McEntire Talks About ATL

Artistic Director Brad McEntire was recently interviewed about the ideas behind Audacity. Here's a bit of that interview.

CHOP at the Seattle Fringe

The Seattle Fringe was a blast! Very nice, very professional group of fellow artists and organizers. CHOP became that little show with all the buzz around it at this festival. Brad even garnered a few standing ovations. Here's some pics from the festival.

Outside the venue The Odd Duck

backstage waiting to go on...

"Happy Birthday to me..."

Ruth and Brad at Starbucks #1 at Pike's Place Market

Ruth and Brad's awesome hosts... Richard & Curt (and Thomas the dog)

Fringe folks: Brad, Yana Kesala, Rik Deskin, Beth Raas-Bergquist, Emily Harvey

Pics from CYRANO A-GO-GO in Houston

First off, the folks at the Houston Fringe were very hospitable. The most welcoming group we at Audacity have come across in a long while. The festival was not very big (it is still growing), but a good time was had by all and some good theatre was put on. 

One small note: the venue that CYRANO A-GO-GO was in ended up being an outdoor "stage." Or should I say PATIO! The original costume of a full black suit was whittled down over the next few performances to a more casual attire due to the 96 degree heat.

CYRANO A-GO-GO at 2012 Houston Fringe

Brad McEntire will be presenting his "original oration" CYRANO A-GO-GO at the Houston Fringe Festival this weekend. Here's the deets:

A note about the piece:

Since the age of fifteen, during the first few weeks of his first ever theatre class, Brad McEntire has been obsessed with the swashbuckling, romantic, tragicomic play Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmund Rostand. In this original oration, McEntire explores his fascination with Rostand’s play from many angles: historical, literary and personal. Through this exploration, CYRANO A-GO-GO reflects McEntire’s own life-long coming-to-terms with the hard lessons about how art imitates life, and vice versa...

A note about the oration format:

Oration, in which a single speaker takes the stage to discuss a given topic, was a well-known format from the mid-1800s through the mid-1900s. A cross between a theatrical performance, lecture and staged reading, the form was made popular by such orators as Oscar Wilde, Charles Dickens and Mark Twain. This presentation is a contemporary take on this format.

When:

Thursday, September 6th at 7 PM

Friday, September 7th at 7 PM

Saturday, September 8th at 8:30 PM

Where:

Bohemeo's Cafe and Theatre,
708 Telephone Road,
Houston, TX 77023

As part of the Houston Fringe Festival.

For tickets head HERE.

CHOP on nytheatre.com

CHOP
a nytheatre.com review
by Richard Hinojosa  ·  August 17, 2012

Most of us have a desire to fit in somewhere. In adolescence we jump through all kinds of hoops in order to fit in but still half the time we end up isolated. Brad McEntire knows isolation and his captivating new solo piece, Chop, reveals a lot about of his life in isolation and his eventual arrival as the most crucial man in an odd fetish group.

McEntire says he has two birthdays—one for the day he was born and the other for the day he woke up to a note from his parents telling him that they had run off to join the circus. He was thirteen years old. One of his first lessons in isolation came when he was sent to a West Texas dust bowl town to stay with his aging hermit uncle. From there he moved to the city and learned that one can be isolated while being surrounded by thousands of people. He started working for a temp company. He had no drive and no ambition. He felt like the Minotaur, abandoned in an inescapable labyrinth and just waiting for some "hero" to come and put him out of his misery. But then he befriends the Queen of Nails. She does a freak show act driving nails into her face. She invites him a party she's throwing. He's never been to a party. There he meets a tattooed lady named Rosie and his whole life changes…for the better and in the oddest way. Ever heard of apotemnophilia? You'll learn all about it in this show.

