Cut Above
Sometimes the drama onstage isn’t limited to what’s in the script. It certainly wasn’t during the Sunday night show of Hang Town Fry at the Central Market Cooking School. Actress Latifah Taormina, in character as a chef preparing the title dish, was slicing some scallions when an unfortunate slip of the knife drew blood. A trouper of the old school, Taormina tried to continue as if nothing had happened, delivering her lines and retrieving food from the refrigerator while surreptitiously grabbing paper towels and wrapping her hand in them. But the injury would not be ignored and after about 10 minutes or so, she confessed to the audience that she’d cut herself and excused herself from the stage. In minutes, it was determined that the wound was serious enough to require medical attention and director Cathy Hartenstein ferried the actress to the hospital. Playwright Adam Sobsey, who had initially offered to play ambulance driver, ultimately decided to stay behind and cook Hang Town Fry — a concoction containing the unlikely mix of eggs and oysters — for any audience members who would remain. So he hit the kitchen and talked about cooking and the play while he and stage manager Leigh Boone prepared dozens of servings of the dish. Most of the 50 people in attendance stuck around to taste Hang Town Fry (which turned out to be sinfully tasty), and someone spontaneously started a homemade get-well card for Taormina, which about half the crowd signed. What could have been an awfully awkward experience that left a sour taste in the audience’s mouth was transformed instead into something unexpected and magical and theatrical in its own right, a communion of audience and creators that did not draw from any prepared text and yet felt like a natural extension of a play, with its own characters and drama that moved those present and united them. It was a remarkable thing to be part of, and Sobsey, Hartenstein, and Boone, not to mention Taormina herself, deserve applause for responding to a crisis with such courage, concern, goodwill, and hospitality toward their audience. As for Taormina’s injury: It turned out not to be a cut exactly but was nasty enough; the actress sliced off some of the tip of her thumb. But she was in good spirits after having it treated, and able, willing, and ready to pick up the knife again for the show’s final three performances this weekend. (Hang Town Fry runs Friday at 4pm and 8pm, and Saturday at 8pm.) You can bet she’ll be extra careful wielding the blade this time out, and probably equally careful about mentioning certain cursed Shakespearean tragedies before the performance. Yes, according to co-star Everett Skaggs, Taormina did indeed utter the unholy name of Macbeth in the dressing room prior to Sunday’s fateful show. Just goes to show that the curse of “the Scottish play” can get you even when your theatre is a classroom on the second floor of a grocery store. For Hang Town Fry reservations, call the Austin Theater Company, 448-1674.
Cry, Cry Baby
As Salvage Vanguard Theater winds down its new production of Ruth Margraff‘s “electric operetta” Wallpaper Psalm, it’s offering a way for fans to enjoy its previous production of a Margraff musical permanently. SVT has cut a CD of 14 songs from the company’s 1999 highly praised, award-winning production of The Cry Pitch Carrolls, featuring book and lyrics by Margraff and music by Golden Arm Trio. You can pick it up at the remaining performances of Wallpaper Psalm, through April 14 at the Off Center, or on the company Web site: www.salvagevanguard.org.
This article appears in April 13 • 2001.