Culture Flash!
New theatre that aims to light a political fire under you, a new warehouse theatre for South Austin, and Central Texans sing out at Carnegie Hall
By Robert Faires, Fri., Nov. 5, 2004
Just because we've made it through Election Day is no reason to let the political flame that it lit within you die out. Keep it burning with a trip to the Bonfire Festival, a performance party-cum-book fair with a political consciousness. Filling the bill are short plays by Kirk Lynn (Cherrywood, Lipstick Traces), Rebecca Beegle (Don't Drown, Bear), and Quin Arbeitman (Comedy Sportz Austin), plus adult-oriented puppet shows from Turtleback Puppet Theater and the Personal Demons of the Republic, live music, and comedy. You can purchase books from Austin independents BookWoman, MonkeyWrench Books, Resistencia Books, and the Escapist Bookstore and find information on volunteer opportunities and community organizations. The fire gets lit Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 6-7, 5-9pm, at the Victory Grill, 1104 E. 11th.
South Austin, get ready for a new theatre. Emily and Rick Fordyce (Sludge: The Musical) have leased the 5000-square-foot warehouse just west of the Awarehouse, 3800 S. Congress, and once they make the facility a little more amenable, not to mention stage-worthy, the Oober Inc. Theatre will be open for business. The Fordyces expect the Oober to be up and running by February. For progress reports, visit www.oober.com.
On Nov. 21, a chorus of Central Texans will make the walls at Carnegie Hall ring, as they sing Franz Josef Haydn's Mass in Time of War at the illustrious venue. If you can't make it to New York for that concert, you might swing up to Georgetown this Sunday, Nov. 7, when you can hear the work performed by a chorus 200 voices strong, comprised of singers with the Southwestern University Chorale, Chorus Austin, and the San Gabriel Chorale. Kenneth Sheppard conducts, as he will at Carnegie. This weekend's performance is at 7pm in the Alma Thomas Theatre on the Southwestern University campus. Admission is free.
