Upcoming: The Rainmaker, Way Off Broadway Community Players, Leander, September 18 - October 3

Found on-line:



The Way Off Broadway Community Players
in Leander

present

The Rainmaker
By N. Richard Nash
Directed by Christien Bumpus
September 18th thrrough October 3rd

At the time of a paralyzing drought in the West we discover a girl whose father and two brothers are worried as much about her becoming an old maid as they are about their dying cattle. For the truth is, she is indeed a plain girl. The brothers try every possible scheme to marry her off, but without success. Nor is there any sign of relief from the dry heat. When suddenly from out of nowhere appears a picaresque character with a mellifluous tongue and the most grandiose notions a man could imagine.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com

Upcoming: Murdered to Death, Sam Bass Community Theatre, Round Rock, September 18 - October 10

Click for ALT review, October 9

Update: review at AustinOnStage.com, September 28


presents

Murdered to Death
at Sam Bass Community Theatre, Round Rock

Written by Peter Gordon
Directed by Lynn Beaver
Fridays & Saturdays at 8 p.m.
Sundays at 2 p.m.

This hilarious spoof of the best of Agatha Christie traditions is set in a country manor house in the 1930's, with an assembled cast of characters guaranteed to delight. The play introduces the inept Inspector Pratt, who battles against the odds to solve the murder of the house's owner. It soon becomes clear that the murderer isn't finished yet, but will the miscreant be unmasked before everyone else has met their doom, or will the audience die laughing first?

Show Rating: May not be suitable for young children - parental discretion is advised.

Upcoming: On Golden Pond, Paradox Players, September 18 - October 4

Found on-line:

Paradox Players present

On Golden Pond

by Ernest Thompson, directed by Chris Jimmerson

This funny, touching and warmly perceptive family study was an instant critical and popular success on Broadway and still resonates today. A revealing look at enduring love, family and change, no matter what stage of life.

Sept 18th-Oct 4th, 2009
Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm
Sundays at 3 pm

Howson Hall Theater
First Unitarian Universalist Church of Austin
4700 Grover Avenue

Tickets:
$20 Opening Night Gala (Fri Sept 18th)
$15 all other performances ($10 for seniors and groups of 10 or more)
Reservations by web, phone 744-1495 or purchase via Paypal

FREE CHILDCARE for matinee performance on Sept 20th if reserved by Sept 13th. For childcare reservations please email childcare@austinUU.org or phone 452-6168, ext 12.

Upcoming: Drag Kings, The Musical: 3!, Austin Kings N Things at Blue Theatre, September 18 - 20

UPDATE: KOOP-FM program, Off Stage and On The Air: Lisa Sheps talks to Shelby Mine, September 14 (1 hr, with music)

Found on-line:

Kings N Things,
Austin's premier drag king troupe,
presents

Drag Kings The Musical: 3

at The Blue Theater, 916 Springdale Road, Austin
September 18-September 20, 2009
Friday and Saturday at 9 p.m., Sunday at 6 p.m.
Tickets: $8-$12 Available at the door

Austin's Premier Drag King Troupe consciously performs gender in the spirit of non-conformity. Our shows provide a forum for a mixture of fun entertainment and serious activism on gender-related subjects, as well as many other socio-political issues.

Past performances have tackled subjects such as restroom access, violence against women, capitalism, and "Resident' Bush. Sometimes satirical, sometimes straight forward, sometimes just silly - the shows tend to invoke a wide range of emotions.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Upcoming: The Jungle, Trouble Puppet Theatre, September 17 - October 4

Click for ALT review, September 21

UPDATE: Elizabeth Cobbe's pre-opening feature interview of Connor Hopkin in the Austin Chronicle, September 17

UPDATE: Jeanne Claire van Ryzin's pre-opening feature interview of Connor Hopkins in the Austin Stateman's 360 XL Arts weekly supplement, September 17

Found on-line:

Trouble Puppet Theater

presents

The Jungle
Based on Upton Sinclair’s novel
Adapted by Connor Hopkins

A work of puppet theater based on Upton Sinclair’s groundbreaking novel about the conditions faced by immigrant workers in Chicago’s meatpacking industry, The Jungle uses a form of puppetry inspired by the Japanese Bunraku style. It includes human choreography, tabletop puppets, life sized , two and three dimensional, and shadow puppetry, as well as imagery by LettuceTurnip Media Services, graphic animation by Leah Sharpe (Tongue & Groove’s Red Balloon), and music by Justin Sherburn (Okkervill River).