McEntire's script is painfully honest. I don't know if it's a true story or not but if it is…wow! He brings us to the present very slowly as he describes his lonely childhood and early adulthood and doesn't really get into the most interesting parts of the story until the end, but it is well worth the wait. His text is infused with humble desire and desperation and I found myself rooting for him. I really enjoyed his interludes of dreams and flashbacks. They helped us see into his mind a little deeper. McEntire's characters are all very well realized and he seamlessly transforms from one to the other. He creates a very endearing character that comes across as genuine. He frequently checked in with the audience in order to make sure he was connecting with us. I had the sense that he was really just talking to me—telling me a story. His director, Andrew Merkel, points him the right direction and made sure he never forgets the folks sitting in front of him.

Chop is an odd tale of coming into one's own. I enjoyed the honesty, the endearing delivery and the unique fetish revealed at the end. They say there's a lid for ever pot. McEntire found his lid though he would still have to make it fit. Perhaps this show will fit you too.

Read the original post HERE.

CHOP at N47

The three-show run of CHOP went very well at Nouveau 47 Theatre this weekend. The audiences were small to medium, but Brad got some really good feedback. People seemed to really respond to the piece. Next stop... NYC!

More info on CHOP at the New York International Fringe Festival go HERE.

CYRANO A-GO-GO Houston Fringe venue

Exact times to come, but CYRANO A-GO-GO will play at... 
Bohemeo's Cafe and Theatre, 
708 Telephone Road, 
Houston, TX 77023
September 6-8, 2012 as part of the Houston Fringe Festival.

CHOP at FringeNYC: Dates and Times

Here are the performance dates and times for CHOP as it will play at the New York International Fringe Festival next month. If you are in New York in mid-to-late August come check out the show!

Friday, August 17 at 5 PM

Saturday, August 18 at 4:15 PM

Sunday, August 19 at 1:45 PM

Wednesday, August 22 at 3:15 PM

 Friday, August 24 at 6 PM

Saturday, August 25 at 9:45 PM

Playing at the Steve & Marie Sgouros Theatre (the Players Loft), 115 MacDougal Street, 3rd Floor (West 3rd Street & Bleecker).

 

Also, there's lots more info on the show at the CHOP website.

CHOP Q-and-A on nytheatre.com

Brad McEntire has a nice Q&A over on nytheatre.com about his show CHOP playing next month at the New York International Fringe Festival. Here it is...

CHOP: Brad McEntire

An nytheatre.com FringeNYC Q&A

Q: What is your job on this show?
A: playwright/performer

Q: When did you know you wanted to work in the theater, and why?
A: I liked to draw when I was a kid and thought I'd be a cartoonist when I grew up. Had no interest in theatre.

In high school, I had a crush on a girl in the theatre department and joined a class. I was hooked. The theatre bug bit hard! I never got to date that girl, but I did stay with theatre. Been writing, performing, what-have-you since then. Oh, and I still draw comics, too.

Q: Have you been part of FringeNYC in the past? If so, how did you particpate? (Be specific! Name shows, etc.)
A: This will be my fourth time at FringeNYC. In 2000 I produced a show called SLICK KADMON V. GOD by Chip Loser. In 2001 I presented my own comedy RED PAJAMA BLUES. In 2005 I directed and produced Andy Eninger's one-man show THE LAST CASTRATO. I'm pleased to return this year with CHOP which I wrote and will be performing myself.

Q: In your own words, what do you think this show is about? What will audiences take away with them after seeing it?
A: CHOP concerns a man who is incredibly isolated from the world around him. There's a layer of glass, it seems, between him and all the happy, engaged, productive people he observes around him. Then he meets a mysterious tattooed woman who introduces him to an underground amputation fetish group. He finally feels a sense of belonging.

I think the show is several things. It is weird and funny and spontaneous. CHOP is about growth and identity. It is about potential. And there is a really charming, heartfelt love story underpinning the whole thing.

My hope is that audiences will come away feeling that they have taken in a full experience of theatre, you know, gone on a journey with the piece. I also hope they head off and have strong drink and stronger discussions after the show about the lengths we all go to for love, acceptance, place and belonging.

Q: Groucho, Chico, Harpo, or Zeppo?
A: What are you kidding? Groucho.

Q: How important is diversity to you in the theater you see/make?
A: If you mean seeing different races, genders, lifestyles and the like represented on the stage, then I'm for it, but I don't think of it as a big deal.

