was like, “Why are you here?” But on the second one, without an agent, I was like, “Okay, that is not gonna happen again.” And it was for one of those Radio Shack commercials, where people would sit in a red chair and talk straight to the camera, and I booked it. And then I was in three national commercials, and I got the letter from SAG saying “You’d better join right now or you’re not gonna work anymore.” But I was broke. And then I moved to Texas, a right-to-work state.

AC: You moved here because the Screen Actors Guild –

JJ: I didn’t move here just to avoid SAG. I know that sounds terrible.

AC: And presumably that's not why you stay in Austin.

JJ: What keeps me in Austin is the theatre and the film scene – it’s amazing. And the community, that's the best thing about Austin. There’s nothing like this anywhere else. And once you’re a part of it, it’s pretty hard to not be a part of it. Even if, because of Quiet Girl, there was, like, the cool fantasy realized – where you get the deal, you get the money, you get to go and act in it yourself and not be replaced by Aubrey Plaza or whatever, the whole thing – I would still never leave Austin.

AC: And what if something happened, some weird Twilight Zone twist, where you couldn't work as an actor ever again and had to focus exclusively on your graphic-design work? What would you do?

JJ: I’d probably get someone in town to teach me – someone like Joe Swec – about sign painting. Because I love the transformative effects of signage in towns. The hand-lettering and typography on buildings that slowly erodes and crumbles and becomes part of the fabric of the town itself – instead of just the vinyl crap that people put up because it’s cheap. There are artists who completely transform cities that way. I’d invest in myself to learn that skill. I love watching people who do that well, love seeing the relics of old advertising. That’s the way it really works, doing advertising for a living and art at the same time? That’s where I see there being a marriage of the two that makes me happy. And sometimes it’s just pure art.

(*) Sea World San Antonio seeks Techs, Actors, Performers; Auditions/Interviews March 22, 2013

Seeks Technicians, Actors and Performers

Auditions and Interviews will be held Friday, March 22nd, 2013 at SeaWorld San Antonio
Please arrive between 5:30 and 6:00 pm in order to register to interview.
Visit http://www.seaworldauditions.com to apply online in advance of your auditions or interview.

Dancers and Costumed Characters, please arrive between 4:30 and 5:30 pm in order to register to audition.

All Other Performing Talents (Singers, Actors, Musicians, Variety Artists), please arrive between 5:30 and 6:00 pm in order to register to audition.

Stage Managers and Technicians, please arrive between 5:30 and 6:00 pm in order to register to interview.

We encourage applicants to apply for our 2013 season as early as possible. If you cannot join us on March 22 you may also audition or interview with us on
Friday, April 19th, 2013.

(*) Video: Molly Cox Talks backstage with the leads of 'Red' by John Logan

 

John Logan's Red -- a play about the painter Mark Rothko -- at The Playhouse, San Antonio, was acclaimed and played to sold-out houses during his run from January 25 to February 17, 2013. In the latest of its new series of video spots titled 'Backstage Magic,' the company shows Molly Cox interviewing Rodman Bolek and Andrew Thornton backstage.

EXTRAS:

Click for more information about the production and links to reviews of Red

Click to view a promotional video by Siggi Ragnar with scenes from the performance

Video: Austin Live Theatre Interviews Aaron Black and Kevin Gates, Protagonists of 'Richard II,' Poor Shadows of Elysium, February 21 - March 9, 2013

Austin Live Theatre interviews Aaron Black and Kevin Gates, who both play Richard II and his antagonist Bolingbroke. The choice of role will be decided each night by a coin toss at Poor Shadows of Elysium's presentation of William Shakespeare's

Richard II
 

Directed by Christina GutierrezFebruary 21st- March 9th, Thursdays, Friday, Saturdays- 8pm

To be performed at the Curtain Theatre-7400 Coldwater Canyon Drive Austin,TX 78730 (click for map)

Kevin Gates and Aaron Black will play Richard and Bolingbroke, butwhich actor plays which part will be determined by an onstage coin toss at the start of each performance.

