Benjamin Summers News

In the last few weeks we've gotten to see what happens when the world stops and waits with bated breath. Though the future feels bleak and uncertain, there's an opportunity to connect as we never have before, exercise problem solving muscles, and create a new normal for the foreseeable future.

John Lowell's THE LETTERS, in its regional premiere courtesy of Street Corner Arts, is a two person, one act play. It begins in one place, takes us on a journey, and ends up in a place unrecognizable from where it started, all without leaving one governmental archives office in 1930s Stalinist Russia. Through one seventy-five minute long interaction, Lowell's dialogue and Michael Stuart's direction captures the utter paranoia and perpetual fear felt by citizens and leaders alike living in the Soviet Regime.

'This is a story of kings.' The opening line of playwright Ayad Akhtar's JUNK gives the audience an epic summary of what they're about to experience. Kings not determined by the biggest crown or most expansive army, but by the fullest pockets. Robert Merkin, played by Carlo Lorenzo Garcia, is one such king, though unconventional in that the lead character of Akhtar's longest work sees debt as an asset. Robert sits proudly on the cover Time Magazine, and he's ready to capitalize on his role as 'America's Alchemist'. Performer Garcia revels in all the teeth sucking, furtive gesticulating, and slick talking of a classic 1980's Wall Street yuppie.

GROUNDED is a 2012 drama from George Brant that won the National New Play Network's 2012 Smith Prize and the Fringe First award at the 2013 Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Street Corner Arts production of the play is the first time his work has been done in Austin since he graduated with an MFA in Writing from the Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas at Austin. George Brant's play was one of the earliest theatrical explorations of this unnerving new form of war.

POCATELLO is a 2014 play from acclaimed playwright and MacArthur Fellow Samuel D. Hunter, that takes a darkly comedic look at the need for interaction and connection in an increasingly homogenized America. In a time when corporate stores are wiping out the uniqueness and the differences that separated one place from another, this play asks the possibly unanswerable question: 'How did I get here'? Samuel D. Hunter's Idaho is the locale for this unflinching look into the changing landscape of middle America, and the flawed, yet real, people trying desperately to define what makes a home when you're standing on shifting ground. His play is naturalistic in nature, reminding one of the domestic dramas of Kansan William Inge. If you aren't sure of what this kind of place looks like, (since Austin still has it's mantra to 'keep weird'), take a short drive up IH-35 to Temple and look around. I challenge you to find something that isn't a chain store.

Continuing our series of interviews of Austin Theatre companies and the artists behind them, BroadwayWorld had the opportunity to talk to Benjamin Summers about StreetCorner Arts during their Tech Week for their latest production, PERFECT MENDACITY.

I first discovered Mike Bartlett when I saw Cock last season. I have been eagerly waiting for more from him because of his wit and his skill at writing dialogue. He has come from relative obscurity 10 years ago to now being a force at the BBC and at England's National Theatre; but at first exposure you know this is a writer whose work is worth seeing. Bartlett is a master at writing realistic dialogue in that black comedy style that is both extremely uncomfortable and hilarious simultaneously. In a way, this work harkens back to The Theatre of Cruelty. The Theatre of Cruelty is a form of theatre developed by avant-garde playwright Antonin Artaud, in The Theatre and its Double. When Artaud spoke of cruelty it was not in the sense of violent behavior, but rather the cruelty it takes for actors to show an audience a truth that they do not wish to see. BULL is very much like that in that when you leave the theater you can expect to question your reasons for laughing… and trust me, you will laugh.

THE REALISTIC JONESES is a play by Will Eno. It opened on Broadway in 2014 after premiering in 2012 at the Yale Repertory Theater. Eno has said that he wrote the play because he 'wanted to really just write a naturalistic and realistic play." What he has created plays more like deeply melancholy sitcom. While there are lots of laughs to be found in this 90 minute slice-of-life, they come from a surreal sense of awkwardness that allows the audience to connect to the intense loneliness that permeates these four people's lives.

Austin Playhouse presents THE PHILADELPHIA STORY by Philip Barry, November 20 - December 20, 2015 at Austin Playhouse at ACC's Highland Campus. BroadwayWorld has a sneak peek at the cast below!

Austin Playhouse presents THE PHILADELPHIA STORY by Philip Barry, November 20 - December 20, 2015 at Austin Playhouse at ACC's Highland Campus. BroadwayWorld has a sneak peek at the cast below!

WAITING FOR LEFTY was written in 1935 by Clifford Odets. The play is, and was written as, an immersive piece of theatre. It is, ostensibly, a meeting of cab drivers who are gathering to plan a strike. As an audience member, you become a part of that meeting. While the meeting is going on, we are exposed to a series of scenes which are related to the meeting in that they delve into the lives of the characters to frame what brought them to this meeting. What is striking is that nearly 80 years later, WAITING FOR LEFTY still resonates and has something to say to modern audiences… especially those who struggle to make ends meet on a daily basis.

Fresh on the heels of receiving its 501(c)(3) non-profit status, Street Corner Arts continues its mission to bring Austin audiences relevant, engaging theatre from all genres and eras, this time around with the American classic WAITING FOR LEFTY by Clifford Odets.

Fresh on the heels of receiving its 501(c)(3) non-profit status, Street Corner Arts continues its mission to bring Austin audiences relevant, engaging theatre from all genres and eras, this time around with the American classic WAITING FOR LEFTY by Clifford Odets.

Street Corner Arts is back again! This time with the razor-sharp wit of Nicky Silver!

Street Corner Arts is back again! This time with the razor-sharp wit of Nicky Silver!

Honesty may be the best policy, but it's not the most fun one. Thank God 16th century playwright Pierre Corneille and modern day playwright David Ives have an affinity for the truth-challenged. Ives's modern take on Corneille's classic French comedy The Liar is an exhilarating and side-splitting mix of the old and new, and Austin Playhouse's production of it reminds us just how exceptional the Austin theater community is.

Austin Playhouse presents The Liar by David Ives, directed by Don Toner. The show will run tonight, February 7th - March 9th, 2014.

Austin Playhouse presents The Liar by David Ives, directed by Don Toner. The show will run February 7th - March 9th, 2014.

Tomorrow night, Street Corner Artists, one of Austin's newest theater companies, will close their production of the hilarious new comedy, The North Plan.

The North Plan is Street Corner Arts' return to the fast-paced, politically-charged world of Jason Wells, writer of their 2011 hit, Men of Tortuga. This pitch-black comedy will have its regional premiere at Hyde Park Theatre (511 W. 43rd St.) in Austin, Texas from December 6 to December 21, 2013.