TheatreASAP Articles and Reviews
In the round
By Laurie Dietrich
Footlightseptiembre
originally posted on The
Current website
September begins the new theater season. It's also come to be unofficial Theater Month in SA, as all sorts of stage-related events vie for your patronage.
On September 9, the Magik Theatre, in collaboration with Communities in Schools, will present a "symphonic" revival of one of their most popular original works, Benito's Dream Bottle. Based on the award-winning book by local Poet Laureate Naomi Nye, Benito is adapted by Magik Executive Director Richard Rosen. The music was written by Musical Director Mark Johnson, local bluesman Ruben V, and Roger Underwood. Additional accompaniment will be provided by the Alamo Heights Sinfonietta. The event, which begins at 7 p.m. and includes an after-show dinner, is a fundraiser for the two organizations, which benefit the children of San Antonio through arts and social service. Tickets are $68/person, $170 per couple. Call 227-2751.
On September 10 at 8 p.m., the San Antonio Theatre Coalition's TheatreASAP will kick-off when six local playwrights (including yours truly) randomly draw their subject matter and begin writing short plays that will open for the public, fully rehearsed, 24 hours later. At 8 p.m. on September 11, at the Vexler Theatre, new works by Sterling Houston, Gregg Barrios, Deon von Rooyen, Irma Mayorga, Bruce Limpus, and Laurie Dietrich will be premiered by a brave band of outstanding local actors and directors. Tickets are $10 general admission, and can be purchased from Tracy at the Vex (302-6828) or at San Pedro Playhouse (733-7258).
On September 12, the deservedly ubiquitous Sterling Houston will be honored with the Award of Literary Excellence at INKstravaganza, a benefit fundraiser for Gemini Ink, at 6 p.m. at the Witte Museum. The event will feature the unveiling of a limited-edition, handcrafted collector's chapbook published by Gemini Ink in collaboration with the Southwest School of Art & Craft, and featuring an excerpt from Houston's novel-in-progress, The Secret Oral Teachings of the Sacred Walking Blues. Outback Steakhouse is catering the event and there will be the usual fundraiser fare of live and silent auctions. Tickets are $75 per person. Call 734-9673 to make your reservations by September 8.
The Alamo Theatre Arts Council will present the 14th annual Globe Awards on September 26 - a fact that makes those of us who attended the first one, and the feel-good theater event of that year, the after-party at Ruffino's, feel very, very old. Annella Keys and John O'Neill will host. Beloved theater curmudgeon and eminence-grise, John Igo, will present Remembrances (and who remembers better than he?), and the self-titled "oldest broad in broadcasting," Mary Denman, will receive recognition for the years dedicated to her other love - the theater, as the recipient of the 2004 Jasmina Wellinghoff Award for outstanding contribution to theater.
The main business of the evening, however, is to present awards of excellence to participants in local theater in any of 25 different categories. Productions at area theaters that were seen by the required minimum number of ATAC judges are eligible for nomination based on those judges' numerically scored ballots. Outstanding scores in each category are recognized. In the spirit of award shows everywhere, entertainment is provided in the form of scenes from the past theatrical season.
The event begins at 6 p.m. at McAllister Auditorium on the San Antonio College campus. Tickets are $20 per person. Checks and money orders can be mailed to the ATAC Treasurer, P. O. Box 12671, San Antonio, TX 78212. Credit card purchases may be made through the San Pedro Playhouse Box Office by calling 733-7258. The reservation deadline is September 20.
Compiled by Laurie Dietrich
TheatreASAP
LAST UPDATE: 8/26/2004 10:41:03 AM
Posted By: Liz Quinones
WOAI.com
Plan to attend TheatreASAP,
sponsored by the San Antonio Theatre Coalition.
A 24-Hour theatre making event designed to showcase the diversity and talent of the local theatre community.
To be held at The Sheldon Vexler
Theatre
located at 12500 NW Military Hwy.
Saturday, September 11th at 8 p.m.
Tickets only $10
Call 210-308-6828 for reservations
TheatreASAP Writers. Directors. Actors. 24-Hours. Come be a part of ‘seat-of-your-pants’ theatre – where anything can happen!