  Tickets $16.52 via

Theatre Thinker - Profile of Travis Bedard by Dan Solomon, Austin Chronicle

Theatre Thinker


In the online dialogue about the art of the stage, Travis Bedard is a star

By Dan Solomon, Fri., Jan. 18, 2013

If you're reading this at two o'clock in the morning, there's a good chance that Travis Bedard is awake and on the Internet.


He's probably poring over a vast assortment of theatre blogs from around the world, but he might be on Twitter. If he is, he's either telling the more than 2,500 theatremakers who follow @TravisBedard about the best things he's read on those blogs or treating them to cranky, pithy bon mots framed as advice. ("Approaching what you do as though it's holy can be the beginnings of beauty. Forcing others to do the same never is.") Or he could be preparing a post for 2amtheatre.com, the theatre discussion blog for which he serves as managing editor. But it's a safe bet that, if it's the middle of the night, Travis Bedard is awake, online, and thinking about theatre.


The amount of time that Bedard spends thinking – and talking – about theatre has built him a not-insubstantial international following.


Read more at the Austin Chronicle on-line. . . .

Interview with Asia Ciaravino, Artistic Director of The Playhouse San Antonio, San Antonio Business Journal, December 21

Friday, December 21, 2013

As CEO of The Playhouse (formerly San Pedro Playhouse), Asia Ciaravino has landed the role of a lifetime, a theater part she’s been preparing for her entire life.

A story in the upcoming Dec. 28 print issue will explore her strategic plans for the Playhouse in more depth.

The Business Journal recently conducted an email interview with Ciaravino focused on her personal experiences.

The early years: I was born in Ann Arbor, Mich., and grew up all over the Midwest. My mother was a professional singer; father was a professional photographer. I was the oldest of three kids. From an early age, I was encouraged to be creative, and I was only 5 years old when I decided I wanted to do theater. All week, we would plan our show and on Fridays, we would perform.

Describe your job: Right now, I’m building infrastructure within the organization, setting up policies, standard operating procedures, and restructuring the staff so they are in positions where they can use their strengths. The Playhouse has to function as a highly oiled machine, as a business, but the transition to that mind set takes a lot of time. I’m out in the community, trying to get word out about what we do. I am also really passionate about customer service, and we have a trainer coming in to work with the whole team. I work a lot with donors, create appeal letters and marketing plans and talk to media.

Read more at the San Antonio Business Journal . . . .

Profile: Marlane Barnes, MFA '10: Interview with A Vampire, The Alcalde

From the website for Texas Exes, the alumni organization of the University of Texas:







 
Interview With the Vampire

By Rose Cahalan in Nov | Dec 2012, TXEX on November 5, 2012

 
Marlane Barnes, MFA ’10, plays the Irish vampire Maggie in the new Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 2. She told us how UT prepared her for Hollywood—and what happened when she forgot she was wearing her creepy get-up.


Have you always wanted to act?

I always loved theater, but I’m from Arkansas, where no one makes a living as an actor. So I got an English degree and planned on law school, but then I realized I didn’t want to be a lawyer—I just wanted to play one. As an undergraduate at the University of Arkansas, I looked for an MFA program with a lot of support and resources. That’s how I came to UT.

How was your UT experience?

It was three years of immersion in the acting world. At the end, there’s a showcase in New York where you get to meet industry professionals—casting agents, managers, other actors. That’s where I met my current manager. Relationships are everything in this industry.

How did you get the Twilight part?

I did a 30-second audition, and not long after, my manager called to say I got the part. It was very shocking, because you can go to 30, 40 auditions and not book anything.

What don’t people know about Hollywood?

It’s not just that there are so many aspiring actors—it’s that messing up as an actor is really expensive. Movies cost millions of dollars, and if you make a mistake, it’s going to cost a lot of money. That’s why producers want to cast actors with a reputation for showing up on time and being professional. So it’s hard to break in because you don’t have anyone to vouch for you.

Tell us about shooting the film.

It was wonderfully fun and challenging. We shot in Baton Rouge, La., and I was on set for almost three months. I got really homesick and missed my family and friends so much. But it was an unforgettable experience.

What’s your character like?

