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A 100-foot-long string instrument to take up residency in Seaholm
The turbine hall of the historic Seaholm power plant will become the site for an utterly unconventional concert when Ellen Fullman, composer/performer and former Austinite, returns to town with her 100-foot-long string instrument.
When Fullman was here in Austin, 1985 to 1997, she rented a space in a former candy factory off Manor Road It was there that she developed her very unique instrument known as The Long String Instrument.
Fullman used amazing lengths of wire and custom-built wooden resonators to fashion her gigantic instrument. To play it, she developed a method of rosining her hands and walking the lengths of wire as she coaxed out otherworldly vibrations.
“My work resides between the fields of sound art and music,” she has said. “My interest is in composing music on multiple levels, constructing not only the fundamental harmonic content, but also creating a phantom composition by choreographing the performer’s movement through a multi-dimensional matrix of unfolding overtones.”
Fullman’s return visit — her first in 12 years — jibes with the SXSW premiere of Peter Esmonde’s documentary film about her music entitled “5 variations on a long string.”
The two performances at Seaholm are courtesy the non-profit group New Music Co-op.
8 p.m. March 13
8 p.m. March 14
Seaholm Power Plant, 214 West Ave.
Tickets: $12 students/advance and $15 at door
www.newmusiccoop.org
For the concerts Fullman will perform her compositions solo and in ensemble with NMC instrumentalists James Alexander (viola), Henna Chou (cello), Nick Hennies (percussion) and Travis Weller (violin).
Ellen Fullman performance at Berkeley Art Museum, Dec. 2009.
Photo by John Fago.
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Review: ‘Albert Herring,’ Butler Opera Center
Though it debuted in 1947, Benjamin Britten’s comic opera has only fairly recently gotten the love from the opera world with productions popping up on calendars more and more.
The University of Texas’ Butler Opera Center mounts a comely new production of its own which opened this past weekend.
Perhaps it’s Britten’s particularly cruel British comedic sensibility hits home with today’s audiences? Then again, perhaps it’s only now that Britten’s status as one of the greatest composers of the 20th century is now a given.
Like his more popular opera ‘Peter Grimes,’ Britten’s ‘Albert Herring’ centers on an outsider character misunderstood by uptight British society as represented by a small town riven with hypocrisy and intolerance.
Based on a short story by Guy de Maupassant — but thoroughly British in Britten’s interpretation — ‘Albert Herring’ is vicious satire on societal propriety as portrayed in early 20th-century Britain that leaves no character unscathed.
When the autocratic Lady Billows (in this production played by soprano Emily Ward) finds no suitably chaste young woman to be crowned May Queen in the village’s annual celebration, she is convinced by the a council of villagers to elect the hapless grocer Albert Herring (tenor Brad Raymond). Albert is, after all, a simpering momma’s boy.
After being dressed in the clownish humiliating May King costume for the village festival, Albert benefits from a glass of surreptiously spiked lemonade which leads him on an all-night bender. After a night of reckless wanton behavior, Albert returns to the village defiant in his new-found embrace life’s more licentious behavior.
The notable highlight of UT’s production was the orchestra led by Jim Lowe, the Butler Opera Center’s new conductor. Lowe (whose resumes includes stints with Houston Grand Opera and conducting the recent Tony Award-winning Broadway revival of ‘Gypsy’ starring Patti LuPone) wrested considerable panache out of the 12-piece chamber orchesrta of student musician. And that’s not an easy feat given that Britten’s score is chock full of deft musical craftsmanship and witty, ironic references to both the whole operatic canon and popular British music. (Britten quotes everything form Gilbert and Sullivan operattas, Baroque operas and even the late Romanticism of Richard Strauss). Lowe’s musical direction is some of the best seen yet from the Bulter Opera Center.
Though the voices in Sunday night’s cast were generally good, (a few secondary roles are double cast), Marc Reynolds’s limp stage direction left some cast members and their characters adrift.
Those who rose above it — and whose voices also stood out — shone.
Raymond makes Albert his own dramatically and vocally, utterly convincing at first as the hapless nerd, a convincing buffoon as the May King and finally a rather sardonic convert to life’s pleasures — and musically strong and distinct throughout.
As Albert’s erstwhile buddy Sid, baritone James Van Rens (who recently had a small part in Austin Lyric Opera’s charming ‘The Star’) was the complete opera package: a performer with excellent comedic acting chops and a rich voice full of clarity and seasoned with superb articulation.
