[ PRODUCTIONS ]
2000 was a pivotal year for Salvage Vanguard Theater's productions. After its success in 1999--all of its shows that year were nominated for local theater awards, the company had a lot to live up to. In 2000, the co-Artistic Directors focused on maintaining a high standard of production quality and furthering its national reputation, while continuing to experiment with theatrical forms. The result was the boldest effort the company has ever produced: from the linguistic challenge of Terminal Hip, to the imaginative form of the radio serial, to making its New York debut, to the collaborative experiment of The American Demons, Salvage Vanguard Theater never let go the notion that to grow as an artist, one must always take risks.
Download the SVT 2000 Annual Report (PDF)
Terminal Hip by Mac Wellman (March-April 2000)
Terminal Hip, written by Mac Wellman, was truly a landmark production for Salvage Vanguard. Not only is Terminal Hip a seminal work of the contemporary avant garde (it won the 1990 Obie Award for Best New Play) by a playwright whose work has influenced practically every writer Salvage Vanguard has ever produced, but it was the first show produced by both co-Artistic Directors. The show won high praise from the critics, not to mention Wellman himself, who flew in to see the show on closing night. The Austin Chronicle called Dan Dietz (the sole performer in the show) "unstoppable" and said, "It is hard to imagine a better, more stimulating version of the Mac Wellman script than this Salvage Vanguard Theater production." The Austin American-Statesman called the show "a literary spin around the block you won't be able to put out of your mind" and "an act of profound courage." Terminal Hip was nominated for 3 Austin Critics Table Awards and a B. Iden Payne Award, and Dietz walked away with the Critics Table Award for Best Actor in a Comedy.
The Intergalactic Nemesis, an episodic radio serial by Ray Colgan, Jessica Reisman, and Jason Neulander (May 2000)
Based on the 1996 version by Ray Colgan, Jessica Reisman, Julia Edwards, and Lisa D'Amour, this Nemesis was performed on a grand scale at the 300-seat State Theater in downtown Austin. Replete with live sound effects and original music, the show captured the imagination of more than 250 people in its live performance. But the live performance was only the beginning. The company digitally recorded the production with the goal of airing it on the radio and, in December 2000, released the CD for broadcast and for sale on its web site. The response to The Intergalactic Nemesis by the audience was wildly enthusiastic. The Austin Chronicle had this to say: "Participation in the live taping of a radio show is ... historic. We happy few will have the backstory when the tapes come out, and we alone will know how Moran and Co. made those squishy Martian sounds."
Click here to listen to the first episode!
Click here to buy the double-CD!
Dirigible at the New York International Fringe Festival (August 2000)
In August 2000, Salvage Vanguard Theater produced its first touring production since David Bucci's Kid Carnivore in the summer of 1995: Dirigible by Dan Dietz, winner of the 1999 Austin Critics Table Award for Outstanding New Play. In order to make the show portable, director Jason Neulander created numerous collapsable set items, including a homademade RP screen. The tour demanded a new degree of flexibility from the cast (which included all three original performers) and crew, as challenges (a poorly-equipped performance space, high levels of noise from neighboring shows, no dressing rooms, and many more) had to be faced and overcome. Even when confronted by such adversities, Salvage Vanguard produced another highly-praised production. FringeNYC Propaganda wrote, "I left Salvage Vanguard Theater's 'Dirigible' wishing I'd gone with a friend so we could spend the next dozen hours re-living the parts we liked best," and broadway.com desbribed the show as "a multileveled and meaty play . . . a complex and woven production . . . [Dirigible] leaves you with an honest understanding of how one spark can destroy a relationship."
The American Demons created and performed by Dan Dietz, Deborah Hay, Andrea Moon, and Jason Neulander (Sep. 2000)
Arguably the most ambitious project Salvage Vanguard has ever taken on, The American Demons was created over the course of nine months in a democratic, collaborative rehearsal environment without dramaturg or director. Conceived by Neulander in 1998 and funded in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, the show integrated its experimental process with source material from The Possessed by Fyodor Dostoevsky and news reports of the shootings at Columbine High School. Because of its experimental nature, the creative process was extremely challenging and exhausting, but the results paid off. People were deeply affected by the emotional and visual power of the show, some positively and some negatively, but all quite strongly. The show was enthusiastically received by the press ("With an underscore of the Golden Arm Trio's haunting music, a backdrop that resembles a Mark Rothko piece, and the outstanding craftof Dan Dietz, Neulander, Deborah Hay and Moon, eerie is an understatement for The American Demons" -- The Austin Chronicle) and had the biggest per-night attendance of any long-running show the company has ever produced, selling to 90 percent capacity. In addition to regular attendance, the show reached 125 high school students through the company's outreach program ArtReach.
