by Michael Meigs

We've all lost ourselves in cinema dreams.  In her charming hour with us in West Side Terri, Terri Mowrey takes the audaciously simple concept of re-enacting for her audience the 1961 film of West Side Story.

The music, the quips and the scenes live in most of us.  Robert Wise and choreographer Jerome Robbins took the musical by Leonard Bernstein and Steven Sondheim and converted it into memorable American folk myth, a Romeo and Juliet story with exciting cinematography, social consciousness, compassion, jazzy dance and a fine tearjerker of an ending.  The moral was voiced by Doc, the aggrieved old pharmacist, after death and disaster intervened: "Why can't you kids just get along?"

Terri's fiction is that she's at home in her apartment with its proud Mexican-heritage decorations when that noisy neighbor upstairs starts playing loud music, yet again.  She realizes that this time he's playing the whole soundtrack of West Side Story.  Delighted, she goes off into her dream and takes us with us, retelling the film, singing along, scooping up props from around the living room and dancing with the abandon of an eight-year-old and the charisma of an adult.

We enjoy the music and recall the scenes.  In the course of this hour-long frolic, we get tidbits about the movie -- for example, that dazzling aerial shot at the opening is swooping down toward desolate blocks that before too long would be converted to Lincoln Center; and Jerome Robins was taken off the choreography because the film was running over budget.  We also learn about Terri herself.  She tells us of her terrible disappointment when in 1992 ("yes, I'm that old") she blew her audition for the character of sexpot Anita, perhaps because she wanted it so very much.  She recalls an episode in elementary school when an awkward Hispanic boy was shunned because his parents sent him to school with a burrito for lunch, packed in a thermos.

Terrri loves the film but she's no purist; she's happy to knead the characters to suit her own fantasies.  A mezzo, herself, she dismisses Maria, the lead played by Natalie Wood, referring to her as 'that soprano.'  She undercuts the amiable but forgettable Tony portrayed by Richard Beymer by giving him dull-witted reactions and the voice of Keanu Reeves. She laughs a bit at the frills of the Puerto Rican characters and at the absurdity of finger-snapping, pirouettes and pliés.  Her vivid and often surprising renderings of familiar scenes are a delight.  Older and more experienced now, perhaps wiser, she's still enchanted by the sweep of tragic romance.  Her enthusiasm is a reminder how much we're all shaped by the myths of our times, and how willingly we embrace them.

Jay Fraley, a talented actor and relatively recent transplant from southern California, brought Terri to Austin to do this piece, originally performed to acclaim with the Monkey Wrench Collective in Orange County.  Thanks to him and to Terri for a happy time.

EXTRA

Click to view Terri Mowrey's program sheet for West Side Terri

Classic Theatre of San Antonio holds auditions for Scapin, by Molière February 17 and 18

Appointments from 6PM-9PM, with call backs on the 19th. ALL ROLES ARE PAID.

Location: The Sterling Houston Theater at Jump-Start, 108 Blue Star, in the Blue Star Arts Complex at the corner of S. Alamo and Probandt, San Antonio, Texas, 78204 (click for map )

The Classic Theater of San Antonio presents Scapin adapted from Molière by Bill Irwin and Mark O'Donnell, directed by Matthew Byron Cassi.  Performance Dates: May 10th - 26th, 2013. Rehearsals: April/May 2013.

Auditions on Sun and Mon, Feb 17th and 18th 6-9pm at Jump Start Theater. PLEASE CALL FLORENCE TO SCHEDULE A 15 MINUTE AUDITION APPOINTMENT, (210) 589-8450.   Auditions will consist of monologues and cold readings from the script. Please prepare a 1-2 minute contemporary physical monologue.

This adaptation of Molière's 325-year-old farce Les Fourberies de Scapin follows-with some alterations-the play's original structure. It keeps the play in period setting while adding a late twentieth century spin to the language and action, and borrowing some final lines from Molière's La Contesse D'escarbagnas. "This SCAPIN, directed by Irwin...from his felicitous adaptation with Mark O'Donnell, would probably have gone over big with the same audience who first saw Molière's Fourberies de Scapin...in Paris in 1671." -NY Times. "Commedia dell'arte and vaudeville have at least two things in common: baggy pants and Bill Irwin. All make for a natural fit in the celebrated clown's entirely unconventional adaptation of Molière's SCAPIN." -Variety.