Originally conceived at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center’s National Puppetry Conference in 2007, Trouble Puppet’s The Jungle received a workshop performance at the 2009 Conference. It was also awarded a Jim Henson Foundation Seed Grant for development the same year. The production is written and designed by Connor Hopkins.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, City Theatre, August 20 - September 13

Director Bridget Farias and her cast have put together a jolly version of The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, with loving attention to the eccentricities of Narnia creatures.

Audiences will enjoy the glim from the 2005 film version produced by Disney, which was the best selling DVD in 2006, but both that film and this script follow closely the novel for children written by C.S. Lewis in 1949.

When this production was announced through ALT, one parent, Tim, was plainly disappointed. " Wish they had kid friendly show times. After my kid's bed time is a bit late to see a play. Was looking forward to this one. Oh well...."

Another reader, Anonymous, noted that the City Theatre runs a 5:30 p.m. show on Sundays. That could solve Tim's problem, but it does raise another point: what's the target audience for this production?

Narnies, maybe, in analogy to "Trekkies"?

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Upcoming: Direct Object, Da! Theatre Collective, Studio Space at the Salvage Vanguard Theatre, September 17 - 26

Found on-line:

Direct Object

DA! Theatre Collective is proud to present the return of Direct Object, DA!'s award-winning debut show inspired by the world-famous and long-running production from Moscow, Objects and People.

Condensing story-telling into its most essential elements, Direct Object presents a series of transformative and astonishing vignettes which feature people interacting with every-day objects as you've never seen them before.

A tortilla-maker's rolling pin transforms him into a bold matador. A librarian takes sudden flight from the pages of an Austin Chronicle. And who knows what may happen with a soccer ball, a back-pack, a scarf, a trunk, an umbrella, an exercise bungee, and more?

This latest incarnation of Direct Object is directed by Heather Huggins and features Jude Hickey, Robin Grace Thompson, Kirk German, Lisa del Rosario, Scott Roskilly, Michelle Brandt, Jacob Trussell, Stephanie Denson, Heather Huggins, and Wallis Currie-Wood, with an original score by Travis Cooper and Melissa Jurrens.

The show opens on September 17 at the studio space of the Salvage Vanguard Theatre and runs for two weekends. Tickets are sliding scale: $10/$15/$20/$25. Wednesday, September 23rd is pay-what-you-can. Call (512) 474-7886 or go online and reserve your tickets today!

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Upcoming: The Jungal Book, Bastrop Opera House, August 28-29

Found on-line:

Bastrop Opera House
presents

JUNGALBOOK

by Edward Mast
adapted from Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Books
directed by Chester Eitze

Adults and children will enjoy this award-winning play. 1 hour. Rated G Friday, Aug. 28, 2009 at 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, Aug. 29 at 11 a.m. followed by an optional Catered Jungal Picnic with some of the cast!

Special Show Prices: Adults $7 & Children $3
Show tickets can be purchased on line or paid for at the door.
Saturday's Jungal Picnic must be paid for by Friday at 5 p.m. $6
tickets

Poster by Terri Dyer

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Upcoming: Plaza Suite by Neil Simon, Hill Country Community Theatre, Marble Falls, September 10 - 27

UPDATE: Preston and Ronda Dale Kirk will perform a preview scene for the HCCT production of Plaza Suite at the arts night at Riverbend Fine Arts, 710 1st Street Marble Falls, during a 5 p.m. - 7 p.m. reception

Found on-line:

Hill Country Community Theatre
presents

Neil Simon's
Plaza Suite

September 10-September 27, 2009

Hilarity abounds in this portrait of three couples successively occupying a suite at the Plaza.

A mother and father fight about the best way to get their daughter out of the bathroom and down to the ballroom where groom and guests not-so-patiently wait for her.

This high-energy act is followed by the exploits of a Hollywood producer who, after three marriages, is looking for fresh fields. He calls a childhood sweetheart, now a suburban housewife, for a little "diversion." Over the years, she's idolized him from afar and is now more than the match for which he bargained.

