Fuse Box: Now with more electricity

Room

This year's newly expanded and exploded Fuse Box Festival continues to shower sparks all over Austin, with the second week packing in even more new dance, theatre, screenings, site-specific performances, bands, and art showings by outstanding local artists and leading creators from across the country. Refraction Arts Artistic Director Ron Berry reports that the opening weekend went great, and even though he put the programming together, he was surprised at how he was affected by the scale of things: the epic feel of a work like I/O, performed in the 19,000-square-foot vastness of an Austin Studios hangar, and the intimacy of a piece such as Love Story, which included a walking tour through Downtown where you listen to the author speak to you through an iPod. Get hooked up to the current for Week Two:

Ohio Trip, by Elizabeth Cobbe, directed by Sharon Sparlin. Cobbe's slide show about a recent visit to Cincinnati that became a surreal odyssey involving ancient wine, a samurai, a bluesman, Walt Whitman, and a monster. April 19-21, Thursday-Saturday, 8pm, at Creative Research Lab, 2832 E. MLK.

Wireless-less, by David Modigliani, directed by Katie Pearl. Michener Center fellow Modigliani offers a tale of love in the information age narrated by a DJ working his turntables. Lee Eddy and Jason Newman star. April 19-22, Thursday-Friday, 8pm; Saturday, 2pm; Sunday, 6pm, at the Blue Theater, 916 Springdale.

Buttercup. Music by the San Antonio pop ensemble. Friday, April 20, 10pm, at the Blue Theater, 916 Springdale

Room, by Deborah Hay, performed by Tahni Holt and Linda Austin of Portland. The dancers' adaptation of a solo choreographed by Hay and taught to 20 dancers in Hay's Solo Commissioning Project in Findhorn, Scotland, in 2005. April 20-22, Friday-Saturday, 7pm; Sunday, 1pm, at the Off Center, 2211 Hidalgo.

A Thought About Raya, by the Debate Society. Brooklyn company crashes dramatic scenes, absurd images, and dance in a tribute to rebel theatre artist Daniil Kharms, a victim of Stalinist persecution. April 20-22, Friday-Saturday, 9pm; Sunday, 3:30pm, at the Off Center, 2211 Hidalgo.

Keith Rowe and Rick Reed, presented by the Austin Museum of Digital Art. Electroacoustic improv by Rowe on guitar and Reed on EMS synthesizer and sine wave generators. Saturday, April 21, 8pm, at the Blue Theater, 916 Springdale.

The Puzzle Piece Art Project. Stephen W. Schwake made a blank 32-piece jigsaw puzzle and gave 32 artists a piece each to make into art, and the artists will put the puzzle back together. Saturday, April 21, 8pm, at the Blue Theater, 916 Springdale.

Foot Patrol. A manifestation of the team of Hung Nguyen and TJ Wade highlighting their playful side, with a sound reminiscent of Eighties Minneapolis funk. Saturday, April 21, 11pm, at the Blue Theater, 916 Springdale.

Three Owls, by Lisa D'Amour. Obie winner D'Amour draws from family conversations for this work in which five partygoers who have lost their party try to fill the void with talk of parties past. Sunday, April 22, 8pm, location TBA.

Made to Stick Workshop with Dan Heath. Heath explains how bogus public-health scares, urban legends, and conspiracy theories circulate effortlessly while more worthy ideas fail to thrive and how people can help make their own messages "stick." Monday, April 23, 7pm, location TBA.

Fetish (and other dances), by Hijack. Taxidermy, terrorism, and the deconstruction of the creative process are all mashed up in this work by the Minneapolis dance troupe. April 25-27, Wednesday-Friday, 8pm, at the Off Center, 2211 Hidalgo.

Ticket prices are extraordinarily cheap – some events are free – and you can see everything with a festival pass for just $40! Such a deal, my head is exploding!

For the full schedule, call 927-1118 or visit www.refractionarts.org.