What’s that they say about New York? If you can make it there…. One
of our own is pretty darn close to doing that. Playwright/performer/director
Amparo Garcia — Renee in the Capitol City Playhouse production of Dark
Rapture, Luz in Frontera@Hyde Park Theatre’s staging of Unmerciful Good
Fortune, author of A Roomful of Men, which she just performed in FronteraFest
’97 — is having her new play, Under a Western Sky, staged Off-Broadway
this spring. INTAR and The Women’s Project are co-producing this drama that
weaves the ghostly figure of Georgia O’Keefe into a tale of gang rape in
a South Texas town. Garcia flies off to the Big Apple next week to attend
auditions for the production and work out script revisions with director
Loretta Greco. Opening night is April 24. In the meantime, Garcia is anticipating
the publication of A Roomful of Men in the anthology Stages of Life: Latinas
in Teatro, to be published soon by Smith College.
Getting Seen
Speaking of FronteraFest, the performance jamboree is doing turn-’em-away
business again this year, with even more folks getting hooked on this super
showcase of short-form theatre, dance, and poetry (and I’m not saying that
just because I did a piece this year; I’ve been addicted to the Fest for
ages). Someone who went recently and was not turned away was Spalding
Gray. The monologist, in town to perform his latest, It’s a Slippery Slope,
at the Paramount Theatre, joined the F@HP crew at a post-show party honoring
Charter Donors to its new “Frontera Commissions” program. The
next night, Gray was still here and, at the urging of Paramount Marketing
Director Paul Alvarado-Dykstra, came to see for himself what the Frontera
bunch was really up to. According to Alvarado-Dykstra, the artist was glad
he came: “He was happy to see all the theatre burgeoning here.”
The Frontera Fest Open Festival concludes this weekend; next Tuesday kicks
off the week of the “Best of the Fest.” For info, call 452-6688.
Death ‘n’ You Know What
Tax time, art friends — do you know where your deductions are? If not,
here’s an easy way to find out. Artists’ Legal & Accounting Assistance
of Austin is presenting “Tax Filing for Artists,” two hours of
info that can tell you what you need to declare, what you can deduct, even
what to call yourself in the “Occupation” slot. A panel of some
of the area’s best arts-oriented accountants will field questions. All you
have to do is ask. This free seminar takes place Saturday, February 15,
10am-noon, at The Public Domain Gallery, 807 Congress. For more info, call
476-4458.
Worthy Causes
The Austin Circle of Theatres, that friendly arts umbrella that provides
services to area performers, is having a laugh-a-minute fundraiser, Comedy
Tonight, featuring stand-up from Abby November’s Comedy Angels (With Boys),
on Sunday, February 16, 7pm, at the Zachary Scott Theatre Center, 1421 W.
Riverside Dr. For info, call 454-TIXS.
This article appears in February 14 • 1997 and February 14 • 1997 (Cover).