The very idea of rooting around in the muck of an old crime -- especially a murder -- is moody stuff, invoking a sense of darkness and not a little dread. The design work in this Mary Moody Northen Theatre production deftly plays on these moods. For the first act, scene designer Michael Massey covers most of the furniture onstage with cloths the colors of ash and dried mud, creating the sense of shrouds, of death all about. Lighting designer John Ore leaves most of the stage in shadow, with his one major source of light slatted, as if coming through blinds. Sound designer Rick Mishler fills the air with solo piano music, somber, enigmatic, haunting. They prime us for this uneasy journey backward.
As the show proceeds, however, this atmosphere shifts. the heroine, Carla Crale, embarks on her mission to uncover the truth behind her father's murder, to learn whether her mother, who was convicted of the crime, was guilty or innocent, as she professed. And as she does, Carla talks to everyone who was present when her father died. They're an odd lot as penned by Christie, bristling with quirks, and director Susan Loughran has her actors build on their distinctive traits. They gesture broadly, make exaggerated faces, react with almost operatic volume and intensity. In nearly every case, actors make the choice to be big, and they end up boosting the eccentric qualities of these characters almost to the level of camp. At times, you're not quite sure whether you're watching a genuine murder mystery or a parody of one.
It might be most confusing were it not for one actor anchoring the play. Alexis Biesi Clark, in the role of Carla, remains intently focused on her character's need to know, to reconstruct the past and reclaim some connection to her mother. She radiates passion from her first moment onstage to her last, and it is directed passion, such that every gesture -- rubbing her hands, tapping a cigarette, leaning forward -- seems to come out of her intense need. She keeps the play -- and us -- on track, and we can buy her mission to unlock the past because she is always in the present. Which makes her an actor to watch in the future. (Robert Faires) FINAL WEEKEND! Through Jun 16, Tue-Sat, 8pm, Sun, 2pm, at the MMNT, St. Edward's University campus, 3001 S. Congress. Running time: 2 hrs, 25 min. 448-8484.
Sin Imagine that you are a medieval peasant, slogging your way through three feet of cow poo to farm a small patch of land for a lord who requires almost all of your meager harvest as a tribute. You spend most of your life alternately starving and freezing, with the threat of the Plague constantly hovering around you. Death would be welcome, however the promise of Heaven awaits if you behave yourself.
Thanks to the traveling morality play, you don't even have to know how to read to discover the path to the pearly gates. You get to watch an everyman, a poor schlub just like yourself, work his way through the temptations of life, directly telling you how to live your life to ensure salvation.
Fast forward four centuries and place yourself at Subterranean Theatre's Sin, a contemporary morality play for those of us working at a job that offers little hope of advancement, wondering how we will buy life's essentials on what little of our meager salaries the government leaves behind, and watching loved ones, or ourselves, die of a strange, new plague. But, of course, there is a twist. We already know how to live our lives; four hundred years and the advent of movable type have fully indoctrinated us in the moral and safe way to live.
Avery Bly, a radio traffic girl who spends her rush hour in a helicopter,
above the madness, has found herself in a dilemma. She instructs those around
her, characters who bear an uncanny resemblance to the seven deadly sins, how
to be just like her -- morally and politically correct. But our Everyperson's
life is falling apart despite her good behavior and she finds
herself
relying on those that she has already judged unworthy from her lofty vantage
point.
Ken Webster's direction repeatedly reinforces the playwright's points about morality and sin in contemporary society. The cast, most notably Katherine Catmull's hyper-responsible Bly and Michael Stuart's oddly sincere Lust, is remarkable in its depth and charisma. Despite some clunky scene changes, this production deconstructs the concepts of sin while forcing us to re-examine our own criteria for moral judgments, and realize that sin may be the one thing that we all have in common. (Adrienne Martini) Jun 6-29, Thu-Sat, June 24, Mon, 8pm, at Hyde Park Theatre, 511 W. 43rd. Tickets: $10 ($9 seniors, students, ACoT); Thu: Pay What You Wish. Running time: 2 hrs. 499-TIXS.
