Articulations
The final exit for actress Patsy Goldwater, a home run for playwright Dan Dietz, a fair for your inner Frankenstein, and a training ground for aspiring critics
By Robert Faires, Fri., Jan. 24, 2003
In Memoriam: Patsy Goldwater
Condolences to the family and friends of actress Patsy Goldwater, who made her final exit from this stage of a world on Jan. 18 following a stroke. She was 80 years old. Goldwater blessed Austin's stages with her presence for two decades, her charm and intelligence enlivening productions of Final Touches (Hyde Park Theatre), Morning's at Seven (Zachary Scott Theatre Center), The Show-Off (Different Stages), The Beauty Queen of Leenane (State Theater Company), and Light Up the Sky (Austin Playhouse). She appeared in commercials and film, but theatre was her first love. Prior to her time in Austin, she worked extensively in Nevada and co-founded the American Theatre in Rio de Janeiro. Like the trouper she was, she kept performing right to the end. Goldwater is survived by daughter Hilary Sosey and son-in-law Dr. Walter Sosey of Lake Havasu City, Ariz., son Garrett Goldwater and daughter-in-law Mickey Goldwater of Austin, six grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren. A celebration of her life was held Jan. 22 at her home, 2513 Monarch.
Dietz a Louisville Slugger
Playwright Dan Dietz knocked one out of the park with his script Trash Anthem. The 10-minute play has been accepted for presentation at the 2003 Humana Festival of New American Plays at the Actors Theatre of Louisville. This means that the author of Dirigible and Tilt Angel (and brand-spanking-new artistic director of Austin Script Works) beat out thousands of other playwrights for one of the two or three coveted slots in this most prestigious of new play fests. Trash Anthem has been presented previously in the 2001 Delaware 10-Minute Play Festival and as part of the Tooth & Nil production Past Back In. It will play on the Humana Festival's closing weekend on April 5 and 6. Local theatregoers will get their next taste of Dietz's playwriting genius when Salvage Vanguard Theater premieres his newest full-length play, tempOdyssey, at the Off Center in June.
Blinding You With Science
Admit it: You've always lusted after your own laboratory full of smoking beakers and crackling coils, where you can throw switches and mix chemicals in test tubes and basically tamper with forces mankind was never meant to test. Well, the Rude Mechanicals feel your pain; that's why they're holding "Mad Science," a science fair where Frankensteins of all ages can see a tesla coil generating giant sparks, make a hologram of a household object, and create spooky sci-fi music on a theremin by waving their hand between two electrodes. The fair, presented in conjunction with the Rudes' Requiem for Tesla, will also feature short scientific "performance presentations" and video clips related to Nikola Tesla and other scientists, inventors, and artists. Meet the inventors on Sunday, Jan. 26, 1-4pm, at Austin Lyric Opera's Ducloux Hall, 901 Barton Springs Rd. Proceeds benefit the Rude Mechs. For info, call 476-RUDE.
Critical Mass
This week, the UT-Austin Department of Theatre and Dance and New York's Performance Space 122 take audiences into uncharted territory with Fresh Terrain, a festival of performance featuring work by Ann Carlson, Richard Maxwell, the Universes, Caden Manson, the Big Art Group, Diana Szeinblum, and da da kamera as well as our own Rude Mechs. Along on this journey of discovery will be two dozen critics from around the country as part of a Young Critics Seminar sponsored by the American Theatre Critics Association, Dance Critics Association, International Association of Art Critics, and Music Critics Association of North America. It's the first time the four American arts-critics associations have collaborated on such a seminar, which allows young critics to talk with and have their writing critiqued by experienced critics. For info, call Sondra Lomax at 232-5301.
