THEATRE
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I WANT... : is subtitled A Pre-Adult Vision Of Success and Happiness in the Next Millennium and it reveals the vision of the coming generation in an original play created and performed by students in the Austin Theatre for Youth Winter Academy. The public is invited to witness their work. FIVE PERFORMANCES ONLY! Mar 19 & 20, Thu & Fri, 10am & 1pm, Fri, 7:30pm, at the Auditorium on Waller Creek, 41st & Red River. 302-5405.
THE TEMPEST brings the passengers of a ship to a strange, enchanted island, where they find themselves under the spell of a wizard with an old score to settle. In Shakespeare's last and greatest romance, old wrongs are righted and a new order is founded on young love. The play is performed in the open on the UT campus by the Austin Free Shakespeare Society. FINAL WEEKEND! Through Mar 21, Fri & Sat, 8pm, between Anna Hiss Gym and the Microbiology building, UT campus. Performed outdoors; bring seating. Free.
BLUES IN THE NIGHT The nub of this revue conceived by Sheldon Epps is expressed in its title. This is blues in the night - and nothing but. The show features 27 songs in styles ranging from polished pop to earthy laments, sung by four characters - The Lady From the Road, The Woman of the World, The Girl With a Date, and The Man From the Saloon - in a Chicago hotel. For its production, Zachary Scott Theatre Center is fortunate to have artists who can sink into these numbers, uncover their emotional cores, and deliver them with feeling. Janis Stinson conveys the isolation of a lonely hotel room at the end of the line in the keening edge in her voice. And she dishes up bawdy pleasure, eyes at half-staff, mouth a pearly crescent, with a sly growl of satisfaction. Felicia Dinwiddie etches young emotion in all its sharpness, her voice as exuberant as a lark, then low and fragile with the sting of disillusionment. Jacqui Cross communicates the pain of age and experience, in eyes misty with regret and a plaintive voice weighted with broken dreams. And Roderick Sanford exudes rakishness, his voice deep, smooth allure. The production suffers from the show's lack of structure, which director Dave Steakley wisely opts not to mask with smart gestures and slick turns. But this show isn't about stage moves. It's about music and mood, and Steakley and his artistic team deliver that in abundance. Michael Raiford's set and Robert Whyburn's lighting carry us to a faded hotel and summon those hours after midnight when it's just you, a bottle, and the dark. There, the singers are able to lose themselves in the night and the melody and the feeling that is the blues. And it feels so bad, it's good. (Robert Faires) FINAL WEEKEND! Through Mar 22, Thu-Sat, 8pm, Sun, 2:30pm, at ZSTC Kleberg Stage, 1421 W. Riverside. Tickets: $22 Thu/Sun; $24 Fri; $26 Sat. Running Time: 1 hr, 45 min. 476-0541.
FRUITS AND VEGETABLES are the business of a family in a city on the East Coast, and it's in front of the family's stand that a 12-year-old girl looking for a hero finds one within herself. This coming-of-age tale is scripted by Ann Ciccolella, who is developing it through a process of public readings and workshops. The first phase is a reading of Act One, followed by a discussion with the playwright and actors. Then the play will undergo a month of development with the cast, after which a workshop version of the show will be presented for two performances. Here's your chance to see a play being created. Austin TheaterWorks produces. ONE READING ONLY! Mar 22, Sun, 3pm, at Hyde Park Theatre, 511 W. 43rd. Admission is free. 454-TIXS.
THE MAPLE SURPLE VARIETY HOUR is a throwback to the days of entertainment yore, when a mixed bag of music and comedy meant pure performance pleasure. Shirk Workers Union revives those days with this loose revue starring the Yiddish vaudeville team Moishe Oyshe and the Great Heim Zilkman (Only 90% Effective's Brently Heilbron and Leon Mandel), the Kung Fu Go-Go Dancers, how new hip-hop sensation Westside Hustla's Compound (featuring members of Power Squid and Nothing But Gil), and the Unbelievably Amazing Brothers Shitashlav! Your host is washed-up comic Punchy B. Adams (Only 90% Effective's Andy Fisher). The show benefits Shirk Workers' headquarters fund. ONE SHOW ONLY! Mar 22, Sun, 8pm, at The Carousel Lounge, 1110 E. 52nd (at Cameron Rd.) Tickets: $5.99. 494-8827.
