Austin playwright Marty Martin has a new show on the road, and it may well be
the road to Broadway. The Dragon and the Pearl is a solo drama about Nobel
Prize-winning author Pearl S. Buck that Martin has written for Valerie Harper.
Harper’s husband, producer Tony Cacciato, thought a solo stage piece would be
an ideal vehicle for his wife and contacted Martin, who had penned one for
Harper’s pal from The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Cloris Leachman. At first Martin
was — how can one put it? — disinclined to author another one-actor workout.
After his Gertrude Stein Gertrude Stein Gertrude Stein became a hit for Pat
Carroll, Martin was loaded with requests for them and churned out everything
from Leachman’s Grandma Moses play to a Picasso piece for Anthony Quinn. Buck
won Martin over, however; reading about her, he was so moved by her compassion
that he agreed to write the show. It premiered in July at the American Stage
Festival in New Hampshire and is currently having a run in Chicago. If
Cacciatto and Harper get the response they expect, they may try for the Great
White Way next spring. This comes during a fruitful time for Martin, who
reports a new resurgence of interest in Shaviana, his drama about young George
Bernard Shaw, and Whitechapel, his Jack the Ripper play. On to Broadway!
Sharir Goes International
For you folks who have missed the Sharir Dance Company performing Dervishing,Jos� Luis Bustamante’s dance inspired by the whirling dervishes of the
Melevi order, you have another chance to see it next week. There’s just one
catch… you have to go to
Tel Aviv. That’s where the company will be,
taking part in the Suzanne Dellal International Dance Competition, a truly
transglobal event featuring choreographers from nine countries. (It’s SDC’s
second appearance there; in 1992, both company founder Yacov Sharir and
Bustamante were chosen to compete.) Israel is SDC’s second international stop
this fall. It was in Rotterdam last month for the Future Moves Festival. Sharir
was invited to present his Hollow Ground/Cyborg Dances and speak on his
pioneering work with digitized dance. The company flies home to open its 14th
season November 15 at the McCullough Theatre, UT campus. Call 458-8158 for info.
Honors
The Mid-America Arts Alliance (MAAA) has announced the recipients of itsFellowships in Painting and Works on Paper, and two Austin artists are among
the 25 honorees. Sydney Yeager and Jake Gilson will both receive $5,000
fellowships. The news is bittersweet because it’s the last year MAAA will
dispense the awards. The program has been partially funded through the National
Endowment for the Arts, and recent Congressional dictates prohibit the agency
from supporting programs that grant fellowships to individual artists. (Thanks,
Congress!) Ah well, kudos to Gilson and Yeager for making the final cut.
Send literary, performing, and visual arts news to: “Articulations,” PO Box
49066, Austin, TX 78765 or onstage@auschron.com
This article appears in October 11 • 1996 and October 11 • 1996 (Cover).