Shivering the Timbers

The Dirigo Group's 'Gypsy Chain' Speaks for the Trees

"...Some people -- specifically, Laura Somers and Austin's award-winning dirigo group -- will stage a complex, multimedia production to..."

Aug. 3, 2001 Arts Feature by Wayne Alan Brenner

Down at the Jinn Mill

Austin's dirigo group prepare to premiere the best new play one could wish for

"...script, The Jinn, opens this week, staged by Austin's dirigo group. It's the first full-length play he's written that..."

Feb. 18, 2005 Arts Feature by Wayne Alan Brenner

'Bash' in Your Head

Although best known for films such as In the Company of Men and Your Friends and Neighbors, LaBute began as a playwright, and Austin is about to get its first look at one of his plays, the disturbing Bash, courtesy of the dirigo group.

"...at one of his plays, Bash, courtesy of the dirigo group...."

Nov. 22, 2002 Arts Feature by Barry Pineo

MoM's Kids

A Partial Who's Who at MoMFest 2000

"...The Dirigo Group Accepting the B. Iden Payne awards last week..."

Sept. 29, 2000 Arts Feature by Ada Calhoun

Most Valuable Players

A Guide to Austin Stage Actors

"...MVP for: dirigo group..."

Sept. 28, 2001 Arts Feature

Most Valuable Players

A Guide to Austin Stage Actors

"...MVP for: Subterranean Theatre Co., dirigo group..."

Sept. 28, 2001 Arts Feature

Real Estate and Perfect Mates

The Year in Austin Culture

"...4. Home Free (Dirigo Group) Very few people saw this here-today, gone-tomorrow MOMfest..."

Jan. 5, 2001 Arts Feature by Ada Calhoun

The Jinn

In Kirk Lynn's playful and wistful 'The Jinn,' three couples with magic lamps find out if what they wish for is really what they want

"...the observation could apply to any actor in the dirigo group's premiere production. Director Ellie McBride has seeded the..."

March 11, 2005 Arts Review by Robert Faires

Fool For Love/Cowboy Mouth: Nighttime Hollering and Thumps

Local Arts Reviews

"...double bill, I don't know what does. The nine-month-old dirigo group's follow-up to its excellent debut -- a reconsideration..."

June 23, 2000 Arts Review by Ada Calhoun

A Human Interest Story

In 'A Human Interest Story,' the dirigo group shows us a world lighted only by the dim glow of television, which makes us aware how much is lost in the dark

"...we're taken in A Human Interest Story, as the dirigo group stages Carlos Murillo's play. The show opens in..."

Feb. 24, 2006 Arts Review by Robert Faires

The Mercy Seat

With Neil LaBute's The Mercy Seat, the dirigo group takes us back to 9 / 11 and shows a couple laying bare their relationship against that day's monstrous tragedy

"...in the monologue play Bash, staged previously by the dirigo group, characters give in to dark, even cruel impulses..."

March 26, 2004 Arts Review by Robert Faires

The Gypsy Chain

While the dirigo group should be applauded for the scope of The Gypsy Chain, this ensemble-developed project about Earth First! activist David "Gypsy" Chain, who was killed defending the forests of Northern California from illegal clear-cutting, the onstage effectiveness of the work falls short of its sociopolitical message, while Gypsy's personal story is lost in the muddied construction of a play that isn't sure exactly what it wants to be.

"...The dirigo group's staged story of David "Gypsy" Chain, an Earth..."

Aug. 24, 2001 Arts Review by Robi Polgar

A Beautiful View

For much of Daniel MacIvor's A Beautiful View, its two characters keep finding and losing each another, but in the end, though something is lost, something beautiful is found again

"...played by Sarah Boughton and Carra Martinez in this dirigo group world premiere, their eyes constantly dart around, looking..."

Jan. 19, 2007 Arts Review by Barry Pineo

In On It

The Dirigo Group production of Daniel MacIvor's 'In On It,' with two actors in multiple roles, succeeds beyond an exercise in acting and becomes a heartbreaking wound that feels good to receive

"...of Lowell Bartholomee, who helms this production for the Dirigo Group, and they're working so well in this show..."

July 21, 2006 Arts Review by Wayne Alan Brenner

'Minus Tide'

Austin playwright Kimberly Burke explains how her yearlong residency in Minneapolis helped shape her new play, 'Minus Tide'

"...a new play that she and director Ellie McBride (dirigo group's The Jinn) had workshopped in, well, Burke's living..."

May 26, 2006 Arts Feature by Robert Faires

Top 10 Theatrical Treasures & Pleasures of 2005

'Chronicle' Arts Editor Robert Faires lists his favorite theatrical productions of 2005

"...The Jinn (dirigo group)..."

