Performance Photos by Errich Petersen: THRIVE, or WHAT YOU WILL, by Vortex Summer Youth Theatre
(Performance Photos by Errich Petersen)
Thrive, Or What You Will, offers an epic voyage encompassing stories of self-discovery, love, botany, and Latin taxonomy through a feminist lens. Thrive blends the style and language of our past and present in order to interrogate the essential nature of our history and legacy: "discovery" and (mis)categorizing the world; species and survival; power and access; and gender and identity. As Jeanne journeys and changes, so too does her casting, with different actors playing the leading role. In an ensemble-driven quest of self-determination, we surrender to the universal need to flourish.
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR:
Sarah Hogestyn is an Austin director and stage manager and a VORTEX Company Member. Her recent credits include directing Dust, by Nicole Oglesby, at Bottle Alley Theatre Company, and assistant-directing The Memo, by Václav Havel, for The VORTEX’s Summer Youth Theatre program in 2023. Stage management credits include Self Portraits 3 (Bottle Alley Theatre Company) and Mr. Burns: a post electric play, by Anne Washburn, (The VORTEX SYT 2022). Sarah holds a B.A. in Theatre Arts from the University of Mary Washington.
ABOUT THE VORTEX’S SUMMER YOUTH THEATRE:
Since 1991, SYT has provided high-caliber theatrical productions created by Central Texas teens as a jewel of The VORTEX’s educational and community programming. The SYT program teaches students ages 13-17, spanning middle and high school. Summer Youth Theatre students receive instruction in theatre arts, equivalent to 3 credits under the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for Fine Arts, Theatre Levels 117.64, 65, 66, 67. By TEKS standards, this program is equivalent to or higher than High School Theatre Arts II, Technical Theatre I, and Theatre Production II. The VORTEX has developed this curriculum over more than thirty years. The Austin Chronicle has named SYT “Best Theatre for Kids That Treats Kids Like Grownups.”
Every year, students work with adult artists who are among Austin’s most celebrated theatre professionals. Recent B. Iden Payne Awards include Outstanding Young Performer, Sharky Meehan in The Memo (2023), and Jessica Cohen’s Outstanding Original Song in Pandemdem Edition: Another Great Depression (2021). SYT has previously received Payne Awards for productions of Youth Theatre for The Commedia of Errors and Machinal; Direction of Youth Theatre for The Commedia of Errors, The Physicists, Moby Dick, and The Frogs; Acting in Youth Theatre for The Physicists and Moby Dick; and Sound Design for Machinal. VORTEX Producing Artistic Director Bonnie Cullum founded SYT in 1991; she was inducted into the Austin Arts Hall of Fame in 2009.
Summer Youth Theatre 2024 is funded and supported in part by VORTEX Repertory Company; by Six Square, Austin’s Black Cultural District; by a grant from the Texas Commission on the Arts; and by the City of Austin Economic Development
Department. Sponsorships and community donations also help keep this program tuition-free. To support Summer Youth Theatre as a donor, please contact vortex@vortexrep.org.
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.
The VORTEX Core Values:
Our core values are encompassed by the Pentacle of Integrity: Transformation, Magic, Community, Diversity, and Earth. Integrity lives at our core. We engage in radical transformation through edge-walking artistic creations and innovations. Magic emanates from our cultural harbor, engaging Spirit. Our space and our culture support expanding circles of inclusive community. Our art reflects diversity of people and voices from the global majority. Sustainability and environmentalism center Earth at our foundation.
Thrive, or What You Will
by L.M. Feldman
Vortex Summer Youth Theatre
July 26 - August 3, 2024
Vortex Repertory
Directed by Sarah Hogstyne
