Call us Callous, But...

Maybe some of you noticed the recent passing of the State Theatre. (By “passing”, we really mean “death”.) The June water main break that flooded the theatre – moving artists like Kathy Dunn Hamrick and Steven Tomlinson to other venues in town – has now, for all intents and purposes, killed the organization entirely. At the very least, the current season is all but canceled, and all State Theatre staff (except Artistic Director Michelle Polgar) have been laid off.

Commentors on other blogs in town speak of the State with post-mortem reverence, dashed hopes, and oh-what-could’ve-beens – the way you’re supposed to talk about dead things. But we're not sure we buy in to the idea of the State being the stalwart of the theatre community that some have made it out to be since the accident.

How many of you have actually been to the State Theatre? Sure, the place employed plenty of local theatre artists (and was one of the few places in town for Equity actors to work), but the work, for the most part seemed pretty average (correct us if we’re wrong). If not for the in-house productions, then maybe the place was useful as a venue for other companies to showcase their work, but it was simply too big for the likes of Kathy Dunn Hamrick or Pro Arts Collective (or most other mid-size Austin arts organizations) to fill. Moreover, the State’s usefulness as a rental venue was neither here nor there, as there’s the newly created Boyd Vance Theatre, and the burgeoning Long Center for the Performing Arts to house companies of that size.

Maybe, just maybe, if Michelle Polgar really was going to turn the organization around, then a little break might even be good (we’re speaking long-term, here). They can distance themselves from the shortcomings of the former administration, line-up some kick ass shows, and re-launch – refreshed, renewed, and in a theatre more equipped to deal with modern productions (and modern building codes, for that matter). If they can’t, then surely someone else will take their place. Right? Let us know what you think.

And, for this week’s theatre and dance listings plus our Austinist Pick of the Week, read on.

The pick of the week is tricky – an elusive animal – as we’re never sure what will end up being the best show on offer. Again it's down to two productions – one, The Sweetest Swing in Baseball by Unlimited Automotive at Hyde Park Theatre sounds hysterical (plus, we’ve been getting juicy insider rehearsal gossip that makes us ever-the-more curious about what’ll happen on stage). The other is Seven Year Itch from REALMdanceproject. REALM’s got the original crew back together again for the first time in five years, and are paying tribute to Darla Johnson, half of the enormous Austin dance company, Johnson/Long. Sweetest opens tonight – for tickets and info go here. Seven opens Saturday at the Boyd Vance Theatre – tickets and info here.

Also on tap is Camp Shrewd, the latest (almost) nudey show from Shrewd Productions. The theme is summer camp. The clothing is limited. The cost to see this burlesque scandal is $15. Running at the Blue Theater from Aug 11th thru the 19th, with extra special info here.

Lastly, some impressive out-of-towners that – if you can afford it – might be well worth seeing. Welcome to Austin, ODC/Dance, from San Francisco. They’ve been around for quite some time, combining ballet and modern dance into some incredibly exciting, athletic movement. The Austin stop on their most recent tour is the One World Theatre, where you’ll be able to see the show for at least $41, if not $71. Sunday, August 13th only – tickets and info here.

For all the shows still running from last weekend, check out last week’s TWIT.

*Photo of Melissa Rentrop and Amanda Butterfield in We Are Normal, Cha Cha Chaaa, taken by Dennis Fagan

Contact the author of this article or email tips@austinist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jonathon Morgan in Arts & Entertainment on August 11, 2006 9:40 AM 0 Comments

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Lincoln Alcorn

Classical singer Russell Watson postpones his forthcoming UK tour after undergoing brain surgery...

CharlesDennis

More apologies. I'm actually smart enough not to use "it's" instead of "its". Just sloppy and in a hurry.

CharlesDennis

Mainly it's out of the question now because it's not usable. If it isn't open, you can't use it. It's opening is pushed further and further back. Actually, as of now it's opening may be even farther in the future than any hoped for State reopening. So, there's that.

And it remains to be seen how the theatrical portion of the Long will actually serve companies. As budgets for the Long have fluctuated, more resources have gone toward the larger space and been removed from the theatrical stage. And it remains to be seen how economically feasible the Long will be for theater companies and whether having to foist more costs onto your audience (parking, etc.) will affect your overall draw. There are a lot of issues aside from having a nice, shiny new space that looks good in the press. A lot of stuff that needs to be figured out before the Long can be considered a good option for the majority of non-resident Austin theater companies.

But let's hope it all works out. Obviously, the better it works out for the most people, the better it will be for the entire community. I didn't write in so much to dump on the Long as to point out that the loss of the State is not quite the "who gives a shit?" situation that was presented in the main post.

Jonathon

Thanks for your thoughts CharlesDennis -- I was hoping we'd get the opinion of some more seasoned Austinites. It was nice that a "major" producing house was commisioning and presenting work by Austin playwrights, and I didn't realize that the Long Center was so out of the question as a viable alternative.

CharlesDennis

Apologies. Sometimes my run-on sentences get the better of me. I did mean to finish one of the above sentences with the fact that both FIESTA and NIGHTSWIM were popular shows that made a good profit.

CharlesDennis

The State has had a spotty record. However, it's also done some great things: AMERICAN FIESTA most recently, NIGHTSWIM a season ago. People who have been here over the long haul see a longer history than perhaps you do. The State came out of Live Oak Theater Company, which is pretty much Austin Playhouse now. It started as fairly better-than-community-theater with an Equity contract. Kanoff and Polgar attempted some changes, some worthwhile, some lame. But they seemed truly committed to trying to make the fare at the theater more substantial and more original. The move towards presenting more original work from Austin's fertile playwrighting community was one of those good moves. (And a profitable one to boot, as both of those experiments paid off not only in notoriety- with FIESTA- a play that would not exist without the State's commission- winning national playwrighting awards and NIGHTSWIM picking up attention across the country. Added to that they put up some solid productions of meat-and-potato plays like DINNER WITH FRIENDS and WIT without gumming them up with some of the glitz that Zach (the only other "big theater" option now) tends to add. So, it seemed like they were trying to get the ship moving in the right direction and then this happens. Sad. Not so much because of what was lost from the past as what potential is lost now.

And I wouldn't hold my breath on the Long. Maybe one day it can pick up the slack, but we've been watching it's promises for seven or eight years now and each revision makes it less useful for theater companies and it just can't seem to ever actually be done and ready to go. The truth is, with the State out of the market and the Long still under construction, the space issue for Austin theater got worse. Space is of such a premium that any loss is a major one. If the Long was up and running maybe we could shrug off the State. That not being the case, we can't.

But it's good to be optimistic. Maybe funds will become available and the State can be repaired and the acoustic problems that bedeviled it can be vanquished. And then maybe a concerted artistic rennaisance can take place within the company and some really remarkable theater can be made. Hope is a good thing. Usually.