Einstein's Daughter Producing theatre is very much like making a pizza. You have to start with a strong-but-tender crust -- the script; a piquant sauce -- the director and designers; an assortment of cheeses -- the actors; and a variety of toppings -- the crew. When all of the flavors melt together, you can have a slice of heaven. But, sometimes, one item may be too overpowering or noticeable in its absence. Without a crust, for example, you end up with nothing but a lap full of sauce, cheese, and veggies.
Einstein's Daughter, written by Catherine Rogers, is The Public Domain's latest foray into pizza making. Director Linda Miles' determined direction brings a flurry of life to a young dressmaker's quest to find her identity in 1916 Philadelphia. Olivia, the dressmaker, intensely played by Anne Hulsman, meets Lawrence, a dapper man infused with charm by Daryl Boling. But, to be cliché, the course of true love has never run smoothly and the rock in this romantic stream is Beatrice, Olivia's cousin.
Olivia also wants more out of her life than simple wedded bliss; she has a deep desire to find her father, a man who may or may not be Einstein, and who may or may not actually be missing. Despite advice from her mother-figure, the lace-making Mrs. Fiore, Olivia has become fixated on Lawrence and Dr. Freud, a fabric merchant with a familiar name who appears to have a daughter who also may or may not be missing. Told in a series of scenes which feel somehow disconnected from each other, it is hard to discern what the relationships may be despite Olivia's frantic need to define them.
This uncertainty is frustrating because Rogers has stretched the dough for
this pizza in an unusual way, molding it to support an intriguing love triangle
while pulling it thin beneath the dreams and needs of her main character.
Ultimately, this unevenness causes an already thin crust to collapse, spilling
the first-class ingredients -- the actors, director, Robi Polgar's imaginative
set, and Sylvia Tate's quirky costume design -- onto the stage where they can
find little cohesion. (Adrienne Martini) Jun 7-29, Thu-Sat, 8pm,
Jun 23,
Sun, 2pm, at The Public Domain, 807 Congress. Tickets: $10
($8 seniors,
students, ACoT). Running time: 1 hr, 50 min. 474-6202.
PLAYFEST '96 is back, offering a fresh round of great theatre for young people,
from tales of magic in exotic lands to sagas of survival in the everyday world,
from live-action adventures to puppet performances. Each week provides a
different experience for a different audience from a different company. What
stays the same is the quality of wonder. This week: Bagtales, a solo
show in which Bernadette Nason pulls stories out of a bag and reinforces the
magic and value of storytelling. Recommended for ages 4-older. Running time: 45
min. Through Jun 15, Thu-Fri, 10am, Sat, 3pm. Starting next Wed: Say
No Max, a drama about resisting peer pressure, with the audience helping
Max learn the secret word "no." Produced by A.D. Players, Houston. Recommended
for ages 6-older. Running time:
1 hr. Jun 18-22, Tue-Fri, 10am, Sat,
3pm. All shows at the Dougherty Arts Center, 1110 Barton Springs. Tickets: $4.
499-TIXS.
GUITAR BOY rises from Boot Hill for another run of rip-roarin' Western outrageousness. The April run of this Word of Mouth Women's Theatre show, an all-female play on Western myths and conventions by playwright Lynn Hayes, proved successful enough to warrant a revival. Prepare yourself for showdowns, bar brawls, romancin', dancin', and all kinds of frontier friction and fun. Allison Roy, Tasha Valdevit, Rog Wall, and Bobby Erb star. Directed by Judy Thomas. FINAL WEEKEND! Through Jun 15, Fri & Sat, 8:30pm, at the Voodoo Lounge, Third & Trinity. Tickets: $8 ($6 seniors, students, ACoT/DU members). 452-6607.
