Tuesday, April 28, 2009
The Stranger Reviews The Method Gun
Sodom in Austin Posted by Brendan Kiley on Sun, Apr 26, 2009 at 1:05 PM
without the characters Stanley, Blanche, Stella, or Mitch. Just everyone else.
Theater about theater, like writing about writing, is usually a solipsistic disaster. I assumed The Method Gun would be a chore.
I've never been more wrong. (Again.)
Plus, it stars this tiger.
Somebody had better bring this show to Seattle.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
The Method Gun - You have this weekend and next, then it's gone forever!
ONLY 7 SHOWS LEFT!
Get your tickets here and now.
The best way to support the arts is to see the shows!
"...make your way out to the Off Center and get ready to have your mind blown." – Ryan E. Johnson, austin.com 2009
"The Rudes craft compelling theater... 'The Method Gun' packs more intensity and more poignancy... And the Rudes' tweaks have made it much more intimate and immediate... And the final scene... emerges as one of the most polished, gorgeous, breathtaking and riveting moments on an Austin stage. To this critic, 'The Method Gun' still ranks as one of the best productions to grace the Austin stage." – Jeanne Claire van Ryzin, Austin-American Statesman 2009
"...a powerful piece of work." Dan Solomon, austinist.com 2009
“The ‘final performance’ of Burden’s Streetcar features a characteristically Rude-ish blend of physicality and audaciousness... so precisely timed, so crisply executed... almost hypnotic.” — Austin Chronicle 2008
"Top 10 Theatrical Treasures and Pleasures of 2008" — Austin Chronicle
"In the arts, the Eight from '08" — Austin American-Statesman
..and if you don't believe the hype, just listen to TIGER in his/her 4th interview!!
Monday, April 20, 2009
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Rude News - Statesman Reviews Method Gun; Tenebrism this weekend; Grrl Wrap next week!
1. TIGER says: The Method Gun is up, running and brilliant! Keep reading to see what The Statesman has to say in their review. Buy your tickets here and now!
2. Tenebrism by Minneapolis phenoms Lamb Lays with Lion runs THIS Thursday - Sunday after The Method Gun.
3. Grrl WRAP - It's a festival and the Opening Reception is this Saturday @ 2pm at Willow Arts. Support Grrls!
THE METHOD GUN
"The Rudes craft compelling theater... 'The Method Gun' packs more intensity and more poignancy... And the Rudes' tweaks have made it much more intimate and immediate... And the final scene... emerges as one of the most polished, gorgeous, breathtaking and riveting moments on an Austin stage. To this critic, 'The Method Gun' still ranks as one of the best productions to grace the Austin stage."
– Jeanne Claire van Ryzin, Austin-American Statesman 2009
Keep reading to see what all the ...'s are about!
Tickets: Online Reservations: http://www.rudemechs.com.
Phone Reservations through Brown Paper Tickets: 1-800-838-3006.
Where: The Off Center (2211-A Hidalgo St., Austin, TX 78702)
Ticket Prices: Friday & Saturday: Sliding Scale $12 - $25; Thursday & Sunday: Pay-What-You-Can
Fusebox Festival passes will be accepted on a limited basis.
The Method Gun has received support from Creative Capital Foundation, Rockefeller MAP Fund, The Orchard Project,
The National Endowment for the Arts, The Humanities Institute and The Harry Ransom Center.
Rude Mechs is supported by the Texas Commission on the Arts and the City of Austin through the Cultural Arts Division.
Photo by Bret Brookshire
tenebrismRude Mechs is crazy proud to present the work of Minneapolis-based theatre company Lamb Lays with Lion with their original performance, Tenebrism. Tenebrism is the first experiment in the Theatre of Disruption. Performed in an intentionally fragile atmosphere, Lamb Lays with Lion blurs the line of performance and reality by sharing its failure with the audience. Tenebrism is inspired by the religious imagery of Renaissance painter Caravaggio, Martin Scorsese’s "The Last Temptation of Christ," and legendary rock star Ian Curtis and his iconic post-punk band, Joy Division.
The host, Jeremey, promises the audience a show about Jesus, Joy Division, and Caravaggio. However, as Tenebrism unfolds, it becomes clear that the real performance is in witnessing just how hard it is for Jeremey and his assistant, Jayne, to get the show to “go on” at all. Tenebrism is the result of Lamb Lays with Lion’s “Theatre of Disruption” approach to creating ensemble performance. Tenebrism is performed by Lamb Lays with Lion founding-members, Jeremey Catterton and Jayne Deis. Tenebrism promises to be an unforgettable evening of entertainment.
When: April 16 - 19, 2009 (Thursday - Sunday at 10:30 PM - after Rude Mechs' The Method Gun) Latecomers very welcome!!
Where: The Off Center (2211-A Hidalgo St., Austin, TX 78702)
Tickets: Tickets are sold only at the Box Office each performance night beginning at 9:30 PM. No reservations accepted.