Top Ticket: 'Theater ASAP'
Web Posted: 09/05/2004 12:00 AM CDT
As if the pressure of pulling together a play in six weeks wasn't quite enough for them, some local theater folks are going to write, rehearse and produce six 10-minute plays in 24 hours. The San Antonio Theater Coalition's "Theater ASAP" begins Friday, when six playwrights will get things rolling. They'll turn over their scripts to the directors early Saturday morning, and the casts will spend the day rehearsing. The finished products can be seen starting at 8 p.m. Saturday at the Sheldon Vexler Theater, which is inside the Jewish Community Center, 12500 N.W. Military. Tickets cost $10, and are available at the Vex and at the San Pedro Playhouse. Call (210) 302-6835 or (210) 733-7258 for more information.
Deborah Martin
Spotlight on 'Theater ASAP'
Web Posted: 09/09/2004 12:00 AM CDT
One of the ideas behind "Theater ASAP," a 24-hour play fest being presented by San Antonio Theater Coalition, is to involve as much of the theater community as possible, and it looks like they've pulled that off. Friday night at 8, six local playwrights will gather at San Antonio College. They'll receive a phrase, a prop and a sketchy description of a cast (for example, two women in their 20s and a middle-age man). Then they'll dash home and cook up a script for a 10-minute play using those elements. Six local directors will take over at 8 a.m. Saturday, when they'll meet at the San Pedro Playhouse to select their casts and get to work on the shows. And who are the writers and directors? They are Eli Rios (front, from left), Laurie Dietrich and Latrelle Bright; Gregory Hinojosa (second row, from left), Sterling Houston and Deon C. van Rooyen; Diane Malone (third row, from left) and Bruce Limpus; and Gregg Barrios (back row, from left), Richard Rosen and Irma Mayorga. (Director Jim Mammarella is not shown.) The final products will be staged at 8 p.m. Saturday at the Sheldon Vexler Theater at the Jewish Community Center, 12500 N.W. Military Hwy. Tickets, $10, are available through the box offices at the Vex and the San Pedro Playhouse. Call (210) 302-6835.
—Deborah Martin
Theater Review: Brief plays not short on entertainment
Web Posted: 09/14/2004 12:00 AM CDT
Deborah Martin
San Antonio Express-News
San Antonio's first ever 24-hour play fest, dubbed "Theater ASAP," came off with very few glitches and produced an evening of satisfying 10-minute plays.
The event was produced by the San Antonio Theater Coalition as a way to raise the profile of theater in the city and to bring together artists who might not have worked together before. The coalition intends to stage the festival annually, hopefully as part of the city's Fall Arts Festivals.
Based of the quality of work produced in the first go-round, it would be a worthy addition.
The festival began at 8 p.m. Friday. Six playwrights — Bruce Limpus, Sterling Houston, Laurie Dietrich, Deon van Rooyen, Irma Mayorga and Gregg Barrios — gathered at McCreless Theater at San Antonio College to draw phrases and props that they would have to incorporate into their 10-minute scripts. They also drew the number of actors they would have, and brief, nameless descriptions of those actors. Then they headed home to write.
Twelve hours later, 22 actors and six directors met at the San Pedro Playhouse. The directors — Gregory Hinojosa, Eli Rios, Richard Rosen, Latrelle Bright, Jim Mammarella and Diane Malone — were handed their scripts and cast lists, then spent the morning rehearsing at the playhouse and across the street at SAC.
At 1 p.m., they drove across town to the Sheldon Vexler Theater for tech rehearsals.
The show started at 8 p.m. with Limpus' "The Duel," a silly, entertaining piece in which two cowboys (Carl Rush and Don Frame) battled for the hand of their mutual beloved (Annella Keys).
Next up was Houston's Fiesta-themed "A Day and a Night in Old San Anto." In it, a mother (Martha Prentiss) and daughter (Renee Garvens) work on cascarones to sell to a woman (Mellissa Marlowe) who helps run A Night in Old San Antonio. The smart, funny piece dealt with the racial issues that swirl just below the surface of Fiesta.
It also boasted the strongest visual element of the evening, courtesy of director Rios. He filmed Prentiss and Garvens working on cascarones and projected the image onto a white tablecloth, a beautiful touch that enhanced an already strong piece.
The final piece of the first act was Dietrich's knowing "Goose Variations." In it, an older couple (Pete Sanchez and Kathleen Lovejoy) who once ran a theater are giving their vast store of props and costumes to a younger couple (Tom Walker and Chris Di Piero) with their own hopeful (or, perhaps, naïve) artistic notions. The sharp piece struck a chord with the audience, particularly a line about funding theater in San Antonio.
