SEASON 36 | July 2024
THRIVE, OR WHAT YOU WILL
July 26 - August 3, 2024
Friday-Saturday July 26-27 - 8:00 pm
Sunday July 28 - 6:00 pm
Thursday-Saturday August 1-3 - 8:00 pm
ASL-interpreted Saturday, July 27 (Deaf and hard-of-hearing audiences free)
Livestream - Sunday, July 28 6pm
The VORTEX’s award-winning Summer Youth Theatre presents the regional premiere of Thrive, Or What You Will, an epic new play by LM Feldman and directed by Sarah Hogestyn. This epic play is based on the true story of Jeanne Baret, an eighteenth-century French herbalist who assumed a male identity and traveled onboard an exploratory ship bound for the pre-colonial South Pacific. The play explores this historic story through a contemporary lens, grappling with themes of gender, misogyny, colonial exploitation, cultural appropriation, written records, and invasive species.
Introducing the 2024 Youth Ensemble: Derek Beck, Bijou Bond, Alexandria Collins, Evanna Crayton, Avital Cueva, Cami Edrich, Elise Garza, Chaz Kirby, Saida Land, Lorelei Lemieux, Meghan Lindberg, Oscar Lopez, Amsterdam Love, Sharky Meehan, Bella Olsen, and Django Somera.
Directed by Sarah Hogestyn.
Assistant Director: Jacqui Calloway.
Scenic Design: Lilly Percifield with Assistant Izzy Poehlmann.
Lighting Design: Patrick Anthony with Assistant Lorelei Lemieux.
Costume Design: Maddy Lamb, Eel Black, and Elaine A. Lien.
Hair and Makeup Design/Company Manager: Haley Perez.
Sound Design: Johann Solo with Assistant Oshae Cartwright.
Prop Design: Estelle Isaac with Assistants Bijou Bond and Evanna Crayton.
Intimacy Director: Mary Grace Ramsden.
Stage Managers: Fernando Lara and Abigail Leman.
Director of Education and Social Justice Activation: Jasmine Games.
Managing Director: Melissa McKnight.
Producing Artistic Director: Bonnie Cullum.
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 2024 is also funded and supported in part by VORTEX Repertory Company, Six Square Austin’s Black Cultural District, and an Arts Repond grant from the Texas Commission on the Arts.
Plants provided by Tillery Street Plant Company. www.tillerystreetplants.com
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: For 32 seasons, SYT has provided high-caliber theatrical productions to Austin audiences as the jewel of VORTEX’s community engagement. Every year, students receive tuition-free training and experiences with adult artists who are among Austin’s most celebrated theatre professionals. Nominated for dozens of local awards, SYT has received B. Iden Payne Awards for Outstanding Youth Performer (Sharky Meehan, The Memo); Outstanding Original Song (Jessica Cohen, Another Great Depression: Pandemdem Edition); Outstanding Production of a Play for Youth: The Commedia of Errors, Machinal; Outstanding Direction of a Play for Youth: The Commedia of Errors, The Physicists, Moby Dick, The Frogs; Outstanding Acting:The Physicists, Moby Dick; Outstanding Sound Design: Machinal. Bonnie Cullum founded SYT in 1991 and was inducted into the Austin Arts Hall of Fame in 2009.