She’s an Irish vampire named Maggie, and her gift is that she can tell when people are lying. I studied an Irish accent at UT, so that came in handy.

Does playing a vampire bring any unique challenges?

Actors work with their breath a lot, but vampires aren’t supposed to be breathing, because they’re dead. I was very conscious of that—it was tough to hide when I was out of breath. The vampire makeup was the same color as my regular foundation, which was kind of embarrassing. I also wore crazy blood-red contact lenses. I’d forget I was wearing them, and then I’d terrify the crew members with my crazy eyes! Mine and the other Irish vampires’ contacts were extra red to show that we were definitely people-eaters.

What’s the appeal of vampires?

I love that vampires are like humans, but they have all the capabilities of animals. They combine death, immortality, and sex, all in this impossibly beautiful way—they’re the ultimate predators.
Click to view article at the Alcalde on-line . . . .

Daily Texan Feature: UT's Undergraduate Production of 'Some Girls' by Neil Labute, November 14 - 18

 
'Some Girl(s)' play to educate students about the world of acting

By Jasmin Carina Castanon November 14, 2012

(photo: Chelsea Purghan for the Daily Texan)

Jeremy Lee Cudd, a theatre and dance lecturer, claims to have been a bad actor at the beginning of his career. But he is now using the undergraduate acting project production of “Some Girl(s)” to teach undergraduate students how to avoid his mistakes.
“Some Girl(s)” tells the story of recently engaged Guy, who decides to travel the country to meet with his former girlfriends in an attempt to make amends before he begins his new life. While Hollywood romantic-comedies shy away from the messy aspects of love, “Some Girl(s)” tackles it head-on.

Cudd received his bachelor’s degree from Georgia State University in English literature with a minor in theatre. Cudd played drums/percussion for several musical theater productions, which is how he became interested in acting.

“There was something about the environment and the actors, their sort of weirdness,” Cudd said. “I really fell in love with it.”

Cudd felt like he hit a ceiling in his development as an actor, which is when he decided to pursue his master’s degree in acting at Penn State. Cudd said that he truly began to understand the basic elements of theater through graduate school.

“I didn’t know I wanted to be an actor until my last year of grad school,” Cudd said. “I started to branch out after that.”

Through “Some Girl(s),” Cudd aims to create a fundamental experience for his actors to grow and discover their own acting process.

Read more at the Daily Texan . . .  

Read more about Some Girls at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . 

Arts Reporting: Eric Dyer's Recollection/Interview of the Rude Mechs and Their Reconstruction of Dionysus in '69, Bombsite.com, November 7

Dyer's lengthy article with photos, via a link published by the Rude Mechanicals, Austin, TX:








THEATER
Bombsite.com, Issue 122 

Preview: Rude Mechanicals


by Eric Dyer Nov 07, 2012

An exclusive preview: Theater group Rude Mechanicals show Dionysus in 69 is at New York Live Arts through November 10.

Hannah Kenah, Jude Hickey, Katie van Winkle and others (photo: Bret Brookshire)

The first meeting between the Austin-based company Rude Mechanicals and NYC’s Radiohole was at the Orchard Project in Hunter, New York, in the summer of 2007. Both companies were in residency, developing new projects—the Rude Mechs (their common moniker) were beginning The Method Gun, which went on to premiere at Humana Festival in Louisville, Kentucky, in 2010, and Radiohole were beginning ANGER/NATION, which opened at The Kitchen in 2008. It was a beautiful summer romance.

That summer at Orchard Project was the first and, to date, only collaboration between Radiohole and Rude Mechs. It was a spontaneous single-evening performance witnessed by few, if any, outside the two companies, and it will never happen again. Thomas Graves, Kirk Lynn, and I performed naked Tai Chi in the dark of night on the rocks in the middle of the Schoharie Creek, illuminated by Scott Halvorsen Gillette standing in the river with an old fluorescent work light and occasional flashes of lightning. With Lana Lesley, Shawn Sides, Madge Darlington, and the other Rudes on the riverbank chanting, Kirk, Thomas, and I swayed gently back and forth until Radiohole’s Maggie Hoffman appeared on the rocks out of the darkness in her long black Carrie A. Nation dress. We hoisted Maggie over our heads and slowly carried her over the rocks. We reached the edge of a large, deep pool and, with a collective exhaling, dropped her into it—we had made our sacrifice. There was a splash and Maggie drifted downriver into the darkness while Kirk, Thomas, and I resumed our swaying.

