Roxy Castillo Wants To Put A Spell On You

May 25, 2016

I have cov­ered quite a few com­e­dy shows on this site. There was that one per­son sketch show about the Moth­man Proph­esy. Then there was the oth­er one about dat­ing. Sure­ly we should­n’t for­get the one where the audi­ence votes on who was fun­nier, the drunks, ston­ers or sobers. That’s just scratch­ing the sur­face, there have been shows involv­ing singing and com­e­dy, plays, two per­son improv, one per­son shows and on and on.

(Poster Cred­it: Daniel Solano)

This is what makes the Austin com­e­dy scene so fun. The cre­ators, cura­tors and per­form­ers in these shows are lim­it­ed only by their imag­i­na­tions… and some­times oth­er stuff, but most­ly their imag­i­na­tion. These endeav­ors have made my writ­ing expe­ri­ence an eclec­tic tilt-a-whirl of word craft.

From Den­ver to Austin

One of these cre­ative comedic types is Roxy Castil­lo. Castil­lo, who orig­i­nal­ly hails from Den­ver (Col­orado, not Mis­souri) got her start in the stand up com­e­dy scene in the Mile High City eight years ago. Here’s her abridged version:

I always liked com­e­dy as a kid, but it was in col­lege that I took an elec­tive the­ater class that was a com­e­dy course. So they taught us basic improv, sketch, and stand up. When I excelled at that, it just fit my life. Gave me an out­let for my odd­i­ties and need for atten­tion and ever since that sil­ly class, I was hooked.”

Castil­lo on stage at The New Movement

Castil­lo went on to tell me that short­ly after the class, she decid­ed to move to Austin on a whim. She got the idea in Decem­ber and by April, she was packed and gone — no job prospects, no hous­ing plans, just a few per­son­al items and a big jug of faith in that it was the right thing to do. She felt Austin was more suit­ed to her, so she packed and moved, hav­ing nev­er vis­it­ed Austin before and accord­ing to her, it was a per­fect fit for her and her sense of humor. In Austin where she start­ed expand­ing into improv and sketch com­e­dy. Her involve­ment with the sketch group, Bad Exam­ple, intro­duced her to the New Move­ment The­ater and the top­ic of this article.

The Witch­ing Hour

Roxy Castil­lo has decid­ed to blend her love of com­e­dy and the occult into her new show, The Witch­ing Hour. What is it and why? Because this:

It’s an occult com­e­dy talk show. It’s a mix of Pee Wee Play­house and a Hog­warts class taught by me. I’m real­ly into mystical/​occult/​new age type stuff (tarot, crys­tals, astrol­o­gy, etc) and a lot of my friends come to me for infor­ma­tion on this stuff, so I fig­ured I should put a show togeth­er where I can explain some of these things thru a comedic lens.”

7th and Lava­ca y’all.

In case you were won­der­ing, yes there will be char­ac­ter guest inter­views and pre­sen­ta­tions with the help of Kelsey Rogers, Zaftigg Von Bön Bön, Vanes­sa Gon­za­lez, Cody Carta­ge­na, Stephanie Pace and Ariel Green­spooon. For the first show, Castil­lo is focus­ing on crys­tals, tarot, and magik (with a k” not C” like that David Blaine stuff). As a bonus, the show is spon­sored by Nature’s Trea­sures, a local gem and crys­tal store, and audi­ence will receive a few free gifts and coupons to start them on their cos­mic journey.

Deets

Of course the show is at the New Move­ment The­ater. It’s also this Sat­ur­day, May 28th, at 9pm. As you should all know by now, The New Move­ment is a BYOB estab­lish­ment and is nes­tled near the cor­ner of 7th and Lava­ca in scenic down­town Austin. Tick­et info can be found on this Eventbrite page. Remem­ber, they’re cheap­er in advance *wink.*

As for Roxy Castil­lo’s oth­er projects and appear­ances, she be can be seen all over town doing all sorts of things. The best thing to do is fol­low her on Twit­ter. She also dab­bles in bur­lesque under the name Miss Fahren­heit and per­forms week­ly with Bad Exam­ple.