The final act involves a suburban couple renting the room while their house is being painted. It turns out to be the same suite in which they honeymooned 23 (or was it 24) years earlier and today's their anniversary . . . or was it yesterday? A tale of a marriage in tatters ensues.

I ♥ Walmart , Capital T Theatre at Hyde Park Theatre, August 13 - 29

UPDATE: Free on-line video streaming of sold-out final performance, August 29, 8 p.m. CDT http://qik.com/capitalt

That great big pop heart in the title sends you the message: We're gonna send Walmart a great big exploding funny valentine, 'cause it's the place we love to hate!

That fits very nicely with the demographic served by Capital T Theatre. Their Austin theatre public is generally young, generally irreverent, generally idealistic in a fuzzy Austin kind of way, and ready for a laugh. Those of us who haunt the Hyde Park Theatre probably spend more time in the bars and the music venues than at the stage, and we might prefer improv comedy or even, on an unplanned evening, late night television or the Alamo Drafthouse. Capital T's pre-show projections of mostly anti-Walmart skits from the Internet directly echoes the Alamo Drafthouse's pre-film warmups. The Capital T crowd is eager to laugh at the incongruities of this American life.

And laugh we did! Mark Sheibmeir gave us a bouncy, funny satire as an imaginary trainer for Walmart greeters, those losers at the front door, and Mason Stewart did a wonderful, grinning, assured turn in bombast as the marketing man with a new vision for the company: the holy of holies, literally, for us American consumers. Those two bits by Mark Pickell and Larry Hill respectively framed the first half and left us ready for more.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Upcoming: Rabbit Hole, City Theatre, September 16 - October 4

UPDATE: City Theatre is bringing back Rabbit Hole, winner of the 2006 Pulitzer Prize, for its pre-season. The play opens on Thursday-Friday September 16 -17 at 8 p.m. each evening; it runs September 24-27 and then on Thursday, October 1 and Sunday, October 4.

Following is the text of the ALT review published on July 14:

Rabbit Hole by David Linday-Abaires is a quiet play about loss. Becca and Howie were young parents six months ago when a swift series of random events sent their four-year-old son Danny running after his dog, just as a teenager drove down the street going maybe just a tiny bit too fast.

That back story is not shoved into your face. The action opens as Becca's loud, impulsive sister Izzy is sitting at Becca's kitchen table, telling a comic-horrible story about a confrontation that she had in a bar. Becca is folding laundry, tiny boys' garments, as she listens, fascinated to Izzy crowing.

"You punched her?" Becca gasps, "Izzy, you mean that you were in a bar fight?"

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Promo: Zach Scott Theatre's new video

As the season ticket sales press forward, Zach has made available a video highlighting scenes from recent seasons:

Uncle Vanya, Classic Theatre, San Antonio, August 20 - 30

San Antonio's Classic Theatre has opened its second season with a beautifully designed, perceptive and subtly paced production of one of my favorite works, Chekhov's Uncle Vanya.

That's the shorthand version of the title. It was published as Uncle Vanya - Scenes from Country Life. Although at the heart of it there sits an eternally frustrated love triangle -- Vanya and Dr. Astrov both yearning for the unhappily married Yelena -- the play contains much, much more.

These scenes from country life contain an uneasy, boozy friendship between Vanya (John Minton) and Dr. Astrov (Anthony Ciaravino). Vanya and his niece Sonya (Laura Darnell) have spent long years managing the estate so as to finance the studies and urban living expenses of Sonya's father Serebryakov. Serebryakov (Allan S. Ross) has now retired to the estate, gout-ridden, cranky and self-important, after a mediocre academic career. We see relatively little of him, but we see a lot of his current wife Yelena (Emily Spicer) , who is scarcely older than his daughter Sonya.

As in all of Chekhov's dramas, we listen to conversations about the dissatisfactions of rural life, discussions of frustrated ideals and idle speculations about the future. His characters are as vivid as life but anything but heroic -- they are, instead, tentative, indecisive and yearning, perhaps the first in theatrical history to portray those very modern qualities.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Upcoming Auditions: La Pastorela, Spanish language Christmas story

Found on-line:

Austin Latino Theater Alliance (ALTA)
announces 2009 auditions for

La Pastorela

September 9 and 10, 6 to 9 p.m.
Mexican American Cultural Center, 600 River Street, Austin

The 12th Anniversary Production of La Pastorela”in Austin will be produced by the Austin Latino Theater Alliance. Actors, singers, dancers and musicians of all ages, ethnicities, shapes and sizes are needed for this year’s production.