I relate this story because I cherish the memory—this was a performance in itself, and the vast majority of our work as theater/performance artists takes place in this way, hidden from view, outside the social-aesthetic frame of our regularly scheduled performances. Both the Rude Mechs and Radiohole explore the idea of theater as ritual, as a form of communal religious experience, though in distinct ways. This is manifest in the Rude Mechs’ work on the Performance Group’s 1968 production of Dionysus in 69, directed by Richard Schechner—the first in a series of reenactments of significant experimental performances from the 1960s, ’70s, and ’80s.

Our companies share a creative ethos that is reflected in some basic structural similarities. Each is collectively run: the Rude Mechanicals by six artistic directors (five of whom founded the company in 1995) and Radiohole by its four founding members. Each creates original works from scratch, and each founded and runs its own venue. Radiohole’s venue is Collapsable Hole in Brooklyn; the Rude Mechs’ performance warehouse, the Off Center, has become home to many of Austin’s visual, film, theater, and music artists.

The following conversation happened on the eve of the Rude Mechs’ New York tour. It is pieced together from many fragments: emails, poorly recorded phone calls, and letters exchanged through the mail (remember that?). The conversation is not linear and reflects the compositional process more or less characteristic of Radiohole and the Rude Mechanicals. By the time you read this, the Rude Mechs will have brought their re-construction of the Performance Group’s Dionysus in 69 to New York Live Arts. We hope you will have experienced it and that this conversation might retrospectively bring new insight into that experience.

Read more at Bombsite.com . . . .

Video Interview with Will Davis, Director of The Cataract by Lisa D'Amour, October 18 - 28

 

The University of Texas Department of Theatre and Dance publishes a video interview with Will Davis, director of Lisa D'Amour's play The Cataract, opening this week:

Playwright Lisa D'Amour Talks with UT's El Alcalde, October 2

The Alcalde on-line magazine of the Texas Exes alumni association publishes an interview with alumna Lisa D'Amour (MFA) as the Department of Theatre and Dance prepares to stage her work The Cataract on October 19 - 28:

Lisa D'Amour (via the Alcalde)

Playwriting's Next Big Thing:

Pulitzer Finalist Lisa D'Amour

by Rose Cahalan, October 2, 2012

When playwright Lisa D’Amour, MFA ’96, finished a workshop at Hampshire College last year, she checked her voicemail. To her shock, dozens of vague, celebratory messages had poured in: “Lisa, congratulations!” and “Wow, just heard the news!” D’Amour turned to a friend and said, “I think I just won something.”

D’Amour’s play Detroit had just been named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. The elite honor was only the latest accolade in D’Amour’s highly acclaimed and rapidly ascending career—she also won an OBIE, or Off-Broadway Theater Award, for Nita and Zita in 2003.

In the past few weeks alone, arts and culture giants the New York Times and the New Yorker have both published glowing reviews of Detroit, a dark comedy about relationships and the recession co-starring former Friends star David Schwimmer. The Times called Detroit “Superb … a sharp X-ray of the embattled American psyche as well as a smart, tart critique of the country’s fraying social fabric.”

New Orleans native D’Amour found time last week for a visit to campus, where the Department of Theatre and Dance will soon stage her drama The Cataract (performances run Oct 19-28 in the B. Iden Payne Theatre) [click for more information at AustinLiveTheatre.com]. In between a packed schedule of workshops, guest lectures, and media appearances, D’Amour caught up with The Alcalde.

Click to read the interview at the Alcalde . . . .

Video: 'Patience' Director and Leading Lady Interviewed by YNN

Meredith Ruduski costumed as the milkmaid 'Patience' and artistic director Rafe MacPhail, Jr., are interviewed by YNN's Paul Brown for the production June 7 - 17 by the Gilbert & Sullivan Society of Austin at Brentwood Christian School.