Refraction Arts Project
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fuse Box
a month-long festival merging theater, film,
art, dance, and music
On Stage:
Fear of a Fuhrer
by Abi Basch
Lacuna
by Kimberly Burke
WHERE ARE THEY NOW???
by Cyndi Williams
Artists:
Erin Curtis,
Katalin Haursel, Cecilia Israel-Bradfield, Erick Michaud, Jared Steffensen,
Monika Bustamante, Sonnet Blanton and Sam Webber, Jenny Larson, Jaclyn Prior,
Samantha Randall, Thuy-Van Vu, Lisa Lehmenkuhler, Thorsten Bihegue, Kathrin
Feldhaus, Stefanie Fielder, Caroline Schlockwerder, Lauren Tietz and the
Improvisational Movement Project.
Includes a final week of
site-specific pieces, culminating with an all-day adventure on Saturday, April
30!
poster and post card designed by Liz Berry
Refraction Arts
Project is dedicated to creating bold new works of art across a variety of
media, including film, theater, art and music. We are especially interested in
the intersection of these
different media as
we search for new stories, new sounds and images that pulse with life. As
artists we feel it is paramount to continue learning about the world in an
active and vigorous fashion. To participate, openly and fully, creating a
dialogue between our selves, our work, and our community. Our vision is an
immediate one, one we hope offers possibility and new ways of looking at the
world. We pledge to create our art with a diligence and playful fervor and to
continue to build a body of work that is alive and challenging and accessible.
We pledge to speak the truth as we see it, without concealment or evasion and
with a fearless unashamed frontal assault upon life that will leave no room for
trepidation . . . We hope you join us.
Refraction Arts
Project Inc. is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization devoted to fostering
innovative new works for theater, film, music and art installation. Refraction
Arts has developed many
productions since
its founding in 1996. We are a small arts organization, with many belonging to
our family from the theater, film and music communities in Austin, Minneapolis,
and New York City. In our attempts to keep the Blue Theater running as a
performance space in Austin, we can use all the help we can get. If you would
like to be a part of Refraction Arts please contact us at 512-927-1118, or
visit refractionarts.org.
Fear of a Fuhrer
written and directed by Abi Basch
Production Team:
Dramaturg: Lissa
Lehmenkühler
Music Composition:
Jon Nelson and Adam Sultan
Sound Design: Eliot
Haynes
Film Design:
Thuy-Van Vu
Costume Design:
Allison Stelly
Puppet Design:
Francesca Marquis
Production Manager:
Caroline Schlockwerder
Actors: Stephanie
Stephens, Thorsten Bihegue, Stefanie Fiedler, Kathrin Feldhaus, Adam Sultan
April 15-17
Lacuna
written by Kimberly Burke
directed by Jonathan Mazer
music composed by Rob Halverson
Cast:
Sharon Sparlin: The Tattooed Woman
Elizabeth Wakehouse:* Claire/Coho
Cody Kirk: Daikon
Douglas Taylor*: JT
Miriam Rubin: Minnie
Jessica Smolins: Jenna/Geek Girl
Rommel Sulit: Horishi
Lauren Bahr: Tattooed Tamara
Alex Cogburn: Bed of Nails Boy
Hannah Robinson: Pig Faced Woman
**Douglas Taylor and Elizabeth Wakehouse are members
of the Actors' Equity Association.
Crew:
Carolyn O'Hara: Tattoo Makeup Artist
Sam Chesney: Lighting Designer
DW Jones : Set Designer
Lindsay Layer: Costume Designer
Dana White: Props
Virginia Yount: Banner Art
Sharon Sparlin: Choreography
Cary Urso : Stage
Manager
Travis Cousins: Assistant Stage Manager
Harry Santiago: Assistant Director
Jonathan Urso: Light and Sound Board Op
Additional
Composing: Thor Harris and Steve Bernal.
Musicians:
Steve Bernal
(cello), Lynn Boland (tuba, trumpet), Kim Burke (upright bass), Rob Halverson
(organ, percussion, piano, slide whistle, violin, various), Thor Harris (vibes,
frame drum, dulcimer), Paul Klemporer (saxophones, clarinet), Brock Miller
(drums), and Raul Vallejo (trombone).
