[ This Just In! ]
For Immediate Release
Date: August 24, 2001
Salvage Vanguard Theater to Premiere New Dan Dietz Play
AUSTIN, TX--After a successful workshop at PlayLabs in Minneapolis, Salvage Vanguard Theater is premiering Tilt Angel, a deadpan tennessee fairy tale by Dan Dietz at the Off Center in Austin, Texas from October 12 - November 3, 2001.
With Tilt Angel, award-winning playwright Dan Dietz spins a gothic fairy tale, deep south style. After her commercial flight crashes into the earth, a dead woman (Lois), her auto mechanic husband (Red), and their baby-brained, big-bodied son (Ollie) struggle to get the world back on its axis. Sparks and steel, threatening vegetables, weird wings and weirder hands all collide in this gritty and lyrical family epic.
"It's been two years since we've done one of Dan's plays," says co-Artistic Director Jason Neulander. "I have to say that I am pretty damn pumped to be doing this show. And what a show!"
Audiences had their first taste of Tilt Angel at a pubicly staged reading at the Playwrights' Center in Minneapolis as part of the prestigious PlayLabs development workshop in July. The response was strong. As a result of the reading, literary managers from A Contemporary Theatre in Seattle, Northlight in Chicago, and more, are making plans to be in attendance at the Austin premiere and may consider the play for upcoming seasons.
"I thought PlayLabs was a wonderful way to get the play up on its feet for two weeks to do some fine tuning," says Dietz. "And then the audience response was unexpected and wonderful. I can't wait to see how our production here comes together."
In addition to being one of three 2001 PlayLabs resident playwrights, Dan Dietz is the recipient of the 1999 Austin Critics' Table Award for Outstanding New Play for Dirigible, also produced by Salvage Vanguard Theater. Dietz has also received a Michener Fellowship; nominations for the Roy Crane Award in the Arts, the Cherry Lane Mentorsip Program, and the Southern Writers Project (at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival); and was recently awarded a month-long playwriting residency at the Millay Colony for the Arts.
Tilt Angel is directed by Jason Neulander and features the acting talents of Douglas Taylor as Red, Cyndi Williams as Lois, and Victor Steele as Angel Bones. The show also represents a return to the stage for Jason Phelps as Ollie, after the award-winning actor's two year acting hiatus.
"When Jason said he'd do the role, we were so very flattered. He's a great actor and we feel lucky to be able to work with him and the rest of this very talented cast," says Neulander.
The show's set is designed by Kimberlee Koym, with costumes by Meredith Mosely of Star Costumes.
"The play has some very complicated technical elements, we're blessed to have such visionary designers on board to make the show come to life," says Neulander. "And we couldn't be more fortunate than to have Chris Black composing and performing the live music."
Black has worked with such local bands as Shoulders and Golden Arm Trio and heads Chris Black and the Holy Ghost, a brutal septet. He has worked with Salvage Vanguard Theater as a musician on The Cry Pitch Carrolls and as co-composer of the 2001 production of Wallpaper Psalm.
Tilt Angel opens October 12 and runs Thursday through Saturday through November 3, with two Sunday performances October 21 and 28. All performances are at 8 PM at the Off Center (2211-A Hidalgo Street). Tickets are $6 - $15. For more information contact Salvage Vanguard Theater at 474-SVT-6 or <http://www.salvagevanguard.org>.
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