Today we’d like to introduce you to Bonnie Cullum.
Hi Bonnie, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I’m a native Texan, going back many generations on both sides of my family. I was born in San Antonio to Susan Estelle Kelso and Jim Cullum Jr., two strong, brilliant, and talented artists. Raised in Lawrence, Kansas, where my mother earned her MA and PhD., I began my acting career as the Little Red Hen in kindergarten, performing leading roles in many school plays and Summer Youth Community Theatre. I stayed in idyllic Lawrence to attend The University of Kansas, where I was a theatre major. I spent my junior year abroad, first studying Theatre and Communications with Temple University in London, and then traveling the European continent via train and hitchhiking. Those formative nine months shifted my worldview and deepened my passion for creating live performance. After graduating with my BA in theatre, I couldn’t get a job as an actor, so I went to work in my father’s jazz club in the Hyatt on the Riverwalk in San Antonio. After a year, I began working as a Hyatt manager, often juggling five to ten bars at any given time in the hotel. The work was grueling and challenging, and I knew I needed to be making theatre. I had some directing experience and wanted more education and training. So, I went to graduate school at the University of Texas at Austin to pursue my MFA in Directing and gain the confidence and experience that I needed to create great theatre.
At UT, I discovered my longtime collaborators, Steve Bacher, Lurana Donnels O’Malley, and Sean T.C. O’Malley, who founded The VORTEX with me. While we only intended to do VORTEX shows for a few years, in the summer of 1989, we had an unexpected hit production of Romeo and Juliet, which I adapted and directed for two women as the star-crossed lovers. This was followed by another smash hit: Vaçlav Havel’s Temptation, which opened on the night the Berlin Wall fell. These successes in our first year, along with a real estate bust in Austin, led us to believe that we should rent a theatre. We moved into a huge empty movie triplex and created four more seasons of new work at The VORTEX Performance Café on Ben White Boulevard. During this time, my original collaborators moved away from Austin, and when we lost that space on Ben White to redevelopment (they tore it down to expand the highway), we moved to a dilapidated, abandoned warehouse on Manor Road. Here, with many exceptional volunteers and lovers of original theatre, we built a new home, a cultural harbor, and a Butterfly Sanctuary.
I met my husband, Chad Salvata at The VORTEX. I directed many of his visionary operas, compositions, and performance installations. We married in 2002 and have shared our lives with many loving kitties. My parents both offered tremendous support, encouragement, and love throughout this journey.
I have been named Best Theatre Director three times by the Austin Chronicle and was inducted into the Austin Arts Hall of Fame in 2009.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
The primary obstacle is that we didn’t have any money. We were building all of this theatre on dreams and fumes and credit cards. No big funders or donors beyond my grandparents. For many years, it was not sustainable. I was getting paid a tiny bit to be able to eat, and the work was being done mainly by volunteers. We existed like that for years, and it should not have been possible. The challenges that people don’t understand are that having your own venue is not always a good thing, and in fact, often encumbers the art because the building takes up so much of the financial and human resources. Whether it’s the electric bill, broken air conditioning, upgrades needed for a safe lighting system, access and egress, restrooms, upkeep of the grounds — these are things they never teach you in theatre class.
Along the way, I had so much generous help from so many artists and administrators who kept The VORTEX alive against the odds. And I am really proud of the many excellent shows we have created together.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
MotherTree (2025) Awards for Original Score, Hair and Makeup Design
The Dragonfly Princess (2023, 2007) Awards for Original Score, Lighting Design, Hair and Makeup Design
Performance Park (2018) Future of Theatre Award, Dream Come True Award, Mt. Everest Award, Good Enough to Eat Award
The Elementals: AIR, FIRE, WATER, EARTH, SPIRIT (2011-2014) Awards for Musical Direction Lighting Design, Choreography, Musical Direction
Sarah Silver Hands (2011) Awards for Direction, Scenic Design, Lighting Design
Sleeping Beauty (2010, 2005) Awards for Original Score, Lighting Design
Pink Sun (2008) Toured to San Francisco
Oceana (2009) Award for Sound Design
Troades: The Legend of the Women of Troy (2008) Awards for Production, Direction, Lighting Design, Ensemble
Trickster (2007) Award for Lighting Design
Vampyress (2005, 2010, 2017) Awards for Original Score, Lead and Featured Actor
Dark Goddess (2000-2005) Awards for Lighting Design, Music
Despair’s Book of Dreams and the Sometimes Radio (2001, 2000) Awards for Direction, Lead Actor, Lighting Design, Scenic Design, Sound Design. Toured to NYC and Louisiana
The X&Y Trilogy: The Black Blood, Panoptikon, Triskelion (1995-1999) Awards for Lighting Design, Featured Actor, Sound Design, Alpha and Omega
The Baltimore Waltz (1993) Awards for Lead and Featured Actor
King Lear (1992) 1st Choice Directing Award
Romeo and Juliet (1989, 1990, 1995)
Pricing:
- $0-39
Contact Info:
- Website: https://vortexrep.org/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vortex_rep
