austinEasta!

Following the Community Night* performance of At Home at the Zoo at The Off Center Monday night, the cast of the 2 plays that make-up the full performance were joined by cast members of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf (currently running at St. Edward’s) for a Q&A session led by St. Ed’s theater history professor, Brooks Bar.  The group discussed playwright Edward Albees’s penchant for building his long terrains of dialogue with verbal boulders of unpredictable sizes, the challenge of understanding how his words were complicit in exposing the emotional fray in relationships (often of the marital variety) and his overall determination to punch holes in the generic brand of optimism bandied about by mainstream America.  Nigel O’Hearn, creative director of Palindrome, the production company behind At Home at the Zoo, plays Jerry in Zoo Story, the original one-act play that inspired its first act prequel, At Home.  In the play and in the post-show discussion, O’Hearn demonstrated an acute sensitivity to the cynicism of the writer, how the character he embodies needs to convey the complexities of a lonely soul struggling to connect with someone else, anyone else and the importance of modernist theater as a vehicle for examining real life. Although the other 2 actors in the ensemble give good performances, O’Hearn’s conviction in his portrayal of the harried Jerry is mesmerizing.  He’s like Jake Gyllenhaal, when he still had some chops.  The play runs through Sunday, Nov 21st.

*(reduced ticket price of $7 on Mon/Tues this week)

‘At Home At the Zoo’ (formerly titled Peter & Jerry) by the Pulitzer-winning dramatist and current University of Houston professor, Edward Albee, will be staged by Palindrome Theater at the Off Center through Nov 21st.  The play is one of his most recent and expands on 1957’s ‘Zoo Story,’ the acclaimed writer’s first attempt at dramaturgy.  Funny and absurdist, Albee’s work addresses the existential crisis of 2 strangers who happen to meet in Central Park and the mirrored conversation one of them has with their spouse prior to their run-in.  This will be the finishing run of Palindrome’s 2nd season. 

Contemporary art in Austin is still largely under the radar as a ‘scene’, but the studio tour organized by the folks at Big Medium (Joseph Phillips, Shea Little & Jana Swec) goes a long way in exposing up and coming and established artists and studios on the east side.  With a fairly dense assortment of gallery and work spaces within the 3 mile radius stretching from the river up to 45th Street, the E.A.S.T. Studio Tour Nov 13th-21st is a week lined with open doors into creative minds and spaces on the east side.  Look for our 3 part series on the transformation of Willow Arts studio from an empty shell of a house into a vibrant showcase of hand made furnishings and fixtures.

Some silly cowards have been making robbery attempts (and succeeding) around the East 6th & 7th/San Marcos to Navasota area in the early morning hours on the weekend.  Be prepared to tell them to bugger off if need be this bedeviling holiday.