Special Thanks:Suzan Zeder, Daniel Alexander Jones, Valerie Tamburri, Scott Kanoff, Andrew Shea, Corey Atkins, Jaime Castaneda, Carson Kreitzer, and Robert Pierson.
April
21-21, 30
WHERE ARE THEY NOW???
a fantasy based on a true story
written by Cyndi Williams
directed by Julia M. Smith and
Cyndi Williams
choreography by Julia M. Smith
stage
manager/assistant director: Anne
Hulsman
sound/
light design: Eliot Haynes
original
songs by: Catherine Berry
“Rock
and Roll Suicide” performed by: Leigh
Fisher and Robert Fisher
set/costume
consultant: Ron Berry
dramaturgy: Ron Berry, Shannon Grounds, Anne Hulsman, T.
Lynn Mikeska, Julia M. Smith
Cast:
Hilary: Shannon Grounds
Anne: T. Lynn Mikeska
Other: Julia M. Smith
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Next to the Four Seasons Hotel
Lunch from 11 to 5 / dinner, 5 to 10
Thank you to the following businesses, organizations, and
individual for their support of Refraction Arts:
The Austin
Community Foundation, The Nowlin Family Fund
Ace Mart, Baby
Acapulco's, Chez Nous, Colonial Bank, Cycled
Plastics, d-fly jewelry, the Driskill, El
Azteca, Embassy Suites, Fiesta Mart,
Flipnotics, Grapevine Market, HEB, Hoover's,
Iron Cactus, Junior's, larry-martingallery.com, Loretta's Cheesecakes, Manuels,
Nueva Leon, Pink, the Radisson, SXSW, Skipper
Chong Warson Design, Spider House, Stephen F. Austin
Hotel, Strait Music, Thomas Graphics, Tindles
Pilates, Tito's Vodka, Touch O Green Landscaping, West Lynn Cafe'
Austin
Script Works, Charlotte Craig
& Jan Tinker Psychic/Tarot Readings, Chick and a
Dude, dirigo group, Emily Cropper & Kitty Kitty Bang Bang, Hyde Park Theatre, Lauren Tietz Pilates, Leonardo
Martinez Massage, Planned Parenthood, Rude Mechs,
Salvage Vanguard, State Theater, St. Ed's, Throw-Up Comedy Juggling Duo,
Vortex
John Avery, Chic
Beland, Catherine Berry & Eddy Hobizal, Liz Berry, Ronald and Genelle Berry, Amy Bryant,
Kevin Collins, Art DiBianca, Elaine Dove, Leigh
Fisher, Blair Fox, Greg Grosh, Harvey Guion, Dan Heath, Melba Martinez, Eve McArthur, Steve Moore, Julie Nathanielz, Carla Beth Nowlin, Samantha Randall, Lauren
Tietz, Scott Wilcox, Bob and Pat Williams, Dana Younger, Phillip Judah
Funded in part by
the City of Austin
under the auspices
of the Austin Arts Commission
Artist Bios
Lauren
Bahr (Tattooed Tamara, Lacuna) will
graduate from the University of Texas at Austin this May. In addition to many
other artistic pursuits, she has been acting since age thirteen. Highlights of
her college career include her role as Katie in Danielle Monsalvo’s Kisses
(Fall 2003) and the Moon in Federico Garcia Lorca’s Blood Wedding (Fall 2004).
She is currently writing a one-woman-show and plans to move to New York this
summer.
Abi
Basch's (Playwright, Fear of a Fuhrer)
plays have been presented at the Bay Area Playwrights Festival, Brave New Works
in Atlanta, and hotINK! in New York. She's been a finalist for the Weissberger
Award at Williamstown and received Best of Fest in Frontera. She's completing
an MFA in Playwriting at UT, is a Core member of Austin Script Works and will
receive a second Jerome Fellowship this year from the Playwrights' Center in
Minneapolis.