Ticket Prices:
CASH ONLY!!! Sliding Scale $5 - $25
GRRL WRAP
a festival of art projects by the participants of Grrl Action's 2008/2009 class
GRRL WRAP FESTIVAL SCHEDULE:
Grrl Wrap Opening Reception
Saturday, April 18, 2 - 4 pm
featuring photography by Shelby, collage by Isaura, costumes by Monique, ceramics by Emelia
Willow Arts, 1617 Willow St., Austin, TX 78702
Cafe Grrl
Tuesday, April 21, 7 - 9 pm viewing, 8 pm poetry reading
featuring illustrations by Lola and costumed poetry by Geneva
Cafe Mundi
1704 E. 5th St. #100, Austin, TX 78702
Grrl Salon
Wednesday, April 22, 7 pm
featuring a documentary by Isaura and a performance by Trey
ISESE Gallery at The Warfield Center on the UT campus (Jester Center A232A)
201 E. 21st St., Austin, TX 78705
Grrl Finale
Saturday, April 25, 2 pm
performances by Anna, Bryanna and Christina featuring all the grrls
The Off Center. 2211-A Hidalgo St., Austin, TX 78702
Tickets: Admission to the performances is FREE. Donations welcome!
Statesman Review: The Method Gun
Review: ‘The Method Gun’
The Rude Mechs can’t help themselves. They have to tweak whatever they do every time they do it.
And with ‘The Method Gun’ — the theater collective’s much-heralded play from last season — the tweaks, and the Rudes, are alright.
Better than alright actually. To this critic, ‘The Method Gun’ still ranks as one of the best productions to grace the Austin theater scene in the past few years.
I said as much last year when I reviewed the show’s premiere, one of the many productions that helped open up the Long Center for the Performing Arts.
But now the Rudes are back home at the Off-Center, their East Austin warehouse performance space. And now ‘The Method Gun’ packs more intensity and more poignancy. In the Long Center’s Rollins Studio Theater, the show featured plenty of visual — and theatrical — volume. Now, in the much more intimate Off-Center, there’s no escaping the intense emotional and ultimately endearing ride. And the Rudes’ tweaks have made it much more intimate and immediate.
Of course, the sweet absurdity is still there. What’s not absurd about a group of actors still following an illusory acting guru named Stella Burden long after she has disappeared. So fixated with Burden’s acting technique — the method known as ‘The Method Gun’ — this group can’t let their guru go. Burden’s biggest challenge to her troupe? Present a production of Tennessee Williams’ ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ performed without any of the principal characters.
Isn’t that an impossibility?
But, oh, does the troupe — superbly acted by Thomas Graves, Heather Hannah, Jude Hickey, Hannah Kenah and Lana Lesley — try hard to make it work. They put themselves through humiliating exercises, frustrate themselves with acting challenges and otherwise unravel their emotions. They fight each other, they kiss each other, they scream at one another. They fumble with out-dated audio-visual equipment, plunk out tunes on a piano and consult a miniature tiger figurine that Stella Burden held dear.
Played in a series of quick-fire almost hallucinatory scenes that ricochet around in time, the play (the script was written by Kirk Lynn) seemingly in brilliant manner builds and unravels at the same time.
And the final scene — Stella Burden’s principal-less ‘Streetcar’ — emerges as one of the most polished, gorgeous, breathtaking and riveting moments on an Austin stage.
The Rudes Mechs plan to take ‘The Method Gun’ to New York’s P.S. 122 next year. Let’s hope the folks realize what we already know: The Rudes craft compelling theater.
‘The Method Gun’ continues 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday through May 2 at the Off Center, 2211 Hidalgo St. See www.rudemechs.com for ticket information.
Photo by Bret Brookshire.
Monday, April 13, 2009
Monday, April 6, 2009
RUDE NEWS - A MESSAGE FROM TIGER: TICKETS ON SALE NOW FOR THE METHOD GUN!
1. Tiger says: The Method Gun opens next week! Click here to purchase tickets!
2. Mark your calendars, Rude Mechs presents Tenebrism by Minneapolis phenoms Lamb Lays with Lion.
3. Absolutely do not miss Grrl WRAP - an arts festival of new works by Grrl Action year-round participants.
4. Big love to our 2008/2009 Season Sponsors! And if you are interested in joining us for 2009/2010, let us know by June 1st!
SERIOUSLY - NO FOOLIN' - NOW'S THE TIME TO BUY YOUR TICKETS FOR THIS SHOW!!!! Most of you missed it at The Long Center last year (we have ways of knowing these things), and to those of you that did see it last year: it's very much worth another viewing what with the new cast, the new ending, costumes, staging and video... The only thing you can really count on is TIGER!
The Method Guncreated by Rude Mechs
directed by Shawn Sides
written by Kirk Lynn
When: April 9 - May 2, 2009 (Thursday - Sunday at 8pm)
There is no performance on Sunday April 12th.
Tickets: Online Reservations: http://www.rudemechs.com.