Ditto with baritone Brian Pettery, in a secondary role as the Vicar. Vocal clarity and theatrical aplomb made his character stand out in a cast filled with many secondary characters.
An awkward set by Anne McMeeking had a split staircase serving as the main scenic element but its institutional modernist style were out-of-place next to Michaele Hite’s luscious period costumes.
Though in places uneven, this production of ‘Albert Herring’ nevertheless gives notice that this bitterly funny Britten comedy is not to be ignored.
‘Albert Herring’ continues at 7:30 p.m. March 5 and March 7. McCullough Theatre, UT campus. $20 ($10 for students). www.music.utexas.edu.
Photo by Jon Smith.
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Review: New Music Co-op ‘Invisible Landscapes’
Silence permeated the new compositions played Saturday night by Austin’s New Music Co-op at Ceremony Hall, one of three different concerts — under the banner ‘Invisible Landscapes’ — the music collective presented which focused on the music of California-based composer Michael Pisaro in collaboration with percussionist Greg Stuart.
Warm water morphing into air was the primary image behind Pisaro’s ‘Ascending Series(7) (Evaporation),’ a 25-minute piece. A commission from the New Music Co-op, called for seven bowed instruments — in this case two violins, a viola, a bass and three percussionists who used bows on the rims of floor tom drums to create a soft, ethereal scraping sound. ‘Ascending’ started with a tone that formed something of backbone of the sound. Then, after slowly crescendoing, the tone seemed to evaporate, longer stretches of silence marrying the ever quieter moments of the almost white noise coming from the percussive bowing. Ambient noises from outside the auditorium made delightful guest appearances while ‘Ascending’ demanded careful, meditative listening.
New Music Co-op member Nick Hennies debuted his ‘Second Skin With Lungs’ which had five musicians at floor toms making a circle around the audience. Slowing using their hands to make circular motions across the drum skins, the musicians created a gentle wave of sound, sometime no more than a whisper.
Also getting a debut was Travis Weller’s ‘Toward and Away From the Point of Balance,’ a mesmerizing 10-minute piece for a string trio and The Owl, Weller’s inventive 16-string instrument that produces haunting sounds. Toward’ arched from silence to purpose and back to silence with moody slivers of harmony roughed up a bit with the string players injecting near-silent and other-worldly scraping sounds.
Sound may have been the product of Saturday’s concert, but, cleverly, silence emerged as the subtle star.
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Ballet Austin’s 2010-2011 season
Romanticism rules much of Ballet Austin’s 2010-2011 season.
Along with its usual holiday presentation of ‘The Nutcracker,’ the company will dance ‘La Sylphide,’ widely credited as the first romantic ballet and first staged by the Paris Opera ballet in 1832. The story of a young groom who leaves his bride in pursuit of a tempting, beautiful sylph runs, perhaps appropriately, Feb. 11-13, 2011, right up against Valentine’s Day.
Then on Mother’s Day weekend (May 6-8), the company presents the ballet version of Mozart’s romantic opera, ‘The Magic Flute.’
Ballet Austin opens its season Sept. 24-26 with re-mounts of two works by artistic director Stephen Mills, ‘Carmina Burana’ and ‘Kai.’
A as-yet-to-be-announced program for the Studio Theatre Project March 25-April 3 will play in Ballet Austin’s 270-seat Austin Ventures Studio Theater at the company’s downtown Austin headquarters.
The apprentice company, Ballet Austin II, will reprise Mills’s popular ballet for young audiences ‘Not Afraid of the Dark,’ Sept. 18-19 at the Paramount.
See www.balletaustin.org for more information.
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Big Medium art gallery/artist studios garage sale Saturday
The art group responsible for the East Austin Studio Tour, the Texas Biennial, and which operates an art gallery and 16 artist studios is having a collective rummage sale Saturday.
Up for sale are only-at-an-art studio finds such as artwork, art supplies and building materials are up for grabs along with the usual garage sale paraphernalia.
9: a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday
Big Medium Studios, 5305 Bolm Rd. #12
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‘Architecture at the Umlauf’ series 4.0
The fourth series of popular lectures by local designers and architects at the Umlauf Sclupture Garden & Museum kicks off its fourth season next week.
