Vortex Summer Youth Program: The Pandemdem Edition
by Vortex Summer Youth Theatre
May. 22 - May. 29 (2021)
Now in its 29th year, this award-winning, tuition-free program for young professionals will engage in workshops with theatre professionals in June and July to develop an original project with themes from pandemic/quarantine to be performed on the Garden Stage at The VORTEX July 29-31, 2021. With poetry, artistry, humor, wit, and hope, we rip the bandage off of the teenaged truths that we have lived through for the last year.
AUDITION SIGN UP FOR SUMMER YOUTH THEATRE 2021
SUMMER YOUTH THEATRE 2021: PANDEMDEM EDITION,
DIRECTED BY JENNIFER JENNINGS
MAY 22 & 29, 2021
The VORTEX seeks students ages 13-17 to participate in Summer Youth Theatre 2021: Pandemdem Edition. This year’s program is highly competitive for a position with a select youth ensemble including young actors, writers, musicians, designers, and technicians.
Students are required to adhere to The VORTEX’s strict health and safety protocols and will work primarily in small groups, masked, and socially-distanced.
Students of any ethnicity, heritage, gender, disability, or economic background, and students of all experience levels are welcome to audition for an intimate ensemble of diverse youth who will train under the expertise of theatre professionals. Adult theatre professionals mentor students in all aspects of theatre including acting, writing, design, technical theatre, and publicity.
Auditions will be held May 22 & 29 at The VORTEX, 2307 Manor Rd. Austin, TX 78722. Prior to the audition/interview, students must:
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AUDITION/INTERVIEW: By appointment at vortex@vortexrep.org. Applications also accepted for students primarily interested in writing, design, and tech.
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Prepare a memorized, one-minute monologue from a play.
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Tell a story about one moment that helped you get through the pandemic.
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Schedule 15-minute, in-person, masked Audition/Interview.
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A parent/guardian is required to attend the interview.
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Masks Required for audition/interview.
ABOUT THE VORTEX’S SUMMER YOUTH THEATRE
For several generations, SYT has provided high-caliber theatrical productions to Austin audiences as the jewel of VORTEX’s community engagement. The Austin Chronicle named SYT “Best Theatre Program that Treats Kids like Grownups.” Nominated for dozens of local awards, SYT has received B. Iden Payne Awards for Outstanding Production of a Play for Youth for The Commedia of Errors and Machinal, Outstanding Direction of a Play for Youth for The Commedia of Errors, The Physicists, Moby Dick, and The Frogs, Outstanding Acting for The Physicists and Moby Dick, and Outstanding Sound Design for Machinal. Every year, students work with adult artists who are among Austin’s most celebrated theatre professionals. Producing Artistic Director, Bonnie Cullum, who founded SYT in 1991, was inducted into the Austin Arts Hall of Fame in 2009.
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR
Jennifer Jennings was most recently seen eating up all the okra as Weezy the Talking Goat in the Rolling World Premiere of Alabaster by Audrey Cefaly. Jen assistant directed Alice’s Wonderland for SYT in 2019. A VORTEX Rep Company member, her productions include Performance Park (winner of four 2018 Austin Critics Table awards), Wild Horses (2018 B. Iden Payne Outstanding Actress in a Drama; Robert Faires' Top 10 (+1) Theatre Riches of 2017; 2018 Austin Critics Table Performance by an Individual), Storm Still (2018 B. Iden Payne Small Cast Performance in Scripted Theatre), Terminus (2016 B. Iden Payne Outstanding Cast Performance), Sing Muse (2013 B. Iden Payne Outstanding Original Score), Air, :humpty, Lear, Sleeping Beauty, Oceana, and Secret Life of the In-Betweeners. Favorite regional productions include Much Ado About Nothing (Penfold Theatre and Present Company), Agent Andromeda (Sky Candy), title of show (Austin Theatre Project), The History of King Lear (The Hidden Room), The Great American Trailer Park Musical (Austin Theatre Project), and Still Now (Shrewd Productions).
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Sponsorships and community donations subsidize these tuition-free opportunities for youth. Please contact us at vortex@vortexrep.org to support these crucial educational opportunities. Summer Youth Theatre 2021 is also funded and supported in part by VORTEX Repertory Company, a grant from the Texas Commission on the Arts, and by the Cultural Arts Division of the City of Austin Economic Development Department.
THE VORTEX MISSION: We conjure urgent, unashamed art to create action in a shifting age. We embrace diverse communities, break down barriers, and elevate inclusive discourse from our cultural harbor in Austin, Texas. We enliven humanity with magical green new theatre at our Butterfly Bar and Sanctuary.
