Articulations
The stars come out at the Paramount when the Texas Medal of the Arts Awards are given, and the Bastrop Opera House shoots for a national title in the American Association of Community Theatres competition.
By Robert Faires, Fri., March 21, 2003
Lone Star Cluster
The stars at night will most assuredly be big and bright deep in the heart of Texas next Tuesday when the Texas Cultural Trust Council hands out its 2003 set of Texas Medal of the Arts Awards. A veritable constellation of distinguished Lone Star artists will be assembled at the Paramount Theatre to be honored for their encouragement of "the development of the arts in Texas, through their personal achievements or unfailing support": writers John Graves (Lifetime Achievement) and Sandra Cisneros (Literary Arts); singers Lydia Mendoza (Folk Arts) and Charley Pride (Music); performers Tommy Tune (Dance) and Fess Parker (Media-Film/Television Acting); sculptor Glenna Goodacre (Visual Arts); theatre artist and advocate Enid Holm (Theatre); and teacher Marca Lee Bircher (Arts Education). Also receiving awards will be Nancy B. Hamon (Individual Arts Patron); the State Capitol Preservation Project, headed by Dealey Herndon (Historic Preservation); ExxonMobil (Corporate Arts Patron); and the Houston Endowment (Foundation Arts Patron). The stars will have a full day March 25, with proclamations by the Texas House of Representatives and Senate at the State Capitol in the morning; lunch at the Governor's Mansion; a legislative reception at the Austin Museum of Art and dinner at the Driskill Hotel all before the awards ceremony at the Paramount and champagne dessert reception after. Tickets to the Texas Cultural Trust Awards are $150. For information, call 877/677-8995 or visit www.txculturaltrust.org.
All the Way to State
College basketball teams aren't the only competitors from Central Texas with a shot at a national title this week: Bastrop Opera House is headed to the state meet of the American Association of Community Theatres festival in Fort Worth where it will compete with theatres from Baytown, Dickinson, Gainesville, Wichita Falls, Midland, and New Braunfels for a spot in AACT's regional contest (covering Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana) in Amarillo in April and the chance to go from there to the national competition in Torrington, Conn., in June. Participating companies present shows no longer than an hour. This year the Opera House mounted Playhouse Creatures, directed by company Executive Director Chester Eitze and starring Sharon Elmore, Melissa Grogan, Gina Lalli, Leila Plummer, and Deb Zippe, and at the state "Quad 3" competition in San Antonio in February, it was chosen along with Haiku by Circle Arts Theatre of New Braunfels to advance to state. For more information, call 512/321-6283 or visit www.bastropoperahouse.com.
