August 26th, 2015   
This week On the Town

RAS DAY 2015 featuring Jean Grae Presented by Divine and Conjure Enterprises LLC

August 29, 2015

 
On August 29, award-winning artists Riders Against the Storm (RAS) will host the 2nd Annual RAS Day, presented by Loudmouth Rentals. The all day, family-friendly festival seeks to cultivate community, inspire unity and encourage rejuvenation with an eclectic lineup of performances, health-minded food vendors, and interactive activities for all to enjoy. 

The annual festival was created in 2014 to give the ATX a way to come together and get down all in the name of community.  Using the platform afforded them by winning Band of the Year for the second year in a row at the 2015 Austin Music Awards, RAS is looking to bring the good times to Central Texas.

With her international following, electric sound, and unique hip-hop expression, Jean Grae will headline the all-day festival.

The full 2015 lineup includes: 
Hardproof Afrobeat
Mindz of A Different Kind
Keyzstreet Band w/ Alesia Lani and Brenden Foster
Hatch
Lady Shacklin
La Vida Buena
Charlie Belle
The Finest Kind


Kraken Quartet w/Elliot Cole: HANUMAN'S LEAP Presented by Church of the Friendly Ghost              

August 30, 2015

 
HANUMAN'S LEAP is a high-energy music drama composed and performed by Elliot Cole. Accompanied by live percussionists and a recorded choir of himself, he narrates, sings, raps and dances an adventure story from the Indian epic Ramayana. The music draws on genres - traditional epic song, hip hop and reggae, throat singing, choral and experimental music - and combines them into something ancient and new, universal and original. He performs with four drummers, on rough drum kits of metal and wood, delivering big beats for dancing.


Patio Talk Improv Presented by Coldtowne Theater        

August 5 - September 30, 2015

 
COME OUT AND SEE COLDTOWNE THEATER'S FIRST AND ONLY ALL-FEMALE HOUSE TROUPE HEADLINE EVERY STINKIN' WEDNESDAY.

Patio Talk is a comedy troupe based in Austin, Texas. Each show begins with a source scene featuring a tipsy conversation between long-time friends, which then inspires a high-energy run. Described as both "crazy" and "super cute" by one of their coworkers who came to watch them once, their collective skill in relationship and game work combine to create a dynamic show.

 This week only   

Let Love Land! Presented by allgo

August 27 - August 28, 2015
 
Let Love Land artist is an interactive art installation that channels generations of love into tangible individual and community resources. This residency is designed to facilitate participants as they go deeper and get more grounded in spiritual vibration and purpose. Through visual, sonic and intellectual installation opportunities Sangodare (priest, composer, media-maker, educator) and Alexis Pauline Gumbs (prayer poet priestess and black feminist love evangelist) will engage the allgo communities and their allies in Austin with a visual exhibit, queer choir practice, an interactive dance party and opportunities for one on one sessions with the artists.
 
Thursday, August 27, 2015, 7pm 
Generations Deep: Black Feminist Archaeology Lecture by Alexis Pauline Gumbs

Friday, August 28, 2015, 7pm
Let Love Land Opening and Artist Talk with Alexis Pauline Gumbs's Divine Memory Oracle and Sangodare's (Julia Roxanne Wallace) Soul Likeness Reflection

Friday, August 28, 2015 9:30pm
Let Love Land Dance Party


    Learn More... 

Getting Connected Presented by City of Austin Small Business Development Program
  
September 1 - September 2, 2015
 
Take charge and find the help you've been searching for at Austin's largest collection of resources and support for your small business. Join us for the BIGGEST small business event of the year!

September 1st: Panel Discussions and Classes for Austin Creatives
  • Arts & Music Networking Reception
  • Government Green: Arts Funding from the City, State, and Beyond
  • What Works/Doesn't: Behaviors of Successful Artist Entrepreneurs
  • Music Workshop #1 The New Ecosystem: Needs and Opportunities
  • Music Workshop #2 From Creativity to Commerce: Artist Revenue Streams
  • Investing in Artists: A Bank's Role
  • Staying Afloat: Preparing Austin Creatives for Disasters

    Learn More... 

Monsoon Wedding film screening Presented by Asian American Resource Center
  
August 28, 2015
 
Cultures and families clash in Mira Nair's exuberant "Monsoon Wedding" (2001), a mix of comedy and chaotic melodrama concerning the preparations for the arranged marriage of a modern upper-middle-class Indian family's only daughter. Special remarks provided by Alka Banot of Indie Meme. Rated R for language. Food available for purchase.
 
    Learn More... 
 Opening this week 

HUNGER Presented by The VORTEX

August 27 - September 5, 2015

 
Hunger: Spokenword artist Ebony Stewart examines Hunger in her new one-woman show, premiering for two weeks only at The VORTEX. With a decade of experience in spoken word, slam poetry, and performance, Stewart has established herself as a vital voice in American theatre. Stewart has been touring professionally around the U.S. and now returns to Austin to roar her truth with this unapologetic cascade of poetry and theatre. Open up to the space between forgiveness and farewell. Directed by Zell Miller III.

