August: Osage County, an award-winning play produced by the classic rock band Steppenwolf (Born to Be Wild), performed its opening show last night at the new Winspear Dallas Opera House to an audience of over 600.

The new play  tells the story of the Westons, a large extended clan that comes together at their rural Oklahoma homestead when the alcoholic patriarch disappears. Forced to confront unspoken truths and astonishing secrets, the family must also contend with Violet (played by Academy Award-winner Estelle Parsons).

A friend from CoHabit provided us with tickets through a personal connection. Jennifer Conley of ILiveinDallas.com, Bev Garvin of Dallas Interactive firm, and myself attended.  Being a thespian of many years in one-act plays in high school and having seen 100s of award-winning plays at UIL competitions, I would have to say this was one of the best plays I’ve ever seen. The acting was superb leveling Hollywood’s greats. I can see why many actors decide he/she would rather be on Broadway and work in traveling shows verses the lime light and fluffiness of TV and movies. For more information on the play and to get tickets go to DallasPerformingArts.org.

About August: Osage County
Winner of the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Tony Award for Best Play, AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY is written by Tracy Letts and directed by Anna D. Shapiro. The New York Times cheers, “AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY is flat-out, without qualification, the most exciting new American play Broadway has seen in years,” and Time Magazine named AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY the “#1 Show of the Year!”

Last night, 40 business start-ups, angel investors, technology evangelists, and web development an marketing careerists met at the Technology Bar in the Dallas Infomart for the opportunity to match those seeking funding with those who have funding. This fully sponsored happy hour is open to the public and has been an integral part in many of VC [venture capital] projects over the past year in Dallas. Beginning last year this happy hour has received local coverage several times and is the brain child of serial entrepreneur Alexander Muse. Check out their calendar of events for the next happy hour.

About Alex Muse
Alexander Muse is a serial entrepreneur with more than a decade of startup experience. Alexander’s day job is with Big in Japan, where his team builds cool applications for mobile devices, including ShopSavvy built for Google’s open source Android platform. In 2007 he sold Fancast to Comcast Interactive and is an active investor and contributor in several companies including SpringStage, Architel, ServiceGuy and WhiteBox. Previously, he was founder and CEO of LayerOne, a venture capital-backed telecommunications infrastructure company he started in the late 1990’s. Alexander has been involved in several organizations including the Entrepreneurs Foundation of North Texas (EFNT), the Young Entrepreneurs Organization (YEO), the Association for Corporate Growth (ACG), IEEE, The Open Management Consortium, DFW Entrepreneur Network, OnStartups, Start-Up Phase Forum and Startup Ventures Links.