I am a huge champion of individual theatre artists having individual points of view. I think the theatre, and therefore the greater culture, would be a better place if more and more theatre artists considered themselves more as creative artists rather than merely interpretive. There would be more voices and, naturally, more diversity in those voices, if theatre artists on the whole (especially directors and actors) instigated their own projects rather than waited to be given someone else's vision to interpret. That's my two cents anyway...

Check it out on nytheatre.com HERE.

INFO ABOUT CHOP

CHOP concerns a man profoundly isolated from the people in the city around him. Through a chance encounter with a mysterious tattooed woman he is introduced to what be his true calling - a unique subculture of amputation fetishists. 

Venue: Steve & Marie Sgouros Theatre, 115 MacDougal Street
Prices: $15.00 - $18.00
Performance Dates: August 17, 2012 - August 25, 2012
Box Office/Info: 866-468-7619 

Producer: Audacity Theatre Lab
Author: Brad McEntire
Director: Andrew J. Merkel

• FringeNYC
• Show Website

CHOP at Nouveau 47

Brad McEntire will perform his one-man show CHOP in the Dallas area before he takes it off to the New York International Fringe Festival and the Seattle Fringe Festival.

Playing Friday July 27 at 8 PM

and Saturday, July 28 at 8 Pm and 10:30 PM

At Nouveau 47 Theatre in the historic Magnolia Lounge (Margo Jones Building), Fair Park, 1121 First Ave., Dallas, TX 75210

Suggested donation of $10 at the door. Also, BYOB!

THE EYE IN THE SKY CD RELEASE...

In 2008 Audacity started a project called the EYE IN THE SKY project. Commissioning pieces from playwrights around the country and recording these pieces whenever there was time around bigger productions, the project took three and half years.

Monday, June 18, 2012 a CD Release Party was held, hosted at the Nouveau 47 Theatre's Margo Jones Building in Dallas' Fair Park (the birthplace of the American Regional Theatre Movement). Several pieces were read live, a video intro was shown explaining the project, many free CDs were handed out and much wine was consumed. A good evening at the theatre all around. 

Below you can see the intro video and pics from the event...

Free copies of the episodes were run off on CD and at the door for the taking...

Rhianna Mack reads Andy Eninger's ANT FARM from episode 1

Backstage the actors prepare for the live readings

Director Brad McEntire and Audio Recordist/Playwright John Flores

Ruth Engel, Brad McEntire, Oscar Contreras and Angela Parsons read Jeff Hernandez's BARRY, BILLY & LOUISE from episode 5

Brad McEntire reads Jeff Swearingen's I HATE ALTITUDE from episode 4

Send CHOP to FringeNYC

  Be part of a solo show!

Audacity Theatre Lab member Brad McEntire has recently received news that his one-man show CHOP has been accepted into the 2012 New York International Fringe Festival. This is awesome news! Way over 1000 shows are submitted every year and only around 200 are accepted.

McEntire premiered CHOP in the DFW area at the Addison Watertower Theatre's 2010 Out of the Loop Fringe Festival. He went on to perform the piece in Houston, Portland, New Orleans, Phoenix, Santa Fe (and soon Seattle, too). In August the show will make its New York debut.

And here's where you come in...

FringeNYC is expensive! It is a little outside the comfort zone of a small theatre like Audacity, where we generally pride ourselves on mounting engaging, funny, weird theatre on a very small budget.

Brad has launched a Kickstarter Campaign. Check it out. Any size contribution can help. Spread the word.

Please consider pledging to help a Dallas artist take his little show to the East Coast.

Here's a link: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/bradmcentire/send-chop-to-fringenyc

EYE IN THE SKY CD Release Party

 

In the winter of 2008 Audacity Theatre Lab commissioned playwrights from around the country for a unique radio theatre project. They were given unfettered freedom to respond to a simple phrase:
 
"For one week in the middle of the summer a giant eye appears in the sky over the city. At the end of seven days it disappears as suddenly as it had originally materialized..."

Audacity received submissions from members of 13P, New Dramatists, Austin Script Works, as well as from a host of local writers.