Catherine
Berry (Composer, WHERE ARE THEY NOW???) a singer-songwriter and performer
has composed nearly a dozen original songs for Refraction Arts, for
the productions Butcher's Daughter, The
Metamorphasis, Complicitly Yours and others. Ms. Berry was last seen in her
one woman show Spin! An Inverted Musical
at the Blue Theater. She will be holding concerts every month
with Monday Night Music Project at Hyde Park Theater starting in May 2005.
Ron Berry
(Director, site-specific) is the Artistic Director for Refraction Arts and a
Core Member of Austin Script Works. He
has been nominated for numerous B. Iden Payne and Critics Table Awards, as an
actor, director and writer. Last year,
his play Orange was nominated for the
American Theater Critics Association national New Play Award. His performative art installation, The North
Project, was voted the Best Art Event of 03 by the Austin Chronicle. He is working on a performance piece based on the
life and writings of Joseph Mitchell, premiering this July at the Blue.
Kimberly
Burke (Playwright, Lacuna) is an MFA
candidate in playwriting at the University of Texas at Austin, where she holds
Michener, Shenkkan, and Conkle Scholarships.
She is a CORE member of Austin Script Works, and has served as
Playwright in Residence with New York Stage and Film. Her plays have been read and performed in Texas, Tennessee,
Alaska, South Carolina, Illinois, and New York. She is the recipient of a 2005-6 Jerome Fellowship through the
Playwright’s Center in Minneapolis, where she plans to move in July. She also plays upright bass in the band
Shearwater.
Monika Bustamante (Writer, site-specific) received her MFA in Playwriting with a Michener Fellowship from
the University of Texas at Austin. She is a company member of Refraction Arts
Project and Hyde Park Theatre, and has performed with Austin Shakespeare
Festival, UT-Austin, Salvage Vanguard Theatre, RAP, Hyde Park Theatre, and
others. She plans to balance impending staggering success with generosity and
modesty.
Sam Chesney (Lighting Designer, Lacuna) has been a designer and technician in and around Austin for six years. He is currently enrolled at the University of Texas at Austin.
Alex
Cogburn, Bed of Nails Boy, Lacuna) is
a junior at the University of Texas at Austin, where he has appeared in Cabaret, The Honorable Urashima Taro, Box of
Chocolates, and Rich and Strange
Cabaret II. His performance as
Lysander in A Midsummer Night’s Dream garnered
him a Best Supporting Actor Award from the 2002 UIL OAP Competition.
Travis Cousins (Assistant Stage Manager, Lacuna) is finishing his first year at UT. Travis has performed as Sir Toby in the Roundabout Players'
"Twelfth Night" and worked running crew for "My Sister in This
House."
Erin Curtis (Installation artist) is a first-year MFA
student at the University of Texas, Austin.
She received her BA from Williams College in 1999. Her work uses a
variety of materials in an effort to describe our relationship to the natural
and the constructed world.
Leigh Fisher (Vocals, WHERE ARE THEY NOW???)
has been with RAF since 2000 and has been involved with many of their
productions including all 3 Celebrity Crushes, The Metamorphosis, the workshop
production of Orange, References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot, and most
recently, American Arcana, where she played the Gospel singer. Catch her this June in Stall Graffiti ATX at
the Blue Theater.
Shannon Grounds (Hilary, WHERE ARE THEY NOW???) was last seen in the FronteraFest production of "Where Are
They Now?", "Orange" for Refraction Arts Project, and as
Beatrice as in "Much Ado About Nothing" for The Company and Shrewd
Productions. Other recent credits
include Heather in "Blue Surge" for Hyde Park Theatre and Lavinia in
"Titus Andronicus" for the Austin
Shakespeare Festival, both for which she received
the 2004 Austin Critic's Table Award, "TempOdyssey" for Salvage
Vanguard and "As You Like It" at Zachary Scott.
Rob Halverson (Composer, Lacuna) has composed scores for theater, television and films. As a performer, he has played music for audiences in the US, Europe, and Australia. Rob lives in Austin, Texas and is involved with making records.
Katalin Hausel (Installation artist) was born in
Hungary. She received her BA in History in 1993, MA in Philosophy in 1995, and
currently she is graduate student in Painting at the University of Texas, Austin.
