[ This Just In! ]

For Immediate Release
Date: May 16, 2000

Salvage Vanguard Presents Sobsey's The Essense Of Comedy

Salvage Vanguard Theater presents THE ESSENCE OF COMEDY, a new play by Adam Sobsey as part of its "second-stage" season. THE ESSENCE OF COMEDY will be performed June 1, 2, 3 and 7, 8, 9, 10, at the Hideout, 617 Congress Avenue, in the upstairs cabaret space. All performances are at 8:00 PM. Tickets are $10 general admission, $8 for students and seniors. June 7th is Pay-What-You-Can night. For reservations and information, call 448-1674.

THE ESSENCE OF COMEDY is a companion piece to Sobsey's play, WHEN YOU KNOW WHAT IT IS YOU'RE DOING, which won the Humboldt New Play Award in 1996 and was produced in Austin by Salvage Vanguard Theater in March-April 1998 to rave reviews ("Sobsey's play is inventive, and his dialogue manages to be sophisticated while remaining authentic ... The play unfolds like a horror funhouse." --The Austin Chronicle).

In the stand-up comedy business, they say that a good routine "kills." THE ESSENCE OF COMEDY takes this adage to heart. It's comedy that cuts; suicide stand-up. ESSENCE... traces the continuing story of Wendy and Paul, two fast friends who have shared the most intense moments of their lives together but who have been separated by time and circumstance. Wendy is now a movie star but is living in early retirement in a remote North Carolina coastal town; Paul is a successful but troubled stand-up comedian in New York City. ESSENCE... is the story of what happens when they are reunited against their will, and at a critical juncture in both of their lives. Caught in the maelstrom are the Kid, who was introduced in WHEN YOU KNOW... and is now Paul's harried manager, and Vivian, Wendy's septuagenarian housemate. Scenes between the four characters are intercut with segments of stand-up comedy performed directly to the audience by Paul.

THE ESSENCE OF COMEDY is directed by Joseph Meissner, known around Austin for his work as an actor, particularly in Salvage Vanguard Theater's productions of the Ruth Margraff plays Cry Pitch Carrolls, The Battle of San Jacinto, and Wallpaper Psalm. It is performed by Suzannah Beard, Gay Gaughan-Hurst, Maurice Moore, and Adam Sobsey. Adam Sobsey has worked as a playwright, director, actor, and designer around the US. He worked with the New York experimental theater company The Wooster Group from 1994-1996. He received his BA from Brown University where he studied with Paula Vogel and Aishah Rahman. Sobsey is currently a playwriting fellow at the Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas, and is an associate member of Austin ScriptWorks. His plays have been produced in Providence, RI, Durham, NC, Eureka, CA, and Austin.

Salvage Vanguard Theater is a nonprofit arts organization located in Austin, Texas, committed to fostering a dynamic exchange between visionary artists and audiences new to their work. To that end, Salvage Vanguard Theater seeks to combine explosive energy with expert technique, creating forms which defy theatrical traditions and define a new American avant garde.

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