Lowell Bartholomee Co-Artistic Director lowell@thedirigogroup.com

Lowell made his directing debut in New York with a production of the reportedly “hilarious” Australian farce Why Bournemouth?. The experience proved so traumatic and soul-killing that he immediately abandoned directing- and theater- for several years. After subsequent stints in Baltimore and Los Angeles, he made his way to Austin, where he has been ever since and so far. After bumming around and generally running the slacker playbook for a few years, he finally came back to theater. Since then he has carved out a space for himself (with the help of just about everybody) in the Austin theater community, primarily as an actor. His recent stage appearances have included Blacksmith's Apprentice in Rude Mechs' Second Stage production of Kirk Lynn's Pale Idiot, Liebling in Up In The Old Hotel (Refraction Arts Project), X in Steve Moore’s nightswim (State Theatre Company), August in Ron Berry's Orange (Refraction Arts Project), Man in Dan Dietz’s TempOdyssey (Salvage Vanguard) for which he recieved the 2004 Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Award from the Austin Critics Table, Young Man in the “Iphegenia in Orem” portion of bash (the dirigo group), nominated for Best Actor in a Drama by the Austin Critics Table), Sir Toby Belch in 12th Night (Austin Shakespeare Festival), Flute/Thisbe in A Midsummer Night's Dream (Austin Shakespeare Festival), nominated for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy by the Austin Critics Table and awarded the B. Iden Payne Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Award), Ace in Fruits and Vegetables (Different Stages, nominated for Best Actor in a Drama by the Austin Critics Table), and the MC for Celebrity Crush (Refraction Arts) in 2002 and 2003.

His first produced stage piece "Moon Dogs" was presented at The Chicago House in 1994, but the less said about that the better. He has since self-produced and directed several short pieces for Frontera Fest including "Bob’s Birthday" (a finalist for the 2004 Heideman Award), "The Pitch", "A Word From Our Sponsor", "A Hill of Beans", "One Small Step", "Postal", "Standing Room Only", and "Oversimplification"; garnering various Best of the Week and Best of the Fest honors over the years. His adaptation of Shirley Jackson’s "Like Mother Used To Make" was directed by Ellie McBride in 2002 and received Best of the Week honors as well. His writing has also been performed in Salvage Vanguard’s Best Holiday Show Ever (2001, 2003, 2004, & 2005), Rude Mechanicals' 300 Plays About Vladimir Putin, The Philomel Project, a barbarous pleasure, and Austin Script Works’ Liquid Princesses (2002) and Talk Doesn't Cook Rice (2005). A collection of his short pieces (including the resurrected “Moon Dogs”) blah, blah, blah was produced by Refraction Arts and Bayou Radio Productions in the Summer of 2002 at The Blue Theater. Another version of blah, blah, blah was taken to the New York International Fringe Festival in 2004 under his direction, where it was greeted with good reviews and sold out houses.

His directing credits include Lee Eddy’s The Ladee Leroy Show for Café Armageddon, and his play The Middle of the Night and Neil LaBute's The Mercy Seat for the dirigo group. In 2006 he directed A Human Interest Story by Carlos Murillo and In On It by Daniel MacIvor for the dirigo group. He was nominated for Best Director of a Drama for A Human Interest Story by both the Austin Critics Table the B. Iden Payne committee. He was also nominated for a B. Iden Payne Award for Best Director of a Comedy for his work on In On It. He has also produced, directed, and shot several short films in and around Austin for Austin Shakespeare Festival, The Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum, and Aunt Lulu Productions, among others. In 2004, he was nominated for Best Video Design by the Austin Critics Table for his work in Robi Polgar's The Road to Wigan Pier, Austin Script Works' Of Superheroes and Seductions, and dirigo's The Mercy Seat. He recently provided video design for the State Theatre's American Fiesta and Refraction Arts Project's Up In The Old Hotel. Before long he plans to make good on his diploma and heed Robert Rodriguez' credo: stop wasting time and make a real movie. He has been known to while away the hours watching the occasional movie, writing screenplays, and making stuff up. He is proud to be a Co-Producing Artistic Director for the dirigo group, a Company Member of Rude Mechanicals, and an Associate Member of Austin Script Works.

What's He Doing Next?

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