announcements Archives
DECEMBER SALON
Sunday, December 14th @6:30pm
State Theatre (719 Congress Ave.)
The December 14th Salon will feature three short works by members Candyce Rusk, Priscilla Sample, and Teresa Stankiewicz.
LULU's CHARMS IN THE DARK by Candyce Rusk is set in Chicago's Riverview Ballroom in the mid 1940's, and focuses on three women whose fortunes lie with dancing the night away in good shoes...hard to come by and harder to keep.
Candyce Rusk has been writing short plays for a decade. A member of Austin Script Works, other productions include: The Final Sail (2006 Out of Ink Radio play), Little Baby Two Shoes (2006 Short Fringe Festival and short film by Paul Bright), Perfect Snowball and Green Spot Diner.
LASCIVIOUS by Priscilla Sample
When her husband dies under unusual circumstances, popular cook and author Lynn Matthews is surprised to find herself a suspect in the police investigation.
Priscilla Sample, a playwright and teacher, is the Co-Artistic Director of CTEK Arts, which recently produced the highly-acclaimed Wild Party in Provincetown, Massachusetts. For years she has dedicated her work to supporting emerging playwrights; in Dallas as the Director of the Playwrights’ Project and in New York and Connecticut as the Director of External Affairs for the O’Neill Theater Center (home of the National Playwrights Conference). She moved to Provincetown in 1999 when her play Sleeping with Her Eyes Open was workshopped by the Provincetown Theater Company, and since then has continued her theater work as a producer, director, dramaturg, stage manager, and playwright. Her one-woman play Margo Jones was produced in Austin at the Blue Theater and a condensed version of her play Brain Big garnered Best of the Week and Best of the Fest awards in FronteraFest this year. She holds a BA in Film, theater emphasis, from Yale University, and an MFA in Playwriting from UT Austin.
DUTY TO WARN by Teresa Stankiewicz Loretta is a young mother with bipolar disorder struggling to balance her emotions. Her dysfunctional family dismisses her troubles as she spirals out of control. The police, the hospital and the therapist all make the required calls espousing their "duty to warn" when Loretta threatens to kill her mother and her children. Ride the roller coaster of emotions that Loretta suffers and experience the consequences of our "duty to warn".
Teresa Stankiewicz is studying for her MA in Theatre with an emphasis on Playwriting from Texas State University. She has an MFA in Dance from the University of Illinois. Her first ten minute play, The Pink Bathtub Murders was produced in the summer of 2008 by the Vestige Group in Austin, Texas. Teresa has directed, acted and choreographed many different plays including Pippin, Marvin's Room and House of Blue Leaves.
NOVEMBER SALON
NOVEMBER SALON
THE HAPPY COUPLE by James Venhaus
Sunday, November 16 @6:30 pm
The State Theatre
719 Congress Ave.
A young lawyer and his wife return to the house that they rented while he attended law school. A lot has changed in ten years. Squatters now occupy the house and won't let the happy couple leave. By the time the sun comes up, no one's life will be the same.
ABOUT JAMES VENHAUS
James Venhaus is a playwright, actor, director and educator. His plays include award winning one-acts Inside the Loop and The Temple of Dionysus, 10-minute plays, The First Christmas, Santa's Little Helper, Amy's Last Shift, and Three Kings, full length plays The Happy Couple and Weird Sisters, and plays for young audiences Romeo and Juliet at Verona High and The Top Hand of Lone Tree Ranch. His work has been performed off-off Broadway at 13th Street Repertory Company, and in theatres across the country including, Ground Zero Theater Company, Audacity Productions, and Junior Players (Dallas), SUNY Brockport (New York), Killing My Lobster (San Francisco) and Loyola University (New Orleans). He holds a B.F.A. in Theatre from Southwestern University and a Masters of Arts in Teaching from Austin College. He lives in San Antonio, Texas with his wife and daughters.
