Home > Dougherty Arts Center > Cafe at the End of Time
Cafe at the End of Time

Cafe at the End of Time

Fri. 02/03 | 7:30PM - Sun. 02/19 @ Dougherty Arts Center (map)

I like it
Buy Tickets
Event Details

Maxie’s Productions presents a play from Sue Carroll Moore:
Café at the End of Time—When Gay Bars Were Like Family
Texas premiere is a homecoming for pioneering L.A. director Marian Jones (of Ivy Theatre)

On the heels of 30 successful years in Los Angeles where she opened and grew the Ivy Theatre, director Marian Jones returns to Austin with Café at the End of Time a ensemble cast play that tells the story of a gay bar from an era past—and the characters that called it home. Written by Sue Caroll Moore and featuring Martha Prentice, Café at the End of Time recalls a period in the 1970s and 1980s when, for many, LGBT gathering places were the only family they had. Furthermore, the play speaks to an audience whose story is rarely seen on the stage: the aging, gay community. 

Jones gained notoriety in the late 90s for founding the groundbreaking Ivy Theatre in L.A.—devoted exclusively to lesbian playwrights. The Los Angeles Times wrote, “L.A. lesbian theater, which often has seemed like the kid sister of L.A. gay male theater, is about to get a room of its own.” The Ivy Theatre went on to produce critically acclaimed productions in Los Angeles and received hundreds of submissions for new works by Lesbian playwrights from around the world.  The Ivy Theatre is no longer but it's mission and it's reputation remain.15 years later, Jones returns to Austin—still with a focus on work by lesbian playwrights—but also giving a voice to actors and audience members who are now a little older and wiser. 

With a charming southern feel, the Texas premiere of this work is a “memory play” as seen through the eyes of Randolph a stalwart patron and irrepressible personality. Director Jones sets the stage: "Tony, a mafia butch and her lover, Alix, a refugee from New York's upper crust, run Maxie's Last Ditch Cafe on an unnamed Florida Key. The bar is a haven for a motley crew of outcasts, as well as serving as the local dyke hangout. Maxie's has been doing a brisk business for years, but lately has fallen on hard times. An increasingly vicious hurricane season, political drivers, and the wind of social change threaten a previously timeless and idyllic life.”

Café at the End of Time was written by Sue Carroll Moore, who currently lives in Germany, where she is researching the life and death of Robert Schumann. Moore, also a psycho-analyst and poet, is in her seventies and will be in town for the opening of the run. Jones embraced the work as a quirky comedy that also makes salient social and political statements on gay gathering places as family for many—especially in the 70s and 80s. Once vital Austin establishments included The Boathouse and Dirty Sally's.


The story of a 70s/80s-era gay bar and the characters that called it home.

Performances February 3 - 19, 2012 - Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Comments

You must Login to post comments.

  • Austin On Stage on Cafe at the End of Time @ Dougherty Arts Center

    over 1 year ago

    On the heels of 30 successful years in Los Angeles - where she opened and grew the Ivy Theatre - director Marian Jones returns to Austin with the Texas debut of the play Caf at the End of Time. more at austinonstage.com

  • Featured Venue

  • Featured