Pieces poured in from a host of cities all over the country including Dallas (Vicki Caroline Cheatwood, John Flores, Jeff Swearingen, Jeff Hernandez), Austin (Jason Tremblay, Zach Gonzales, Chris Humphrey), Chicago (Andy Eninger), Brooklyn and New York (Crystal Skillman, Gary Winter, Daniel Talbott, Ben Walker Sampson, Chris Alonzo, James Comtois, Ken Urban, Erin Courtney), Philadelphia (Greg Romero) and Evansville, Indiana (Mark Rigney).  All very original, idiosyncratic and wonderful.

Recording, engineering and posting of the six episodes lasted from 2009 to 2012. The project was puzzle-pieced in around other, larger projects and was a complete labor of love. ATL's Brad McEntire curated and directed the project. Kitchen Dog Theater member John Flores stepped in to record all the dialogue of each episode. Chris Humphrey of Austin, Texas' Red House Arts composed original music and engineered each episode. The Undermain Theatre very kindly donated space for recording.

Best of all, some of the most awesome actors in the Dallas area lent their vocal talents to the project. A small sampling would include Jeff Schmidt, Christie Vela, Bryan Pitts, Jeff Swearingen, Lydia Mackay, Oscar Contreras, Scott Milligan, Whitney Holotik and John Flores.

Now we want to release the pieces to the world. So we're giving out CDs. In the meantime, you can, of course, hear them online, too: http://soundcloud.com/audacity-theatrelab

Audacity, alongside Nouveau 47 Theatre, will host an official "CD Release Party" for the project. Come listen to some amazing works, celebrate this unique project and get a free CD.

EYE IN THE SKY CD RELEASE PARTY

WHEN: Monday, June 18 at 8 PM

WHERE: At Nouveau 47 Theatrein the historic Magnolia Lounge (Margo Jones Building), Fair Park, 1121 First Ave., Dallas, TX 75210.

COST: FREE! (Though a Pay-What-You-Can donation is always welcomed).

More information about the EYE IN THE SKY PROJECT visit: http://audacitytheatrelab.blogspot.com/search/label/Eye%20In%20The%20Sky

CHOP gets its own website

In preparations for a very active summer, Brad McEntire's solo show CHOP receives a stand-alone website.

Check it out HERE.

CYRANO A-GO-GO goes to Houston

McEntire performing his solo "oration" CYRANO A-GO-GO

Here at Audacity we are pleased as punch that some of the shows we've developed over the last few years are getting out to a variety of audiences at festivals around the country. We have just received word that Brad McEntire's solo "Oration" CYRANO A-GO-GO has been invited to the 5th Annual Houston Fringe Festival.

The festival runs August 30-September 15, 2012. More exact performance dates and times as details come in.

CHOP accepted to Seattle

Brad McEntire's CHOP has been accepted to the 2012 Seattle Fringe Festival! Hazzah!
Details to come...

EYE IN THE SKY ep 6

The final episode of ATL's epic (in length it took to finish) radio theatre project concludes with this episode.

Pieces by the wonderful Zach Gonzales, Mark Rigney and Vicki Cheatwood.

RASPBERRY FIZZ review from Critical Rant

WaterTower’s Out of the Loop 2012: Three Winners

By Alexandra Bonifield ~ CriticalRant.com

Raspberry Fizz: Audacity Theatre Lab brings out Brad McEntire’s sweet little “short story” of a play about two mid 20^th century teen-agers on a stoop, learning to negotiate the tricky pathways of male/female attraction and communication, while a carnival barker interjects a darker level of commentary on life’s risks in a nearby fantasy reality. It’s charming to watch, directed handily by Andy Baldwin, and features regional favorites Jeff Swearingen, Natalie Young and Shane Beeson in its three roles with minor props or set elements. It feels like a work in the germinating stage, more of an appetizer than a full meal. Cleverly written and very well acted, you’ll finish wanting to know what happens next….

RATING: “Might see”, depending on what it’s paired with. Runs Tuesday, March 6 at 7:30pm, and Friday, March 8 at 8pm.

