More Austin arts groups are continuing to make a home — or at least a home
page — for themselves on the World Wide Web. Hardly a week goes by now without
some theatre company or artist sending us an invitation to visit his/her/their
new Web site. A recent trip to a few of these sites revealed that they not only
connect local artists with potential new fans but they push these artists to
define themselves in fresh ways and inspire some of them to new forms of
creativity.
The Subterranean Theatre Company site at http://www.realtime.net/~kate offers
the lowdown on all of the group’s productions since its debut in 1988.
Katherine Catmull has set up a separate page for every show, each with a photo
from the production, a synopsis of the play, a cast list, and excerpts from
reviews. The site has some handsome graphics and helpful links to pages for
some of the playwrights whose work Subterranean has produced, plus a seductive
promo for their next effort in June.
The Monks’ Night Out site at http://www.io.com/~hagbard/monks.html greets you
with a trio of big brothers (the “monks in the hood”), then gives you the
chance to learn everything there is to know about this local comedy group. Jon
Wiley has built a clever, funny site that complements the troupe’s sensibility
without skimping on real info, such as the tantalizing report on “The Big
Stinkin’ International Improv Festival” the company is producing in April. (How
big? Fifteen groups from across the country have already contacted the Monks
about coming.)
The RAT Conference home page at http://www.users.interport.net/~thieves.html
is not maintained by an Austin group, but it has definite Austin connections
and is the center of an interesting discussion about Austin at present. The
page, maintained by New York’s Thieves Theatre, serves as an online base for
the loose affiliation of regional alternative theatres (or raggedy-ass
theatres) known as RAT, of which five Austin theatre companies are part. (For
more offline info on RAT, see the Chronicle’s Oct. 13, 1995 issue or the
December American Theatre magazine.) The page contains background on the RAT
idea, a summary of/tone poem on the second RAT conference in Seattle, and talk
about where the RATs might nest next. A Leap Day meet at the Mall of America
was proposed at the Seattle confab (cheap fares, big potential for guerilla
theatre), but some folks have since cooled on the idea, the most vocal being
Jason Neulander of Salvage Vanguard Theater. In late December, Neulander sent
e-mail to the RAT mailing list criticizing the MOA meet and suggesting the
group instead pick up on an idea by playwright Erik Ehn for an “Austin rave” in
August. Neulander’s comments prompted a flurry of responses from RAT
constituents, many of them favoring the Texas gathering. As a result, the RAT
home page has instituted a dialogue section called “Austin Rave.” Details to
follow.
Send news on the local literary, performing, and visual arts scenes to:
“Articulations,”
PO Box 49066, Austin, TX 78765 or e-mail to: onstage@auschron.com
This article appears in January 5 • 1996 and January 5 • 1996 (Cover).