[ This Just In! ]
For Immediate Release
Date: August 18th, 2006
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SALVAGE VANGUARD THEATER PRESENTS CARIDAD SVICH'S THRUSH, A PLAY WITH SONGS
(AUSTIN, TX)-- On October 13, Salvage Vanguard Theater will premiere Thrush, a play with songs by Caridad Svich at the new SVT space at 2803 Manor.
Thrush is the second work by Svich presented by Salvage Vanguard. In 2002, SVT received several accolades for its production of Svich's Fugitive Pieces.
"I wrote Thrush with SVT in mind, so it's really a stroke of mad beautiful luck or fate (depending on what you believe in) that it is here that it finds its first home," says Svich.
Thrush is set in an unknown time and unnamed country suffering from the consequences of war. Following the story of Minerva, a refugee, Thrush brings to stage images that the average audience member will recognize from news broadcasts of present day. Water is scarce or undrinkable. The land is scorched and littered. Small battalions of soldiers meander through the countryside, creating more havoc than order. Refugees are forced to steal, kill and worse in order to survive.
"Given recent history- i.e. the Balkan war, Iraq 1 and 2, Afghanistan, Darfur, Sudan, Colombia, etc- it seems only fitting to speak in a metaphorical way rather than the purely journalistic way of the refugee's plight and the often mis-use of political rhetoric toward the situation of seeking asylum," says Svich.
"I chose to keep a spoken setting that was North American in a recognizable "roots" sense so that the concept of refugee would come home, as it were, and enter this soil," she adds.
In this "archetypal landscape", Thrush explores the beauty and strength of human tenacity. A love story develops. Songs from a Greek-like chorus are peppered throughout, moving the characters along through the landscape (and one or two dance numbers) to what one hopes will be a happy ending.
"[It is] a dark valentine to refugees the world over," says Svich.
Thrush will be the first show presented in the new Salvage Vanguard Theater located at 2803 Manor. It will also be the first time that long time resident company member Jenny Larson will direct a main stage production for SVT.
"As a brand new director, in a brand new space, with a brand new world premiere by such a talented playwright, I feel tickled with excitement," says Larson.
"I met Jenny when we did the workshop of Thrush as the first SVT Reads in February of this year and find her to be passionate, thoughtful, articulate, intelligent, funny, focused and go-for-broke -- qualities I admire and delight in a collaborator," says Svich.
Thrush opens Friday, October 13th and runs through November 11th at the Salvage Vanguard Theater (2803 Manor Rd.). It features Kathy Catmull, Jude Hickey, Gina Houston, Jason Newman, Mark Stewart, Adam Sultan and Elizabeth Wakehouse. Set design by Leilah Stewart, lights by Diana Duecker, costumes by Laura Cannon.
For more information, please contact 512-SVT-6 or visit http://www.salvagevanguard.org
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