Dramatis Personae Workshop: TRANSGRESSING FORM
TRANSGRESSING FORM
A workshop taught by Sharon Bridgforth
Saturday, October 18, 2008
10AM - 12:30PM
State Theatre
719 Congress Ave.
ASW $15 / General $25
INFO/RESERVATIONS:
512.454.9727; christi@scriptworks.org
TRANSGRESSING FORM is a workshop focusing on the process of creating interdisciplinary theatre. Poets/dancers/spoken word artists/hip hop artists interested in translating their work for theatre welcome.
ABOUT SHARON BRIDGFORTH
Sharon Bridgforth is the Lambda Award winning author of the bull-jean stories , and love conjure/blues, both published by RedBone Press. Bridgforth has broken ground in the creation and presentation of the performance/novel and in doing so has advanced the articulation of the Jazz aesthetic as it lives in theatre.
A two time Alpert Award Nominee in the Arts in Theatre, Bridgforth is the recipient of the 2008 Alpert/Hedgebrook Residency Prize. Bridgforth's work has been anthologized and produced widely and has received support from the National Endowment For The Arts Commissioning Program; The National Endowment For The Arts/Theatre Communications Group Playwright in Residence Program; National Performance Network; and the Rockefeller Foundation Multi-Arts Production Fund Award. Bridgforth's work has presented nationally at venues including:the Walker Arts Center in Minneapolis, MN., The Theatre Offensive Out on The Edge Festival in Boston, MA., LaPena in Berkeley, CA., The Michigan Womyn's Music Festival, Penumbra Theatre Company in St. Paul, MN
Bridgforth is currently touring delta dandi, a National Performance Network Creation Fund Project co-commissioned by Women & Their Work, in partnership with Center On Halsted and the National Performance Network.
SEPTEMBER SALON
MOSES OF THE BULRUSHES (a divine comedy) by Steve Warren
Sunday, September 28th @ 6:30pm
The State Theatre
719 Congress Ave.
The orphan Moses, abandoned as a baby in a basket on the river by his mother, possesses divine powers but doesn't know it yet even at age 17, because he has been raised by the stuttering, backwoods, river-washing former preacher Monroe Gifford and his two ugly sons who believe Moses is cursed for being born out of wedlock. Abused by his adopted family, Moses soon escapes with the help of wheelchair-ridden Granny Hannah and sets out on his Path to Glory, but when the ugly boys discover Moses has the deed to Granny's farm that Monroe desires, they pursue Moses with a vengeance.
ABOUT STEVE WARREN:
A former navy pilot and high school English teacher, Steve Warren retired eight years ago to dedicate his time to writing. He has had five stage plays produced around the country and four short screenplays made into films. One feature screenplay has been optioned while others have won or placed in national contests.
Dramatis Personae Workshop: FronteraFest 101
A primer in self-producing for the fringe
A workshop taught by Christina J. Moore
Wednesday, September 17th at 7:30 PM
Hyde Park Theatre, 511 W. 43rd St.
$5 ASW members; $10 general
This workshop, led by ASW Executive Director and FronteraFest Producer Christina J. Moore, will guide participants through the process of preparing a piece for FronteraFest. From resources for finding actors, directors, and rehearsal space to the ins and outs of the technical rehearsal, we'll cover it all.
Christina J. Moore is a director and producer whose work has been seen at The State Theatre, Zachary Scott Theatre Center, Salvage Vanguard Theatre, Mary Moody Northen Theater, Vortex Repertory Company, Capitol City Playhouse, Frontera@Hyde Park Theatre, Different Stages, and Austin Script Works, which she helped found in 1997. FronteraFest 2008 will mark her seventh year as producer of the festival under the joint enterprise of Hyde Park Theatre and Austin Script Works.
Info/Reservations: 512.454.9727; christi-at-scriptworks.org
FronteraFest Commission Applications available
Application guidelines for FronteraFest Short Fringe Commissions are now available for download. Commissions provide small stipends of $150-200 to cover production costs and the application fee is waived. The deadline for application is September 22, 2008. Please download the guidelines for complete information. Commission applications and FronteraFest applications are available under "Downloads" at the right side of this page.