Van Rooyen's "The Road Less Traveled" was an intriguing work about a man (Chris McDowell) whose life seems like a long road toward disaster. It built steadily to a chilling conclusion. The gifted cast also included Jenelva Carter, Samantha Garcia, Matthew Worthey and Nikki Young.
Mayorga's "Reverse Transatlantic" was set at the Institute of Texan Cultures, and focused on the thwarted dreams of a living history actor (Don Cass), a janitor (Sharon Smith) and an intern (Asia Ciaravino). The piece was intelligent and funny and built to a beautiful final image.
The evening ended with Barrios' "Desperately Seeking: WMD," a racy piece about a couple (Gloria Sanchez and Hector Machado) whose budding romance collapses when he disappears right around Sept. 11, off to hunt for weapons of mass destruction. She later learns he was sent out by a man (Michael Avila) with an eye for her. A snooping neighbor (Greg Hall) was a nice comic touch.
The only problems were behind the scenes. There were some computer compatibility problems early Saturday morning that were swiftly dispatched.
The productions themselves came off without a visible hitch.
All in a Day's Frenzy: 6 Plays in 24 Hours
By JASON ZINOMAN
Published: September 15, 2004
The New York Times
They can't say they weren't warned. On Sunday night Tina Fallon, a producer of
"The 24-Hour Plays'' on Broadway - an annual benefit in which six one-acts are
written, cast, directed and performed in less than a day - told about three
dozen theater artists what they were in for. "At some point, you will regret
doing this,'' she said, standing inside the American Airlines Theater's upstairs
lounge. "But it will pass."
Since 2001, Working Playground, a nonprofit organization that provides arts
programs for New York City public schools, has recruited hundreds of artists for
this theatrical high-wire act. The most recent event began when stars such as
Christina Ricci, Lili Taylor and Matthew Lillard met at 10 p.m. on Sunday to
introduce themselves and hear instructions from their producers. It ended one
day later on the stage in front of hundreds of audience members.
11 P.M. SUNDAY Ready, set, cast! Inside a cramped hotel room on the 32nd floor
of the W Hotel in Manhattan, six playwrights (David Lindsay-Abaire, Julia
Jordan, Warren Leight, Christopher Shinn, Chris Henchy and Jeff Whitty) huddle
around Polaroid pictures of 22 actors. The scene resembles a fantasy football
draft for theater fanatics. The writers, most of whom are as straight-faced as
poker players in the middle of a bluff, take turns choosing actors, while
shouting out questions like "Can Amanda Peet be loud?'' or "Who here can sing?''
According to at least two observers, Mr. Leight ("Side Man'') was one of the big
winners of the night: he picked an impressive lineup that included Billy Crudup,
the raffishly handsome leading man who was last on Broadway starring in "The
Elephant Man''; Amanda Peet, a beautiful comic actress with little stage
experience; and Aasif Mandvi, a character actor currently starring in the
docudrama "Guantánamo.''
Mr. Leight laughs at his success. "I got these stars to act in my play today,''
he said, "but tomorrow I'm struggling to get a workshop at the Roundabout.''
MIDNIGHT Warren Leight, who looks like a folky Elvis Costello, retreats to his
hotel room one floor upstairs, lays the pictures of his cast next to his laptop
and starts imagining scenarios. A love affair between Mr. Crudup and Ms. Peet?
Or how about a fling between Mr. Crudup and Mr. Mandvi? "Aasif looks Middle
Eastern, so I could do something political,'' he says. "But I don't want to be
didactic.'' Mr. Leight, who has written for the "24-Hour Plays'' three times,
threw out his script at 3 p.m. last year. "At around 5 p.m., you go back to your
tired old bag of tricks,'' he says, then gives a big grin.
12:30 A.M. MONDAY Mr. Leight searches for Internet inspiration on the Drudge
Report and the Internet Movie Database. No luck. He receives a call from one of
the producers saying that Brooke Shields, who is married to Mr. Henchy, is
available for a cameo.
2 A.M. After mulling over two ideas - a tag sale in which a collection of props
reveals the secrets of a man's life or a highly charged reunion between a
brother and a sister - Mr. Leight settles on the second one. "Billy and Amanda
look alike,'' he says. "In this exercise, you have to write for the actors.''
