SEASON 38 | July 2026

Summer Underground
July 24 - August 1, 2026

World Premiere | written by Marissa Castañón-Hernández, directed by Blaise Ricin

A startling new play by Marissa Castañón-Hernández, an Austin-based, award-winning playwright and educator. This play is set in Austin in the not too distant future  and styled with “graphic novel” flair. A favorite from readings at The VORTEX’s 2023 Green New Theatre Symposium, Summer Underground firmly takes on environmental and class issues that determine who receives water and shelter.

 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 Youth Theatre Outstanding Productions of 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