100 Heartbreaks
HOOKING UP, BREAKING UP AND DRINKING UP:
New honky-tonk musical 100 Heartbreaks premieres in Austin
January 27-February 14, 2015
January 3, 2015 (Austin, TX) — A new, original honky-tonk musical, 100 Heartbreaks, premieres in Austin for six performances only between January 27-February 14, 2015, at The Sahara Lounge. Part theater, part musical, part barroom country show, 100 Heartbreaks is a whiskey-fueled comedy with original music inspired by the likes of Johnny Cash, Hank Williams, Patsy Cline, and Loretta Lynn. Music, book, and lyrics by Austin-based playwright and performer Joanna Garner. The show is directed by Jess Hutchinson with music direction by Austin musician and composer Peter Stopschinski.
ABOUT THE SHOW
When it comes to hook-ups, break-ups, and hangovers, Charlane Tucker is a pro. The aspiring country singer has been hitting dive bars across the U.S. trying to polish her act and find 100 men who will love and leave her—all with the sole purpose of accumulating enough "country cred" to be taken seriously in Nashville. The plan goes off without a hitch until she falls for a man who refuses to break her heart. 100 Heartbreaks is both a send up of and a love song to old-school country music.
Inspired by a three-month stretch in which the playwright slogged through 30 unsuccessful first dates and considered chucking it all and moving to Nashville, Garner originally wrote 100 Heartbreaks as a one-woman show. She performed to sold-out crowds in Seattle, where she lived at the time. In 2011, she began expanding the play into a fuller musical with six characters who play live in the band. The project was selected for Seattle Repertory Theatre’s New Play Program and also for a slot at the country’s largest arts festival, Bumbershoot.
“It’s a story about what it means to be authentic, about who gets to sing country music. It asks, ‘Can you be an artist and also be happy?’” Garner said. “It’s also a damn fun 90 minutes.”
In 2013, Garner moved to Austin to pursue her MFA in playwriting at The University of Texas. 100 Heartbreaks, she said, is a perfect fit for Austin, a city that celebrates live music and has a rich country tradition. The play is set in a dive bar, so the team decided to stage the premiere in an actual bar, The Sahara Lounge. All ages are welcome; those 21+ can get drinks throughout the show.
The cast includes Heath Allyn, Joanna Garner, Sean Moran, Eric Roach, Robert Vignisson and Alexander Villarreal. Five of the six actors are also musicians who will play and sing in the show.
ABOUT WRITER JOANNA GARNER
Joanna Garner is a writer, performer and country singer based in Austin. She comes to Texas by way of Seattle where she made plays with companies including Seattle Repertory Theatre, On the Boards, Annex Theatre, Balagan Theatre, 14/48: The World's Quickest Theater Festival, Macha Monkey, Capitol Hill Arts Center, and Live Girls! Theater. Her country musical, 100 Heartbreaks, was workshopped in Seattle Rep's New Play Program, with the Northwest Playwrights Alliance, and was presented at the country’s largest arts and culture festival, Bumbershoot. Joanna’s plays endeavor to create a spontaneous community of play-goers, particularly in non-traditional spaces and through immersive experiences that feature live music. Most recently, her work was part of both the Hollywood and New York Fringe Festivals in a collaborative adventure called The Seven Seductions of Taylor Swift. Joanna spent eight years as a music critic for The Seattle Times.
ABOUT DIRECTOR JESS HUTCHINSON
Jess Hutchinson is a theatre director completing her MFA in Directing at University of Texas at Austin. While in Austin, she has directed productions including Salt and Pepper for ZACH Theatre and A Streetcar Named Desire, Dead Man’s Cell Phone, ‘ratio, 70 Secrets of Marmalade Kittens and Lyla School for UT. For five years, she was Artistic Director of Chicago’s New Leaf Theatre, helming the world premieres of Burying Miss America, Redeemers, The Man Who Was Thursday, Lighthousekeeping, and Vox Pandora, as well as revivals of The Dining Room (Joseph Jefferson Award Nomination – Best Director) and Arcadia. Other productions include Orange Flower Water (BackStage Theatre Company) and the world premiere of Hideous Progeny (LiveWire Chicago), as well as readings for Theatre Seven of Chicago, Chicago Dramatists, and Goodman Theatre. As an arts administrator, she held positions at Goodman Theatre, Chicago Shakespeare, the University of Chicago, and the League of Chicago Theatres.