Appropriately, Robert Steinboomer of Steinboomer & Associates, who along Larry Speck, designed the Umlauf’s media/lecture room and chapel, known as the Roberta Crenshaw Building, starts the series March 4.
‘Front Porches to High Rises: Horned Lizards and Architecture’ is the title of Steinboomer’s talk.
The event starts at 7 p.m. Admission is $5.
See the Umlauf events calendar for the remainder of the ‘Architecture at the Umlauf’ roster of speakers.
Images of the Umlauf’s Crenshaw Building courtesy Steinboomer & Associates.
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This weekend, fresh music abounds
Live Music Capital of the World? We got your fresh music right here. This weekend offers several opportunities to catch fresh approaches to the classical canon and also new composed music.
Friday night conductor Kristjan JärvI and his Absolute Ensemble play ‘Absolute Bach Reinvented’ at Hogg Memorial Auditorium.
The program features a 16-piece ensemble playing pieces that riff on Bach’s Inventions by members of the band.
To Jarvi, Bach is like water. ‘Like water is essential for life on this planet, Bach is essential to musicians,’ the Estonian-born conductor says by phone last week from New York.
Jarvi’s boundary-shredding musical MO eschews dumb-downed crossover antics, the typical model used to popularize classical music. If anything, he wants to return classical music back to its origins when a score was considered a little less sacrosanct and musicians and conductors felt empowered to improvise.
Read our story here.
Also this weekend, Friday through Sunday, Austin’s irrepressible New Music Co-op presents ‘Invisible Landscapes’ three different programs featuring the music of guest composer Michael Pisaro and percussionist Greg Stuart.
Featured on Friday is Pisaro’s piece ‘A Wave and Waves’ for 100 percussion instruments, played by Stuart accompanied by an eight-channel surround sound system. Saturday’s show features two major commission pieces, ‘Red River 7’ by Radu Malfatti and Pisaro’s ‘Ascending Series (7) (evaporation).’ Sunday’s free concert features more by Pisaro as well as new works by Co-op composers Brent Fariss and William Bridges.
Shows are at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday. Ceremony Hall, 4100 Red River St. $12-$15 (free on Sunday). www.newmusic.coop
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Chinati Foundation director announces retirement
Attention all fans of Marfa, Texas and its arts scene and Donald Judd africiandos: Marianne Stockebrand, founding director of the Chinati Foundation, has announced her plans to retire.
The Chinati Foundation is 340-acre 32-building former US Army Fort D.A. Russell. During his lifetime Judd transformed the site into a laboratory for his ideas about the permanent installation of contemporary. Now, the Chinati feautures monumental outdoor concrete works by Judd and 100 aluminum works by Judd housed in two converted artillery sheds. Former army barracks house one large-scale work in colored fluorescent light by Dan Flavin and a building in downtown Marfa display 23 sculptures by John Chamberlain. Other artists represented at the Chinati include Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen; Ilya Kabakov, Carl Andre and John Wesley.
Stockebrand, who was Judd’s companion in the years before his death, was appointed by the artist in 1993 to be the director of the non-profit Chinati:
From the Chinati comes this statement:
The Board of Directors of The Chinati Foundation, in Marfa, Texas, has announced that its director, Dr. Marianne Stockebrand, has expressed her intention to retire as soon as a successor can be found. Stockebrand, who was appointed to the position in 1993 by the museum’s founder, the artist Donald Judd, and who has been responsible for its development since his death in the following year, plans to continue residing in Marfa and will assume the title of Director Emeritus. The search for a new director will begin immediately.
