By Shermakaye Bass
Special to the American-Statesman
Thursday, March 23, 2000

When Kerthy Fix goes public, she goes public in a big, bold way. That is, it's an odd slice of thespian pie when Fix presents one of her multidisciplinary, multidimensional onstage sagas.

Invariably, Fix's pastiches explore the messy mangle of pop psychology and 20th-century sexuality, creating on the stage a safe place where nothing's sacred, nothing's secret and nothing's shocking -- where everything is up for deconstruction. All of Fix's works, including last year's "If You Can't Stay Still and Quiet, You Can't Stay on the Bed," provide a kinetic canvas where very adult things happen to very unlikely characters.

At the heart of "Heaving Shadows at the Skin Show," a world premiere at the Vortex Theatre, is a strange journey, wherein the audience cops a ride in the psychic knapsacks of three principal characters, Gay Hustler, Hitchhiker and Trucker. On the road with the three lovers, we encounter composite characters that only Fix and company could come up with. We meet Bird Girl, a girl-child demon; Loretta Leyna, a feminist composite of Loretta Lynn and Lotte Leyna, Kurt Weil's wife; Black Man, a cross between Aunt Jemima and Charles Mingus; and Bowler Hat Man, a seemingly despicable "operator" a la Mack the Knife. All embody the best and worst of human nature.

Meanwhile, Trucker, Gay Hustler and Hitchhiker represent the same sort of potluck references to theater and art's counterculture. Trucker is a combination of French surrealist Rene Daumal and healer/soothsayer Edgar Cayce. Gay Hustler is equal parts artist David Wojnarowicz and French writer Jean Genet. And Hitchhiker's character is based on a woman whom Fix met while hitchhiking in Poland in 1990.

Employing some of the most gifted experimental performers in Austin, "Heaving Shadows" creates a postmillennial "Alice in Wonderland" landscape with puppets, video, music, movement and performance.

Among the cast and co-writers are Trant Batey, Tiana Hux, David Avery, Liv Wildes, Ann Putnam, Katy Burnette-Hughes, David Sangalli, Tommy Vasquez, Dwayn Moore, Ashley Overton and Bryan Green. Sound and music contributors include Golden Arm Trio, SXIP, Lauren Phelan and Greg Wildes. Technical projection is by Avery. Lighting is by Brad Butler. Costume design is by Wildes. Choreography is by Green and Overton. Props are by Faith Gay. And puppets are by Chris Green.

"Heaving Shadows at the Skin Show" opens at 8 p.m. today and continues through April 15 at the Vortex, 2307 Manor Road. Call 454-TIXS. $8 and $13.