Phone Reservations through Brown Paper Tickets: 1-800-838-3006.
Friday April 10th and Saturday April 18th are reserved for a private groups. Should tickets become available for those nights, we will shoot you an email. Tickets are available for all other performances.
Where: The Off Center (2211-A Hidalgo St., Austin, TX 78702)
Ticket Prices: Friday & Saturday: Sliding Scale $12 - $25; Thursday & Sunday: Pay-What-You-Can
Fusebox Festival passes will be accepted on a limited basis.
"The Method Gun... is nothing short of the best work this theater collective has done in its 13 years as it has carved out its well-respected reputation on the international indie theater scene." – Jeanne Claire van Ryzin, Austin-American Statesman
"Top 10 Theatrical Treasures and Pleasures of 2008" - Austin Chronicle
"In the arts, the Eight from '08" - Austin-American Statesman
This original performance explores the life, ethos, and techniques of actor-training guru, Stella Burden, as recounted through the eyes of her students. Ms. Burden’s training technique, The Approach, fused Western acting methods and more dangerous METHODS in an effort to infuse even the smallest of roles with SEX, DEATH and VIOLENCE. We promise: guns, pendulums, “Streetcar,” and physical danger. We make no claims on behalf of narrative, common sense, or safety.
Using found text from the journals and performance reports of Stella Burden’s company, “The Method Gun” re-enacts the final months of her company’s rehearsals for their nine-years-in-the-making production of “A Streetcar Named Desire.” Stella left the company under mysterious circumstances in 1972, and the actors’ diaries express a sense of desperation, inadequacy, frustration, and confusion universal to performers - and which infuses ‘regular’ life. Set amid swinging pendulums and talking tigers, “The Method Gun” bounces between interior monologues, rehearsal sequences of “Streetcar,” and group interactions - all gleaned from historical documents - to express a longing for the return of inspiration and a more believable Presentation of Self in Everyday Life.
The Method Gun has received support from Creative Capital Foundation, Rockefeller MAP Fund, The Orchard Project, The National Endowment for the Arts, The Humanities Institute and The Harry Ransom Center. Rude Mechs is supported by the Texas Commission on the Arts and the City of Austin through the Cultural Arts Division.
Photo by Bret Brookshire
Media Sponsor:
2. TENEBRISM
Rude Mechs is crazy proud to present the work of Minneapolis-based theatre company Lamb Lays with Lion with their original performance, Tenebrism. Tenebrism is the first experiment in the Theatre of Disruption. Performed in an intentionally fragile atmosphere, Lamb Lays with Lion blurs the line of performance and reality by sharing its failure with the audience. Tenebrism is inspired by the religious imagery of Renaissance painter Caravaggio, Martin Scorsese’s "The Last Temptation of Christ," and legendary rock star Ian Curtis and his iconic post-punk band, Joy Division.
The host, Jeremey, promises the audience a show about Jesus, Joy Division, and Caravaggio. However, as Tenebrism unfolds, it becomes clear that the real performance is in witnessing just how hard it is for Jeremey and his assistant, Jayne, to get the show to “go on” at all. Tenebrism is the result of Lamb Lays with Lion’s “Theatre of Disruption” approach to creating ensemble performance. Tenebrism is performed by Lamb Lays with Lion founding-members, Jeremey Catterton and Jayne Deis. Tenebrism promises to be an unforgettable evening of entertainment.
When: April 16 - 19, 2009 (Thursday - Sunday at 10:30 PM - after Rude Mechs' The Method Gun) Latecomers very welcome!!
Where: The Off Center (2211-A Hidalgo St., Austin, TX 78702)
Tickets: Tickets are sold only at the Box Office each performance night beginning at 9:30 PM. No reservations accepted.
Ticket Prices:
CASH ONLY!!! Sliding Scale $5 - $25
3. GRRL WRAP - a festival of art projects by the participants of Grrl Action's 2008/2009 class
GRRL WRAP FESTIVAL SCHEDULE:
Grrl Wrap Opening Reception
Saturday, April 18, 2 - 4 pm
featuring photography by Shelby, collage by Isaura, costumes by Monique, ceramics by Emelia
Willow Arts, 1617 Willow St., Austin, TX 78702
Cafe Grrl
Tuesday, April 21, 7 - 9 pm viewing, 8 pm poetry reading
featuring illustrations by Lola and costumed poetry by Geneva
Cafe Mundi
1704 E. 5th St. #100, Austin, TX 78702
Grrl Salon
Wednesday, April 22, 7 pm
featuring a documentary by Isaura and a performance by Trey
ISESE Gallery at The Warfield Center on the UT campus (Jester Center A232A)
201 E. 21st St., Austin, TX 78705
Grrl Finale
Saturday, April 25, 2 pm
performances by Anna, Bryanna and Christina featuring all the grrls
The Off Center. 2211-A Hidalgo St., Austin, TX 78702
Tickets: Admission to the performances is FREE. Donations welcome!