Radical Rush Free Tickets:
Limited free tickets for each performance in the spirit of sustainability, accessibility, and the gift economy. Radical Rush tickets released at 7pm each night--in-person only. 2-for-1 admission Thursday with donation of 2 cans for SafePlace.
 

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum Presented by The City Theatre Company

August 28 - September 20, 2015

 
Tragedy tomorrow, comedy tonight! This joyous, musical romp through Rome has desperate lovers, scheming neighbors, and secrets behind every toga. A Funny Thing is considered to be one of the best musicals ever written for the Broadway stage. Funny, fast-paced, witty, irreverent, it takes comedy back to its roots, combining situations from the time-tested humor of Roman playwrights with the infectious energy of classic vaudeville. A non-stop laugh-fest in which Pseudolus, a crafty slave, struggles to win the hand of a beautiful but slow-witted courtesan named Philia, for his young master, Hero, in exchange for freedom. The plot twists and turns with cases of mistaken identity, slamming doors, and a showgirl or two. This unforgettable musical features music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart. Something for everyone!
 

I Feel Good! Proven Techniques for Anxiety with DeLora Presented by Yoga Yoga

August 27 - September 17, 2015
 
Use focused breathing, mindfulness practices, self-inquiry exercises, yoga & find mental clarity that can soothe anxious feelings. Create freedom from the anxiety that holds you back & live with an open heart and resilient mind.
 
  Closing this week 

Gusev, by Anton Chekhov, adapted and directed by Graham Schmidt Presented by Breaking String Theatre     

August 13 - August 29, 2015

 
Gusev tells the story of a young army private, recently discharged, on a voyage home from his posting in Siberian coast. Infected with tuberculosis, Gusev drifts in and out of consciousness, experiencing poignant dreams of domestic idylls, and terrifying nightmares just as primal and powerful as the powerful ocean, whose rolling waves and abyssal depths lurk just beyond the ship's hull.

Gusev marks Breaking String Theater's first collaboration with noted choreographer Erica Gionfriddo, whose dance compositions help express Gusev's stunning hallucinations and the ocean's awe-inspiring power-essential elements in Chekhov's dark, hopeful tale of a young man's coming to terms with his own passing into the next world.
 

Close Up: An Improvised Comedic Mockumentary Presented by The Hideout Theatre     

August 1 - August 29, 2015

 

Every Saturday at 6pm in August, The Hideout Theatre presents an improvised comedic narrative in the style of The Office, Parks & Rec, and Best in Show.

 


Forever Plaid - The Heavenly Musical
Presented by Austin Theatre Project

August 14 - August 29, 2015

 
Once upon a time, there were four guys (Sparky, Smudge, Jinx and Frankie) who discovered they shared a love for music, and then got together to become their idols - The Four Freshman, The Hi-Lo's and The Crew Cuts. Rehearsing in the basement of Smudge's family's plumbing supply company they became "The Plaids". On the way to their first big gig, the "Plaids" are slammed broadside by a school bus fill with Catholic schoolgirls on their way to see the Beatles perform on The Ed Sullivan Show...and killed instantly. It is at the moment when their careers and lives end, that the story of Forever Plaid begins. Chocked full of the greatest songs of the 50's and 60's, Forever Plaid is great for the entire family!
 

Verano en Vivo - A Summer Teatro Showcase Presented by Teatro Vivo and Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center

August 20 - August 30, 2015

 
Hosted by the Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center, the company will stage Los Tequileros August 20th - 23rd, a featured drama written by Dolores J. Diaz and directed by Alexis Arredondo, followed on the second weekend, August 27th-30th by 2 Souls & a Promise and Crossing the Rio, two one-act comedies written by Teatro Vivo's artistic director, Rupert Reyes and directed by up and coming Austin theatre and film artist, Rob Rowland . As Austin's premier Latino theatre company, Teatro Vivo has crafted a unique theatre experience for this summer's showcase. By combining the spontaneous energy of workshop-inspired performances with creative minimalist staging methods, the experience will highlight the vibrant characterization and provocative voices of these original scripts that delve into lost histories of the Prohibition era, star-crossed family legacies that float in a realm of magical realism, and the ever-evolving complexities of life and love on the border. The company's mission to empower emerging voices in Austin's theatre scene will resonate onstage as these compelling new works open our minds and refresh our imaginations in the midst of our mighty Texas summer.

Los Tequileros by Dolores Diaz, directed by Alexis Arredondo -  One week end only - Aug. 20-23 
Los Tequileros draws on a Mexican folk ballad to recount the deaths of three tequila smugglers at the hands of American law enforcement during Prohibition. The play itself, like the corrido, is lyrical and poetic at times, exploring cultural violence on the border through a story of smuggling and the line between justice and vengeance. Through macho and maternal gazes it provides a rare look at Mexican American history and identity on the border and sheds light on issues both timely and longstanding. 
 