RASPBERRY FIZZ review that almost slipped by...

We just stumbled on one more great review of RASPBERRY FIZZ. Over on the Stage Directions Blog. Here's what it had to say...

Three Reviews From the Out of the Loop Fringe Festival.

A Most Happy Stella, Waking Up and Raspberry Fizz
by Christopher David Taylor ~ March 5, 2012 ~ Stage Directions Blog 

Raspberry Fizz, by Brad McEntire and directed by Andy Baldwin (who opened Lord of the Flies at Level Ground Arts on the same night) is a delightful piece of theatre, expertly acted by Jeff Swearingen, Natalie Young and Shane Beeson. 

The piece tells the story of a young boy and girl on the cusp of teen-hood, the boy wanting to ask the girl to a harvest dance. The Carnival Barker is there to create a sense of mystery and he continually recites a mantra designed to capture the interest of the young boy. Swearingen as Ellson hits all the right physical notes with his character; one would hardly believe he wasn’t a child based on his physicality. Young as Samantha is pitch perfect in her flat, midwestern accent that reminded me of something out of Meredith Wilson’s The Music Man. Beeson’s Barker was a little more challenging. At times his patter came across as forced but it didn’t detract from the overall performance. The final moment of the piece, Swearingen and Young dancing slowly, was a nice end to the evening. Tension built up and released by the slightly childish dancing on the part of the two actors.

What was interesting for me in the double bill was the difference in the age of the performers. Grayman is made up of University students and Audacity Theatre Lab’s cast is decidedly not but the two groups in the same space within the same time frame created two distinctly different but complimentary pieces of theatre. Searching for love and purpose, belonging and a cold raspberry fizz.

EYE IN THE SKY ep. 6 coming soon

With pieces by Vicki Cheatwood, Mark Rigney and Zack Gonzales... coming soon.

To recap: our contributors so far have been...

EPISODE 1
James Comtois (New York)
Andy Eninger (Chicago)
Chris Humphrey (Austin)

EPISODE 2
Erin Courtney (Brooklyn)
Greg Romero (Philadelphia)
Daniel Talbott (New York)

EPISODE 3
Jason Tremblay (Austin)
Crystal Skillman (New York)
Ben Walker Sampson (New York)

EPISODE 4
Gary Winter (New York)
Jeff Swearingen (Dallas)
Chris Alonzo (Brooklyn) 

EPISODE 5
John Flores (Dallas)
Jeff Hernandez (Dallas)
Ken Urban (New York)

EPISODE 6
Vicki Cheatwood (Dallas)
Zack Gonzales (Austin)
Mark Rigney (Evansville, Indiana)

ATL on SoundCloud

Audacity is very pleased to now have a SoundCloud channel. Listen to the EYE IN THE SKY episodes there. Download, comment, what-have-you...

Visit it here.

Opening minutes of RASPBERRY FIZZ

Another delightful RASPBERRY FIZZ review

Theater review: Raspberry Fizz at Out of the Loop Fringe Festival in Addison

PegasusNews.com - Thursday, March 8, 2012 - by Mary L. Clark of John Garcia's The Column

In the continuing saga of the Out of the Loop Fringe Festival, I journeyed back over to Addison Theatre Center to see two individual theatre's one-acts. A gusty, cloudy evening made for perfect play watching in their Studio Theatre.

First up was Audacity Theatre Lab and what was described as "A Sweet New Play" by local playwright and founder of Audacity, Brad McEntire. Entitled Raspberry Fizz (playing once more on March 9), a sweet play it was, set in 1949, when Truman was president and minimum wage was going up to 75 cents an hour. Dubble Bubble was the gum of choice, that fizzy soda was only 5 cents, and the worst thing you would ever say to someone was "Go suck an egg!"

A mysterious street corner barker sits in front of a record player and a taped up box. At intervals, he puts the needle on the record and tells passersby to witness "the expected, the unsuspected." Reciting short tales of unusual events, oddities, like those in the back of sensation rags, the barker then returns to his stool and paper.

