DiverseWorks ArtSpace recently resurrected Slinging Ink, and has sent out an invitation for writers in Houston to participate. Slinging Ink is a writing competition in which contestants submit their poetry, fiction, or nonfiction (including letters, reports, wish lists, manuals, complaints, proposals, etc.) to be selected by a panel of judges for a reading at DiverseWorks on Wednesday. The writers chosen to read their pieces at DiverWorks on Wednesday will compete for a $100 cash prize. The idea for Slinging Ink came from a medium that most of us, nowadays, don’t associate with storytelling, the radio. Hank Hancock, founder of Slinging ... Read More »

By: Erin Dyer Functioning as a nomadic company for the past five years, Catastrophic Theatre now finally has a permanent spot to call home. Huzzah! After completion of minor construction, a bit of cleaning, and making the physical transition to the new place, the Catastrophic Theatre will soon take over the old DiverseWorks space (1117 East Texas Freeway, Houston, TX 77002). Free Press Houston spoke with Jason Nodler, the Co-founder and Artistic Director of Catastrophic Theatre, about the exciting changes in store for his organization. FPH: How are you feeling about the move? Stressed? Excited? Jason Nodler: Our managing director, ... Read More »

By: John Pluecker Towards the end of City Council Meeting: Performed Participatory Democracy last night at Palm Center, a young boy behind me whined, “This is so weird.” I tend to agree. The emotional climax of the show was one of the most bizarre moments I’ve experienced in a while: a political consultant reading a surrealist think-piece on local politics on behalf of a local council member, interspersed with praise songs from the choir of the evangelical Iglesia de Ríos de Aceite, set in the courtroom of local African-American political powerhouse, Judge Zinetta Burney. All the while the directors of ... Read More »

By: Erin Dyer Performance of Keren Cytter’s Show Real Drama at DiverseWorks Theatre starts today, Wednesday, Oct. 10, at 7:30pm. The show will continue to run at the same time each day following its opening until Oct. 13, its last running night. A celebratory Happy Hour provided by Saint Arnold will commence at 5pm before the show begins. Admission for today’s show is on a Pay What You Want basis, and tickets Oct. 11-13 are $15 for General Admission or $10 for DiverseWorks members, students, and seniors. Widely talented artist Keren Cytter is the mastermind writer and director behind Show ... Read More »

By: Erin Dyer DOOMSDAY REVUE– aka The Greatest Musical Ever! – is opening this weekend. This wacky cult performance is created, directed, and presented by Houston’s HSPVA graduate, Tamarie Cooper, and writing partner, Patrick Reynolds, on behalf of the Catastrophic Theatre. Intended for “mature audiences,” with musical features such as, “ARM-A-GET-it-ON,” it is a racy and rousing musical and theatrical interpretation of the apocalypse, filled with comedic hilarity and fun. It will be performed every Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday from July 13- August 25, 2012 at the DiverseWorks ArtSpace in the downtown warehouse district. Tickets are pay-as-you-can, and they ... Read More »

By Alex Wukman Summer in Houston means a few things: shorts, mosquitoes and musicals. From the big budget musicals of Theatre Under the Stars, who close out this season with Urban Cowboy, and Broadway Across America, who bring back the world famous Lion King, to smaller companies like Stages, reviving their smash production of The Great American Trailer Park Musical, summer in Houston is a time for musicals. In fact it was five years ago this summer that Catastrophic’s previous incarnation debuted what many consider to be their most well known play Speeding Motorcycle. And this summer Catastrophic Theatre will ... Read More »

By Alex Wukman There are plays that are entertaining for both the audience and the actors. There are plays that challenge the audience or actors, either through the difficulty of the script or the themes that are explored; and then there’s Catastrophic Theatre’s production of Sarah Kane’s play Crave. The performance doesn’t so much begin as unfold; the audience is admitted into a smoky theatre filled with a diffused light that offers little clue as to when, or even where, the play is set. It could be on a fishing pier in a British coastal town with an oddly descriptive name, like  Walton On The Naze or Broadstairs, in 1995 or it could be  inside someone’s mind. The costumes and the four ... Read More »

  By Alex Wukman  There’s an image in Kristina Wong’s photo stream, mixed in with the vacation shots, of her onstage, wearing matching blue windbreaker and news dealer cap, projected on to the back wall of the theatre are words that could be said to define most people in this country: race and identity. As a solo performance artist Wong dealt very overtly with race in her previous one woman show Wong Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. In the show Wong opened a dialogue about the high incidence of anxiety, depression and mental illness among Asian American women. Her press ... Read More »