Contact:Marita De La Torre, (512) 241-9799, lupeartemar@sbcglobal.net

La Pastorela is a musical comedy which tells the story of a group of shepherds trying to reach Bethlehem while they fend off the obstacles placed before them by the savvy devils.“La Pastorela” opens on December 3rd with performances through December 19th at 8 p.m.

ALTA is a coalition of theater groups, arts organizations and individual artists dedicated to preserving Austin’s premiere Yuletide production, "La Pastorela." ALTA members include LUPE Arte, Teatro Vivo, Proyecto Teatro, and individual artists.

Muses III: Memories of a House, Vestige Group at private residence, August 20 - 30

Pocket theatre.

Home theatre; intimate theatre.

Theatre for no more of you than can fit comfortably into a 12x15 room with the actors.

Muses III by the Vestige Group puts you into a small group for this experience. They have concessions available on the lawn beforehand, under the tall and twisty live oaks. They suggest that you get to know the persons in your group.

You probably won't, because your guide is not going to push the touchy-feely approach among your dozen faces. You'll be up close and personal with the actors soon enough.

The evening reminded me very strongly of those odd national day receptions we attended in central Africa. For one thing, the proprietors have acquired an eclectic houseful of handicrafts, art, masks, textiles and textures from across the world. We strangers carefully tramped through the house, settled on sofas as directed, slipped along the corridors and lingered out by the pool. As in a diplomatic reception, our mission was to get to get acquainted -- in this case, not with one another but with this odd collection of characters dreamed up by the writers.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Upcoming: I've Never Been So Happy, Rude Mechanicals at the Off Center, September 10 - 20

Update: Click for ALT review, September 16

UPDATE: Pre-opening piece by Javier Sanchez at the Daily Texan, September 10

Found on-line:

I've Never Been So Happy

a work in progress production
by the Rude Mechanicals
book and lyrics by Kirk Lynn
music and lyrics by Peter Stopschinski
curated and directed by Thomas Graves and Lana Lesley
September 10 - 20, at the Off Center

Tickets on sale now!

Rude Mechs is proud to present this work-in-progress presentation of our new western operetta performance experiment. We're making musical theatre for a new breed of Texan, and offering up a western adventure that will ply you with soothing adult elixirs, teach you how to use a lasso to capture your love, and then join you on their authentic Texas dance floor as you boot scoot to the greatest music in the West.

I've Never Been So Happy, with music and lyrics by Austin Experimental Punk Grand Wizard Peter Stopschinski (Brown Whornet, Golden Hornet Project), and book and lyrics by Austin Experimental Theatre Mascot Kirk Lynn, fluctuates freely between high art and Hee-Haw, treating both with respect.

The music pits a Grand Ole Opry style West against an El Topo style West. The writing butts lyric poetry up against bar jokes with finesse. The evening challenges what it means to "go to the theater" in 2009.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Upcoming: Measure for Measure, Austin Shakespeare at Rollins Theatre, Long Center, September

UPDATE from the Asylum Street Spankers:
The Spankers will perform a set before this Friday's performance of Austin Shakespeare's "Measure for Measure." We play at 6:30 on Friday, September 18 at the Rollins Theater in the Long Center at South First and Riverside in Austin. This show is only for people going to the play, so if you've been wanting to see "Measure for Measure," this Friday is the night! For tickets, go to the Long Center box office on-line.

Received directly:

Austin Shakespeare presents

Measure for Measure

September 10 - 27
Rollins Theatre, Long Center
Tickets $27; for students, $17
from Long Center Box Office

Austin Shakespeare brings lusty flappers, provocative dandies and a band of Prohibition politicians to The Long Center’s Rollins Theatre, which will be transformed into the 1920s South for a new look at Shakespeare’s dark comedy, Measure for Measure. Featuring glorious language, captivating characters and an ingenious plot, the performance brings the Rollins Theatre audience into a new three-sided thrust stage configuration putting them in the midst of a world of fun-loving licentiousness attacked by harsh laws.