RUN FOR YOUR WIFE is the punny cry of Ray Cooney's popular sex farce, being revived by the Wimberley Players, who are raising their own cry -- a cry of triumph -- as they return to the Greenhouse Theatre with this show. The Greenhouse was this community group's home for years, then an increase in the rent prompted them to leave it 14 months ago. Now, the Players have been invited back and they want all of Central Texas to join them in fun. Artistic director Pancho Russell directs. FINAL WEEKEND! Through Jun 15, Fri & Sat, 8pm, Jun 9, Sun, 3pm, at the Greenhouse Theatre, Wimberley. Tickets: $8. 847-1086.
THE PITCHFORK DISNEY In Philip Ridley's play, reality has become skewed: packs of hungry dogs rule the land and priests pack heat. Two orphans can live for 10 years on nothing but chocolate, sleeping pills, and tea. The characters hint that this is the result of a nuclear exchange; all of their stories would lead us to believe this is true. But what is truth? Is truth the stories we tell ourselves to keep the world at bay? Matthew Patterson's Presley Stray weaves marvelously hypnotic tales through chocolate-stained teeth to calm his sister Haley (Patricia Wappner). Haley, gaunt and suspicious, has become the personification of fear, driven to this by a traumatic event that is never clearly defined. Into Haley and Presley's carefully controlled universe comes Cosmo, a performer with unusual culinary habits, and his sidekick, Pitchfork Cavalier. Dylan Collins' Cosmo is like a snake hunting for a mouse to fill his belly and pursuing it relentlessly. With Bonnie Cullum's crisp direction and Jason Amato's visually powerful set -- which appears as if it may impale the cast if the wrong word is uttered -- this VORTEX Repertory Company production usually succeeds in illustrating one approach to the horrors and fears of life in a capricious world, a retreat into the stories and mannerisms of the past. But the Strays' present is still out there, ready to pounce. (Adrienne Martini) FINAL WEEKEND! Through Jun 16, Thu-Sun, 8pm, at Planet Theatre, 2307 Manor. Tickets: $11 ($7 seniors, students, ACoT). Thu: Pay What You Wish. 478-LAVA.
LITTLE RED AND THE HOODS pits the intrepid young heroine of the famous Red Riding Hood fairy tale against some more modern foes: unscrupulous entrepreneurs who want to make themselves a bundle off the top-secret cookie recipe that belongs to Red's mom. How do Red, Mama, and Granny keep the greedy hands of Pa Sugar out of their cookie jar? With the help of an audience of children! This participation play kicks off the 1996 Summer Stage season from the Southwestern University Department of Theatre. Through Jun 15, Thu-Sat, & Jun 17-20, Mon-Thu, 1pm, Jones Theatre, SU campus, Georgetown. Tickets: $4 ($3 in advance). 512/863-1378.
DAS BARBECü Jim Luigs and Scott Warrender have transported the German gods
and heroes in Richard Wagner's Ring operas to Texas and put Western
motifs -- ranches, Stetsons, cry-in-your-beer ballads -- in place of the airy
realms, horned helmets, and arias of the original. They have fun with much of
the move -- Rhinemaidens splashing in Aquamarina Springs, Texas Rangers
apprehending Alberich, an ode to guacamole -- but a surprising amount is
straight Wagner: Wotan and the dwarf Alberich rasslin' over a ring of magic
gold; Wotan's daughter Brünnhilde and grandson Siegfried sufferin' through
a star-crossed romance. Fortunately, Luigs and Warrender keep the tragedy
closer to country & western than Sturm und Drang, and the crack
artists of this Zachary Scott Theatre Center production keep all of it smooth
and appealing. Michael Raiford and Bil Pfuderer provide exuberant sets and
costumes, and Rod Caspers' direction is always splendidly assured. Dan
Sullivan's stalwart Siegfried looks as if he should be welcoming folks to the
state fair, while Meredith Robertson's Brünnhilde is a Dale Evans of the
Gotterdammerung; Gretchen Kingsley, Felicia Dinwiddie, and Steven Bishop
Seely add their own Lone Star fun. This show is full-out from the get-go, which
makes it pure-dee Texas and a lulu of a Barbecü. (Robert Faires)
Through Jun 23, Thu-Sat, 8pm, Sun, 2:15pm, at Zachary Scott Theatre Center,
Kleberg Stage, 1421 Riverside Dr. Tickets: $17 -$19 .
