Articulations
Danceworks director Cindy Goldberger leaves Austin as playwright Colin Swanson returns for a visit, and who are Ballet Austin's lucky mothers?
By Robert Faires, Fri., Dec. 7, 2001
Sayonara, Cindy
Austin artists and friends of the arts scene bade a fond farewell to Cindy Goldberger this week. The managing director for Sharir + Bustamante Danceworks, who took her leave of that company earlier this fall, is leaving town for points east -- specifically, New York City. It's one of those now-or-never life changes; Goldberger has always wanted to try life in the Big City and, she says, "If I don't do it now, I'm not going to do it. I don't have a job lined up. I'm just going to pound the pavement and see what's there." Saying goodbye to Austin is "very bittersweet," she says, but "this is one of those things that I want to do." While the move might look like fallout from this year's Arts Commission dust-up involving Danceworks, Goldberger says it's unrelated: "I knew about this back in the summer, but didn't say anything because I didn't want it to be misinterpreted." Before hitting NYC, Goldberger will spend time in Houston with her parents and then some time in the clouds. "I'm going to try to get to Costa Rica," she says. "There's this community in the cloud forest started by a couple of American Quakers. I was there with my folks at the end of October and just fell in love with it. "
Hello, Colin
This week, Colin Swanson took a break from penning plays in the frozen wilds of Minnesota to revisit her once (and future, we hope) home. The author of Waterless Places is in the midst of a yearlong Jerome Fellowship residency at The Playwrights' Center in Minneapolis, where she has not only done a lot of writing but where she's also won a commission from the Guthrie Theater to write a new one-act play for young actors and audiences. Titled Governing Alice, the play follows a high school student who takes on her school administration when two students are caught fighting but only one is expelled. It's loosely based on Antigone, the playwright says, only "with less drastic an ending." While in the area, Swanson led a workshop for
Austin Script Works
, and this Friday she'll take part in a program at San Antonio-based Gemini Ink, reading from essays she wrote as part of a mentor program. Swanson's mentor? Our own Marion Winik, who will also appear at the reading. The program is Friday, December 7, 6pm, at 513 S. Presa in San Antonio, and is free and open to the public. For more info, contact 210/734-WORD or www.geminiink.org.
Ginger Snaps
If you've been wondering who Ballet Austin sucker -- er, persuaded to climb atop the gargantuan hoop skirts of Mother Ginger this year, wonder no more. The lucky mothers are: Friday, Dec. 7: ex-Hizzoner Kirk Watson; Saturday, Dec. 8: KGSR platter spinner Kevin Connor; Sunday, Dec. 9: Asleep at the Wheel spokes-guy Ray Benson; Friday, Dec. 14: greens rover Tom Kite; Saturday afternoon, Dec. 15: presidential daughter Luci Johnson; Saturday evening, Dec. 15: Real World roomie Kevin Dunn; Sunday, Dec. 16: Senatorial scrapper Kay Bailey Hutchison; Friday, Dec. 21: Statesman kitchen maven Kitty Crider; Saturday afternoon, Dec. 22: KVUE empress of the newsroom Judy Maggio; Saturday evening, Dec. 22: TBA; Sunday, Dec. 23: AISD little big man Pat Forgione. Plan your visit to The Nutcracker accordingly.