New York actress Morgan Dover-Pearl returns to Austin, her hometown, to play Isabella, the woman who defies the seeming puritanical government official Angelo (Shelby Davenport) when he attempts to seduce her. Award-winning Austin Shakespeare actor Matt Radford (Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing), Associate Director of Actors from the London Stage, stars as the Duke, who in disguise observes and finally devises the memorable conclusion.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Upcoming: Over The River and Through The Woods, Gaslight Baker Theatre, Lockharty, September 11 - 27

Found on-line:

Over the River and Through the Woods

A comedy by Joe DiPeitro
Directed by Steve Lawson

Nick is a single, Italian-American guy from New Jersey. His parents retired and moved to Florida.That doesn't mean most of his family isn't still in Jersey. In fact, he sees both sets of his grandparents every Sunday for dinner. This is routine until he has to tell them that he's been offered a dream job. The job he's been waiting for—marketing executive—would take him away from his beloved, but annoying, grandparents. He tells them. The news doesn't sit so well. Thus begins a series of schemes to keep Nick around.

How could he betray his family's love to move to Seattle, for a job, wonder his grandparents? Well, Frank, Aida, Nunzio and Emma do their level best, and that includes bringing to dinner the lovely—and single—Caitlin O'Hare as bait…we won't give the ending away here.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Reviews from Elsewhere: Dixie's Tupperware Party, Edinburgh Fringe and other venues

A Guardian newspaper review by Jackie Hunter, August 19, passed along by @artfulmanager via Twitter:

Dixie's land of Tupperware bowls over Edinburgh

An outrageous show with an acid-tongued drag queen flogging colanders is a hoot on the fringe. But there's more to this party than meets the eye

Jackie Hunter, guardian.co.uk, Monday 17 August 2009

At the only other Tupperware party I've ever attended – reluctantly, with my mum, in 1983 – I'm pretty sure the demonstrator didn't address the assembled guests as "hookers". Nor did she dwell on unfortunate episodes of drunken sex behind restaurant dustbins, or make gags about "rimming" (the practice of working round the lid of a plastic bowl with both thumbs to seal it properly, at least in this context). How things have changed in the world of kitchenware.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Upcoming: You Can't Do That, Dan Moody!, Georgetown Palace at Georgetown Courthouse, Septembe 4 - October 11

UPDATE: Read ALT review, September 8



Found on-line:

Presented by The Palace Theatre in collaboration with the Williamson County Museum:

You Can't Do That, Dan Moody! (2009)

Sept. 4 - Oct. 11
Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 PM, Sundays at 2 PM
Performed in the Williamson County Courthouse in Historic Downtown Georgetown.

In September 1923, at the Williamson County Court House, Dan Moody convicted the Ku Klux Klan for the first time ever in the United States. This fall, join us for the play based on this historic trial, performed in the very court room in which the trial was held 86 years ago.

A play in two acts by KEN ANDERSON and TOM SWIFT. Based on the book of the same title by Ken Anderson, directed by Tom Swift. Join us for a presentation of the true story of Williamson County's courageous stand for justice.

More Info and Ticket Sales

Prices: General: $22,Senior(55+): $20, Student(16+)/Active Duty Military (with ID): $12
Children(15 or younger): $8

Upcoming: The Psyche Project, University of Texas, September 10 - 12

Found at NowPlayingAustin:

The Cohen New Works Festival Encore

The Psyche Project

September 10-September 12, 2009
Oscar Brockett Theatre, University of Texas at Austin Performing Arts Center, 300 East 23rd Street Austin

Co-created by Jenny Connell and Marie Brown in collaboration with the ensemble, The Psyche Project makes a return engagement September 10-12, 2009 at the Oscar Brockett Theatre. With generous support from the University Co-op, this event is free and open to the public.

Fast, Funny and irreverent, The Psyche Project retells the myth of Eros and Psyche, two star-crossed lovers who married in secret, ticked off the Goddess of Love, and went to hell and back to keep their marriage together. See what happens when Greek Myth goes modern, hell is a mall, and Eros upgrades from arrow to a semi-automatic. The myth of Eros and Psyche is one of the oldest love stories of the Western world – God meets girl, God gets girl, God loses girl and gets her back.

