Rehearsals began this week for “A Pest Control Affair,” and over the next 30 days, I will be introducing you to each member of this production, the director and the cast, through personal interviews I’ll be doing with each of them.

The proposed schedule looks like this (and scroll towards the bottom of this post to read highlights on each person):

• Meet our Director, Jonathan Young: 1/12
• Meet Rupert Reyes and Roxanne Schroeder-Arce: 1/22
• Meet AJ Reyes and an ABC guest entomologist: 1/30 post
• Meet Bryan Headrick and Stephanie Slayton: 2/2 post
• Frontera Fest 2023: 2/3 or 2/4 post on whether we make it to Best of Week

About the Play and about Fringe Theatre:

Based on the true story, Hook vs Pest Control, the production, “A Pest Control Affair,” goes live on Thursday, February 2nd 2023, 7:30pm, as part of the 28^th annual Frontera Fest put on by Scriptworks @ Hyde Park Theatre in Austin, Texas.

Synopsis: Shortly after marrying, an entomologist finds out his wife secretly ordered pest control for their home to combat the Texas tree roaches that keep showing up in their living room. This scientist’s disgust at such blatant insectile infidelity may prove too much for his purist’s perspective, until his wife gives him an ultimatum. Friends inadvertently solve their dilemma, while the husband makes one final demand of his wife.

As the writer and producer, I was fortunate enough to assemble a director and cast to bring this story to the stage during Frontera Fest, which normally offers a Long Fringe (90 minutes) and a Short Fringe (25 minutes). For 2023, there will be only the short fringe and a Bring Your Own Venue (BYOV).

The Austin American Statesman wrote that Frontera Fest was “The fringe theatre event of the Southwest.” According to my five-minute research, there is a fringe event in Dallas and one in Houston, neither of which are the breadth and length of Austin’s Frontera Fest which spans across four weeks.

About Frontera Fest, Short Fringe: Jan 17^th to Feb 18^th 2023

Frontera Fest will run for four consecutive weeks with (5) five productions at 25 minutes each. ‘Thrilled’ was my reaction to landing a Thursday evening performance, mostly because those recovering from holiday food and booze comas are more likely to shower and leave the house on a Thursday evening than say a Tuesday evening. And given Hyde Park Theatre’s small theatre atmosphere, you want the person sitting next to you to have showered!

About “A Pest Control Affair”:  Feb 2^nd, maybe Feb 4^th, maybe more

Depending on the performance on February 2^nd, the production could be chosen to play again on Saturday, February 4^th, even a third time the week of February 14^th. These two subsequent dates, though, are dependent upon the judges and audience votes on the night of February 2^nd.

I’ll write this only once: please, no pity votes. Vote for the best production. The legit judges are there to make sure that the best theatrical productions move forward. Audience votes do count in selecting which ‘audience favorite’ might move forward to Wild Card night. There is so much more to write about the intricacies of Frontera Fest and Scriptworks and Hyde Park in general and I’ll cover that in a future post.

• Link to tix for Feb 2nd: https://tinyurl.com/z4vpta5z
• To follow via on Facebook: https://fb.me/e/379HP8jf1
• To follow via Twitter: https://tinyurl.com/2pf943y

About the Production Members for “A Pest Control Affair”:

• DIRECTOR:  Jonathan Young, Assistant Professor of Drama at Austin Community College and accomplished Director, Actor, Voice artist via Audible. More on Jonathan in the Jan 12^th blog post.

• THE WIFE:  Stephanie Slayton, experienced theatre and IMDb actor most recently seen in 2022’s “My Soul to Keep”. More on Stephanie in the Feb 1^st post.

• THE HUSBAND, Hook:  Bryan Headrick, local theatre actor, singer, voiceover artist often seen in Texas-based commercials. More on Bryan in the Feb 1^st post.

• MANNY the melittologist:  Rupert Reyes, Founder of Teatro Vivo with a recent stint in Tulsa Kings that featured Sylvester Stallone. You can also see Rupert in the most recent Texas COVID commercial. More on Rupert in the Jan 25^th post.

• BEVERLY the botanist:  Roxanne Schroeder-Arce, Associate Professor of Theatre & Dance at UT Austin and accomplished actor, playwright, director. More on Roxanne in the Jan 25^th post.

• PEST CONTROL, Phil:  AJ Reyes, actor, podcaster, and Youtuber, AJ recently finished performing in Junie B at the Austin Scottish Rite Theatre. More on AJ in the Jan 26^th post.

About ABC Home & Commercial Services:

A Texas cockroach-sized THANK YOU to ABC Home & Commercial Services aka ABC Pest Control for their sponsorship of this play-from-the-heart. When I reached out to ABC about this true story, they asked for my address, possibly to confirm that my pest control story was true and possibly to double-check if I needed another treatment to combat roaches.

I sold the Hook house in 2017, though, and have regretted it ever since if only because the temporary new owners put about $10k worth of upgrades in it then sold it four years later for twice what they bought it from me. That value jump took fourteen years for the previous owners to receive, but there was too much sadness for me attached to owning Hook’s home. And, I did not enjoy being a landlord to that house or my previous home, mostly because Homo sapiens treat rental houses about as well as they treat their offspring. #Yikes

ABC’s willingness to sponsor the play, though, was generous simply because it is a one-act play and not a full featured production. Although I am grateful to ABC, I feel certain that Hook would have balked at having his name attached to a pest control company, the same as he recoiled in real life when he found out that I had the audacity to order pest control.  How dare I want to live a cockroach free existence inside my own home!

And that my friends is what “A Pest Control Affair” is all about so come out and see it!