Austin360 blogs > Out & About > Archives > 2009 > December > 10 > Entry
Zach Holiday Party at Nowlin Room
The newly christened Nowlin Room in the Zach Theatre complex plays multiple roles: rehearsal room, performance space, classroom and — naturally — special events space. (Never enough of them in Austin.) Tuesday night the former bicycle shop just to the east of Zach’s offices and Whisenhunt Arena Stage was decked with holiday bunting. Not quite the visual saturation of “Rockin’ Christmas Party” or “The Santaland Diaries,” but a scenic arrangement worthy of a holiday bash for backers, artists and a few other invited guests.
Tony Johnson and Suzan-Lori Parks
Independent publicist Brenda Thompson and Texas Book Festival’s Clay Smith filled me in on their holiday plans, on reports of Smith’s recent birthday party upstairs at Frank (an annual blowout that knocked me over last year), and various strands of gossip. Both looked sharp and rested, given the brutality of the holiday social rounds.
Espie Randolph and Tommy Haynes
Spent time with husband-and-wife arts power duo Barbara Chisholm (currently on the cover of AustinWoman magazine) and Robert Faires (who recently presented the first Austin Visual Arts Awards at Austin Museum of Art). We also compared notes on the back-door bash-ins in our Bouldin neighborhood, especially those of houses accessed through alleys. (Bouldinites beware!)
Stacy Lopez and Amanda Coffman
Talked with two lawyers who know the arts well — Tom Green and Eric Groten — smooth-pated men who call themselves the “Hair Club for Men” (I’d qualify). Green has just purchased a condo in Manhattan’s West Village. I believe Calvin Klein is his condo president, but we’ll check up on that tidbit. Also caught up with Maria Groten and Mary Tally about the post-Dancing with the Stars Austin chatter. Sounds like they topped $650,000 for the Center for Child Protection.
Caitlyn Guerra and Daniel Cabral
Zach’s managing director Elisabeth Challener addressed the assembly of 150 or so, who politely swung away from the alluring buffet tables and bars to listen. She listed some of the theater’s achievements for the year, including unveiling designs by Arthur Andersson for the complex’s fourth building. Also ending the fiscal year in the black, no small feat in a recession. She then introduced a video presentation of artistic director Dave Steakley’s winning samba at Dancing with the Stars. (Much fond kidding followed.)
Tom Green and Eric Groten
Steakley gave a rousing speech about the socially adhesive role of theater in a community and brought Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks up to the dais. (She’s in town finishing a script.) Challener and Steakley have much to give thanks for this season. The theater is on the upswing, having attracted the attention of big funding guns like Joe Long, Bobbi and Mort Topfer and Bettye and Bill Nowlin, who were honored with the room-naming. Looks like Zach’s Lamar-and-Barton Springs Road project will be the next one built, after Arthouse’s upstairs expansion, now underway.
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