Let Me Entertain You (2009)
Let Me Entertain You
Written, Produced and Performed by Jill Pangallo
March 27, 2009
Fiesta Gardens Courtyard
Austin, Texas
Running time of this performance is 1 hour and 15 minutes…
Live! from PantsuitLand with PJ Chavez and BlayneBlayne
featuring Alex P. White
Overture
Baby Jill and her Newsboys
featuring Jimmie D. Sparklefingers, Rhythm Method, Avery Austin, and Eaton Johnson
Baby Jill head by Mark Aguhar
The Amazing Race
featuring Ivan Lozano
Nancy & Snickers
featuring Max Juren
Sportszone
written by Mike Albo
Voicemail
written by Mike Albo
Era Silva: The Harsh Realm
inspired by the e-mail, “Re: Lily White’s Pictures,” by Josh Kilmer-Purcell
camera by Lee Kerby Webster
jzzTZZkxx presents: Lights Out
inspired by the film “THX-1138” and featuring Skote
fnnTZZmxx and vocal by Alex P. White
Bon Voyage Travel
featuring Jules Buck Jones and Virginia Yount
Contributors Bios
Mark Aguhar (Baby Jill head sculptor)
Mark Aguhar is an art student at UT who aspires to be taken seriously. He currently lives in Austin though he comes from Houston. His work deals with identity, sexuality, and facebook abuse.
Mike Albo (“Voicemail” and “Sportzone” writer)
Mike Albo is a writer and performer who lives and loves in Brooklyn. His first novel, Hornito: My Lie Life came out in 2000 from HarperCollins. He collaborated with his longtime friend Virginia Heffernan for his next novel, The Underminer: The Best Friend Who Casually Destroys Your Life, which was published in 2005 from Bloomsbury. His performances of The Underminer can be found on youtube. He’s performed numerous solo shows including Spray, Please Everything Burst, and My Price Point. Albo is The Critical Shopper for the New York Times Thursday Style section, and regularly contributes to Details, GQ, New York Magazine, as well as many other websites and publications. He also maintains a website, mikealbo.com with video clips, a spaced out blog, writing archive and current performance dates.
Jimmie D. Sparklefingers, Rhythm Method, Avery Austin, & Eaton Johnson (Newsboys)
Jimmie D. Sparklefingers, Rhythm Method, Avery Austin, and Eaton Johnson are gender performers from Kings n’ Things; you may often find them busting out some sweet dance moves or performing some favorite boy band hits among other things. You can see Kings n’ Things perform on Friday, May 8 at Elysium, or you can check them out at Freakshow A-Go-Go, May 30th, at Emo’s Outside.
Karen Hansen (Stage Manager)
Karen Hansen, aka “Brooksy”, has known and worked with Jill since the late 1990’s. Each project has been inspiring and fun. It’s an honor to be both a friend, collaborator and fan.
Marie Brown (Monologue Coach)
Originally from Massachusetts, Director Marie Brown received her B.A. from The University of Puget Sound, where she was a double-major in Theatre Arts and Music. While in the Pacific Northwest, Marie worked as a teaching artist at Coyote Central, Director of Tuck’s Friends Foundation, and Co-founder/Artistic Director of The Infinite Monkeys Festival, all groups that serve children through the arts. Marie’s directing credits include The Spinning by Dashell Milligan, Medusa’s Tale by Carol Lashoff, Big Love by Charles Mee, and Seeking Refuge by Kate Baker, all in Washington. Marie trained as an actor with the SOMA ensemble, is the recipient of grants from the Ella Lyman Cabot Trust and the Christian A. Johnson Endeavor Foundation. Since joining the M.F.A. Directing program at The University of Texas at Austin, Marie has served as the assistant director on Maria Irene Fornes’s Fefu and Her Friends, and director for Diana Son’s Stop Kiss. She lives in Austin with her husband, Craig, and their daughter, Morgan.
Sarah Hopkins (Costume Design)
Costume/fashion designer, visual artist, crafter, and performer, Sarah Hopkins (b.1981 Houston, Texas), received her BA in Costume Design from the University of Texas at Austin in 2006. She worked on several projects at UT including designing costumes for David Justin’s dance, Proof. In addition, she worked as Set Costumer and Wardrobe Assistant on the major motion picture, Ex-Terminators (due out this year), and has designed for several artists and musicians around Austin, Texas. In addition to designing for other performers, she performs with Elana Logsden as the dance duo, Krazayzay.
