CATASTROPHE THEORY ARTS

Catastrophe Theory Arts is a new venture born out of the desire to create original work that explores storytelling and performance in a low-risk experimental format, with an emphasis on collaboration and an interest in science and the arts. We’d tell you more, but frankly it’s a bit of an adventure and we’re curious to see where it goes.

Native Austinite Rebecca Whitehurst has worked around the globe as a theater animal– actor, dancemaker, writer and director. She received her BA in Philosophy from Stanford, and then attended the CalArts MFA program in Choreography before embarking on a professional career with Diavolo Dance Theater. Freelancing as an actor and choreographer in New York City led her to the Institute for Advanced Theater Training MXAT/A.R.T. at Harvard, where she received an MFA in Acting and performed in regional and off-Broadway theater. While on a Fulbright Scholarship to Russia, Rebecca spent a year as a guest teacher at the Moscow Art Theatre School choreographing original works, creating a movement praxis for actors, and writing a play about Olga Knipper Chekhova. She is now very tired.

Stephen Pruitt is a theatrical designer, writer, photographer, and former aerospace engineer who has been working out of Austin since 1997. He is the production and lighting designer for Forklift Danceworks, Tapestry Dance Company, Kathy Hamrick Dance Company, Andrea Ariel Dance Theatre, and several other dance and performance companies in Austin. He is also the resident lighting designer for Trouble Puppet Theater Company and a company member with the Rude Mechs. His short form works and performance pieces have been seen at festivals around the country, though not recently, and he once was called “a sharp combination of Bill Nye and David Sedaris,” which leaves nowhere else to go, really.