The Next Best Salvage Vanguard Holiday Ever (December 2000)
For the fourth year in a row, Salvage Vanguard mounted The Next Best Salvage Vanguard Holiday Ever, the 5-minute play festival that has become an Austin tradition. This year's theme was "snow," and the writers creating the pieces included veteran Holiday scribes Travis York, Andrea Moon, Adam Sobsey, Ray Colgan, Jessica Reisman, John Walch, and Kirk Lynn, as well as newcomers Carey Friedman, Caridad Svich, and Neena Beber. This year's attendance was the highest yet: 280 people crowded into Little City Coffee to watch these quick-and-dirty plays performed and directed by some of Austin's finest theater artists. As always, the Best Holiday was the perfect ending to a terrific year.
[ AWARDS AND HONORS ]
The Houston Endowment
In November 2000, the Houston Endowment, Texas' largest private foundation, announced that it had awarded Salvage Vanguard Theater a $45,000 grant. The funds, divided into three $15,000 payments over three years, will be used to support the company's operations. The grant was the biggest Salvage Vanguard Theater had ever received and, because it is a multi-year grant, will help ensure the company's financial stability for the long-term.
The National Endowment for the Arts
For the second year in a row, Salvage Vanguard Theater was a recipient of a grant from the NEA, this time in the amount of $10,000. The NEA grant will support the commissioning of a new opera, currently titled The Baba Yaga, composed by Graham Reynolds of Golden Arm Trio, with libretto by award-winning writer Karen Hartman. Reynolds composed music for Salvage Vanguard's 1999 opera The Cry Pitch Carrolls.
Austin Critics Table Awards
2000 was a banner year for theater awards for Salvage Vanguard: 21 local theater award nominations in all. This year the company was nominated for 14 Austin Critics' Table Awards. In fact, every show the company produced in the 12 months prior to the awards was nominated for both Best Production and Best Director. Dan Dietz walked away with the Best Actor award for his performance in Terminal Hip and The Cry Pitch Carrolls received a special citation for being the "Most Unique Theatrical Experience" of the year.
B. Iden Payne Awards
Salvage Vanguard was nominated for seven B. Iden Payne Awards this year, the most it has ever been nominated for. Nominations included Best Musical (Cry Pitch); Best Director of a Musical (Jason Neulander for Cry Pitch); Best Musical Direction (Graham Reynolds for Cry Pitch); Best Ensemble (the cast of Cry Pitch); Best Actor (Dan Dietz for Terminal Hip); Best Drama (Venus); and Best Director of a Drama (Jason Neulander for Venus).
CitySearch.com
In 2000, Salvage Vanguard Theater was one of five local companies nominated by CitySearch for its "Best of Austin" awards. CitySearch was effusive in their assessment of the company: "[SVT] has produced some of the best work found anywhere in Austin."
Texas Monthly
The premiere Texas glossy featured Salvage Vanguard in its September "Texas Twenty" issue with a huge picture of Dan Dietz on page 40. Texas Monthly had this to say about the company: "The founders of Austin's Salvage Vanguard Theater don't want theater dead; they just want to give it new life. Judging from the enthusiastic reviews and packed houses, their interpretations of the avant-garde have done just that."
*surface
National acclaim for Salvage Vanguard Theater continued in 2000 with the honor of being named a "Generator" in *surface in October. "Generator" is an annual listing of 30 arts organizations of all disciplines who are at the very cutting edge of their art forms. This year launched the "Generator" project. The magazine said simply that Salvage Vanguard Theater is "the South's most outstanding resource for upstart talent."
City of Austin
In 2000, Salvage Vanguard Theater was ranked #1 in the City of Austin arts funding process, over theater companies with budgets 10 times larger than SVT. As a result of its hard work and rank, Salvage Vanguard Theater was awarded the full $30,000 it had requested, a 50% increase over 1999-2000.