June Salon
TEAR DOWN by John Lively
Sunday, June 29th at 6:30pm
State Theatre, 719 Congress Ave.
TEAR DOWN is a meditation on marriage documenting an elderly couple's conflict between structure and routine, and progress. Harold and Beverly struggle to hold onto their life together as economics force them out of their home of 47 years.
John Lively was born in Arlington, Tx .and raised in the 'burbs before earning a degree in English/Theatre from Texas Texas Tech University. After his studies, John took a job with the airlines, living in San Juan and New York before returning to Texas, making Austin home.
30/60/90 IS BACK!
This program, focused on the daily practice of writing and inspired by Suzan-Lori Parks' 365 Days/365 Plays project, was such a hit last year that we just had to bring it back.
In 2002, Pulitzer-Prize winning playwright decided to write a play a day for a year. The resulting play cycle, called 365 Days/365 Plays, is a daily meditation on artistic life, and a radical reinterpretation of what it means to be creative. (For more information on 365, please go to www.365days365plays.com.)
Austin Script Works is offering our own opportunity to practice daily creativity through 30/60/90.
Sign up for a period of time - 30, 60, or 90 days. During that period of time, we'll send you a daily writing prompt by email, offered by local and national writers, dramaturgs, lawyers, musicians, and artists -- read their bios here -- each of whom also has some kind of daily practice. We'll also provide a place where you can post your experiences, struggles, questions, efforts, and musings on your work.
Write anything. Finish it. Move on to the next thing. Just write every day. Don't look back! You will probably hate it at some point. You will probably love it, too. You may or may not like what winds up on the page. But 30/60/90 is not about the end result or the product. It's just about the practice.of sitting down every day to do your work.
For those of you in the Austin area, we'll culminate 30/60/90 at our Annual Meet N Greet in August.
We believe the small suggested donation for 30/60/90 will help give you an incentive for your creative commitment (and cover our administrative costs); but a basic tenet of 365 Days/365 Plays is radical inclusion, so contact christi@scriptworks.org if the fee is prohibitive.
The launch date for this project is June 3, the day you will receive your first prompt. The 30 day periods will break down as follows:
30 days: June 3 - July 2
60 days: July 3 - August 1
90 days: August 2 - 31
You may sign up for any or all of these 30 day periods, by clicking on "Programs" at the top of the page. Once you do, you will receive an invitation to join the 30/60/90 blog where you can post your writing and discuss the process with other members.
Contact christi@scriptworks.org with any questions.
MAY SALON
GILLIAN'S (W)HOLE by Tracie Gardner
Sunday, May 18th at 6:30pm
State Theatre, 719 Congress Ave.
Gillian's (W)hole
During a stay in a hospital emergency room after accidentally almost killing herself, beleaguered single mother Gillian Banks is startled to learn that her hope has fallen out of her- quite literally, in the form of a woman named Ara. Despite doubts about her own sanity, Gillian grudgingly accepts Ara's strange presence, and the two are dropped back into Gillian's anguish-laden life. Guilt, despair, and outrage over gender stereotypes and an inadequate justice system flood in on a tide of embittered humor as Ara slides ever closer to extinction in the grip of Gillian's vicious nightmares. Gillian's only hope for her "hope" breathes in the dead, their influence tethered along a curious lifeline strung from the poetry of Emily Dickinson.
Tracie Gardner, a transplant from Detroit by way of San Jose, has completed her first full-length project with the play, Gillian's (W)hole. She holds a degree in English from a small, private university in the Midwest, did significant post-bacc coursework in science, and has taught science and math as a middle school teacher in Texas now for three years, the last two here in Austin. Next year she will specialize in working with high-functioning autistic-spectrum students. She is fortunate to have three fabulous children who amuse her regularly.
April Salon
3 Short Works by ASW Members
Sunday, April 27th @ 6:30pm
State Theatre, 719 Congress. Ave.
Ballet for Dog and Red-Haired Girl by Hank Schwemmer
What would YOU do with a broken clock, a three-legged dog, and 2000 jigsaw puzzles? Can you tell nirvana from a fire escape? It's 4:33 AM, the day of John Cage's death. The window's open, and it's a long way down.