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Weekend Arts Pix
‘Ellington’s Sacred Concert’
Last year, it was beyond standing room only as crowds filled the aisles when Austin Chamber Music Center hooked up with Huston-Tillotson University choirs and other performers in a rousing performance of Duke Ellington’s ‘Sacred Concert.’ Now the choirs, jazz orchestra, soloists and accompanying tap dancers will reprise Ellington’s mighty oratorio, sprawling collections of songs and suites that blend gospel music with jazz, classical music, spirituals, blues and choral music. 3 p.m. Sunday. King Seabrook Chapel on the Huston-Tillotson campus at East Seventh and Chicon streets. Free. Seating is first-come, first-served. www.austinchambermusic.org
‘Albert Herring’
University of Texas’ Butler Opera Center presents Benjamin Britten’s comic chamber opera based on a short story by Guy de Maupassant. ‘Albert Herring’ tells the story of a small English village looking for nominations for its coveted annual title of Queen of the May. When villagers can find no young women pure enough to be worthy of the title, they select Albert Herring, a socially awkward wallflower. The production also marks the debut of James Lowe, the Butler Opera Center’s new conductor. This weekend’s performances will also be webcast live. 7:30 p.m. Friday and Sunday. McCullough Theatre, UT campus, $10-$20. www.music.utexas.edu
‘Smoking Lesson’
Award-winning director Marcus McQuirter presents Julia Jordan’s unnerving play about three 15-year-old girls who spend time underneath a bridge on the Mississippi River remembering their friend who mysteriously and violently died there seven years earlier. 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays through March 7. Rio Grande Campus Gallery Theater, 1212 Rio Grande St. $5-$10. 512-223-3240.
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Consider artists, architects at work on public projects
AIA Austin Emerging Professionals and Art Alliance Austin are co-sponsoring a casual exhibit and informal discussion on the convergence of art and architecture. It’s a prelude to the Austin Arts Week and Art City Austin events coming up in April.
The free event, ‘A Conversation About Art & Architecture’ is from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday. It’s open to the public. Members of Austin’s art and architecture communities are encouraged to attend.
The work of artists Bridget Quinn, Jared Theis, Joseph Philips and the Sodalitas collective is all up for discussion. The talk will be lead by Salvador Castillo.
It all goes down in an empty retail space near City Hall at 233 W. Second St.
The evening will also present the opportunity to stike up dieas for the international Temporary Outdoor Gallery Space — aka TOGS — Ideas Competition. The project, now in its third year, challenges designers to come up an radical new alternative to the typical art fair tent.
The ‘Fort,’ from ‘July Transplants’ project. Organized by Bridget Quinn. Photo by Stephanie Becker.
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‘Toxic Assets’ examines psyche of ecnomoic downturn
Just how has the current economic crisis affected those whose profession is to understand the economy?
What if it drives an economics professor to obsessively pick up litter around his neighborhood creating thus awkward relationships with his family, neighbors and colleagues?
That’s the premise of ‘Toxic Assets,’ the latest one-man play by Austin theater artist/monologuist, ordained minister, business consultant and economics professor Steven Tomlinson.
Tomlinson (whose thoughtful, acclaimed solo shows include “Managed Care,” “Curb Appeal,” and ‘American Fiesta’) will present a workshop version of his new show March 11 and 12 at the Off Center. The gig is benefit for the upcoming Fusebox Festival of performance art. Tomlinson is on the board of the non-profit Fusebox.
“As an artist, I’m trying to make sense of the disconnect between what we worry about (huge forces like markets and the environment) and what we can actually accomplish as individuals,” says Tomlinson. “These little things we do, picking up trash, making time to help one person get back on track, are they worth doing, even if they can’t save us?”
8 p.m. March 11 and 12 <.br> Off Center, 2211 Hidalgo Tickets: Thurs is pay-what-you-can; Friday it’s sliding scale $15-$50
Buy tickets here.
Photo by Austin American-Statesman.
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‘Quiet Imprint’ explores Vietnamese American recollections of the Vietnam War
Four years ago, choreographer Thang Dao won the Audience Choice award at Ballet Austin’s first biennial ‘New American Talent/Dance’ project.
Now, the New York-based Dao returns to Austin with ‘Quiet Imprint,’ a new work based on personal narratives the choreographer gathered from the central Texas Vietnamese community.
‘Quiet Imprint’ gets its world premiere March 6 and 7 by Ballet Austin II, the apprentice company.
7 p.m. March 6, 2 p.m. March
AustinVentures StudioTheater, Butler Dance Education Center, 501 W. Third St.
$15
www.balletaustin.org
Dao’s dance depicts the arduous journey experienced by the countless displaced Vietnamese men and women who lived through the Vietnam War, especially those who ended up in Austin.
Dao’s grounded his work in an open dialogue with the Vietnamese elders, documenting their journey of exile and then connecting them with the dancers. Thus, folk dance movements and individual stories were directly shared. Dao worked with Women’s Alliance Vietnam’s Education (WAVE) to reach out to Austin’s Vietnamese community.
