For this months blog I wanted to share a few projects that
have been using the Scenic Co-op for their set needs.
Currently running at the Salvage Vanguard Theater is local
latino theater company Teatro Vivo’s production of Raul Garza’s CURA. Cura
explores what happens when faith is tested to its limits. In 1938, in a small
Texas bordertown, a humble, defeated woman of faith, Amparo, encounters both
spiritual hope and crisis in a young man who may or may not be the legendary
Curandero/Saint, El Niño Fidencio. The Spanish word “cura” means both “cure”
and “priest.”
Last month Glass Half Full Theatre ran their production of FupDuck
on SVT’s mainstage. FupDuck is a puppetry adaptation of the
novela Fup, by Jim Dodge, an anti-authoritarian fable about whiskey, ducks,
life, death, and the untamed spirit of the West. The Puppets: Granddaddy Jake
is a foul-mouthed, back-woods octogenarian who receives unexpected custody of
his grandson Tiny, a child as gentle as Jake is cantankerous. Fup is their
ornery twenty-pound duck, who embodies both chaos and heartfelt wisdom. The
story explores this non-traditional family’s diverse obsessions, namely
whiskey-brewing, fence-building, checkers, and an enthusiasm for sitting still.
Granddaddy Jake's memories of his conversations with Johnny Seven Moons, the
local Medicine Man, and Tiny and Fup's ongoing feud with the wild boar,
Lockjaw, lead to a wry examination of what it means to live and how it is to
die.
7 Wonders of the World +1 by Tongue and Groove also used the
Co-op this past month. The source material for this original
comedy, directed and adapted by David Yeakle, is a 1940s-era suite of songs by
the late record producer, Robert Scherman. The story follows a dreamer across
time and space to various landmarks of both the ancient world and modern U.S.,
bouncing from then to now, from temple to skyscraper, classical drama to
screwball romance. This production ran at the Long Center for the Performing
Arts.
In the coming months the following
companies will be using the Co-op library for their shows: Trouble Puppet Theater’s
Toil and Trouble, an adaptation of Macbeth. The Exchange Artist’s The Man Who
Planted Trees.
Jenny Larson, Salvage Vanguard Theater/ Austin Scenic Co-op
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