The Alcoholic Drama by Tommy LeVrier
U-Screen by Mahani Zubedy
A comedy about maximum exposure and a 40% higher retention rate.
March Salon
DYNAMO FROM DALLAS by Michael Michaelian
Sunday March 30, 2008 @ 6:30 PM
Featuring Babs George
^^^^^^^NOTE CHANGE IN LOCATION^^^^^^^^
The Austin Center for Religious Science
4701 Westgate Blvd, Ste A-103
Austin, TX 78745
The Center is located across the street from the Westgate Theaters in the white stone office buildings (Westgate Professional Center) around the corner from Central Market South in South Austin.
Detailed directions and map available on the website: www.austincrs.net.
ABOUT THE PLAY:
Dynamo From Dallas is a one woman play celebrating the life of Judge Sarah T. Hughes of Dallas, Texas. Hers is the story of a woman who was underestimated by everyone but herself. Yet the list of her major accomplishments is a staggering series of firsts: the first woman state judge in the South (at a time women weren't allowed to serve on juries) - 1935, at age 38; the first woman to be placed in nomination for Vice-President -1952; the first woman appointed a Federal District Court judge -1961; the first woman to swear in a President of the United States, Lyndon Johnson -1963. She won her against-the-odds victories by the strength and determination of her personality, on the merits of her skills and professionalism, and by her fearlessness. The reading features Babs George as Judge Hughes.
ABOUT MICHAEL MICHAELIAN:
Michael Michaelian has been a screenwriter and playwright for 35 years. His career began with multiple episodes of "Kung Fu" in 1973 and continued with hour episodes of such TV series as "Barnaby Jones", "Hawaii 5-0", "Charlie's Angels", "Fantasy Island", "Dukes of Hazzard", and "Star Trek: The Next Generation", just to name a few. He also wrote and co-produced the miniseries, "Roughnecks", which starred Harry Morgan and Vera Miles; adapted Paul Gallico's "Miracle in the Wilderness" for TNT, which starred Kris Kristofferson and Kim Cattrall; and wrote "The Black Fox" for CBS, which starred Christopher Reeve. As a playwright, his adaptation of Christopher Isherwood's "A Single Man" opened at the Greenwich Theatre in London in June of 1990 and starred Alec McCowen. His comedy "Fertility Rights" was produced by the Arizona Theatre Company in both Tucson and Phoenix in 1993. "Dynamo from Dallas" is his third full length play.
Seed Support Applications Available
ASW provides Seed Support funding to members on a quarterly basis, as available. New funding guidelines and an application are available on our Programs page. The next application deadline is April 1, 2008.
February Salon
BLUE MONDAY by C. Denby Swanson
Sunday February 24, 2008
State Theatre, 719 Congress Ave.
C. Denby Swanson's, Blue Monday, a new play that she is adapting from the medieval morality play EVERYMAN.
C. Denby Swanson is the TCG/NEA Playwright in Residence at Zachary Scott Theater Center and the former Artistic Director of Austin Script Works.
January Salon
Chasin' the Bird by Jason Tremblay
Sunday January 27, 2008
State Theatre, 719 Congress Ave.
Set in Kansas City, Chasin’ the Bird is the story of the first recording that Charlie Parker ever made. Moving between 1936 and 1996 the play focuses on William Owens who at 15 made the recording and at 85 wrestles with the decision to share it with the world.
Jason Tremblay’s plays have been presented in big places like New York and Chicago, little tiny places like Charlottesville, Virginia and Grand Marais, Minnesota and nice comfortable places like Austin and Boulder. In April his play Katrina: The Girl Who Wanted her name back will be presented at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. as part of New Visions/ New Voices and will be produced next season by Adventure Stages at the Vittum Theatre in Chicago.
Segunda Etapa: The Second Stage
ASW in partnership with Teatro Vivo presents SEGUNDA ETAPA: The Second Stage, the culmination of the second phase of the Latino Playwrights Initiative. Two full-length plays commissioned by Austin Script Works will receive a week of rehearsals and workshopping leading to public staged readings. The day-long event will also include a playwriting workshop and a party.
