David DeMaris + VORTEX Repertory Company

David DeMaris (Creator/Writer/Composer) is known internationally for work spanning microprocessor design software, computational lithography, computational neuroscience, and music and visual arts. He studied electronic composition at the University of Illinois, and holds a Ph.D. in engineering at University of Texas. His work using statistics of coupled chaotic maps bridged computer vision and computational neuroscience, leading to an offer at the Riken Brain Science Institute. Since arriving in Austin in 1991, he has led the jazz group Alien Time Ensemble, performed as a DJ and performing video artist Dr. Strangevibe, and has been a resident composer and sound designer beginning in 2002 with VORTEX. Notable productions featuring his compositional work are Qualities of Starlight, Elizabeth: Heart of a King, Trickster, Vitriol and Violets, RUR, and Holy Well Sacred Flame. He has lectured on visual music at the Berklee School of music, and performed previously at a Fusebox/Church of the Friendly Ghost event with his Image Improv Orchestra project. He is currently half of the vocal improv jazz and art song duet Symphonic Taint.

Bonnie Cullum (Producing Artistic Director/Director) has created and presented over 300 innovative productions for VORTEX Repertory Company since 1988 and was inducted into the Austin Arts Hall of Fame in 2009. Her artistic work includes creating, directing, and producing ritual theatre, musicals, operas, plays, and performance for which she has received more than 100 awards for excellence. She earned an MFA in Directing from the University of Texas and a BA in Theatre from the University of Kansas. Cullum has directed more than 75 world premieres, dozens of which she created from conception. Thrice honored as Austin’s Best Director by the Austin Chronicle, Cullum has been nominated for dozens of outstanding directing awards and received B. Iden Payne Awards for Outstanding Director for Sarah Silver Hands, Troades: The Legend of the Women of Troy, Moby Dick, and Despair’s Book of Dreams and the Sometimes Radio. She teaches theatre, acting, directing, and ritual internationally with workshops and classes around the US and in Germany and Canada. She founded VORTEX’s Summer Youth Theatre in 1991 to provide theatre opportunities for youth. Cullum is internationally recognized for her experimental productions and her advocacy of cutting-edge artists.

VORTEX Repertory Company creates and presents new, innovative performances that transgress conventional theatrical forms. A pioneering leader in Austin’s alternative theatre scene and a key player in the Austin New Works Community, VORTEX has produced hundreds of world premieres since 1988. The VORTEX venue is artist-owned and operated and was the first theatre to make a home for the arts in Austin’s Eastside, now a blossoming arts and entertainment district. Internationally renowned as a haven for alternative performance, VORTEX has presented work by dozens of famous cutting-edge artists. VORTEX has offered its free, award-winning Summer Youth Theatre since 1991. The Butterfly Bar @ The VORTEX has become a community destination. A leader in the growth of arts and economic stability in Austin, VORTEX thrives as a mature arts organization.