Ellison has come to that same corner for the last five days, in particular to the stoop where high school friend Samantha has been, with an important question to ask her. But the "cat's got his tongue" and he just can't muster up the courage. Talking about what they want to be when they grow up, "Sam" teases "Ellie," calls him a sap and a square, and generally they both pass the time. Samantha is a flirt who gets poor Ellison to buy her things. As he leaves to purchase gum, he passes the barker, asks him what he's up to, and the con begins. In what McEntire describes as "a heart-warming exploration of expectations and the potentialities of the unmapped future tied up in ... an encounter between two young adolescents in small town America, Raspberry Fizz reminds us of an innocence we'll never see again.

All three actors used their talents to take the audience to that more innocent time -- when dreams were made on the steps of a stoop instead of playing the lottery or getting on a reality TV show. Your future or fortunes could change for just a nickel.

Shane Beeson played the barker with the friendly yet smarmy personality a good con artist needs. Both older than their characters, Natalie Young and Jeff Swearingen played that bygone era's youth with sincerity. Not trying to fake younger, they instead relied on the emotions of great potential all Americans felt coming out of World War II. Young was all smart-alecky, gum chewing, and kidding around as Sam. Swearingen made use of his natural clown/comic facial and body gestures to portray put upon Ellison as a true sad sack.

A thoughtful conception piece, a fun trip down a memory lane I traveled a bit of, and a sweet slice-of-life, coming-of-age play made Raspberry Fizz a tiny wonderment.

original post here.

Another swell RASPBERRY FIZZ write-up

Jeff Swearingen as "Ellson" in Brad Mcentire's RASPBERRY FIZZ

Review from Out of the Loop: Good Actors, Director Bring ‘Raspberry Fizz’ to Life

D Magazine FrontRow Blog - By M. Lance Lusk - March 5th, 2012 10:34am

Take two of the best actors in North Texas, put them in a fresh play by a local playwright, and give them a director (Andy Baldwin) who knows how to craft and elicit amazing performances, and you got something. It seems like a simple formula, but it is one too often overlooked in a lot of plays. Audacity Theatre Lab provides that straightforward prescription in their delightful and rousing production of Brad McEntire’s Raspberry Fizz at Water Tower Theatre’s Out of the Loop Fringe Festival.

The scene is 1949 in small town U.S.A., and young Ellson (Jeff Swearingen) is trying to screw up his courage to ask his adolescent classmate Samantha (Natalie Young) to the Harvest Dance. Throw in a bizarre carnival barker (an understated Shane Beeson) peddling mysterious wares on the corner who is not making things easy for “Ellie.”

Again, it is a modest setup, but one that is truly magical in these able hands. Swearingen (The Hand at Broken Gears and many plays at Plano Children’s Theatre) captures the essence of a sweet, yet annoying and awkward proto-nerd. He’s a hoot in high pants. Young (Red Light Winter at Second Thought) as the tough and fast-talking Sam is an incandescent ball of gum-chomping charm. She nails the wisecracking smarts and speech patterns of those screwball comedies from the 1930s and 40s.

The right ingredients make this Fizz beyond refreshing.

Original post here.

 

RASPBERRY FIZZ at TheaterJones.com

Jeff Swearingen and Natalie Young in Brad McEntire's RASPBERRY FIZZ

Warm Fizzies
Loop review: Audacity Theatre Lab's Raspberry Fizz is delectable at WaterTower Theatre's Out of the Loop Fringe Festival
by Mike Maiella for TheaterJones.com, Sunday, March 4, 2012

Addison — If you make it up to the intimate Studio Theater at Water Tower Theatre to catch Audacity Theatre Lab's production of Raspberry Fizz, you will be in for a real theatrical treat.

Running at just 45 minutes, the show—written by Audacity's Brad McEntire and directed by Andy Baldwin for the Out of the Loop Fringe Festival—is an endearing portrayal of two adolescents dealing with the awkward tension of young love. Ellson (Jeff Swearingen) has been stopping by the same steps to chat with Samantha (Natalie Young) for the past few days. She seems rather indifferent as she sits reading a newspaper and chewing gum. When Ellson first enters, he is drinking some raspberry fizz. And Samantha wants some, too.