Two Souls and a Promise and Crossing the Rio by Rupert Reyes directed by Rob Rowland - One week end only - Aug 27-30 All performances are Thurs - Sat 8 pm Sunday 2 pm
Two Souls and A Promise, a bilingual comedy by Rupert Reyes, takes a look at reincarnation, Latino style.  What happens to us when we die?  Do we reincarnate?  Two young lovers make what seems like a silly promise in the moonlight.  That their souls will always try to find each other in their next life times.  If this is the case, this play takes a look at how that might happen and what that can bring into our lives.
Crossing the Rio, inspired by the idea of writing a comedic bilingual farce, Rupert Reyes needed a topic.  How about a border fence that is thousands of miles long, cost billions to build and can be easy crossed at almost any location?  Sounds like a farce from the get go.  Now add two Latino ICE officers are charged with protecting a mile long section.  The fact that these officers are father and son complicated the assignment, not to mention a very special "feature" that the fence now has thanks to Mexican ingenuity.


Tender Rough Rough Tender, a new play by Sarah Saltwick Presented by Rude Mechs

August 21 - August 30, 2015

 
Rude Mechs is proud to present TENDER ROUGH ROUGH TENDER a workshop production of a new play by sarah saltwick produced by groundswell as part of Rude Mechs' Rude Fusion series.

It's the hottest summer on record in Austin, Texas. Bell is at capacity, working to empty her life; Mike is trying to fill his up. As Bell serves pancakes at a 24-hour diner, she dissolves her troubles in drink - lots and lots of drink. Mike's sorrow over losing a woman he rescued from her burning house feeds his need to conquer his loneliness and the wildfire blazing just outside of town. They meet at a party, but it takes the whole play for them to really see each other through sex, isolation, natural and unnatural disasters.TENDER ROUGH ROUGH TENDER asks us to look again at what we think we know, and asks us all to tell each other how we want to get the things we need.

TENDER ROUGH ROUGH TENDER is a new play by Sarah Saltwick receiving its first developmental production this August. This maiden effort of groundswell, a new theatre company based in Austin, is directed by Jess Hutchinson and features actors Joseph Garlock and Hannah Burkhauser, with design by Anne McMeeking, Rachel Atkinson, and Toto Miranda of Austin-based band The Octopus Project.

groundswell is all about offering home-grown opportunities for artists in Austin to make new plays, with an emphasis on collaboration between playwright, director, and creative team. Rude Mechs' Rude Fusionprogram is all about ensuring new companies like groundswell can focus their resources on their production by co-producing their work and providing free rehearsal and production space, free marketing support, and our opinions if they want them.


And Still We Rise: Race, Culture and Visual Conversations Presented by Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum 

June 19 - August 30, 2015

 

See more than 60 story quilts capturing 400 years of African-American history in And Still We Rise: Race, Culture and Visual Conversations at the Bullock Museum. From the first slave ships to the first African-American president, quilts by more than 50 artists in the Women of Color Quilters network reveal the stories of freedom's heroes as recorded in fabric in this exhibition held in conjunction with the 150th anniversary of Juneteenth.

 

  Ongoing events 

Year of the Rooster by Eric Dufault Presented by Capital T Theatre Company 

August 20 - September 19, 2015

 
Gil Pepper is a loser. Odysseus Rex is winner. Against all odds Gil and his rooster will prove to his narcissistic mother, his teenage boss, local tycoon Dickie Thimble and the rest of the goddamn world that this is their year. In the vein of Killer Joe and Lieutenant of Inishmore Capital T Theatre is proud to present the Austin Premiere of this mythical baddass dark comedy about love, underdogs, and cockighting.
 
Discover all the amazing things you can do at CreateAustin.net!  
We are so excited to announce the release of CreateAustin.net! The site was built in partnership with the City of Austin Music Office to be an invaluable and amazing resource for Austin Artists.
 
On CreateAustin.net you can research career opportunities, connect with local artists, and create collaboration groups for shows in development or anything else you want to work together on. You can lead or take part in forum discussions about the purpose and direction of art in Austin. There's a classified section so you can find or offer goods and services to help you or someone else make something great. You'll find professional development resources and events to help you and your organization expand and succeed. As we grow there will be an amazing directory of local artists and creatives, making it easier for you to find partners, across disciplines to push your project past boundaries and expand the resources and tools you employ to create unique and exciting works.

We invite everyone to join now! So swing by CreateAustin.net, kick the tires, and check out all the bells and whistles. Let us know what you think and start some conversations about what we do, why we do it here, and how we can continue to keep Austin creative. 

 

 

Create Austin Here! & once you've joined please take a second to take our survey!  

   

Don't forget to check out  NowPlayingAustin's pages for Auditions, Calls for Artists, and Jobs - and visit our site often for the latest, updated listings.
  
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Now Playing Austin is a service of Austin Creative Alliance. ACA's mission is to advance, connect and advocate Austin's arts, cultural, and creative communities in order to strengthen and protect the character, quality of life, and economic prosperity of our region.

 

NowPlayingAustin.com, The Time Warner Cable News segment On the Town, as well as critical support services for Central Texas artists and creative organizations are some of the many programs and services of the Austin Creative Alliance.

 

Sincerely,

The Austin Creative Alliance Team 

                              (512) 247-2531 

www.austincreativealliance.org

 

 

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