COMPOUND DRAMA

B BLOCK 1-2:30 Balconies | 25-minutes two tiny plays about time 

Emma Watkins is a writer from Jersey.  Her plays include Pretend it’s Pretend (New Dramatists’ Princess Grace Award Runner Up, Kennedy Center Paula Vogel Prize Runner Up) and Elizabeth is going into the ground (Leah Ryan FEWW Prize Honorable Mention, Bay Area Playwrights Festival Finalist).  She’s developed work with the Kennedy Center and has been published by Concord Theatricals/Sam French and Routledge.  She’s under commission from South Coast Repertory and EST/Sloan.  BA Princeton University, MA Cardiff University, MFA UT Austin.  Right now, she is learning how to shape note sing.

The first tiny play is called The Courtship Ritual of Sandhill Cranes and it is dedicated to the staff of the Texas Museum of Natural History.  The second play doesn’t have a name yet, but it is dedicated to the ten-minute snack break that comes in the middle of a rehearsal.

A BLOCK 11-12:30 Tree House | 20-minute performance about writing, queerness, & moms.

Bradley Trumpfheller is a trans writer who lives in Austin. They’ve received fellowships from the Michener Center for Writers, MacDowell, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

D BLOCK All Day Snapper | floral installation

Kate Taylor is a wandering wonder sponge, attempting to combat the doom of this mad world with an expansive lens and resilient heart: by putting hands in dirt, playing in that good patch of light, trusting the pace that’s needed, never abandoning idiot humor as anecdote, seeking stamina through the goofy tender bits in self and others, rooting for reciprocity on all planes, and rejecting the traditional bio with obnoxious, meandering lists. She spins plates as producer, floral designer (KABLOOM), performer, human jester, and has served as the Salvage Vanguard Artistic Director since June 2019. Generally tired and grateful. 

D BLOCK All Day Park ‘N’ Ride | 10-minute audio drama narrated in a parked car.

Robin Grace Soto is a teaching artist in Austin, Texas and a member of the Mishpocha Woods artists community. She currently serves as the Director of Camp Shakespeare at Winedale and the theatre teacher and director at Griffin School. Robin Grace founded the Flower Hill Foundation, an urban homestead museum in central Austin, and co-founded Play’s the Thing, an arts program supporting children facing serious illness. After 25 years in Austin, she remains deeply committed to strengthening community and education through play. Park ‘N’ Ride is 10-minute auto drama set in a car–and experienced in a car parked at the Mishpocha Woods Compound. Soto’s narrative travels the sprawling highways of the Texas Hill Country, cutting through childhood car rides with parents—equal parts tender, tense, and claustrophobic. 

C BLOCK 3-4 Main House | The Loveseat is a 20-minute play about a couple buying furniture

Jax Schuck is a director and playwright from North Texas. The first play he directed was Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead by Tom Stoppard. Jax then went on to write and direct several short plays and films including pieces called Entropy and The Tie. Later, he founded the theatre company Bliss Out Productions, with whom he produced and directed The Two-Character Play by Tennessee Williams. He now attends UT Austin for playwriting and directing where he has directed a production Cowboy Mouth by Sam Shepard and Patti Smith along with various other shorter original pieces. Though it’s ever-growing and adapting, his style thus far has been geared towards absurdist dark comedies that delve into themes of empathy, communication, escapism, menace, and codependency among others. He explores these themes through potent moody atmospheres, inventive claustrophobic staging, playful language, raw performances, and cathartic dread.

D BLOCK All Day Snapper | Monologue of the Flower, a 3-minute visual poem.

Shelby Rahe is a director and artist living in Austin, TX. In films, writing, sculpture and installations, she mines the neglected corners of the mind. Her art is an exploration of how dreams and the unconscious relate to her past experiences with psychosis. Monologue of the Flower is the second chapter in a three-part series of short film vignettes written, directed, and starring Shelby Rahe. Intended to be viewed as a visual poem, “Monologue of the Flower” introduces another realm where flowers have something to say.

D BLOCK All Day Snapper | Honey & Milk an intimate 10-minute short film about gender expansion. 

C BLOCK 3-4 Main House | Dear Dickies is a 45 minute love/business letter to Dickies workwear.

Kristen Osborn is an Austin-based director and producer whose mission is to nurture human connection through storytelling of all kinds. Kristen is currently a producer with film company Sailor Bear, founder and creative director of makegroup, and an ensemble member at Rivendell Theatre Ensemble in Chicago. Most recently, she directed and produced Leah Cox’s immersive dance theatre performance, GROUP THERAPY. Formerly, Kristen was the Literary Manager & Casting Associate at Northlight Theatre, Artistic Associate at Rivendell Theatre Ensemble, Associate Director at the Ojai Playwrights Conference, and Assistant Coordinating Producer on the interactive magic show In & Of Itself (Geffen Playhouse, Daryl Roth Theatre, Hulu.) She has a BA in Theater from UCLA, an MFA in Directing from UT Austin, and is a graduate of the Texas Immersive Institute.

