Upcoming Events

I’ll Remember For You – Back by popular demand!

In 2011, the Alzheimer’s Association released a report that anticipates the number of Americans aged 65 or older with Alzheimer’s will increase from 5.4 million today to 16 million in 2050. By then, it is said that someone will develop the disease every 33 seconds.

I’ll Remember For You
(Yo Me Acuerdo Por Tí)
Written by Lisa Suárez | Directed by Laurie Dietrich
Featuring Lisa Suárez and Pamela Dean Kenny

March 9-11, 16-18, 23-25, 2012
Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., Sunday at 3 p.m.?

At The Sterling Houston Theater at Jump-Start in the Blue Star Arts Complex at the corner of S. Alamo and Probandt.

Post-show discussions hosted by cast members and representatives from the Alzheimer’s Association will take place on March 11th and March 18th. Community members will have the opportunity to share stories and ask questions in a safe environment.

Opening Weekend: $12 general admission, $10 students & seniors?
Final Two Weekends: $15 general admission, $12 students & seniors

Named one of San Antonio’s Best Shows of 2010, I’ll Remember For You by Lisa Suárez is a bilingual theater production depicting a Mexican-American woman’s experiences, feelings and thoughts surrounding her mother’s dementia and memory loss. In this courageous, deeply personal and unsentimental look at the role of the caregiver in this growing epidemic, Suárez brings her own life with her aging mother to the stage. She writes about – and portrays – her mother with humor and respect, love and frustration, fear, sadness and celebration.

I’ll Remember For You is a very private look at an increasingly public dynamic. As medical science enables us to live longer, perhaps money ear-marked for research into a “cure” for aging-related dementia could be better spent on support infrastructure for the afflicted and their caregivers… who will be us.

To purchase tickets for I’ll Remember For You please call (210) 227-5867 or visit www.jump-start.org for more info!

Jump-Start Performance Co. is generously supported by the City of San Antonio’s Office of Cultural Affairs, Kronkosky Charitable Foundation, the National Endowment of the Arts, a grant from the Ruth Lang Charitable Fund of the San Antonio Area Foundation, the Texas Commission on the Arts, and theFund.

The 2011-12 Jump-Start Performance Co. Season!

The 2011-12 Jump-Start Performance Co. Season

Welcome to our 2011-12 season! We are excited to share our mix of returning favorites, brand-new works and social events with a theatrical twist. Take a walk on the fantastical side with fire-eating carpa performers, sexy Sumerian goddesses and charming Slovakian visitors. And if you missed (or had a great time at) Lisa Suárez’ amazing play I’ll Remember for You or Alicia Fernandez’ Big, Bad & Beautiful, you’ve got a chance to see them again. We make it easy for you this season with longer runs, lower prices for opening weekends and our eclectic, accessible programming. Keep checking back regularly because we will be updating our listing with more details and extra events all year long. See you at the theater!

- S.T. Shimi, Artistic Director

What Comes Out of Chittlins
Written and performed by Kitty Williams
Directed by Steve Bailey
September 16-17, 23-24, 30-Oct 1st 2011
Friday and Saturday at 8p.m.

Miss Charlene Hughes is back with further ruminations about her love/hate relationship with those “never-clean-enough” chittlins. In this sequel to The Great Chittlin Debate, she is joined by a cast of characters including the inventor of the chittlin stew, her great-great-great grandfather, and the ever-judging Reverend DK, as they traverse the intersection of comedy, race and eatin’ higher up on the hog.

Featuring Kitty Williams, Pamela Dean Kenny, Chuck Squier & SkuDr Jones.
Opening Weekend: $12 general admission, $10 students & seniors
Final Two Weekends: $15 general admission, $12 students & seniors

Día de los Muertos Ball
Presented by Rene Roberts
November 2, 2011
Wednesday at 7p.m.

An adult social dance-party fundraiser benefiting Jump-Start Performance Co. and the San Antonio AIDS foundation. Special entertainment by local talent. Guests are asked to arrive in costume with skeleton face.

$75 Table Seating
$45 General

Stranger
Written and performed by Divadlo z Pasáže & Jump-Start Performance Co.
Directed by Viera Dubacova
November 18-19, 2011 at the Sterling Houston Theater @ Jump-Start
November 20, 2011 @ Salvage Vanguard in Austin
Friday – Sunday at 7p.m.

