Infernal Bridegroom Productions shuts down
The Chronicle's Everett Evans reports some disappointing news about the Houston stage scene:
Infernal Bridegroom Productions, Houston's foremost avant-garde theater company, has ceased operations because of "insurmountable financial difficulties."
The news was made public late Tuesday in an e-mail released by IBP board president Chet Farmer. The company's own phone line was disconnected.
Tamarie Cooper, a founding company member and IBP's acting artistic director, could not be reached for comment.
Founded in 1993, IBP specialized in Houston premieres of bold works by such cutting-edge playwrights as Richard Foreman, Maria Irene Fornes, Sarah Kane, Heiner Müller and Wallace Shawn, mixed with avant-garde classics by such masters as Samuel Becket, Bertolt Brecht, Jean Genet and Eugene Ionesco.
For its often rough-hewn yet usually potent renditions of daring fare — as well as its troupe of original and idiosyncratic writer-performers — IBP attracted a loyal following locally and, in recent years, increasing national attention.
IBP drew the most notice with its world premieres, including Pulitzer Prize winner Suzan-Lori Parks' ****ing A, Brian Jucha's We Have Some Planes and Lisa D'Amour's Hide Town, all featured in American Theatre magazine.
By all accounts, IBP did some truly innovative stage work. Sadly, Houston tastes tend towards shops that mostly put on musicals, or the high-end see-and-be-seen productions downtown. Smaller, innovative companies tend to struggle in such an environment.
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Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/24/07 11:22 PM | Houston Arts/Culture | Technorati | Sphere | Comments (7)
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