Scapin will be played by Juliard Graduate Brenden Spieth. 

Roles: 6 men, 3 women (extra's flexible casting) - 11 Total  (Click 'Read more' for character list)

Capital T's short video picks the best of the 196 laudatory words of Jillian's Owen's comments in the Austin Chronicle, January 31. Gruesome Playground Injuries is a sweet, moody piece about a couple of friends who never made it together but were always there for one another.  It gives Jason Newman the opportunity to demonstrate range and intensity, and introduces the sometimes gawky and sometimes beautiful Laura Artesi.  An Austin Live Theatre review is forthcoming.

presents

Gruesome Playground Injuries

by Rajiv Joseph

directed by Kelsey King

Capital T at FronteraFest 2013, Salvage Vanguard Theatre, 2803 Manor Rd.

Remaining performances: Saturday Feb 2nd 12pm; Monday Feb 4th 8pm; Tuesday Feb 5th 8pm; Wednesday Feb 6th 8pm

In a very different kind of love story an accident prone dare devil and a corrosive masochist navigate friendship, love and the squishy parts that lie in between. As they mature from accident-prone kids to self-destructive adults, their broken hearts and broken bones draw them ever closer.

Cap T is proud to present this quirky love story of self inflicted wounds and the healing we need from others starring Jason Newman and Laura Artesi and directed by Kelsey Kling.

A video by Dannie Snyder and LIV Creations for

and its upcoming workshop production of environmental puppetry

Once There Were Six Seasons

Feb. 21^st – March 3^rd. Thursdays-Saturdays @ 8 PM, Sundays @ 6 PM.

Salvage Vanguard Theatre, 2803 E. Manor Road, Austin, TX, 78722  - click for map

Tickets: Sliding scale $12-$20. Pay-what-you-can: Sunday February 24^th. Some ASL interpreted performances (see ticketing site for details). The two-weekend workshop performance will include opportunities for audience feedback and interaction, including talkbacks hosted by Rudy Ramirez and In.gredients.

Once There Were Six Seasons from LIV creations on Vimeo.

Glass Half Full Theatre presents a workshop production of Once There Were Six Seasons, an original work of environmental puppetry. Puppeteers manipulate vast miniature landscapes to address the impact of climate change on subsistence societies around the world. From the Arctic to the Philippines to the high plains of Texas, this work highlights how the accelerating pace of human-caused climate change has outstripped the ability of traditional cultures to adapt their lifestyles. From B. Iden Payne award-winning director and writer Caroline Reck, with an award winning cast of puppeteer/performers: Connor Hopkins, Rommel Sulit, Noel Gaulin, Gricelda Silva, and Parker Dority, and award-wining designers Eliot Haynes and Stephen Pruitt.

Doctuh Mistuh Productions invites performers to submit digital auditions for REEFER MADNESS, The Musical, to be performed in Austin June 6-30, 2013.

The production will be directed by Michael McKelvey (B. Iden Payne Award, Sweeney Todd and Assassins) with set design by Joe Carpenter (Mary Moody Northen Theatre) and costumes by Glenda Barnes (B. Iden Payne Award, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson).  The performance location and additional production staff will be announced shortly.

All auditions will be through on-line submission. To get details, interested performers should email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .  Auditioners will be asked to perform one-minute of a song (32 bars) in the style of the show and a one-minute public service message about the dangers or benefits of marijuana.  Auditioners will receive character descriptions by e-mail.

