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Salvage Vanguard Theater Puts Artists to Work with "Works Progress Austin 2010"

Salvage Vanguard Theater and Eponymous Garden are teaming up for an artistic version of the "New Deal" program. The annual Works Progress Austin (WPA) - the development project that gives artists a playground to develop new works - returns on January 8th through 24th.

During the course of three weeks, a variety of actors, writers, directors, dramaturges, and musicians are given the opportunity to incubate and experiment. Inspired by Roosevelt's Works Projects Administration, Salvage Vanguard's program aims to put artists to work.

This January, the WPA performances will include works from Ruth Margraff, a Church of the Friendly Ghost sound experiment, and a site specific collaboration featuring writers Cyndi Williams, Monika Bustamante, Sharon Bridgeforth, and Daniel Alexander Jones. The performances kick off January 8th and 9th at Salvage Vanguard Theatre with "A Weekend of Ruth Margraff" at 7 p.m.

Nationally acclaimed playwright Ruth Margraff's band Café Anastarsia will perform before a staged reading of her new parlor play Over the Garden Wall. Directed by Jenny Larson, the production features actors Robert Pierson, Mark Stewart, Jamie Rhodes, La Tasha Stephens, and Jason Hays. Tickets are $10 at the door.

On January 15th, the Church of the Friendly Ghost haunts audience members with the sound installation "Spoon River Anthology Revisited." Inspired by classic theatre, the performance runs continuously at the Salvage Vanguard Theatre from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Tickets are $5 at the door.

As part of Frontera Fest's Bring Your Own Venue, Salvage Vanguard taps into its site-specific roots with the production In This House (Everything is You)… Written by Sharon Bridgeforth, Daniel Alexander Jones, Monika Bustamante, and Cyndi Williams, the ghost story examines love, loss, and family.

Co-directed by Dustin Wills and Jenny Larson, the show features Florinda Bryant, Wesley Bryant, Adriene Mishler, Jude Hickey, and Cyndi Williams. Performances run

January 21st through 24th, with at 8 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday matinees at 5 p.m., at the Eponymous Garden, located at 1202 Garden Street. Tickets are $15, and are available through www.HydeParkTheatre.org.

Salvage Vanguard Theater is located at 2803 East Manor Road. For more information, call (512) 474-SVT-6 (7886) or visit www.SalvageVanguard.org.

(The cast of In This House (Everything is You)…; photo courtesy SVT)