RIPE N READY presents another in its ongoing series of poetic performance programs. This one, Succulent Sisters, features female poets from both near and far. Joining Ripe N Ready regulars Patricia Fiske, a native Texan, and Suzanne Vance, a Mississippian transplanted to Austin soil, will be Vinie Holmgren, an environmental activist-poet from Australia, and Jay Woodman, English poet and editor of the quarterly Rustic Rub. Proceeds help defray the travel expenses for the international poets. ONE PERFORMANCE ONLY! Mar 24, Tue, 8pm, at Hyde Park Theatre, 511 W. 43rd. Tickets: $5. 469-0584.
ABRAHAM is the great leader of old, the father of nations, the patriarch who struggles to serve his God even when God tests him in a terrible way. His story is an old one, but a good one, especially for the stage, where the tension leading to the sacrifice of his son Isaac can be felt. Local composer-playwright Freddy Carnes (Tobit) has adapted Abraham's story into musical form, and he directs its premiere here, in a production starring Frank Delvy, Janette Jones, Ryan Boggus, Julie Slim, Shelly Graham, Jeanine Rogers, and Carla Nickerson as God. THREE PERFORMANCES ONLY! Mar 20, 21, 27, Fri & Sat, 7:30pm, at the Dougherty Arts Center, 1110 Barton Springs Rd. Tickets: $6 ($5 kids). 320-7169.
THE FOOD CHAIN brings into one room a neurotic poet, a cranky crisis hotline operator, a hunky underwear model, and his hefty ex-boyfriend. So who's feeding on whom? Find out in this latest barb from hot playwright Nicky Silver, author of such hilarious satires as Pterodactyls. It's staged here by Subterranean Theatre Company, with Katherine Catmull, Lana Dieterich, David Jones, Douglas Taylor, and Blake Yelavich. Ken Webster directs. (Review in this issue's "Exhibitionism" arts review page.) Through Mar 28, Thu-Sat, 8pm, Mar 22, Mon, 8pm, at Hyde Park Theatre, 511 W. 43rd. Tickets: Pay What You Wish on Thu; $12 Fri/Sat ($10 seniors, students, ACoT). 454-TIXS.
THE WHIMSY whisks us to an enchanted realm where artifacts of dreams arrive in the pockets of the wide awake, where hearts attach outside the body, where yardbirds talk and the Moon sings. It's another visual and lyrical feast from Physical Plant Theater, one of our city's most magical and mysterious stage companies. The poetic script by Steve Moore is realized by a team of actors, puppeteers, designers, musicians, and director Katie Pearl (of FronteraFest's affecting Dress Me Blue, Window Me Sky). Through Mar 28, Thu & Sat, 8pm, Fri, 8 & 10pm, at The Public Domain, 807 Congress. 454-TIXS.
FLAME FAILURE: THE SILENT WAR spins a tale of industrial espionage in serial fashion. Dan Bonfitto is the author and director of this original project, which offers a new chapter every month through April. Episode Eleven: The Man Behind the Dust Cover brings the Agency and the Syndicate into contact with the source of their great prize, the Author of the Book. Craig Kanne guest stars in this penultimate chapter of the live-action serial. Produced by the Downstage Players with The Public Domain. Mar 20-29, Fri, 11:30pm, Sat, 11pm, Sun, 8pm, at The Public Domain Gallery, 807 Congress. Tickets: $5. 459-3825.