Reefer Madness is a musical satire of the 1936 cult film classic Reefer Madness.  It opened in Los Angeles in 1998.  The book and lyrics were written by Kevin Murphy and the music by Dan Studney. Directed by Andy Fickman, it was initially shown at the Hudson Theater on Santa Monica Boulevard in Los Angeles and then moved to the New York "Off-Broadway" scene. The show opened Off Broadway on September 15, 2001, and closed shortly thereafter.  Showtime made a film version in 2005 starring Kristen Bell, Steven Weber, Neve Cambell and Alan Cumming.

[ALT note: you can view the 68-minute film via Netflix.  Click here to go to the Netflix page.]

DM Productions made its debut on the Austin Theatre scene in October 2009 with its hit, EVIL DEAD, THE MUSICAL (nominated by the Austin Critics’ Table for Outstanding Production of a Musical).  The group has since produced two more productions, COMPANY (a benefit for the Breast Cancer Resource Center) and last summer’s BLOODY BLOODY ANDREW JACKSON (recipient of three B. Iden Payne Awards).  Doctuh Mistuh Productions' mission is to produce Off-Broadway works with an edge and landmark musicals that may be unfamiliar to Austin audiences.

Auditions for Divas III: Broadway Babes

Sunday Feb 2 from 4- 6PM, Monday Feb 3 @ 7PM and Sun Feb 10 @ 2 at the Gaslight-Baker Theatre, 216 S Main St, Lockhart, Texas (click for map).

This all-female revue, directed by the GBT’s Artistic Director Tysha Calhoun, seeks triple threat performers: women who can sing, act and dance. Please prepare two stylistically different pieces of music and bring your own backing track. Thumb drives or CD’s are appropriate. No backup accompaniment will be provided and a capella auditions will be at the discretion of the director.  Dress comfortably as you will be required to learn a few basic choreography steps to the chorus of “Cell Block Tango" from Chicago.

Contact the director Tysha Calhoun at 512-426-1059 for more specific information

Auditions for The Gospel Accordin’ To Texas! -- the Original, down home, foot stompin’, “Gotta have a fiddle in the band” Country Musical, written & directed by LeRoy Nienow

Sat. 2/9 @ 9 am for Children, 2:00 pm for adults
Sun. 2/10 @ 2 pm for adults only
Additional “Call Backs” by Invitation Only Mon. Feb. 11 @ 7:00 pm
Westlake United Methodist Church 1460 Redbud Trail, West Lake Hills, TX 78746 (click for map)

Large multi-racial Cast of Men, Women & Children -- Singers, Actors, Dancers, with a Live, On Stage, Country Band
*All Roles Open – No Pre-Casting*

Be prompt and prepared to stay for:

• Singing a Country Standard, sheet music or Trax

• Some moderate movement - Dress comfortably & modest

• Reading from the Script - for Principal Roles only

*Please bring Calendars for rehearsal conflicts*  Headshots & Resumes helpful, but not required

Rehearsals will begin Sunday March 3rd  -- Show runs Friday, Sat. & Sun. April 26, 27 & 28  

Don’t Sing?  Come join the fun on a Back Stage Crew!

For more Info. visit the director's website, call LeRoy @ 891-9088 or call the church @ 327-1335

(University of Texas theatres, Winship Drama Bldg. (WIN), near 23rd St. and San Jacinto, Austin)

presents

The Edge of Peace

by Susan Zeder

directed by Linda Hartzell

Feb. 1, 2, 6, 7, 8, 9 at 8 p.m.

Feb. 3, 10 at 2 p.m.

B. Iden Payne Theatre, Winship Drama Bldg near 24th and San Jacinto
$15.00-25.00 available on-line

a world Premiere presented by the Department of Theatre and Dance in partnership with Seattle Children’s Theatre

“This is the town of Ware. W.A.R.E. Streets, three. Houses, fifteen. Farms, ten. Churches, four. A garage, sawmill and a store. Not much more. Down in town a boy waits…”   A play for all ages, The Edge of Peace tells the touching story of Buddy, a young boy struggling to make sense of a world at war.

(Click to return to the AustinLiveTheatre front page)

Robert Moncrief's video of Joey Hood, Molly Karrasch and Kaci Beeler of

talking about

Click for additional information at AustinLiveTheatre.com