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F.Y.I. please check! THEATRE COLLECTIVE TO MOUNT MICHAEL FRAYN'S NOISES OFF AS A TRIBUTE AND A SWAN SONG.   Austin, TX - Theatre Collective proudly presents its 20th production: Michael Frayn's Noises Off. Directing is Paul Garlinghouse, who founded the group in 1986 with Nina Otazo and Debbie Blicher. It was formed as a collective to give all members a voice in the productions and opportunities for production roles or acting roles that are often not available elsewhere. This will be Paul's last production with the Collective for a good while, as he will leave immediately afterward for CUNY Law School at Queens College. Paul, Nina, and Debbie produced their first show, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, with little more than a bake sale and Paul's brand new Visa. Publicity was usually just a table on the West Mall on the UT campus, hand made posters, and word of mouth. Since then, Theatre Collective has produced many diverse shows including A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Bald Soprano, The Lesson, Baby with the Bathwater, Lysistrata, Deathtrap, The Laundromat, Laundry and Bourbon, Equus (nominated for two ACOT awards), The Actor's Nightmare, Sister Mary Ignatius..., Little Shop of Horrors, What the Butler Saw, Grease (awarded a "Barnie" for choreography), and Bedroom Farce. Theatre Collective also produced four works by its own members: Inventory, Sitcom, Space Trek: Lost on Gilligan's Planet, and Lysistrata 3000. Some were witnessed by fewer people in the audience than there were on stage, but always the shows were produced just for the love of doing it. Many Collective members moved on from their experiences on campus to Capitol City Playhouse, which had an atmosphere of welcome and support for new blood. The most notable alumnus may be Jessica Kubzansky, whose directing debut at Capitol City Playhouse was the wildly successful run of Noises Off in 1988. It was her show that inspired Paul Garlinghouse and Karina Montgomery (member and historian since 1988) to mount Noises Off again, as an homage to Capitol City Playhouse and some lives associated with it who have since left us. Michel Jaroschy, the founder of CCP, was the one who welcomed Theatre Collective graduates (and post-graduates) and gave them a chance to prove themselves outside the campus organization world. Ovid Trejo, who played Lloyd Dallas in CCP's 1988 and 1992 productions of Noises Off, produced and starred in The Speed of Darkness with Theatre Collective under Garlinghouse's direction. Despite such somber origins, how better to celebrate the theatre and the lives that have affected us so deeply, and made such a great impact in Austin theatre than to produce Michael Frayn's hysterically epic love poem to the theatre. If you have ever worked on a play, seen a play, or just talked about theatre, Noises Off will strike a familiar chord. Frayn's work centers around an English theatre company about to kick off a tour of Nothing On, a poorly rehearsed sex farce. The real farce is in the production company itself - as much drama goes on backstage as onstage. Our audience is privy to different phases in the production's entropic run. The fourth wall is all that is holding Nothing On together - however, to tell more would be to ruin the surprises. Noises Off's ensemble cast are actors playing actors - who best to let the audience in on the joke? The cast is (alphabetically) Will Coe, Al Ebbers, Sharon Elmore, Paul Headrick, Tiffany King, Karina Montgomery, Edi Patterson, Fred Shipman, and Kevin Smith. The 10th cast member is the set, as integral to the farce as any human character. The performances will be held at the UTOPIA theatre, known variously through the years as EDA F-50, SSW 2.102, or the University Junior High School Auditorium. The theatre is a wonderful old space, a treasure on the UT campus, hosting at least 10 of Theatre Collective's past shows. It's one of the few spaces left in which campus organizations can perform. UTOPIA is an acronym for University of Texas Opera Performance Instruction Auditorium, for those who may remember when it was used for that purpose. It is located at 1925 San Jacinto, at the corner of 20th street and San Jacinto. Showtimes are Thursday through Saturday, July 11 - August 2, at 8pm, with an additional Sunday matinee on July 27 at 5pm. Tickets are $8.00 for ACOT members, students with ID's, senior citizens, and groups of 10 or more. General admission is $10.00. For more information or reservations, please call 491-7474.     Cast list: Dotty Otley/Mrs. Clackett - Sharon Elmore Lloyd Dallas - Kevin Smith Garry Lejeune/Roger Tramplemain - Paul Headrick Brooke Ashton/Vicki - Karina Montgomery Poppy Norton-Taylor - Edi Patterson Frederick Fellowes/Philip Brent - Fred Shipman Belinda Blair/Favia Brent - Tiffany King Tim Allgood - Will Coe Selsdon Mowbray/Burglar - Al Ebbers   Any more info? Gil Zilkha is our publicity guy with photos and stuff, at 834-9173.   :)k