STUDENT DRAMATIC WORK OFF CAMPUS

Ring Rip Rent

Written by Martha Lynn Coon

Directed by Heather Barfield

Opens October 20, 2006
The VORTEX Repertory Company

Martha Lynn Coon is a third year M.F.A. Playwright at UT Austin and this October her play Ring Rip Rent will be produced by The Vortex, a local Austin theatre.

Set in the near future, Ring Rip Rent revolves around five women.. The play uses classical theatrical style as well as burlesque elements to explore issues of femininity and the female body. Coon describes it in a nutshell as, "a cross between Cabaret and a Sylvia Plath poem."

"I'm very excited," Coon says. "The great thing about working with a venue outside of the university is that the production process is much more intimate." Unlike writing for a mainstage production at the Department of Theatre and Dance, Coon says that her play at The Vortex is necessarily flexible up until the day of production. Still, many of the decisions she makes during the writing and editing process come from a more practical perspective, based on the time and resources of the production cast and crew.

Heather Barfield, a doctoral student in Performance as Public Practice at UT is directing Ring Rip Rent. Coon approached Barfield in the spring after collaborating together briefly during FronteraFest 2006 and realizing that they share similar dramatic tastes and styles, particularly the element of absurdism. "Heather is a fantastic director and she has been involved in the Austin theatre scene since she was 15. I'm excited to be working with her."

Barfield is similarly enthused with her role directing this new work. "Martha Lynn is perceptible about human psychology and relations, she also has a knack for dialogue and dark humor. These are especially intriguing qualities in a good playwright. Once I began reading the first scenes of the play, with its slightly absurd circus asylum flair involving women in reproductive rehabilitation, I was even more thrilled."

Ring Rip Rent's debut at the Vortex gives Coon and Barfield an opportunity to present their skills and talents for a wider public audience. Barfield admits that also "it's nice to develop a thesis play in an environment away from our day-to-day activities."

You can catch Martha Lynn Coon's Ring Rip Rent at the Vortex, 2307 Manor Road, running for four weekends beginning October 20, 2006. For details and ticket prices, visit www.vortexrep.org.