Frustrated but wanting to win her affections, Ellson leaves to go buy her a bottle. When he returns, Samantha now wants some more gum, too. Meanwhile, Ellson repeatedly tries to muster the courage to ask her out to the fall harvest dance. Throughout the show, there is a strange man (Shane Beeson) on the other side of the stage who shouts random outbursts that sound like a carnival barker with his shouts of "step right up, folks!" There is something sinister about him though. He tells Ellson that for a nickel he can look inside a cardboard box and see a glimpse of the future.

The strength of the production lies in the simplicity of both the story and the set. Swearingen and Young are perfect together. He moves and sounds like a young boy. With his shorts pulled up high and donning a small cap, he has the awkward fidgety mannerisms and nervous stuttering of a boy speaking to the girl he has a crush on. And Young strikes the right balance of the girl who acts abrasive and bossy on the surface but actually likes the boy.

There are hilarious moments between them, too. At one point, Ellson very gingerly tries to sit next to Samantha on the step and then just as quickly stands back up when realizing what he is doing. When Samantha tells him to guess what she wants to be when she grows up, Ellson's first guess is a scientist. There is something funny but also tender and sweet in his response.

The show finds a beautiful balance between humor and the earnestness of a young crush. It's a fizzy delight.

RASPBERRY FIZZ press

"As part of a double bill, Brad McEntire’s world premiere for Audacity Theatre Lab, Raspberry Fizz, proves slight but charming under Andy Baldwin’s direction. This tale of adolescent longing gives the city’s hottest young actress last season, Natalie Young, a chance to flirt knowingly with one of our funniest performers, Jeff Swearingen."

~ Lawson Taitte, Dallas Morning News, 3/3/12

RASPBERRY FIZZ opens next week!

The newest play from an Audacity artist, Brad McEntire's RASPBERRY FIZZ will recieve its World Premiere at the Addison Water Tower Theatre's Out of the Loop Fringe Festival March 3-9, 2012. Andy Baldwin will direct and fellow ATL member Jeff Swearingen will act. Cast also includes well-known Dallas actors Natalie Young and Shane Beeson.

Performance dates and time are:
Saturday, March 3 at 8 PM
Sunday, March 4 at 7:30 PM
Tuesday, March 6 at 7:30 PM
Wednesday, March 7 at 7:30 PM
Friday, March 9 at 8 PM

RASPBERRY FIZZ is an exploration of expectation and the potentialities of the future tied up in a tender and humorous slice-of-life coming-of-age encounter between two adolescents in 1949, in small town America.

More info as well as tickets at the Out of the Loop website. Consider a "Festival Pass" and catch all the great shows at the Festival!

OOTL flyer cover

Nice...

RASPBERRY FIZZ cast announced!

Director Andy Badwin has put together a top-notch cast for the upcoming production of RASPBERRY FIZZ at the 2012 Out of the Loop Fringe Festival. Here they are!

Natalie Young will play "Samantha" the gum-chewer

Shane Beeson will play the mysterious street corner "Barker"

Jeff Swearingen will play "Ellson" the kid that can't stop moving.

Out of the Loop 2012 promo video

EYE episode 5

EYE IN THE SKY Episode 5 is online NOW! With pieces by John M. Flores, Jeff Hernandez and Ken Urban, the episode features the voices of actors Angela Parsons, Whitney Holotik, Ruth Engel, John Flores, Brad McEntire and Christie Vela. Recorded by John Flores and sound designed by Chris Humphrey.

"Punk Eye" by John Flores features two prostitutes in the city on a hot day. The giant eye is overhead and they encounter a street bum. Something is definately off about him. The scene gets tense until two garbage men come along. That is until a beam shoots out from the eye and one of the garbage men becomes "off" himself.

Jeff Hernandez presents "Okay Billy" about two parents out on a stroll with an impressionable youngster in tow.

Ken Urban submits his wonderful musical soundscape.

Check out the episode here.