The schedule for SEGUNDA ETAPA: THE SECOND STAGE is as follows:
Saturday, December 8, 2007
10:30 AM Playwriting Workshop with Jorge Luis Cacheiro
2:30 PM Woman on Fire by Marisela Treviño Orta directed by Nakissa Etemad
7:30 PM The Bonobos by Amparo Garcia-Crow directed by Jorge Luis Cacheiro
A party will follow the evening reading.
ALL EVENTS at The VORTEX
2307 Manor Rd.
Information and Reservations:
512-454-9727 or info@scriptworks.org
October Salon
Eskandar by Allan Baker
Sunday, October 28th at 6:30
State Theatre, 719 Congress Ave.
Eskandar is a modern re-telling of the opera Carmen, set in today's Afghanistan. Joe is a gay Afghan-American, who has returned to Afghanistan as part of a shadowy military unit. There he meets Eskandar, an Afghan boy who was the sexual companion of a warlord killed in an operation carried out by Joe's unit. What develops is an explosive and violent relationship that is shaped by the "force of nature" that is Eskandar, the dark complexities of today's Afghanistan and thousands of years of a cultural heritage almost unknown in the West.
Allan has written six plays since becoming a Script Works member in 2004. His 9/11 play, Five Minutes, which began in the 2005 Weekend Fling, went on to become a FronteraFest "Best of the Fest" choice in 2006. It was produced in New York City in the fall of 2006 as part of the Emerging Artist's Theatre festival of short plays and again there in June of this year as part of the Samuel French Festival of Off-Off Broadway Short Plays. Allan's first play based on an opera, All the Saints, a modern re-telling of Verdi's La Traviata, with gay characters, will be given a staged reading at Zachary Scott Theatre in January of 2008.
September Salon
Sunday, September 30 at 6:30 pm
The State Theatre
719 Congress Ave.
HOLLYWOOD MELODY OF 1933
by Louise Richardson
Hollywood Melody of 1933 is both a tribute to and an updating of the movie musicals of Warner Brothers and RKO from the 1930s. An old-time vaudeville performer, made rich and famous by his stereotypical portrayals in silent films and early talkies, tries to woo the maid of a successful New York playwright who goes to Hollywood to write for the movies while the playwright's ex-husband attempts to use her talents to save his fading career as a producer. Meanwhile, two brash young Broadway actors dodge gangsters and try to break into the movies with the help of the playwright and the old vaudevillian.
Louise Richardson was one of the few people actually born in Austin, Texas around the middle of the Twentieth Century. She has acted in, directed, and written plays in Austin since the late 1970s, including her "Hamlet the Dane", which was presented at Capital City Playhouse in 1991, and "Chanteuse" (Act I, scene i), which appeared in the Short Fringe of FronteraFest 2007. In addition, Louise produced programs on KOOP radio and Austin Community Television, and now edits her own video travelogues and biographical tributes for fun and profit.
30/60/90 Daily Writing Practice
Inspired by Suzan-Lori Parks' 365 Days/365 Plays project, invites you to join with us this summer in the daily practice of writing. Go to our programs page for complete details.
May Salon
Sunday, May 20 at 6:30 pm
The State Theatre
719 Congress Ave.
A Perfect Circle
by Tom Cointer
In A Perfect Circle, a small boy with a mesmerizing power is endangered by the adults around him and their confidence that they will be able to protect him, no matter what.
Tom Coiner is a playwright and actor hailing originally from Marlborough, Massachusetts. But please don't hold that against him, he's also lived in Gambier, Ohio where he attended Kenyon College, and he spent a year in Louisville, Kentucky as an apprentice at the Actors Theatre of Louisville. Since planting his feet in Texas he has enjoyed performing in his own play, Parachute, at the FronteraFest Short Fringe, as well as in Teatro Vivo's Boiler Room, ASW's Hybrid, and several of Dan Dietz's plays in Shrewd's Trash Anthems. A Perfect Circle is Tom's first ScriptWork's reading.