Also, ‘Quiet Imprint’ was inspired by legendary Vietnamese singer Khanh Ly’s soulful performances of the country’s beloved songwriter, Trinh Cong Son’s music. In a rare appearance, Ly will perform live with Ballet Austin II.
Here’s video interview with Thang Dao, produced by Ballet Austin:
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Review: ‘Black Grace’
Unison, the portions of a dance piece where dancers move in perfect synchronicity, can be a powerful choreographic tool.
This is not news to legions of choreographers, but perhaps no company harnesses unison’s power better than Black Grace. The New Zealand-based company, at UT’s Bass Concert Hall Saturday, pushes unison to another level. The dancers inject such intensity into dancing together they achieve oxymoronic status—they are so unified they seem to move with more than unison.
The company’s choreography, by artistic director and company founder Neil Ieremia, invites such unity through sophisticated, sustained simplicity. “Deep Far” employed cyclical repetition to entrancing effect. Four dancers—Tupua Tigafua, David Williams, Abby Crowther, and Zoe Watkins—seamlessly slid around and across a circle. The piece’s layered repetition made the closing moment astonishing. The four dancers interlaced their bodies. Each couple locked their legs together and opened their chests and arms to the soft, still sound of a storm’s first drops. It seemed as though the repeated movement allowed the dancers to open their bodies, not just their mouths, to the falling rain.
Ieremia functioned as the show’s emcee, explaining from center stage how he combines Pacific Islander culture with modern dance to create Black Grace’s repertory. The informative interludes likely made the program more accessible for an audience unfamiliar with Pacific Islander culture. Ieremia’s tone, which bordered on stand-up comedy, undercut some of his more potent political statements.
The collection of six pieces displayed Black Grace’s range of cultural hybridity. Lausae (Tapulu Tele) depicted the Samoan tattooing tradition. Men spread themselves across three large stones as other dancers mimed the wiping of blood: a depiction of the intense, full-bodied tattooing process. Screams and the sounds of tapping echoed from the accompanying score.
Such obvious references (at least obvious after Ieremia’s introduction) could be too simple, but they build into a large theatrical and kinetic vision. For much of the piece, the dancers fly across the stage—a choreographic pattern repeated to even more excitement in “Gathering Clouds,” which Ieremia choreographed in response to an economist racist publications about Pacific Islander in New Zealand.
The giant rocks in “Lausaue,” New Zealand’s famous river stones, were one of several stunning design choices. The lighting design for all the pieces (uncredited in the program) shaped large group dancing. At the end of “Pati Pati,” the ensemble moved slowly. Light carved shapes across the dancers’ bare shoulders. Then, the dancers turned toward each other, their repeated reaches skyward seemingly drawing bright yellow light into the center of the circle. As the dancers strode backwards into the wings, the light expanded. This company leaves a trace of light behind them wherever they appear.
Clare Croft is an American-Statesman freelance arts critic.
Photo by Neil Ieremia.
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Tomorrow’s ‘Teleportal Readings 2’ postponned
With ‘Snowmageddon II’ bearing down us, the folks at Monofonus Press have postponned ‘Teleportal Readings 2,’ their Tuesday night event planned for the courtyard at the San Jose Hotel.
From the Monfonus peeps comes this message:
“As you may have heard, we have a major cold front headed our way. It’s supposed to be raining (possibly snowing) and in the 30s tomorrow, which is good neither for our AV equipment nor our audience. It’s a bummer, but we don’t want you freezing. We’ll update you with the new date,”
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Coming soon to any number of media/arts platforms near you
It’s a live comic book! It’s radio drama! It’s a mobile app! It’s real comic book!
It’s all of the above! And more.
Jason Neulander started ‘The Intergalactic Nemesis’ as a coffeehouse theater experiment in 1996. Wouldn’t it be cool to stage a retro-inspired spoof of pulp radio drama? It was and Neulander continued to develop ‘Nemesis’ into a multi-part live radio play that toured the country.
Now, Neulander — former leader of Salvage Vanguard Theater — has taken ‘Nemesis’ to the next level, developing into a franchise of sorts in a project spans everything from literacy programs at local schools to an actual comic book to an app for mobile phones.
Oh, yeah and the live stage version of ‘The Intergalactic Nemesis’ has been tweaked. Come Labor Day weekend, the new stage version projects the comic book artwork panel-by-panel while three actors perform the voices, Foley artist Buzz Moran creates the sound effects and Graham Reynolds plays the piano score. The show will be staged at the Long Center.