ABOUT MUSIC DIRECTOR PETER STOPSCHINSKI
Peter Stopschinski composed and recorded string arrangements and organ on Grupo Fantasma's 2010 Grammy Award-winning album La Existential. He also composed the music for Madeleine George's play The Curious Case Of Dr. Watson, which was nominated for the 2013 Pulitzer Prize in Drama. His musical with creator E.J. Stapleton, The Calico Buffalo, was chosen Top 10 in the 2014 New York New Musical Theater Festival. Peter was the composer for Rude Mechs' production I've Never Been So Happy, a western musical that was developed as a selection in the NEA New Play Development Program and played in Washington D.C. and Austin, and was picked up by Center Theater Group for a 4-week run in L.A. at the Kirk Douglas Theater. (“Outstanding Production” – 2011 B. Iden Payne Awards; “Production of a Musical,” “Music Direction,” “New Play Award,” – 2011 Austin Critics Table; “Best of 2011” —Los Angeles Times). Peter's opera, Bum Phillips All-American Opera, with librettist Kirk Lynn about Bum Phillips and the Houston Oilers premiered at the La Mama Experimental Theater Space in 2014 to rave reviews: "...even Rigoletto would have to doff his cap." - NY Times. Peter performs in a number of Austin musical groups, including Brown Whörnet, Chablis, and Aaartfystte, and he is the co-founder and co-director of the Golden Hornet Project, which is dedicated to the presentation of new compositions for classical instruments by living composers.
WHEN: January 27, February 1, 3, 8, 10, 2015 at 7:30 PM and February 14, 2015, at 7 PM
WHERE: The Sahara Lounge, 1413 Webberville Rd, Austin, Texas 78721
All ages; Bar w/ID
TICKETS: Tickets are $15, available online through Brown Paper Tickets http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/1108435) or by calling 1.800.838.3006. For more information: http://www.100heartbreaks.com
PRODUCTION TEAM:
Jess Hutchinson—Director
Peter Stopschinski—Music Director
Rachel Atkinson—Lighting Designer
Madison Russ—Scenic Designer
Joe Heike—Stage Manager
CAST:
Heath Allyn—Mark Larson
Joanna Garner—Charlane Tucker
Sean Moran—Bill Baker
Eric Roach—Wilson Black
Robert Vignisson—Chuck Fletcher
Alexander Villarreal—Tom Lewis
Read MoreNew honky-tonk musical 100 Heartbreaks premieres in Austin
January 27-February 14, 2015
January 3, 2015 (Austin, TX) — A new, original honky-tonk musical, 100 Heartbreaks, premieres in Austin for six performances only between January 27-February 14, 2015, at The Sahara Lounge. Part theater, part musical, part barroom country show, 100 Heartbreaks is a whiskey-fueled comedy with original music inspired by the likes of Johnny Cash, Hank Williams, Patsy Cline, and Loretta Lynn. Music, book, and lyrics by Austin-based playwright and performer Joanna Garner. The show is directed by Jess Hutchinson with music direction by Austin musician and composer Peter Stopschinski.
ABOUT THE SHOW
When it comes to hook-ups, break-ups, and hangovers, Charlane Tucker is a pro. The aspiring country singer has been hitting dive bars across the U.S. trying to polish her act and find 100 men who will love and leave her—all with the sole purpose of accumulating enough "country cred" to be taken seriously in Nashville. The plan goes off without a hitch until she falls for a man who refuses to break her heart. 100 Heartbreaks is both a send up of and a love song to old-school country music.
Inspired by a three-month stretch in which the playwright slogged through 30 unsuccessful first dates and considered chucking it all and moving to Nashville, Garner originally wrote 100 Heartbreaks as a one-woman show. She performed to sold-out crowds in Seattle, where she lived at the time. In 2011, she began expanding the play into a fuller musical with six characters who play live in the band. The project was selected for Seattle Repertory Theatre’s New Play Program and also for a slot at the country’s largest arts festival, Bumbershoot.
“It’s a story about what it means to be authentic, about who gets to sing country music. It asks, ‘Can you be an artist and also be happy?’” Garner said. “It’s also a damn fun 90 minutes.”
In 2013, Garner moved to Austin to pursue her MFA in playwriting at The University of Texas. 100 Heartbreaks, she said, is a perfect fit for Austin, a city that celebrates live music and has a rich country tradition. The play is set in a dive bar, so the team decided to stage the premiere in an actual bar, The Sahara Lounge. All ages are welcome; those 21+ can get drinks throughout the show.