ASW member wins inaugural Wasserstein prize
Linda Ramsey was named first winner of the Wasserstein Prize, an honor for emerging writers established in memory of playwright Wendy Wasserstein, who died last year. Ramsey, who has had plays produced at the University of Texas at Austin, was recognized for her script, This Feather House. The prize includes a $15,000 cash award, funded by the Educational Foundation of America, where Wasserstein was a member of the board.
In This Feather House (alternatively called Momma, Crazy!), an aura counselor's daughter struggles to succeed as an assistant at a cheese factory, but her mother believes that finding a man would bring her more happiness than the life of an executive woman ever could. Nobody can say she still doesn't do everything she can to ensure her daughter's success: blessing her hair extensions with holy salt, shopping for men online, and performing express exorcisms on their old car when they can't get it to start. But when is a mother's love too much? Or too crazy?
Linda is a senior English major at UT and previously attended the University of Puget Sound before wandering down south. Her play, Ink, was produced by the Broccoli Project at UT last March and her essays and poetry have been published in the Aurora Review and The Strange Fruit, a literary magazine based out of Seattle.
ASW congratulates Swanson and Dietz on NEA/TCG residencies
ASW is proud to announce that current Artistic Director Colin Denby Swanson and former Artistic Director Dan Dietz are two of the eleven national recipients of the 2007 NEA/TCG Theatre Residency Program for Playwrights. The program, developed and administered by Theatre Communications Group (TCG) in collaboration with the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), and supported in part by the Ford Foundation, was created to afford playwrights the opportunity to create new work while in residence at a host theatre and to become part of the theatre's artistic life and community activities.
Dietz will be in residence at Salvage Vanguard Theater. He will develop a play called The Difference Engine, exploring the relationship between the brilliant 19th century engineer Charles Babbage and Ada Lovelace, daughter of Lord Byron, mathematical visionary, and drug addict. Dan will also develop a series of playwriting workshops that focus specifically on using drama to excite students about math, science and history.
Swanson will develop Blue Monday, based on the life of the late Clifford Antone, a fascinating figure in the Austin music scene, in residence at Zachary Scott Theatre Center where she will also lead an extended writing workshop with student writers from ZACH's Performing Arts School, writers and dramaturges from Austin Script Works and musicians from the Austin Music Foundation.
Each playwright receives $25,000 and each theatre $4,500 to enhance support for the residencies. Austin, Chicago and San Francisco are the only cities to receive two residencies; further evidence of our growing reputation as a hotbed for creative new work. Congratulations Colin and Dan!
ASW welcomes visiting playwright for reading and workshop
Austin Script Works will be hosting guest playwright Ronan Noone May, 3-5, 2007. Noone, an Irishman currently living in Boston, will receive a rehearsed reading of his play, Riding the White Horse, on Friday evening and will lead a workshop for area playwrights on Saturday afternoon. Both events are open to the public and will occur at the State Theatre. (see details below)
ASW is a member of the Sister City playwright exchange, headquartered at Emory University, and Noone's visit is part of that program. Last year, ASW playwright Kirk Lynn visited Boston and had work read at the Boston Playwrights Theatre.
Noone's work has been seen at Boston Playwrights Theatre, the Huntington Theatre Company in Boston, the Kennedy Center, the Irish Arts Center and Center Stage in NYC and in London. He was an American Theatre Critics Association Steinberg Award nominee, he won the Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding New Script and was commissioned as a playwriting fellow by the Huntington Theatre under the Stanford Calderwood Fund for New American Plays. His work has been published by Samuel French, Inc. and by Dramatist's Playservice, Inc. Noone teaches playwriting at Suffolk University in Boston.
The schedule for the weekend's events is:
Friday, May 4, 7:30 PM
State Theatre (Studio A), 719 Congress Ave.
