[ This Just In! ]

For Immediate Release
Date: August 28, 2000

Salvage Vanguard Succeeds at the Fringe

Austin, Texas--After facing some uphill challenges, Salvage Vanguard Theater had a very successful run of Dan Dietz' award-winning play Dirigible at the 2000 New York International Fringe Festival. "The turnout was much, much better than we expected, and audiences were really enthusiastic. We were pleasantly surprised by the warm welcome the New York audiences gave us." said co-Artistic Director Jason Neulander.

The trip, however, was not without its challenges. Instead of a theater, Salvage Vanguard shared a run-down classroom with seven other companies. Instead of risers, the audience sat in metal folding chairs on a level floor. And instead of the fourteen foot grid promised, there was no lighting grid at all, though there were lights on poles. "We were given no advance indication of the challenges of the space. And the space was difficult to work in. We had no backstage area and no dressing rooms. On top of everything, the room was adjascent to a courtyard in which amplified music was played during five of our six performances," says Neulander. "We were able to keep our sense of humor, though, and thanks to a really hard-working team (and aside from a varying and unanticipated soundtrack), the show really did come off without a hitch."

Dan Dietz, the play's author and co-Artistic Director of the company puts it this way: "We really thought that we would see only five or seven people at each performance. Not only did we never see a house less than twenty, but one performance actually sold out to standing-room-only!"

The critical response was strong as well. Sharon Glassman, writing for FringeNYC Propaganda, had this top say about the show: "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. Playwright Dan Dietz has created … a hilarious riff on life love, truth, knowledge and happiness … Director Jason Neulander keeps the audience attuned to recurring elements in Dirigible's throughline as reality crashes, then turns into something infinitely finer … A fascinating mosaic."

Matt Scott of broadway.com described 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."

"New York was fun," says Neulander, "but when all's said and done, we sure are glad to be home." Dirigible played at the New York International Fringe Festival at CHARAS/El Bohio, room 309, for six performances, August 17 - 22. Salvage Vanguard's next production, The American Demons, opens in Austin (in a controlled environment) on September 15.

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