The cast includes Heath Allyn, Joanna Garner, Sean Moran, Eric Roach, Robert Vignisson and Alexander Villarreal. Five of the six actors are also musicians who will play and sing in the show.
ABOUT WRITER JOANNA GARNER
Joanna Garner is a writer, performer and country singer based in Austin. She comes to Texas by way of Seattle where she made plays with companies including Seattle Repertory Theatre, On the Boards, Annex Theatre, Balagan Theatre, 14/48: The World's Quickest Theater Festival, Macha Monkey, Capitol Hill Arts Center, and Live Girls! Theater. Her country musical, 100 Heartbreaks, was workshopped in Seattle Rep's New Play Program, with the Northwest Playwrights Alliance, and was presented at the country’s largest arts and culture festival, Bumbershoot. Joanna’s plays endeavor to create a spontaneous community of play-goers, particularly in non-traditional spaces and through immersive experiences that feature live music. Most recently, her work was part of both the Hollywood and New York Fringe Festivals in a collaborative adventure called The Seven Seductions of Taylor Swift. Joanna spent eight years as a music critic for The Seattle Times.
ABOUT DIRECTOR JESS HUTCHINSON
Jess Hutchinson is a theatre director completing her MFA in Directing at University of Texas at Austin. While in Austin, she has directed productions including Salt and Pepper for ZACH Theatre and A Streetcar Named Desire, Dead Man’s Cell Phone, ‘ratio, 70 Secrets of Marmalade Kittens and Lyla School for UT. For five years, she was Artistic Director of Chicago’s New Leaf Theatre, helming the world premieres of Burying Miss America, Redeemers, The Man Who Was Thursday, Lighthousekeeping, and Vox Pandora, as well as revivals of The Dining Room (Joseph Jefferson Award Nomination – Best Director) and Arcadia. Other productions include Orange Flower Water (BackStage Theatre Company) and the world premiere of Hideous Progeny (LiveWire Chicago), as well as readings for Theatre Seven of Chicago, Chicago Dramatists, and Goodman Theatre. As an arts administrator, she held positions at Goodman Theatre, Chicago Shakespeare, the University of Chicago, and the League of Chicago Theatres.
ABOUT MUSIC DIRECTOR PETER STOPSCHINSKI
Peter Stopschinski composed and recorded string arrangements and organ on Grupo Fantasma's 2010 Grammy Award-winning album La Existential. He also composed the music for Madeleine George's play The Curious Case Of Dr. Watson, which was nominated for the 2013 Pulitzer Prize in Drama. His musical with creator E.J. Stapleton, The Calico Buffalo, was chosen Top 10 in the 2014 New York New Musical Theater Festival. Peter was the composer for Rude Mechs' production I've Never Been So Happy, a western musical that was developed as a selection in the NEA New Play Development Program and played in Washington D.C. and Austin, and was picked up by Center Theater Group for a 4-week run in L.A. at the Kirk Douglas Theater. (“Outstanding Production” – 2011 B. Iden Payne Awards; “Production of a Musical,” “Music Direction,” “New Play Award,” – 2011 Austin Critics Table; “Best of 2011” —Los Angeles Times). Peter's opera, Bum Phillips All-American Opera, with librettist Kirk Lynn about Bum Phillips and the Houston Oilers premiered at the La Mama Experimental Theater Space in 2014 to rave reviews: "...even Rigoletto would have to doff his cap." - NY Times. Peter performs in a number of Austin musical groups, including Brown Whörnet, Chablis, and Aaartfystte, and he is the co-founder and co-director of the Golden Hornet Project, which is dedicated to the presentation of new compositions for classical instruments by living composers.
WHEN: January 27, February 1, 3, 8, 10, 2015 at 7:30 PM and February 14, 2015, at 7 PM
WHERE: The Sahara Lounge, 1413 Webberville Rd, Austin, Texas 78721
All ages; Bar w/ID
TICKETS: Tickets are $15, available online through Brown Paper Tickets http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/1108435) or by calling 1.800.838.3006. For more information: http://www.100heartbreaks.com
PRODUCTION TEAM:
Jess Hutchinson—Director
Peter Stopschinski—Music Director
Rachel Atkinson—Lighting Designer
Madison Russ—Scenic Designer
Joe Heike—Stage Manager
CAST:
Heath Allyn—Mark Larson
Joanna Garner—Charlane Tucker
Sean Moran—Bill Baker
Eric Roach—Wilson Black
Robert Vignisson—Chuck Fletcher
Alexander Villarreal—Tom Lewis
