[ This Just In! ]

For Immediate Release
Date: September 13, 2002

Salvage Vanguard Theater Announces Paid Resident Company Members

AUSTIN, TX--In a move designed to spur the arts community in Austin to initiate a living wage for artists, Salvage Vanguard Theater announced on September 1 its first two paid Resident Company Members, Dan Dietz and Deanna Shoemaker.

The Resident Company Members are paid a monthly stipend to live and work as artists in Austin. Their obligation to Salvage Vanguard Theater is to be involved in each of its mainstage projects in some way (either as artists or volunteers), produce the company's annual "Best Holiday" 5-minute new play festival, and give input for future projects. Beyond that, the Resident Company Members must commit to living in Austin and staying active in the arts community.

"I've been thinking for a long time about a project like this," says Artistic DIrector Jason Neulander. "For years our community has been developing new talent only to see those people move to other cities where they have a hope of making a living as artists. While our program can't pay artists full time, we hope this program will spur other, larger organizations to take the kinds of steps necessary to make it possible for a theater artist to make a living in Austin as a theater artist."

Salvage Vanguard's Resident Company Members are paid a monthly stipend of $417. The company's goal is to increase the number of Residents to six by the end of 2003.

"We aren't getting a special grant for this program," says Neulander. "The money is coming out of our operating budget because we believe so firmly in the importance of a program like this in our community."

DAN DIETZ was called a "blazingly original talent" by the Austin American-Statesman and is a playwright and actor living in Austin, Texas. Has lived in Austin since 1996 and has worked with Salvage Vanguard Theater regularly since its production of Centaur Battle of San Jacinto in 1997, for which he won the Austin Critics Table Award for Best Actor. Dietz is also the author of Dirigible and Tilt Angel, two plays premiered by Salvage Vanguard Theater. He is the recipient of numerous awards and his work has been seen in New York, Minneapolis, Los Angeles, Atlanta, and Seattle.

DEANNA SHOEMAKER moved to Austin in 1995 and has been working extensively with Salvage Vanguard Theater since then as a dramaturg, assistant director, actor and director. She has performed in Return of the Intergalactic Nemesis, Intergalactic Nemesis Redux, and Venus. She has also served as assistant-director to Jason Neulander for The Cry Pitch Carrolls and production dramaturg for Dirigible, American Demons, and Altamont Now. She has participated as a director and performer in numerous “Salvage Vanguard Best Holiday Ever” 5 minute play festivals.

Dietz says, "It's great that Salvage Vanguard has taken steps toward paying Austin artists a stipend for creating art. It exposes the myth that artists are these fluffy little people who eat applause and pay the rent with compliments. If Austin is to continue to support a thriving artistic community, then Austin needs to be willing to support that community with more than lip service--Jason has put his money where his mouth is."

Shoemaker puts it this way: "Becoming a resident company member with SVT grows out of a very fruitful and supportive collaborative relationship I've had with Jason over the past 4 years. It's thrilling to imagine the possibilities when artists commit to nurturing and challenging each other in a sustained way. I've dreamed about this kind of artistic opportunity for years!"

Deanna Shoemaker's next project with Salvage Vanguard Theater is directing the world premiere of Lisa D'Amour's 16 Spells to Charm the Beast, opening February 2003. Dan Dietz' next project with Salvage Vanguard Theater is the production of his new play tempOdyssey, opening Fall 2003.

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