Jan. 6, 2006 Arts Feature by Robert Faires

Waterfalls and Sea Changes

The former and current artistic directors of Austin Script Works discuss new plays, local theatre, and the writer's voice

"...of came into their own in those years, and dirigo group came around, and Salvage [Vanguard Theater] came into..."

Nov. 11, 2005 Arts Feature by Dan Dietz

Doug Rauss: In Memoriam

Remembering Doug Rauss, a dedicated arts patron and volunteer for several Austin theatre companies, who died Wednesday, Aug. 31

"...Hyde Park Theatre and the Off Center, assisting the dirigo group, doing house manager duties for the Rude Mechanicals'..."

Sept. 16, 2005 Arts Feature by Robert Faires

10 That Get 10s in 2003

"...3) Garry Peters in Hedda (the dirigo group) At the climax of the dirigo group's reinvention..."

Jan. 2, 2004 Arts Feature by Robi Polgar

Articulations

Hogg Auditorium is headed for a makeover, Judy Jensen's Blue Willow is headed to the Smithsonian, and two local artists take the road to recovery.

"...steady. Actor and director Judson L. Jones of the dirigo group took a nasty spill on his motorcycle last..."

Nov. 28, 2003 Arts Column by Robert Faires

The Middle of the Night

With its isolated farmhouse and unseen menace, The Middle of the Night may look like a conventional thriller, but playwright Lowell Bartholomee refuses to play by the rules, creating an offbeat drama that keeps us perpetually off-balance by playing against our expectations.

"...directs, and the artists he has engaged for this dirigo group premiere have grounded this play in very specific..."

Oct. 24, 2003 Arts Review by Robert Faires

Hedda

In the dirigo group production Hedda, director Laura Somers reimagines Henrik Ibsen's classic as a perverse and sometimes brilliant Doris Day / Rock Hudson flick, coupling late 1950s zip -- party dresses and sweater vests, manhattans and vodka martinis, breezy entrances and exits -- with a forbidden sexuality that ratchets the tensions of Ibsen's play to a whole new level.

"...the new bride is expecting, for one). In this dirigo group production, all that is smashed quite to pieces,..."

June 13, 2003 Arts Review by Robi Polgar

Bash

In Bash, a collection of monologues by Neil LaBute, the protagonists appear to be considerate, decent people, but in the stories they share they prove themselves capable of committing crimes straight out of Greek tragedy, and the dirigo group production achieves a breezy intimacy with the audience, engaging us so thoroughly that when the darkness falls, we find it hard to abandon them.

"...these characters tell us as much in Bash, a grouping of three monologues by Neil LaBute. They all feature..."

Dec. 6, 2002 Arts Review by Robert Faires

True West

The dirigo group production of Sam Shepard's True West sees Corey Gagne and Judson L. Jones swapping the roles of petty criminal Lee and screenwriter Austin every other night. While both are exceptional actors, offering plenty of sharp character work, both versions bring that pervading sense of threat that gives the show the violent inevitability of Greek tragedy.

"...more than just another high-testosterone slugfest, however, is the dirigo group's casting switcheroo: Corey Gagne began the run playing..."

July 19, 2002 Arts Review by Robi Polgar

Articulations

Oklahoma!, A Macbeth, and Art were the big winners at the 27th Annual B. Iden Payne Awards.

"...dramatic switch from last year, when VORTEX Repertory Company, dirigo group, and Frontera@Hyde Park Theatre dominated the win column,..."

Sept. 28, 2001 Arts Column by Robert Faires

The Secret History of the Off Center

Looking back at the former home of the Rude Mechs and why it mattered

"...Morgan Knicely and Steve Bernard Jones in 1998, the group had made a name for itself (ambitious young theatre..."

June 30, 2017 Arts Feature by Robert Faires

Outstanding!

Nominations for the 2006-2007 Austin Critics Table Awards

"...In On It, the dirigo group..."

May 18, 2007 Arts Feature by Robert Faires

Taking the World Stage

How more theatre made Here is getting Out There and what that means

"...to mention thousands who have seen the multimedia sketch-comedy group tour the United States and Canada. Salvage Vanguard Theater's..."

Sept. 21, 2007 Arts Feature by Katherine Catmull

Top 10 Most Memorable Locally Produced Live Performance Offerings that I Chanced to See in 2007 (A Hierarchical List)

Chronicle Arts writer Barry Pineo on the most memorable moments onstage in 2007

"...8) A Beautiful View (the dirigo group) Daniel MacIvor's script about love deferred, staged simply..."

Jan. 4, 2008 Arts Feature by Barry Pineo

And the Award Goes to ...

The 2006-2007 Austin Critics Table Awards

"...or a family member was nominated.THEATREProduction, DramaIn On It, dirigo groupProduction, ComedyThe Assumption, Refraction ArtsProduction, MusicalParade, Mary Moody Northen..."

June 8, 2007 Arts Feature by Robert Faires

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