Anne Hulsman (Stage Manager, WHERE ARE THEY NOW???) has
been working on stage and screen in Austin for a number of years. She has
worked with Cyndi Williams in many of her plays: A Name for a Ghost to Mutter at the State Theater, Greed (Seven Deadly Sins) for Iron Belly
Muses, Woman at the Window for
Refraction Arts, and American Arcana,
which was Austin Script Works' first production. She received a Communication
degree from the University of Texas and studied Theater at the American
Conservatory Theater in San Francisco.
Cecilia Israel-Bradfield (Installation) is a second-year MFA student at the UT Austin who uses unfired
clay to sculpt a narrative of characters that engage in unexpected activities.
Her work questions social roles and the use of violence and sexuality in
television and cinema. Ceci’s work was
most recently shown in “Ink & Clay 31”(January 7 – February 14, 2005) at
the W. Keith and Janet Kellogg University Art Gallery in Pomona.
Cody Kirk
(Daikon, Lacuna) is
graduating from UT this semester with a B.A. in Theatre and Dance. He received the Marcia Gay Harden
Scholarship in performance. Some
outstanding theatre credits include “Blood Wedding,” “Bash,” “Sueño,” and “The
Last Word.” He is excited to travel
after school and continue acting.
Jenny Larson (Site-specific) is a mother, teacher, and
theatre artist. She is a resident company member of Salvage Vanguard Theatre.
Lindsay
Layer (Costume Designer, Lacuna) BFA Theatre Studies at UT c/o 2007, with
concentration in Costume Design and pursuing all-level teacher certification.
From Galveston, TX. Has produced, directed, starred, and constructed costumes for
3 Rocky Horror Picture Show Halloween performances in Austin and Houston.
Assisted on wardrobing for the student film "Hope's War" written and
directed by PhD film student Ya'Ke Smith, and on "The Very Persistent
Gappers of Frip" directed by J. Richard Smith. Currently working on UT MFA
Graduate Acting Showcase of "Loose Ends" directed by Lucien Douglas,
and "Flesh and the Desert" directed by Robi Polgar.
Lissa
Lehmenkühler, Thorsten Bihegue, Kathrin Feldhaus, Stefanie Fiedler,
and Caroline Schlockwerder (Fear
of a Fuhrer) are visiting artists from the University of Hildesheim in
Germany who specialize in the model of Chorisches Theater. They have
collaborated on (performed in, directed, dramaturged, made films for and
arts-managed) productions in Germany, England, Switzerland, and the United
States.
Jonathan
Mazer (Director, Lacuna) is a
first year MFA directing student at UT Austin.
He moved here from New York, where he directed off-Broadway and downtown
productions, including his own adaptation of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”
(performed at the Limelight Nightclub) and the New York premiere of “Blind
Horses” by Austin’s own Dan Dietz. He
studied acting and directing at NYU, Brandeis University, and Interlochen Arts
Academy. He is a member of the Lincoln
Center Director’s Lab. This fall, he
will continue his graduate studies in directing at Northwestern University.
Marianne McGrath (Installation) originally hails from
Ventura, CA, and received her BA form the University of Colorado at Boulder,
studying fine art and biology. She is
currently a first year MFA graduate student at the University of Texas at
Austin. Recently Marianne has been exploring the interpretation of
everyday spaces through installations using the ceramic medium.
T. Lynn Mikeska (Anne, WHERE
ARE THEY NOW???) performed in Refraction Arts’
Orange, and iron belly muses’ Pains of Youth and 7 Deadly Sins. She plays the voice of one of the Love
Angels in the anime Wedding Peach for ADV Films.
Jon
Nelson (Composer, Fear of a Fuhrer) is a visual and
sound artist, focused almost exclusively on collage. His nationally syndicated
radio program (Some Assembly Required) features audio artists who appropriate
sounds. See www.Escape-Mechanism.com
and www.PostConsumerProductions.com)
Carolyn
O’Hara (Tattoo Makeup Artist, Lacuna) is a
Special Effects Makeup artist for Hawgfly Productions, based here in Austin.
Her specialties include tattoo and other body art, bruise and other special
effects makeup, prosthetics, appliances, and problem-solving. She has worked on
numerous local indie short and feature films and is enjoying the challenge of
live theater.