Riding the White Horse by Ronan Noone
Amy wants to live in Miami to live out her fantasies, but her husband, Jimmy Sr., won't go. In the meantime, Charly Kennedy needs help in his gigolo business and hires Jimmy Jr., his best friend. Jimmy Jr. agrees as long as his mother doesn’t find out. But, his Mother, Amy, has already hired Charly to help her relax.
Riding the White Horse is a dark comedy about sex, success and sacrifice in pursuit of the American dream.
A rehearsed reading directed by Ronan Noone and Christina J. Moore featuring Emily Erington and Douglas Taylor.
This event is free and open to the public.
Saturday, May 5, 2-5 PM
State Theatre (Studio A), 719 Congress Ave.
Focus On Narrative
A playwriting workshop with Ronan Noone looking at narrative trajectory using the Aristotelian concepts of character and dialogue.
Cost is $15 for ASW members; $25 for the general public
For more information or to make a workshop reservation call 454-9727 or email christi@scriptworks.org
April Salon
Sunday, April 29th at 6:30
State Theatre, 719 Congress Ave.
GREYHOUND GIRLS by Zack Gonzalez
When Lara moves in with her new partner Deneen, they learn that time waits for no woman. A play about love and chance.
Zack Gonzales recieved his BFA in Theatre Arts at UT Austin. His work was recently seen in HYBRID ASW's Out of Ink production and in the Latino Playwright Initiative. He dislikes writing bio's but very much hopes you will make time to come out and hear this reading of his work in progress.
March Salon
Sunday, March 25 at 6:30pm
State Theatre, 719 Congress Avenue
Limit of Persuasion
by Dan Pugh
Limit of Persuasion is historical fiction concerning an Hispanic girl who lands a job at Fort Sam Houston during World War II and becomes entangled in wartime intrigue, mystery, and romance. She is the target of a spy ring, a German soldier attempting escape, and a U.S. Interrogator. Through it all she follows her heart and gets her man in the end.
Dan Pugh has written on a wide variety of subjects throughout a long Texas career in public administration. In recent years he has founded the Rockport Little Theatre and directed several of its early plays. His attention now has turned to writing plays with subjects of historical relevance to Texas. Limit of Persuasion is the most recent and the most action packed of the scripts.
Primer Paso, A Festival de Latino Plays
Austin Script Works and Teatro Vivo combine forces for phase one of a three-phase commitment to new work by Latino writers
Austin Script Works, the regional advocate for playwright and new play development, and Teatro Vivo, the leading Latino production company in the area, are teaming up to present a festival weekend of new play readings, community involvement, workshops, mentorship, and celebration.
Primer Paso is the culmination of the first phase of the Latino Playwrights Initiative. In the spring, ASW and Teatro Vivo put out a call for new short plays by Latino playwrights. Playwrights from all over the country submitted work. Six plays were selected by a committee that included theater professionals from Texas and California. These plays will receive a professional, public reading with Austin actors and directors, as well as the advice and mentorship of guest artists Michael John Garcès, a playwright and director and the Artistic Director of Cornerstone Theater in Los Angeles, and Kristoffer Diaz, a playwright and educator with Cleveland Playhouse. The festival will include a playwriting workshop and a party.
The festival includes new works by Austin playwrights Monika Bustamante, Amparo Garcia-Crow, and Zach Gonzales; Lakeway writer Guillermo de Leon; and California writers Paco Jose Madden (Los Angeles), and Marisela Trevino Orto (San Francisco), both of whom will be in town for the festival.
"Every playwright needs opportunity, inspiration, mentorship, and connection," says C. Denby Swanson, Artistic Director of Austin Script Works. "Our Latino Playwrights Initiative will develop new voices and bring their work to the attention of theaters all over the region. When the community of writers grows, every playwright, every artist, every audience member benefits. That writers are willing to fly in from California for this opportunity speaks to the giant need for this kind of festival. Moreover, ASW has already been fielding phone calls from national theater companies who want to produce works by Latino writers and are looking to Austin for names and introductions."
