Articulations

As spring shifts into summer, Austin's arts companies start letting us know what they have up their sleeves for fall. Several groups have announced seasons for 1998-99, and we're here to give you a brief rundown on them.

Austin Lyric Opera has an intense lineup for its 12th season. It kicks off with a William Shakespeare tragedy, Otello, adapted by Verdi, designed by Christopher McCollum (November 13-16). It tackles the scandalous Salome, music by Richard Strauss (ALO's first-ever Strauss opera), text by Oscar Wilde (January 12-14). And it rings down the season with the operatic tragedy Tosca by Puccini (March 5-8). For more info, call 472-5992.

Ballet Austin calls its next season Dreams, Kisses, and Consequences. It includes: the fairy tale The Sleeping Beauty, staged by BA artistic director Lambros Lambrou, music by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky (October 23-25); The Nutcracker, staged by Lambrou, music by Tchaikovsky (December 11-23); Kisses, a program of duets, with songs performed by actor and singer Karen Kuykendall (February 12-14); the Shakespearean fantasy A Midsummer Night's Dream, staged by Stephen Mills, music by Felix Mendelssohn (March 26-28); and Rodeo, combining the Agnes de Mille ballet with music by Aaron Copland and the premiere Big Sky, staged by Lambrou and Mills to music by the great Asleep at the Wheel (April 30-May 2). For more info, call 476-2163.

Mary Moody Northen Theatre ranges from Native American mystics to Irish sisters to the Marx Brothers in a musical. Its 1998-99 season includes: Brian Friel's touching Irish memory play Dancing at Lughnasa, directed by Michael Costello (October 6-18); the Native American historical drama Black Elk Speaks, by John Neihardt, directed by Melba Martinez (November 10-22); A Day in Hollywood... A Night in the Ukraine, Dick Vosburgh and Frank Lazarus' two-part musical, directed by Scott Thompson (February 23-March 7); and Thornton Wilder's enduring comedy The Skin of Our Teeth, directed by Ev Lunning, Jr. (April 13-25). For more info, call 448-8484.

VORTEX Repertory Company has a lot lined up for the rest of 1998: always controversial Annie Sprinkle returns with Herstory of Porn (July 9-12); VORTEX's Summer Youth Theatre takes on the George Orwell parable of power, Animal Farm (July 24-August 1); solo star Rob Nash comes back to take us back to the Eighties in part two of his "Holy Cross Quadrillogy," Sophomore Slump (August 14-30); then another solo star, Heather Woodbury returns to reprise her performance novel What Ever (September 3-20); then crank it up for the Electronic Planet Ensemble's multimedia live music video The Apocalytes (September 24-October 4). For more info, call 478-LAVA.

Zachary Scott Theatre Center provides a potent mix of compelling drama and offbeat musical fun. It begins with an ending, the conclusion of the Tony Kushner epic Angels in America, Part Two, Perestroika (September 19-October 18). Other shows are: The Santaland Diaries, the sardonic David Sedaris holiday journal adapted for the stage; Having Our Say, the memories of sisters Sadie and Bessie Delany, adapted by Emily Mann; Last Night at Ballyhoo, Alfred Uhry's Tony Award-winning tale of a Jewish family in Atlanta at the premiere of Gone With the Wind; the rollicking Fats Waller revue, Ain't Misbehavin'; and Richard O'Brien`s cult hit The Rocky Horror Show, starring Joe York as Frank N. Furter. Also back are - oh yes! - Beehive and Rockin' Christmas Party. For more info, call 476-0541.