Spencer Parsons (Site-specific) is a filmmaker, writer, and teacher living in Austin, TX.
He was recently honored with a special jury prize at the 2005 SXSW film
festival for his short, "Once and Future Asshole," starring and
crewed by several Refractionistas. Past productions with Refraction Arts
include writing the original play "Complicitly Yours" and writing and
directing the short film, "A Common Confusion." He is currently
preparing to make a feature film in Austin and Denmark.
Jaclyn Pryor (Site-specific) is an interdisciplinary performance artist based in Austin; she
has also worked as a director, writer, actor, and designer in St. Louis,
Chicago, and New York. Pryor received
her B.A. in Performing Arts from Washington University and her M.A. in
Performance as Public Practice from UT; she is currently pursuing her Ph.D. Floodlines, which she conceived and
directed, premiered in Austin last April.
Big thanks to Refraction for producing this festival.
Hannah
M.P. Robinson (Pig Faced Woman, Lacuna) is in her
third year at The University of Texas at Austin, where she is a Theatre and
Dance/Voice major, with a concentration in musical theatre. Her hometown is
Amherst, Massachusetts, and this is her first theatrical production at UT.
Miriam
Yucht Rubin (Minnie, Lacuna most
recently portrayed beleaguered radio executive Debbie in the film Jo FM directed by UT MFA Candidate Jenn
Garrison. Austin theatre credits include Naughty Austin’s Sordid Lives, Refraction Arts Project’s Orange, Different Stages’ Betty’s
Summer Vacation (B. Iden Payne nomination) and Austin Children’s Theatre’s The History of Art in Forty Minutes or Less.
Miriam serves on the board and is tour coordinator for Second Youth Family
Theatre. She will soon be seen in
Second Youth’s two person touring production of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.
Harry Santiago (Assistant Director, Lacuna),
after participating in his first college level production, “The Honorable
Urashima Taro,” decided that theatre was his true calling and hopes to fulfill
his potential in acting and directing.
Currently he is also taking part in “Transportation Project” for this
year’s Festival. This is his 3rd
year at the University of Texas and plans to graduate with a Bachelor of Fine
Arts in Theatre.
Julia M. Smith (Director/choreographer, WHERE ARE THEY
NOW???) is a graduate of NYU's Tisch School of
the Arts and is company member of Refraction Arts Project. She most recently co-directed and performed
in RAP's The Philomel Project and her other acting and design work
has been seen in Orange,
American Arcana, Celebrity Crush, and Complicitly Yours. She grateful for the
opportunity to work with such great ladies again.
Jessica
Smolins (Jenna/Geek Girl, Lacuna) is a
student and professional actress residing in Austin, Texas. She is graduating this May from the
University of Texas with a BA in Theatre and Dance. Her most recent works
include her bilingual play "Finito" featured in the UT New Works
Festival, national radio and television commercials, and numerous anime movies.
She will be moving to New York City after school to pursue acting and eat
Ramen.
Sharon
Sparlin (The Tattooed Woman, Lacuna)
appeared in La Petomane: Anatomy of a Fartiste (Tongue and
Groove Theatre);The Life of Galileo, The Wars of the Roses, Torch
Song Trilogy (Public Domain); Simpatico (Dog House Theatre); Rosencrantz
& Guildenstern are Dead and the title role in MacBeth
(Disciples of Melpomene). She
co-founded and was the technical director for Iron Belly Muses. She wrote, directed and choreographed Curieosity (B. Iden Payne award
Outstanding Choreography.)
Jared
Steffensen (Installation) is a graduate of the University of Utah in
Salt Lake City, where he received his BFA with an Intermedia Sculpture
emphasis. He is currently a graduate student at the University of Texas at
Austin.
Stephanie Stephens (Performer, Fear of a Fuhrer) is a singer
and actor who has been seen playing the mother in the Refraction Arts/Physical
Plant production of "Anna Bella Eema," the doll in the Salvage
Vanguard production of "Mother Bone," and as Rebecca in the Frontera
Fest production of "Down Baby
Down" directed by Carlos Trevino. She performs with Adam Sultan in their
band Mistress Stephanie und ihre Melodishe Katze (her Melodic Cat.)