An announcement to the media last week at the Long Center introduced the project. Neulander’s production is sponsored by a group of investors including Marc Seriff, co- founder of America Online, as well as entrepreneur Scott Reichardt and realtor Cord Shiflett.
From the project’s site, comes the basic ‘Nemesis’ story: The year is 1933. The Pulitzer-winning reporter Molly Sloan and her intrepid assistant Timmy Mendez have stumbled across a series of murders foiled by a mysterious librarian from Flagstaff named Ben Wilcott. Together, the three heroes trek across Europe, North Africa and beyond to thwart world-famous mesmerist Mysterion the Magniï¬�cent and what turns out to be an invasion of sludge-monsters from the planet Zygon.
Another facet of the project is an actual comic book with illustrations by Tim Doyle and color art by Paul Hanley and Lee Duhig. The first of seven issues has already hit the stands. Look for the series to be featured on www.austin360.com/arts.
‘Nemesis’ is also partnering with the Library Foundation to distribute copies of the comic books to local libraries. And portions of the live show will be presented in three West Austin elementary schools.
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Bang! Free music tonight
Forget the violin and the piano: In the new millennium, percussion has become the favored solo instrument of young composers.
Tonight, in a free concert, University of Texas-based percussion ensemble Line Upon Line spearheads ‘Clutch: New Music by UT Composers,’ a program of new percussion-based music by student and faculty composers. Included on the program are ‘Echoes of Veiled Light’ by Zack Stanton and a new piece by Steve Snowden.
The free concert is at 7:30 p.m. Recital Studio 2.608. Music Building, UT campus.
If you can’t make the concert, it will be Webcast live from www.music.utexas.edu.
Photo by www.c2wphotography.com.
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Review: ‘A Brief Narrative of An Extraordinary Birth of Rabbits’
Where do we really come from? Is our imagination as procreative as, say, actual human procreation?
Those seem to be the questions which attempt to poke out from underneath the dark carnival of ‘A Brief Narrative of An Extraordinary Birth of Rabbits,’ C. Denby Swanson’s bumpy, imperfect new play getting its premiere at Salvage Vanguard Theater under the direction of Jenny Larson.
Swanson takes as her source material the odd but true tale of an early 18th-century English woman who claimed to have given birth to several rabbits or parts of rabbits. Some notable physicians of the time, including the King’s surgeon, confirmed the woman’s reports though she later recanted that her claims were a hoax, causing a terrific upheavel in the then-nascent medical profession.
Against a backdrop of striped sideshow tents, Swanson’s take on this tale involves a woman, Mare (an energetic, expressive Robin Grace Thompson), who has agreed to be artificially inseminated so that her sister, Kitty, (Halena Kays) may have a much-desired child. But Mare gives instead birth to rabbits — 24 of them.
Enter a stork who is a doctor or maybe it’s the other way around (the compelling and kinetic Josh Meyer). Add a trio of puppet German doctors (created by Connor Hopkins and played Hopkins and Matt Hislope) and a man who may or may not be dog (Shaun Patrick Tubbs).
Only the stork’s monologues tame the pace of the rapidly shifting and sometimes chaotic scenes.
But for all the absurdity, for all the manic theatrics and dark crazy artifice that flashes bright at time — and despite some uniformly good acting — Swanson’s script never quite scoops all bits together.
‘A Brief Narrative of An Extraordinary Birth of Rabbits’ continues 8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays through March 6 at Salvage Vanguard. www.salvagevanguard.org.
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And the People’s Choice winner is…
James Tisdale’s other-worldly sculpture ‘Squirrelly’ has been voted as the 2009 People’s Choice selection to join the permanent collection at Austin City Hall.
Tisdale’s sculpture was one of more than 100 artworks on view at Austin City Hall last year as part of the annual People’s Gallery Exhibition that features work by Austin-area artists. Each year visitors to City Hall vote for their favorite artwork.
The announcement was made tonight at the opening of the 2010 People’s Gallery Exhibition, the newest iteration of the public art program.
Vincent E. Kitch, Cultural Arts Program Manager for the city of Austin, said ‘Squirrelly’ proved so popular with visitors that they left nuts and other objects at the sculpture’s base. Those items will be incorporated into the artwork, Kitsch said.
