Prodigious Songcraft Blooms in Sarah Jarosz - The Austin Chronicle

THEarts28 Keith Johnstone 30 After a Fashion 31 Books 56 Arts ListingsTHE HORTON FOOTE PRIZEHonoring one writer by taking care of othersThe news last week that a majornew playwriting award had beenestablished in honor of the lateHorton Foote was hardly a surprise.His reputation as a master of thedramatist’s craft had grown steadilyover the past 25 years, and thisyear’s posthumous production ofhis nine-play magnum opus, TheOrphans’ Home Cycle, on Broadwaywill only burnish it further. A prize inhis name seemed only fitting. No, thesurprise was where the award wasbeing established: in Austin, a city towhich the Texas writer had no strongties and in which productions of hisplays are scarcer than blue moons.(Different Stages’ March productionof The Carpetbagger’s Children will bejust the fourth Foote drama stagedlocally in 20 years.) So why hasthis tribute to Foote, which awards$30,000 biennially to “an Americanplaywright who has written an originalwork of exceptional quality,”come from here?The answer lies with local filmmakerand arts philanthropistMari Marchbanks, who’s been agreat admirer of Foote’s work sinceshe first saw a version of his The Tripto Bountiful years ago. “I was staggeredby its humanity and grace,” shesays. “His words have a quiet powerthat strikes us at our core. We don’texpect it, we never see it coming,then, bam. We are ordinary, but inhis hands, we become extraordinary.”Marchbanks has been wantingto honor Foote for years andthought she had an opportunity adecade ago when the State TheatreCompany, then led by Don Toner,was planning to expand into thebuilding just north of the StateTheatre. She and husband GregMarchbanks had the naming opportunityfor the small black-box theatrethat would go into the space,and she favored naming it forFoote, but then the building endedup being sold, and the space nevermaterialized. Still, the experiencegave her the opportunity to meetthe playwright at his home inWharton, and what came out of it,she says, “was Horton’s desire tosee a playwright taken care of. Hetold me that whatever I chose todo, to do it for the playwright.”Foote’s wish was reinforced whenMarchbanks read a McKnightFoundation survey that asked writershow much money they thoughtan artist needed to live on. “I wassurprised,” she recalls. “Theyseemed to ask for so little to getby in order to keep creating, yet theopportunities to make a living withtheir art are so hard to come by. Inlate 2008, Greg and I went to NewYork to see the Broadway productionof Horton’s Dividing the Estate.Later, in the warmth of our hotelbar, I started up once again onhonoring Horton, giving to the playwright,the economy! At some point,Greg cut me off midsentence andsimply told me if I was going to doit, then do it. The only way to beginis to begin. So here we are.”The inaugural Horton FootePrize will be awarded sometimethis fall at a ceremony in NewYork. The recipient will be chosenfrom submissions made by aselect group of resident theatresthat share a strong history of producingnew work. Each theatremay enter one full-length drama –no one-acts or monologues, andno musicals, translations, adaptations,or collaborations – and thework must be by a writer who’shad at least three full-length playsproduced by professional theatres.A selection committee willdetermine the finalists, with thewinner being chosen by four artisticdirectors who all worked withFoote: André Bishop, LincolnCenter Theater; James Houghton,Signature Theatre Company;Andrew Leynse, Primary Stages;and Michael Wilson, HartfordStage Company.Marchbanks, who is serving asexecutive director for the prize,Horton Footesees it as an opportunity “to liftthe playwright’s financial state whileat the same time reminding thoseand future playwrights of this importantwriter who came before them. Ithink that time will bear Horton outto be one of America’s greatestdramatists. And in my book, he’ssecond to none.”For more information, visitwww.hortonfooteprize.org.– Robert FairesGenevieve Kinney of La FeniceTheatre companies, like bands, break up all the time, butit’s not every day that you see one reassemble. That’s whatmakes a new production from the Austin Commedia Society,opening this week at Club de Ville, more than usually noteworthy.The company was last seen in action around the timethat the U.S. invaded Iraq – it has, in fact, been defunct longerthan it was originally in existence.ACS formed in 1999 and over a four-year span stagedabout a dozen original scenarios rooted in the style of – whatelse? – commedia dell’arte. Its crowning achievement wasLA FENICE Out of the ashes, new zaninessthe Commedia dell’Austin Festival 2001, which broughttogether five commedia troupes from across the country andseveral specialists from around the world for two weeks ofclasses and performances. Unfortunately, just three days intoit, 9/11 happened and sucked the energy right out of thefestival and, it turned out, the group as well.“People were just kind of ready to move on,” remembersAaron Johnson, the group’s artistic director. “There was nobitterness. We shook hands, gave each other great big hugs,but it was like, ‘We gotta go try something different now.’”Society members dispersed to new pursuits – graduatedegrees, jobs, having kids – and, in some cases, new cities.Johnson himself relocated to South Bend, Ind., where heworked for a while in an Irish pub run by the parents of ACSmember Kate Meehan. After that, he pushed on to Chicagoand wound up managing a theatre company, then headedwest to New Mexico for a brief stint in his parents’ jewelrybusiness. Then, last year, Meehan’s parents again offeredJohnson a job in a new Irish pub they were opening … inAustin. That brought him back to town and reconnected himwith Meehan, who then had the bright idea of seeing if theystill had any commedia chops left.A few phone calls found Paul Joiner and Genevieve Kinneyof the ACS old guard eager to play again, and voila! The bandwas back together. As they were rising from the ashes ofAustin Commedia Society, they adopted a new name, LaFenice – Italian for the phoenix. They developed a new originalscenario, Suitors and Tutors, and even persuaded aninstructor from the 2001 festival, Gian Giacomo Colli, tocome down and direct it.Going back to commedia after several years compares,Johnson says, to riding a bicycle. “You don’t forget, but ifyou don’t ride it for a little while, you have to knock the rustoff the chain and have the brakes tightened and things likethat. It was not a sluggish start, but it was like, ‘Okay, do westill know how to do this?’ In the last week, everyone hasreattained that comfort level [of the ACS days]. We’re laughingin rehearsal, having a great time, trying out all kinds ofnew stuff.”That bodes well for this week’s opening at Club de Ville. Tohear him talk, Johnson’s only real concern is the weather. See,the company plans to perform on the outdoor stage, But henotes that the club’s outdoor heaters will be fired up, and he’llbe handing out a blanket with each admission. And if the crowdstill thinks it’s too cold, they’ll move the fun indoors. – R.F.Suitors and Tutors runs Jan. 15-31, Fridays & Saturdays, 8pm, atClub de Ville, 900 Red River. For more information, call 539-0358 orvisit www.lafeniceaustin.org.a u s t i n c h r o n i c l e . c o m JANUARY 15, 2010 T H E A U S T I N C H R O N I C L E 27