Max Juren (Snickers; Dancing Wizard at Ren Faire)
Max Juren (b.1981 Norfolk, Virginia) makes objects and environments in the form of video, installation, and attempted pop phenomenon product sculptures. He believes in the power of novelty, the gimmick, the absurd, and snacks. His work is concerned with transforming impulse into coherence, and the obvious into entertainment. Videos and installations of his have been exhibited in galleries throughout both Austin and Dallas. An upcoming DVD of his collected works, entitled Videos, will be screened at Domy Books on April 10th. The release event will be accompanied by an ongoing installation.
Lee Kerby Webster (Camera for “Era Silva”)
Lee Webster was born in Philadelphia, PA, received her BA from Sarah Lawrence College in New York, and currently lives in Austin, TX. She she is a writer, video designer for theater, and teacher of media literacy and production to kids.
Ivan Lozano (Bart Johnson)
Ivan Lozano (b.1981, Guadalajara, MX) lives and works in Austin, TX. He received a Bachelor’s degree in Radio, Television and Film from the University of Texas, Austin and was the programming director for the Cinematexas International Short Film Festival in its last two years. He currently writes for Glasstire.com and Artlies and is a founding member of the multimedia artist collective, Austin Video Bee.
Michelle Marchesseault (Set Design)
Michelle Marchesseault (b. 1974 Indianapolis, Indiana) is an Austin, Texas based artist who has worked primarily as a muralist and collaborator on large-scale interior paint installations. Michelle relocated to Austin in 1999, after having attended The Herron School of Art for painting in Indianapolis. She has been a partner in the paint installation and design firm Redstart Paint Design for the last seven years. Redstart Paint Design’s large-scale paint work can be seen in many retail and private interiors throughout Austin and beyond. Her talents have also manifested as a performer, touring musician and composer.
Bill Mester and Stage Tech., Inc. (Audio/Visual)
StageTech, Inc. has been in operation since March 2001. Their primary focus is to provide professional, well-maintained sound systems for concerts, corporate, theatrical and special events. Bill Mester studied music and recording technology. Beginning in 1990, Bill worked several years in the corporate Audio/Visual field and toured with Texas blues legend Doyle Bramhall. At the University of Texas Performing Arts Center, he provides audio support for touring productions and University events. Bill has been working several seasons as sound designer for Austin Lyric Opera, as well as designing many local musical productions. www.stagetechaustin.com
Monofonus Press (Publisher)
Monofonus Press is an independent multimedia imprint based in Austin, Texas currently well known for its IF series: inspired but loose collaborations of work by musicians, writers, and artists packaged together in CDs and small books. Monofonus Press remains committed to multi-media, and its future projects will expand to include video releases, limited edition prints, and performance based events. Recently, Monofonus was voted “Best Multiple Media Idea” by the Austin Chronicle. www.monofonuspress.com
Alex White (BlayneBlayne; jzzTZZkxx Dancer; “Lights Out” Vocals & Mix)
Alex P. White is a video, performance and installation artist currently living in New York City. Since 2003, the artist has been involved with the Glass and Trees Project, a series of artist initiated, collaborative projects that address utopian desires with in an apocalyptic framework. As a founding member of the performance group Skote, White continues his dedication to an experientially diverse and collaborative practice. Some of White’s most notable awards and honors include; an Honorarium for Public Art from the Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, a project grant from the Georgia Bureau of Cultural Affairs, and an endowed fellowship to The Atlantic Center for the Arts.
Stephanie Wright (Dance Instruction)
Stephanie Wright began dancing at the age of two. She trained in classical ballet, modern, and jazz throughout grade school. Stephanie was a scholarship student at the Fort Worth School of Ballet and the Debbie Allen Dance Institute. While in college she used her winters to study as a scholarship student at the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance. Stephanie received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance at Southern Methodist University in May of 2004. Shortly after graduating, Stephanie was awarded the honor of “Best Student Choreographer” by ACDFA and was chosen to present her work at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. After getting certified in Pilates through STOTT Stephanie moved to New York City to explore the dance scene. While in New York she worked as a manager at Dance New Amsterdam (formerly Dance Space Center). During her time with DNA Stephanie trained and worked with independent choreographers. After enduring two endless winters in NYC Stephanie decided to return home to Texas.
In addition to the previous contributors, writers Dan Boehl, Eric Bryant, Karen Davidson, Hilary Graham, Josh Kilmer-Purcell, Holly McKinley, Ann Stephenson, and Diana Welch also contributed material that inspired the development of this project. You may see their work, and more, in the accompanying book published by Monofonus Press, Let Me Entertain You.
“Let Me Entertain You,” an original work by Jill Pangallo, was generously commissioned by the City of Austin and the 2009 Texas Biennial.
Poster Photography: Everett Taasevigen; Poster Illustration: Michelle Marchesseault.