Weekly Event - Every Friday & Saturday: 8:00 PM to 9:30 PM (CT)
This Thanksgiving weekend, the Salvage Vanguard Theater will
host a spectacle never before attempted in Austin: a complete musical, conceived
and performed on the spot, starring puppets. Ten performers and dozens of
puppets will take the stage to present “Crack! The Improvised Puppet Musical”
at 8pm, November 27 and 28. Tickets are $10.
Created by Sara Farr, directed by Valerie Ward, and starring a cast of veteran
and upcoming improv comedians, this production promises to provide a unique
experience this holiday season. "There
is a timeless magic about puppets that
is entertaining for audiences of all ages," says Farr. "Even if the
performer is standing in plain
site, the audience will engage with the puppet and forget about the
performer.” After touring the west coast and researching puppet
improv in cities like Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles, Farr was
inspired to bring some of that magic to Austin. “I wanted to create a show that no one else is doing here in Austin” states
Farr. “The
challenge of doing an improvised puppet musical scares me, but our cast
and crew are top notch, and puppets seem to bring out the best
in improvisers." In addition to teaching animation at ACC
and her work on local animation projects such as "Flatland, the Movie,"
Farr provides impromptu scoring for Austin’s
improv duo “Get Up”!
"We chose the name Crack! because it has a vital
energy, with
implications of something opening up, lightning striking, things
erupting. We're doing something pretty risky and thrilling here, and
we
wanted people to catch that sense of excitement and possibility right
from the
start," says director Valerie Ward, of local improv group
Parellelogramonphonograph. "Improvising itself scares most people to
death. Add improvised singing and you're
already doing the near-unthinkable. Filter all that through a puppet
while keeping in mind your puppet technique, and your narrative, and
your song
structure- we must be crazy."
Crack! celebrates the playful anarchy of puppets, plus improv, plus improv
singing. The show is PG-13 and is designed for older audiences.
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