Photo courtesy Cultural Arts Program,
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Review: ‘The Atheist’
People will do some pretty twisted things to get famous.
The lengths one man goes to in pursuit of fame—burning down the trailer he grew up in and making public a secret sex tape featuring his girlfriend, to name just a few—are at the heart of Hyde Park Theatre’s production of “The Atheist,” a dark comedy by Irish-born playwright Ronan Noone.
“The Atheist” is a one-person show about Augustine Early (Joey Hood), who, as a young man growing up in a trailer park, realized early on that he had a talent for deception and a craving for fame.
As a journalist always in pursuit of the big story, Early will do just about anything for a good headline. (A good headline, by the way, must be “Two hundred point font. Times Roman. BOLD.”)
Early has abandoned his faith in God, his faith in everything, really. He is pompous and cynical. He is also manipulative, cocky, and misogynist. Just in case it’s not quite clear yet, this character is totally, utterly unlikeable.
And yet Joey Hood, in a charismatic and confident performance, makes Early watchable and compelling. His ease on stage and spot-on comic timing keeps the audience interested in the hilariously absurd and often vile things coming from his mouth. Hood’s energy and commitment never waver. He keeps the audience on the hook, waiting to see whether this character is worthy of redemption or is a totally lost soul. (You’ll have to see it to find out.)
The production, directed by Ken Webster, is clean and sharp. Early tells his story to a video camera while a live feed of his image gets projected behind him, creating the feeling of a reality-TV confessional.
In its final moments, the show’s critique of the relentless quest for fame becomes clear. It might make you think twice before picking up that copy of US Weekly for the latest celebrity scandal. After all, who knows what the writer had to do to get that story.
‘The Atheist’ continues through March 13, Thursdays - Saturdays at 8 p.m. at Hyde Park Theatre, 511 W. 43rd Street. Tickets $17-$19, Thursday nights are pay-what-you-can. www.hydeparktheatre.org
Claire Canavan is an American-Statesman freelance arts critic.
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People’s Gallery Exhibition 2010 opens
What to do with an architecturally interesting city hall? Fill it full of art of course.
Several years ago, the city of Austin’s Cultural Arts Division started the People’s Gallery Exhibition, a year-long juried show in Austin City Hall. Artwork in all media is considered by artists from the greater Austin area.
This year some 350 artists submitted more than 1,300 entries for consideration in the new exhibit. The three judges in the selection panel for the 2010 exhibition were: Sean Gaulagher, artist and co-founder of Cantanker Magazine; Andrea Mellard, assistant curator, Austin Museum of Art; and Risa Puleo, assistant curator, Blanton Museum of Art.
The opening reception is 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 19. Austin City Hall is at 301 W. Second St.
The event will also feature the unveiling of the “2009 People’s Choice” selection by public vote from the previous exhibit. The artwork was selected among top voted works and will be added to the City Hall permanent art collection.
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Austin’s Miro Quartet leading Naxos online chart
The Miro Quartet — the string quartet in residence at the University of Texas’ Butler School of Music — is topping the charts right now.
That is, the foursome’s latest release is running in the number one spot on NaxosDirect, an online music distribution site run by the classical music label.
‘The Miro Quartet Live’ is actually co-released on the Longhorn label, UT’s all-but-invisible record label. The Miro plays Dvorak’s String Quartet in F Major “American,” and the world premiere recording of “Credo” by Kevin Puts. a work commissioned for the Miro Quartet by Chamber Music Monterey Bay.
The CD was recorded live in UT’s Bates Recital Hall.
The Miro Quartet next plays in Austin May 9 with cellist Lynn Harrell.
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If only I could convince Steven Tomlinson to apply for this job …
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JEAN- THANKS FOR PRINTING CLAIRE CANAVAN’S REVIEW OF MARY STUART AT THE LONG CTR—SAW IT SUNDAY AND IT WAS FINE! IT IS SO THRILLING TO HEAR THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE SPOKEN WELL—- ESPECIALLY PROPER GRAMMAR!! YES!! YES!! DOWN WITH THE “ME”
... read the full comment by KAY TAEBEL | Comment on Review: Austin Shakespeare's 'Mary Stuart' Read Review: Austin Shakespeare's 'Mary Stuart'
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