Running time: 2 hrs,
10 min. 476-0541.
THE DIVINERS takes Mary Moody Northen Theatre's 1996 Summerstock season
into spiritual waters. The second show in this seasonal stage tradition is a
lyrical drama about faith, the story of a young man with a fear of water and
his bond to a stranger trying to shed his heritage as a preacher. The company
of St. Edward's University students and faculty members are joined by guest
artists Michael Harlan and Sheila Gordon. Former Austin theatre artist Michael
Costello returns to direct. Jun 16-30, Tue-Sat, 8pm, Sun, 2pm, at the MMNT,
St. Edward's University
campus, 3001 S. Congress. 448-8484.
PURLIE is a high-spirited Broadway musical that pops up every few seasons, typically with actor-director Boyd Vance's name attached. Vance has been part of repeated versions here since 1975, and he always makes it a lively show, especially if he's in the cast. He is here, but his is not the only notable name in the 1996 model; also on hand are Judy Arnold, Jacqui Cross, Billy Harden, Carla Nickerson, Janis Stinson, and Hans Venable. Count on this to be Purlie victorious! Produced by Pro Arts Collective and Azubike Theatre Company. Jun 20-Jul 6, Thu-Sat, 8pm, Sun, 6pm, at the State Theatre, 719 Congress. 499-TIXS.
TONS OF MONEY are about to tumble into the hands of Aubrey Allington; it's the fortune of his brother, who has died and left it to Aubrey. But Aubrey's afraid he'll have to use it all to pay off his debts, so he decides to fake his own death and impersonate his cousin George, the next person in line for the money. It's a sharp farce by Alan Ayckbourn, revived by the Bastrop Opera House. Jun 14-Jul 13, Fri & Sat, 7:30pm, at the Bastrop Opera House in Bastrop. Tickets: $7 ($6 seniors, $5 students, $4 children). 512/321-6283.
ALL I REALLY NEED TO KNOW I LEARNED IN KINDERGARTEN Wisdom is in short supply today. Our complex, post-modern age has so encumbered universal truths with qualifications relating to circumstance, culture, and such, few folks are able or willing to pierce the shell of relativity and find the meaning within, the pearl of wisdom. Yet precisely because our age is complex and challenging, we hunger for wisdom to help us make sense of it. The proof is in the bestseller lists, where we chase any guru who promises sage advice in a catchy title. In 1985, such a title caught the public eye, one suggesting that the simple lessons of kindergarten could help us to sane, healthy, happy adult lives. Robert Fulghum's book was a fount of wisdom for many parched readers, and now Ernest Zulia has brought that spring into the theatre.
Zulia's adaptation is essentially a musical revue, with essays in place of songs: 17 or so pieces, a few minutes each, that individually and collectively showcase the author's sensibility and style. Fulghum's chief quality as "composer" is simplicity; he seeks to sound the most basic chord in us, the C-major of our souls. Empathy, wonder, love -- these are his themes, which he strips of the modern attitudes that deny them their power as core human emotions. As pop songs do, Fulghum's essays seek to remind us in a few plain words how deeply we can feel.
In performance, Fulghum's work doesn't demand an intensity of feeling and vocal prowess that a fine songwriter's does. Mostly, they require a comfortable stage presence, a conversational style, a rapport with the audience, and a personal bond with the material. With these in place, senses of place and character, humor and drama, pretty well take care of themselves. So it is in the Zachary Scott Theatre Center staging, the cast of which coasts along in a light, personable manner, conveying both the fun and meaning they find in these pieces. The fun is apparent in Clayton Murrell and Everett "Woody" Skaggs, who salt their delivery of Fulghum's tales with pinches of drollery. (Skaggs' regal intonation adds a dash of poignant dignity at times, too.) And the personal meaning is clear in the catch in Dick Reiss' voice when he relates the profound love of a husband and wife and in the eyes of Irene Gonzales as she ponders her own passing and they swirl with surprise, melancholy, and mystery.