As for the structure of the piece, he says, "I always try 'funny, funny, funny,
funny, sad.' ''
6:30 A.M. Mr. Leight finishes his play, titled "United,'' about a half-hour past
deadline and sends it by e-mail to the producers. It is about gay man who is
paying his sister a visit to tell her that he is getting married. The twist is
that his future husband, played by Mr. Mandvi, is the sister's ex-boyfriend. At
the middle of a confrontation between the former lovers, Ms. Shields walks
through the airport in a brief, and somewhat random, sight gag.
7 A.M. The directors arrive at the theater, read Mr. Leight's script and the
five others, and select their three favorites. The producers assign Mr. Leight's
one-act to Michael John Garcés, a director who staged Off Broadway dramas such
as Kia Corthron's "Force Continuum'' and Brooke Berman's "Triple Happiness.'' At
the first read-through, the actors' initial impression of the script is that
there is a lot to memorize. "It just goes on and on, doesn't it?'' says Ms. Peet
about her first big monologue.
11 A.M. After discussing the relationships of the script ("It reminds me of 'Franny
and Zooey,' '' Ms. Peet said) and defining some terms (P-Town, blogs), Mr.
Garcés is happy with the show's progress. Mr. Crudup has found several hilarious
line readings in his flamboyant portrayal, but Mr. Garcés thinks the meeting
between the male lovers needs to be more intimate. "There needs to be more, you
know, sexual heat,'' he says, shaking his pelvis. Mr. Crudup, flashing a
devilish smile, looks at Mr. Mandvi and says "Feel free to grab my ass.''He then
turns to Ms. Peet, "You can feel free, too.''
12:30 P.M. In a startlingly short amount of time, the performances take shape
and the actors look increasingly confident - until, that is, the playwright
visits. Mr. Leight slips in the rehearsal room, which has shifted to a lounge at
the Ford Center for the Performing Arts on 42nd Street, and tried to put the
actors at ease. "I'm going to be doing lots of this,'' he says, sarcastically
grabbing his head in agony. Still, the actors tensed up with him in the room,
losing concentration. When Ms. Peet refers to "Brunello'' as a "bordello,'' for
the second time, Mr. Leight quips, "Cook much?''
5 P.M. Actors struggling to learn their dialogue often resemble asylum patients
- pacing, cursing and repeating the same sentences over and over. But Ms. Peet
is looking increasingly unhinged after running the scene scores of times and
still forgetting passages. "I would pay someone $2 million to do this instead of
me,'' she says.
5:45 P.M. After technical rehearsal, the cast goes home to change and rest.
8 P.M. It is minutes before the shows begin. Backstage, Sam Rockwell is jogging
in place. Anna Paquin is calmly reading the paper. Mr. Crudup, Ms. Peet and Mr.
Mandvi are sitting in a triangle, nervously racing through their monologues. Mr.
Mandvi pauses to laugh after saying his line - "Oh, look, there's Brooke
Shields'' - because, in this case, Ms. Shields has actually just walked in, with
her 15-month-old in tow. The three stars are momentarily distracted, but after a
few seconds of making faces at the child, they are back to the script.
Meanwhile, Rosie Perez approaches the Amazonian Ms. Shields. "Could you take my
place?'' she asks. "I'm going insane here.''
9:00 P.M. As soon as Mr. Crudup makes his swishy entrance, it is clear that
"United'' is going to be a crowdpleaser. Ms. Peet glides through the scene with
easy charm until midway; then her mind goes blank and she begins to improvise.
"I just don't know what to say,'' she says twice before looking at her feet.
"I'm stumped.''
A long awkward pause.
Mr. Leight, sitting in the orchestra, gets a sinking feeling as several members
of the audience whisper to one another. By the look on her face, Ms. Peet has
probably reached the point of regret that Ms. Fallon mentioned almost 24 hours
ago. Then Mr. Mandvi takes a script out of his bag, prompting one of the biggest
cheers of the evening. The moment of regret passes and Ms. Peet erupts in
giggles while Mr. Mandvi, hamming it up, fakes leaving the stage as if in
embarrassment. The crowd eats it up.
"People like bloopers,'' Mr. Leight says at intermission.
Even playwrights? He won't go that far, but he acknowledges that once the play
is onstage, it is out of his hands. " 'The 24-Hour Plays' is a good exercise in
learning how to let go,'' he says.
This page was last updated on
05/19/10