Looks like I-35 isn't the only thing linking Austin and Minneapolis these
days. There's a theatrical bond that's blossomed between the two cities
recently, and it's tightening every week. Several out-of-town playwrights who
have nearly made Austin a second home -- Ruth Margraff
(Wallpaper Psalm
and the new Battle of San Jacint
o), David Hancock
(The Invisible
Medium), Erik Ehn
(Enfants Perdus, Wolf at the Door) -- have ties
with The Playwrights' Center of Minneapolis, an organization for developing new
drama. And one local writer -- Sharon Bridgforth
(dyke/warrior-prayers)
-- has had a residency at the center. Two weeks ago, the center's Play Lab
Director, Elissa Adams, made a trip to town to perform in a FronteraFest piece
by Daniel Alexander Jones, a center alum and Austin transplant from, yes,
Minneapolis. This week, when Frontera@Hyde Park Theatre needed a replacement
director for its production of Hancock's Deviant Craft, where did they turn?
Minneapolis. At the recommendation of Adams, F@HP hired Matt Wilder for the
gig. Now, if they could just send us some cool weather in August...
(Auditions
for Deviant Craft will be March 1 & 2. To schedule an audition, call
419-7408, x2.)
A Tree Grows in Austin
Many folks who have contributed to the Zilker Summer Musical over the years
are gone now, but they are far from forgotten, and the Friends of the Summer
Musical will honor their memory with the planting and dedication of a tree in
Zilker Park this week. The following Friends will be memorialized: Phil Allen,
Michael Carroccio Ciasullo, Bettie Dahlberg, Daniel Moncivais, Tucker Parmlee,
Sean Somoskey, Joe Ryan, and Philip Stansbury. The ceremony will be at the
Hillside Theatre at 3pm Saturday, February 22. Call 479-9491 for info.
Art, Meet Net
The Austin Visual Arts Association is ready to get you online with its seminar
"Internet Opportunities for the Visual Arts." Attendees can get a sneak peek at
TCAnet, the online cultural and arts network from the Texas Commission for the
Arts, with Ricardo Hernandez and Laura Wiegand; a tour of Viewtopia Online
Gallery from Roxanna Nematollahi; and hear jobs, art, and the Net discussed by
Chris Brown and David Claunch. All this is free. Call AVAA Director Sue Fawver
to RSVP -- 454-3077 -- then be at the meeting room by Scarborough Phillips
Gallery at St. Edward's University on Thursday, February 27, at 9am.
Worthy Causes
The UT Department of Theatre & Dance is offering two-for-one tickets to
this weekend's matinee of Wolf at the Door with the donation of two canned
goods. The food is being collected for Mary House, a Catholic Worker service
organization that Erik Ehn, author of Wolf at the Door, worked with while he
was in Austin. The show is Sunday, February 23, 2pm, at the Theatre Room,
Winship Drama Building, UT. For info, call 471-1444.