The actors never try to dazzle, just engage. In this, director Alice Wilson holds them true to the spirit of the source. And her staging on Christopher McCollum's plain yet playful set -- wooden schoolroom chairs on a green chalkboard floor -- is the same: simple, basic, serving the text and its feelings. The show is gentle, sentimental, comforting, which may not suit some patrons. But as one of Fulghum's subjects asks here, "What harm?" None I can see, and maybe much good: reconnections with compassion and wonder, with humanity at its core. (Robert Faires) Through Jul 28, Thu-Sat, 8pm, Sun, 2:15pm, at Zachary Scott Theatre Center, Whisenhunt Arena Stage, 1510 Toomey. Tickets: $14 -$17. Running time: 1 hr, 50 min. 476-0541.
CAFE BREMOND is a new venue serving up cabaret on an ongoing basis. The new space is actually an old landmark, the historic Bremond House at San Antonio and Seventh, which has been renovated into a lovely bed and breakfast. The series "Lively Arts at the Bremond" will feature weekly cabaret performances by Sterling Price-McKinney & Karen Kuykendall (Sundays); and Karen Kohler & Larry Greenawalt (Thursdays). Father's Day, Kuykendall & Price-McKinney serve a musical feast for Dad, with songs from Irving Berlin to Kurt Weill. Ongoing. Sun, 6pm, Thu, 8pm, at Bremond House, 703 W. Seventh. Tickets: $10. 474-8390.
Pizazzz! Theatre Classes for Kids will be offered by the UT Department of Theatre & Dance. Creative Drama classes for grades 2-3 and 4-6, Tue/Thu, Jun 13-Jul 11. Cost: $50. 471-5793.
A Kids Acting Camp will be led by Annie Suite of Frontera@Hyde Park Theatre. For kids in grades 2-5, it runs Jun 17-21, Mon-Fri, 2-3:30pm, at Hyde Park Theatre, 511 W. 43rd. $50. 707-1894.
Live Oak Theatre School of Acting is offering summer workshops for young artists, including Kids and Young Teens Performance, ages 8-12 (Jun 17-29, Mon-Fri, 9am-noon); and adult classes, such as Acting for Film and Stage (through Jul 15, Mon, 7-10pm, $135); and Biz Workshop (Jun 15, Sat, 10am-5pm, $35). 472-3160.
Amparo Garcia offers classes in fundamentals of acting, improvisation, and intensive scene study. A Sunday Acting Workshop is underway through Jul 14. Individual/private sessions also available. 441-7740.
An Improvisation Workshop with Tim Simek offers actors and non-actors ways to enhance concentration, sensory skills, and creativity. Jun 23, Sun, 10am-5pm. $60. 251-2610.
Monks' Night Out offers weekly improvisation workshops taught by professionals. 453-MONK.
Half-Price Tickets can be had through AusTix, the half-price outlet for the arts. Locations: the Dougherty Arts Center, 1110 Barton Springs Rd. (11:30am-6:30pm Wed-Fri/11am-2pm Sat); the Austin Visitors Center, 201 E. Second (11:30am-1:30pm, Thu-Sat); and Book People. 397-1450.
Cafe Bremond, an ongoing cabaret series. Seeking performers of "legitimate
cabaret," using vintage material, with an eye and ear for European crossovers
and some original material. Performers without staged acts may be considered
for Cafe Bremond's New Faces of 1996
revue. By appointment.
474-8390.
Monks Night Out: performers and keyboardists to join the improv, sketch, and musical comedy troupe. 453-MONK.
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