Rommel
Sulit (Horishi, Lacuna) was most
recently seen in Austin Shakespeare Festival’s "Othello" and
"The Dog in the Manger." He
played Sam Toodlehouse in Physical Plant Theater's "Not Clown,” mimed and
massaged in Bedlam Faction’s "Screwed Into the Book of Love” and returns
to the Blue for the first time since Refraction Arts’ 2003 workshop production
of “Orange.”
Adam Sultan (Composer/Performer, Fear of a Fuhrer) has performed in The Rude Mechs' 300 Plays About Vladimir Putin and Refraction Arts' Celebrity Crush. He composed music for
Physical Plant Theater's production of The
Kindermann Depiction and Refraction Arts' Orange, and writes, records
and performs with his band, The Adam Sultan Moment. More info at www.adamsultan.com.
Lauren
Tietz (Site-specific) is a choreographer, dancer, and teacher living in
Austin.
Douglas
Taylor* (JT, Lacuna) has
performed with Refraction Arts, Subterranean Theatre Company, Vortex, Zachary
Scott, State, Paramount, Different Stages, OnStage, Naughty Austin, Frontera at
Hyde Park, UT Dept of Theater and Dance, St. Edwards University Theater Summer
Stock, Salvage Vanguard Theater, the Rude Mechanicals and Austin Script
Works. Favorite performances were in Black Coffee, Uncle Vanya, The Food
Chain, Lust Supper by Kirk Lynn, Nantasket by David Mark Cohen, Fish by Cyndi
Williams, Lucifa by Kirk Smith, Dan Dietz’s tempOdyssey, Orange by Ron Barry
and the Orange Writers Collective and J. Frank Dobie in Steve Moore’s
Nightswim.
Cary Urso
(Stage Manager, Lacuna) is a
senior at The University of Texas at Austin, completing her BA in Theatre and
Dance that she began in 1984. Her
concentration is stage management, and she stage managed her first production
at UT in the fall of 2004—My Sister In
This House, directed by Jonathan Mazer.
She would like to thank the other Jonathan in her life, her husband, for
his calming soul, his infinite wisdom, and his caring nature.
Thuy-Van
Vu (Film
design, Fear of a Fuhrer) is a
painter who also makes drawings and videos. Her works depict a variety of
objects that have been altered and arranged to convey narratives of cultural
dislocation. Thuy-Van received her BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design
and is currently pursuing her MFA at UT Austin.
Elizabeth
Wakehouse (Claire/Coho, Lacuna)
is grateful to be a part of this collaboration. She is a member of Refraction Arts Project. Recent credits include The Philomel Project,
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, The House Project, American Arcana, and A
Hundred Plays About Vladimir Putin.
Sam Webber (Site-specific) is a
Refraction Arts Project company member and would like to thank
Refraction for providing me with a place to
play. Here's to Ellen May Roberts and
Samuel H. Roberts and all of the past regulars at the Holiday House Restaurant
in Tarrytown for their inspiration!
Cyndi
Williams (Playwright, WHERE ARE THEY
NOW???) is Managing Director for Refraction Arts. Her plays have been produced by Refraction
Arts, State Theater, Live Oak Theater, Austin Script Works and the Public
Domain, CorePerformance in Dallas, Spectral Sisters in Louisiana, and Looking
Glass Forum in New York. She is a
Founding Core Member of Austin Script Works.
An actor in Austin for over 20 years, she recently starred in the
independent feature film, Room, slated to play at the Cannes Film Festival.
Refraction Arts company members:
Ron Berry, Artistic Director
Catherine Berry
Sonnet Blanton
Mark David Bryant
Monika Bustamante
Katherine Catmull
Peat Duggans
Leigh Fisher
Natalie George
Eliot Haynes
Aimee Lasseigne
Carra Martinez
Carla Beth Nowlin
Spencer Parsons
Jennifer Rogers
Bryan Schroeder
Julia M. Smith
Elizabeth Wakehouse
Skipper Chong Warson
Sam Webber
Scott Wilcox
Cyndi Williams
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