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TheatreASAP Articles and Reviews

Footlightseptiembre
originally posted on The Current website 9/2/04

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

San Antonio Express-News

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

San Antonio Express-News

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.

dlmartin@express-news.net

Related Articles

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/15/theater/newsandfeatures/15play.html?pagewanted=2&ei=1&en=489ca02cae5994b0&ex=1096244716

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 02/13/08