In recognition of Aids Awareness Month, in appreciation of those who have suffered because of prejudice, and with gratitude to those who struggle against ignorance, the Ballabajoomba Poetry Council s thrilled to offer you:
The Trigger Happyjacks
Internationally Recognized Performance GroupFriday April 27th, 2001
Corpus Christi Hall (room 118)
Texas A&M University-CC
6:30 p.m. -- reception
7:00 p.m. -- performanceSaturday April 28th, 2001
Lotus Cup Café (505 Water Street)
8:30 p.m. -- performance
followed by Ballabajoomba Poetry SlamThe Trigger Happyjacks is an internationally recognized performance troupe from Austin, Texas that blends sketch comedy, song parodies, spoken-word, avant guarde performance, and alternative theatre to achieve a post modern cabaret style affect, celebrate queer culture and face the issues that are important to our community. As they say: "We perform original material that comes to us in moments of intense anger, intense sadness, intense love. We are queer. We are male and female and in-between. We are pissed. We are loud. We are here."
Moira Muldoon (Austin American-Statesman) wrote the following about their award winning show "Mother/Fuckers", performed at FronteraFest, January 17th, 2001: "Nothing like a Jell-O- molded penis to get a show off to a rollicking start. But in truth the penis, and sadism and whips, was simply an aid to an exploration of a handful of characters' relationships with their mothers and motherhood in a Trigger Happyjacks piece with a title unprintable in this newspaper. By turns funny, strident, lonely, angry and nostalgic, this show gets to you."
In their own words, here is who they are:
Jason Edwards - born in Fort Worth Texas in 1974. In the second grade he taped crumpled pieces of paper to a black turtleneck and wore a black beret for his writer's costume on career day. Back then he wanted to be a children's novelist like his idol Roald Dahl. 21 years later his goals haven't changed much; in fact he is working on his first attempt at a children's novel as we speak. With his blend of "outrageous scathing humor" and "poignant soulful words" Jason's work has earned him countless awards in school and as an adult. Most recently he co-founded the troupe Trigger Happyjacks whose half-hour show Mother/Fuckers took the Best of Fest Wild Card Award at the 2001 Frontera Short Fringe Festival. In 1998 he (along with the Dallas Slam Team) took second place in the National Poetry Slam where he was part of the first collaborative performance poem to achieve a perfect score in the National Poetry Slam's history.
Jason's work has been cited by National Public Radio (NPR), Time Magazine, The Dallas Morning News, The Austin American-Statesman, The Voice, and many other local and national publications. Poetry and performance art pieces of his have been released on CD and many anthologies including Manic D Press's latest book, Slam: The Competitive Art of Spoken Word. In his spare time he enjoys reading, watching movies, his partner of 6 years, fabulous gourmet cuisine and playing with his dogs Phoebe and Bill.
BUG (Rhiannon Davidson) - originally hatched in Houston TX . She studied dance and theatre for many years, accumulating such credits as the beginnings; workshop with Peter Skalar and off- broadway performances. BUG arrived in Austin in '99 and began working on her first short feature "Grasp". Currently devoted to the `Jacks, BUG is also making a documentary on the journey of the Austin Slam team this year.
Lee Marshall - 29 years old. Originally from Corpus Christi, TX, moved to San Antonio in 1985 and has been performing since then. Lee has been seen on many stages in San Antonio as well as performing in New York and LA. Favorite credits include: Dr. Frank N. Furter in The Rocky Horror Show, Seymore in Little Shop of Horrors, The Grinch in The Grinch, Lewis Carroll in Alice the Rock Opera, Hannah in La Cage Aux Folles, Joe in School House Rocks Live! and Dracula in Brahm Stoker's Dracula. "It's Great to be Alive!"
Sara Sutterfield Winn is 24 years old and recently received her Bachelor's degree in English from the University of Texas at Austin. She is a retired host of Ruta Maya's open mic poetry reading, repeatedly voted Best Poetry Venue in Austin by the Austin Chronicle and has been a participant in the Albuquerque Poetry Festival in 1999 and the Austin International Poetry Festival in 1998, 1999, and 2000. Sara's poem "Full Circle" was chosen as third best poem in the AIPF Anthology, Diverse City 2000. Sara has been active in the Poetry Slam community since February of 1998, has qualified for three Austin City-Wide Slam Offs (1998, 1999, 2001), is a member of the 2001 Austin Slam Council, and co-hosts the monthly women's poetry series, Sirens (sponsored by the Austin Poetry Slam), at Gaby & Mo's. She is also the author of two poetry chapbooks: Waiter, There's a Shaman in My Soup (1998), and Ain't No Big Thing (1999). Sara's performance history outside of slam include several college theatre performances, and she is now an out and proud member of Trigger Happyjacks, Austin's newest Queer performance troupe, as well as the webmaster for THJ's website: http://www.triggerhappyjacks.com.