Julie Butridge, artist and director of the gallery at the Dougherty Arts Center, died Tuesday, March 25, in an auto-truck accident on I-35. Butridge had been employed at the center for only two years, but in that time she made a strong impression on her co-workers. In the notice of Butridge’s death in the Austin American-Statesman, DAC art school manager Carlos Pineda called her “one of the most positive people I have met in my 58 years.” Butridge was buried Friday, March 28, in McKinney, Texas. She is survived by her parents and a sister. She will be missed.
Vocal Vogel
Playwright Paula Vogel will be in Austin this coming week to present a lecture and reading entitled Talking With the Audience. Vogel is the Obie Award-winning author of And Baby Makes Seven and The Baltimore Waltz (both of which have been staged locally) and is the playwright-in-residence at Brown University. Her most recent work, How I Learned to Drive, is currently running in New York and the New York Times’ Ben Brantley called it “a heartbreaking play of damaged lives” in which Ms. Vogel beautifully sustains both “humor and pathos without trivializing either emotion.” The talk will take place on the fourth floor of the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center on Wednesday, April 9, 7:30pm. The event, sponsored by the Texas Center for Writers, is free and open to the public. For info, call 471-1601.
Off the Desk
Speaking of the Times, last week’s Sunday edition contained a lovely profile on Austin choreographer Deborah Hay in the “Arts & Leisure” section. The piece discusses Hay’s solo dance, Voil�!, which she’s presenting at the Kitchen in New York this week, along with alternate versions by former Austinites Grace Mi-He Lee and Scott Heron. No surprise that the piece is engaging and sharp. It was written by UT faculty member Ann Daly.
Austin Access Arts provides another of its Audio Described Performances, in which trained volunteers provide descriptions of plays to patrons wearing headsets tuned to a specific FM frequency, this Sunday, April 6. It’s for the 3pm matinee performance of the touring version of Kiss of the Spider Woman at the Paramount Theatre. Call 454-9912.
Worthy Causes
Women & Their Work hosts its 1997 silent auction, Flip to the B-Side, this Sunday, April 6, 4-7pm, at The B Side of The Bitter End, 311 Colorado. Items from area restaurants, arts groups, and businesses, as well as work by Austin artists, will be available for bidding. Tickets are $25 ($20 members). Proceeds benefit W&TW operations. Call 477-1064. The Austin Circle of Theatres presents A Salon of Songs, featuring standards performed by Stacey Amorous, Mary Alice Carnes, Julie Slim, and Parker Williams, on Sunday, April 6, 5:30pm, at the home of Sue Hammer. Proceeds benefit ACoT. Tickets are $20. Call 454-TIXS.
This article appears in April 4 • 1997 and April 4 • 1997 (Cover).