Articulations

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Worth Gone, But 'Ship' Sails On

The recent passing of Irene Worth was felt by everyone who loves theatre, but especially keenly at this particular moment in time by Austinites Lynn C. Miller and Laura Furman. Worth's death from a stroke on March 10 came just five weeks before the celebrated actress was to come to the University of Texas and perform Passenger on the Ship of Fools, a one-woman play by the two writers and UT-Austin faculty members about Lone Star author Katherine Anne Porter. According to Miller, the actress, who was 85 at the time of her death, was excited about performing the play in Austin and had just agreed to perform it at the University of Maryland Performing Arts Center in April 2003. While acknowledging a loss both professional and personal, Miller says that she and Furman "take some comfort in knowing, from Worth's friends and family, how happy her last months were, engaged in the work of preparing her performance of our play and planning her future with the play." Despite the loss, Miller and Furman are moving forward with the performance of the play on April 16. The short notice has kept them from being able to secure the services of several nationally renowned actresses -- among them, Obie Award-winner Kathleen Chalfant, who will perform the play in Saratoga Springs, New York, this June -- but a noted scholar of Southern literature and professor of performance, Mary Frances Hopkins of Louisiana State University, has agreed to read the play. That recital will take place as previously scheduled on Tuesday, April 16, 7:30pm, in the Oscar Brockett Theatre of the Winship Drama Building. With the event having drawn several key figures in Porter scholarship -- Barbara Thompson Davis, the Trustee of Porter's estate; Beth Alvarez, a Porter scholar and curator of Porter's archive and the Porter Room at the University of Maryland; and Darlene Unrue of the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, who is writing a new biography of Porter -- a panel that will cover Porter as a person and a writer, as well as the subject of writing biography, will follow on Wednesday, April 17.

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Happy Birthday, Cuchi-Cuchi!

Austin Cabaret Theatre, the company that treated Austin to the 1,001 delights of singers Ann Hampton Callaway and Steve Ross in its debut season, is about to turn one, and it looks like the cake won't be the only thing at the birthday party that's blazing hot: The one and only Charo will be on hand to entertain. ACT director Stuart Moulton has secured the singer, dancer, actress, and award-winning classical guitarist for a one-night-only concert on Tuesday, May 14, 7:30pm, at Austin Scottish Rite Theatre, 18th and Lavaca. The anniversary affair will feature cake, prizes, and more "cuchi-cuchi" than you can shake a stick at. Tickets are $55 in advance, $60 at the door. For information, call 462-2220.

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Hedwig Bumps Bee

If you're wondering where bee is, ask Hedwig. The runaway success of Hedwig and the Angry Inch at the Zachary Scott Theatre Center -- held over through April 14 -- led the theatre to extend the show into the previously scheduled run of bee luther-hatchee, Thomas Gibbons' drama about a book editor who discovers that the author of a bestselling memoir wasn't the elderly African-American woman she thought. Now, Zach has shifted bee to the summer (July 25-September 1) in the slot scheduled for Warren Leight's jazzy Side Man, bumping that show into the 2002-03 season, dates to be announced. In addition, the Flaming Idiots will open their new show What Goes Up a week later than announced (May 4-June 25). Dates for The Pavilion (May 30-July 7) and Hair (July 11-September 1) remain unchanged. For more, call 476-0541.