Rupert Reyes, Artistic Director of Teatro Vivo, says, "El Primer Paso marks the beginning of our journey toward creating a new home for the development of new plays by Latino playwrights. Austin is known as the Music Capital of the World. The Latino Playwright Initiative will stake our claim as the Teatro Capital del Mundo. This is a fantastic beginning, thanks to all those who submitted their work and to Script Works for their support of Latino playwrights."
Each of the short plays had to somehow include three "ingredients" provided by theater luminaries Caridad Svich, whose new play THRUSH is being premiered by Salvage Vanguard Theater this fall; Elaine Romero, a Los Angeles-based playwright and television writer, whose play for youth ALICIA was commissioned in 2005 by Zachary Scott Theatre; and Michael John Garcès. There were no other requirements for subject matter or theme.
"The festival will be a place where artists and audience can talk about identity and art, politics and production, language and liberty," says Swanson.
FESTIVAL SCHEDULE
October 6 - 8 PM
Keynote Event with Michael John Garcès
FREE
October 7 - 2 PM
Playwriting Workshop with Kristoffer Diaz
$15 for ASW members, seniors & students / $25 for general public
October 7 - 8 PM
Public readings of six new plays by local and national Latino writers
$5 for ASW members, seniors & students / $8 for general public
October 7 - 10 PM
PARTY!
Catered, with beer & sangria
All events take place at the Vortex Theater,
2307 Manor Road (1/2 mile East of I-35, between Chestnut and Maple)
On bus route #20. Free Parking. Wheelchair accessible
Reservations can be made emailing christi-at-scriptworks.org or by calling 454-9727.
ASW Commissions for the Short Fringe Now Available
Austin Script Works awards four commissions for the FronteraFest Short Fringe to cover production expenses. The deadline for applying is September 22nd. Download the application for complete details.
Contact christi-at-scriptworks.org with questions.
FronteraFest Applications Now Available!
It's that time again! Applications for FronteraFest 2007 are now available. ASW members should receive applications in the mail, but if you need one sent to you contact christi-at-scriptworks.org
There's an "early bird" discount if you apply before October 2 and the application deadline is November 1st. ASW members may apply for Short Fringe Commissions and receive up to $200 to produce your piece.
Latino Playwrights Initiative launched by partners Austin Script Works, the State Theater and Teatro Vivo
Phase One:New Short Plays
The Latino Playwrights Initiative Phase One kicks off this week with a request for new short plays by Latino/a writers.
Phase One of the LPI is a process of identifying existing writers and reaching out to inspire new writing in the region. With this release, ASW and partners announce the rules for a new short play festival, modeled after the "Weekend Fling" that ASW has organized for its general membership for the past eight years. Three "ingredients" are listed below. Playwrights are invited to submit 10-20 minute plays that somehow include these ingredients. Deadline for submission is June 15.
A committee comprised of national and local artists and community members will review all submissions and select 8-10 plays. The plays will then be performed in a public reading festival at the State Theater September 8 and 9, 2006. The weekend will also include panel discussions, workshops, and mentorship of selected playwrights by nationally-recognized writers.
"One of this region's greatest strengths is the Latino community,"says C. Denby Swanson, artistic director of Austin Script Works, "and yet there is an absolute dearth of new works for the theater by Latino writers on our stages. This initiative will work to change that."
Phases Two and Three will focus on commissions, development, and, ultimately, production by regional theater companies, starting in 2007. "Our plan is to repeat the short play call bi-annually, so that we are continually looking for and connecting with new Latino writers. It's not one isolated weekend; it's a substantial, long-term program."
Austin Script Works Announces Latino Playwrights Initiative
Austin Script Works, the State Theater, Teatro Vivo, and a dedicated committee of local and regional artists are organizing the area's first Latino Playwrights Initiative.
"One of this region's greatest strengths is the Latino community," says C. Denby Swanson, artistic director of Austin Script Works, "and yet there is an absolute dearth of new works for the theater by Latino writers on our stages. This initiative will work to change that."
The Latino Playwrights Initiative will provide a framework to develop and advance Latino/Latina writers in the Central Texas region, and will include things like Mentorship, Commissions, Inspiration, Readings, Workshops and Networking.
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