TWO SWELL GUYS FROM TEXAS were pals once, but now they're competitors, trying to outplay each other in a music contest in a small West Texas town. As they face off, the men stir up a lively mix of bluegrass, Irish reels, heartbreak songs, and goodtime music. Tongue and Groove Theatre presents this two-man entertainment starring bluegrass artists Alan Munde and Joe Carr, co-written with Ann Solomon and Mary Sue Price. Price directs. The show plays in repertory with Our Own Dear Anton's Abandoned Story Cycle. Mar 19 & 21, Thu & Sat, 8pm, Mar 22, Sun, 2pm; Mar 27, Fri, 8pm, Mar 28 & 29, Sat & Sun, 2pm, at the John Henry Faulk Living Theatre, 204 E. Fourth. Tickets: $10 ($8 seniors, students, children, ACoT). 454-TIXS.
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MACBETH will have blood, of that you can be sure. This fierce warrior will have the Scottish throne and any who oppose him will feel the bite of his blade and the rush of a hot red river. In Shakespeare's feverishly compelling account of Macbeth's rise and fall, the blood is enough to fill a loch, and you can expect director Barry Pineo - who generated loads of visceral thrills in his highly regarded stagings of Fur and Julius Caesar - to provide blood here in buckets. Taking on the title role in this VORTEX Repertory Company production is Travis Dean, with his true-life wife Melanie Dean urging him on to mayhem as Lady Macbeth. Mar 20-Apr 11, Thu-Sun, 8pm, at Planet Theatre, 2307 Manor. Tickets: $6.50 Thu; $12 Fri & Sat ($9 seniors, students, ACoT). 454-TIXS.
AGAMEMNON comes home from the Trojan War in triumph. But his army's victory has not been able to wash away the blood he shed before the war, the blood of his daughter Iphigenia whom he sacrificed to the gods. His queen Clytemnestra has not forgotten or forgiven her husband's act and thereby hangs the tale of this monumental tragedy by the Greek dramatist Aeschylus. Different Stages gives it life in a version with a distinctly American voice; the translation is by Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and playwright Robert Lowell. Royce Gehrels directs with assistance by choreographer Bobbie DeAngelis. Preview performance on Mar 26, Thu, 8pm (Pay What You Can). Mar 27-Apr 18, Thu-Sat, 8pm, Apr 6, Mon, 8pm, at The Acting Studio, 5811 Burnet. Tickets: Pay What You Can on Thu; $12 Fri/Sat, $8 Mon. 454-TIXS.
MURDER ON THE MOVIE SET puts you in the midst of motion picture mayhem, with a cinematic spectacle stalled by murder. Whodunnit? The frustrated director, the flamboyant wardrobe master, or the egotistical actress? You figure it out - and enjoy dinner in the Driskill, to boot - in this new comedy from the Capital City Mystery Players. Ongoing, Sat, 7pm, at the Driskill Hotel, 604 Brazos. Tickets: $47. 474-5911, x5219.
Theatre Classes, Etc.
Managing Your Own Career is a business seminar for actors to provide them with tools to get started toward a more active career. Don Phillips, Jr. covers topics from the "business" of acting to training to agents. Mar 28, Sat. $125. http://doorway.to/murder/classinfo.html or 834-4623.
Acting Classes With C.K. McFarland offer performers, writers, and the creatively curious an approach to exploring new creative territory and reclaiming artistic self-esteem. Mar 24-May 5, Tue, 7:30-10pm. $170. 441-3738.
J. Hannah Bergin Productions Is Offering an Intensive Improv Workshop intended to develop acting skills in a dynamic and fun way. Mar 27-29, Fri-Sun. Cost: $150. 719-4898.
Auditions
Short Film Project. Needed: actors, 20-30, experienced and non-experienced. The film will be shot at the end of March. Actors will not be paid. Send headshot or non-returnable photo and resumé to: Reel Women Productions, 7709 Evaline Ln, Austin, TX 78745-6752, Attn: Casting.
Hey-Stop-That, a play by Thalia Field: Apr 1 & 2, Wed & Thu, location to be announced. Needed: seven women, 18-older, any race or ethnicity; women with a strong sense of personal story especially wanted. Experience with or willingness to try improvisation helpful. Actors will be compensated. The production is being directed by Katie Pearl and will be performed Jun 5-27 in staff or conference rooms across Austin. A Salvage Vanguard Theater production. 474-7886.
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