Jump-Start Performance Co. and Divadlo z Pasáže (an ensemble of profoundly mentally challenged performers from Slovakia) will collaborate on a new joint production. The play explores the feeling of being marginalized in society and what it means to experience sudden freedom, echoing the Slovak experience following the fall of the Soviet bloc. The piece uses the metaphor of the unexpected arrival of a “guest” into the lives of a group of people stuck in a sort of limbo, freeing them from their past constraints. How does sudden freedom affect their attitudes and actions? What is normal and what is strange?
$15 general admission, $12 students & seniors in San Antonio
Ticket information for the Austin show: www.salvagevanguard.org

Performance Party 27
January 7, 2012
Saturday at 7p.m.
(Various Artists)
Our annual marathon of entertaining acts from the Company & community artists.
$10 Suggested Donation

Big, Bad and Beautiful: Still Hungry
Written by Alicia Fernandez
Presented by Daddy’s Girl Productions
January 20-22, 27-29, 2012
Friday and Saturday at 8p.m., Sunday at 3p.m.

A touching, hilarious tribute to women of size. One of our most popular shows will be performed bigger and badder than ever in memory of visionary/creator Alicia Fernandez.
Opening Weekend: $12 general admission, $10 students & seniors
Second Weekend: $15 general admission, $12 students & seniors

I’ll Remember for You
Written by Lisa Suárez
Directed by Laurie Dietrich
March 9-11, 16-18, 23-25, 2012
Friday & Saturday 8p.m., Sunday 3p.m.

Back by popular demand! This funny, sad and courageously honest look at Suárez’ experiences as the primary caregiver for her mother with Alzheimer’s was listed as one of San Antonio’s Best of 2010 on Stage by the San Antonio Express News.
Featuring Lisa Suárez and Veronica Rogers.
Opening Weekend: $12 general admission, $10 students & seniors
Final Two Weekends: $15 general admission, $12 students & seniors

NEW WORKS FEST
June 8-9, 15-16 2012
(Various Artists; more details TBA)

In the spirit of Short Sparks, New Moves and Electric Performance Lab, Jump-Start invites you to a mini-festival of short new pieces by a rotating line-up of Company and selected community artists. Anything and everything from multi-media experiments, improvised dance pieces, staged stories and possibly some audience participation. Come and be surprised, charmed and inspired!

Hetaerae/A Carpa, Maybe
Written by Laurie Dietrich/Billy Muñoz
September 14-15, 21-22, 28-29, 2012
All shows 8p.m.

A double-bill of new works about “entertainers” – who they are, why they are, and the passion (and price) of “show-biz”.

Hetaerae (Dietrich): When the curtain rises and the lights come on, who do you see onstage? Are they stereotypes or archetypes, goddesses or whores? How do they serve your needs? From Sumerian goddesses to Greek priestesses to modern-day sex workers & stage performers, Hetaerae uses ritual theatre, live music & other experimental forms to explore performance and voyeurism on a whole new level.

A Carpa, Maybe (Muñoz): El Payaso, an old performer, tells the story of the downfall of a carpa, along with the eccentric denizens who populated it: A controlling ringmaster, a gentle mind reader, manipulative triplet acrobats, a strong man, and a captured mermaid.
Opening Weekend: $12 general admission, $10 students & seniors
Final Two Weekends: $15 general admission, $12 students & seniors

Windows Series
Produced by Laurie Dietrich & Dino Foxx; featuring various artists.
Performance times TBA
Free!
This popular series of free, First Friday performances returns to grace the front window at Jump-Start with short, visually-rich, diverse performance work.
October 7, 2011
December 2, 2011
March 2, 2012
May 4, 2012

W-I-P
Produced by S.T. Shimi & Amber Ortega-Pérez; featuring various artists.
All performances at 7p.m.
$5 general admission, $3 students & seniors
An eclectic monthly lab space for new, in-progress dance and movement-based performance works, accompanied by a facilitated post-performance discussion.
September 28, 2011
November 9, 2011
December 21, 2011
January 11, 2012
February 1, 2012
March 28, 2012
April 18, 2012
June 27, 2012

W-I-P Créme
May 30, 2012
Wednesday at 7p.m.
$10 general admission, $8 students and seniors

This one-night event showcases the best new works from the W-I-P 2011-12 season.