Mi Casa es Su Teatro VENUE

Co-designed and built by Main House resident Robin Chotzinoff and architect Ryan Bollom of Low Design Office (housed in The Snapper), the Compound is a collection of five environmentally conscious, affordable homes occupied by friends. Read more here!

D BLOCK All Day Tree House Bathroom |Object Theater Installation

Malena Pennycook (she/they) is a playwright and performer based in Austin. Malena’s plays have been developed at the Off-Broadway Playwrights Realm, The Playwrights Center and The Kennedy Center. She runs a DIY artist retreat in Austin, Texas called The Sprint with her landlord+bff Robin Chotzinoff.

Read more about the installation here.

B BLOCK 1-2:30 Spacecraft| 25 minutes – Wilbur & Orville Wright share their story at the same time.

Kirk Lynn is a novelist, playwright, and screenwriter. He’s one of the founders of Rude Mechs theatre collective, making new performance in Austin, TX for almost 30 years, including “Lipstick Traces,” “Method Gun,” and “Not Every Mountain.” As Head of Playwriting at the University of Texas at Austin, Kirk specializes in teaching creativity through the anthropology of play, resisting bureaucracy, and fostering positive mischief in students and colleagues. Kirk is married to the astonishing poet, Carrie Fountain, and together they’re raising two kids, Muchloud and Busytrouble.

Architects at The Snapper, creator and builder of the SPACECRAFT.

PARTY 4-6 Main House Deck|  DIY printmaking with Lego + screenprint your own Mi Casa poster

Julia Lopez-Mobilia is a visual artist and DIY printmaker inspired by retrofuturism, cute stuff, and abstract aesthetics. Drawing from her background in graphic design, illustration, and user experience design, she creates work that mixes digital illustrations and typography with distorted organic forms and patterns, creating pieces that feel both nostalgic, modern, and sometimes silly.  In her spare time, she can be found in her garage designing and screenprinting shirts, posters, and artwork for people and things she cares about.

A BLOCK 11-12:30 Blue Stage | Genre is a 25-minute comedy lecture about gender & linguistics. 

L.J. Granered (they/them) is a writer, comedian, and musician from Tennessee. A graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and co-author of “Enter/Exit: Trauma-Informed Praxis for Visual Journalism and Beyond” L.J.’s work focuses on somatic trauma healing, linguistics, performance of identity in Southern and Queer culture, and deconstructed spirituality. With disarming humor and clarity, they play with the tension between evangelical ideology and contemporary queer narratives, recycling their poetry and challenging the notion of their disparity.

D BLOCK ALL DAY Snapper | DeGaga Gada Dee is a 3 minute music video.

George and Tilden are creative siblings who have been making films with their Aunt Aba and Uncle Toto for the past five years. George, a budding visual artist, is currently learning the saxophone and enjoys reading and exploring new ideas through art. Tilden, an emerging filmmaker, is completing his second independent movie inspired by the popular Five Nights at Freddy’s series. When not working on films, he loves playing sports and creating artwork. Both brothers share a passion for songwriting and singing funny jingles with their uncle Toto, blending humor and imagination into everything they create.

DeGaga Gada Dee is an experimental music video created during a family vacation to White Sands, New Mexico. Blurring the lines between music, dance, horror, and mystery, the piece dives into the wild and silly depths of childhood imagination. It follows the legend of an imaginary monster—DeGaga Gada Dee—that lurks within playful fantasies and can only be tamed by the bond of siblings.  

C BLOCK 3-4 Main House | Dear Dickies is a 45 minute love/business letter to Dickies workwear.

Robin Chotzinoff writes books, stories, songs, plays, rhyming odes and doggerel. A retired general contractor, she also co-designed and built the Mishpocha Woods compound. Since moving there five years ago, she spends most of her time making stuff and making stuff up. She is a proud co-sponsor (with Malena Pennycook) of The Sprint.

Dear Dickies chronicles, through slides and stories, her attempt to become a Dickies brand ambassador. And also her attempt to clean out her closet, IRL and metaphorically. Kristen Osborn’s direction brought this piece to life.

D BLOCK All Day Snapper | East Texas Son–an original music video filmed in Montopolis.

Amy Annelle (songwriter, actor) a multifaceted Americana songwriter and folk musician from Austin, is a captivating storyteller whose deep catalog reflects a modern vision entwined with respect for America’s rich musical legacy. With a talent for inhabiting her songs, she effortlessly conveys complex characters and emotional nuance, making singing seem as natural as breathing. Best known for her rendition of Townes Van Zandt’s “Buckskin Stallion Blues,” which featured prominently in the Academy Award-winning film Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Annelle’s heartfelt music has resonated globally.

Annie Gunn (Director/Cinematographer) is a director based in Austin. Her black & white still photography has been shown at one-woman shows, and appeared on several album covers. Known for her collaborations with cinematographer Peter Simonite (Explosions in the Sky–Postcard From 1952), Annie brings a refined aesthetic and emotive visuals to storytelling, seeking out and reflecting beauty in all its forms. East Texas Son is Annie Gunn’s first project as both director & cinematographer.