Tickets: FREE
Show times are September 10, 11 & 12 at 8:00p.m
September 12 at 2:00 p.m.

[graphic "Eros and Psyche" Copyright: ©Rebecca Sinz. http://tinyurl.com/mmo7rd]

Upcoming: No One Else Will Ever Love You by Katherine Craft, private location, August 28 - September 12

UPDATE: ALT review of September 8

UPDATE: Actor Bastion Carboni interviews director Dan Solomon on Austinist.com, 8/28

Received directly and explored on-line:

No One Else Will Ever Love You

by Katherine Craft
Directed by Dan Solomon
Starring JennyMarie Jemison, Spencer Driggers, Karina Dominguez, and Bastion Carboni.

Rick and Jen are back in the country after their honeymoon, and they've invited Rick's best friend Nora, along with her boyfriend Charlie, over for dinner. As they open their fifth bottle of wine, Rick and Charlie both struggle with their desire to dominate the room - and more importantly, Nora. Staged in the living rooms of local volunteers, this one-act play about the chess matches that some men play for power over the women in their lives, and the subsequent effort to be no one's pawn, presents a visceral and immediate theatrical experience.

August 28 and 29,September 4 and 5,September 11 and 12
All performances are at 8pm.

All tickets are $10 and available online at www.nooneelsewilleverloveyou.com. Venue addresses will be given after ticket purchase. All venues are centrally located in Austin.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Upcoming: Texas Tales 2009 benefit for Austin Public Library, September 12

Received directly, the announcement of a theatre, music and entertainment event to benefit the Austin Public Library, chaired by Austin Mayor Lee Leffingwell and themed to honor Texas playwright the late Horton Foote.

Individual tickets are $100; tickets with special sponsor status are priced higher.

Click image for larger version.

Click here for link to APL site for tickets.

Upcoming: El Cielo Se Va A Caer, Proyecto Teatro at Dougherty Arts Center, August 28 - September 6

Found at NowPlayingAustin.com:

ProyectoTeatro,
Austin's only all-Spanish theatre company,
presents the children's fable

El Cielo Nuestro Que Se Va A Caer!

Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays
August 28-September 6, 2009

Dougherty Arts Center
1110 Barton Springs Road Austin, TX 78704

ProyectoTeatro, the only all Spanish language theatre company in Austin, is proud to present “El Cielo Nuestro…Que Se Va a Caer!”, a modern version of the popular fable “The Sky is Falling” but with a twist; in this version, the sky just might actually come down!

It depicts how a charismatic young chicken by the name of Pollito Fito, (Jesus Garcia) is surprised one day when something falls from the sky and hits her on the head. With his innocence on hand, Pollito Fito realizes that a piece of the sky has fallen and runs to alert his fellow animals of his grave discovery. After various mishaps and a little detective work, our little animal friends assume that the sky is falling due to the foul, polluting factories of an evil turkey, Pavo Centavo (Jorge Gonzalez). Pollito Fito and his friends must race against the clock to save the sky but are faced with an obstacle; a traitor is in the midst.

Tickets: $2-8 dollars.
Fridays-8:00 PM
Saturdays and Sundays- 3:00 PM and 7:00 PM
Info Phone: (512) 524-8555

Upcoming: Chicks in the Church Quiz, stories by Bernadette Nason at Austin Playhouse, August 22 (only!)

In today's Austin Chronicle, Robert Faires announces a one-night-only presentation by master storyteller Bernadette Nason, in preparation for her participation at the National Storytelling Festival in October:

" . . . She's putting the festival piece at the end of an hour-long program that she insists is not storytelling for the elementary-school set. It's an Englishwoman's take on being a foreigner abroad with the more profound theme of seeking out new cultures in the search for self. Go support this fine actress as she reaches for the brass ring, and you may end up helping her write a new story, one with a very happy ending.

"Chicks at the Church Quiz takes place Saturday, Aug. 22, 8pm, at Austin Playhouse's Larry L. King Theatre, 3601 S. Congress."

(photo: Austin Chronicle)

Click for full story at AustinChronicle.com . . . .

¡No Se Paga! We Won’t Pay! , Teatro Vivo at Salvage Vanguard Theatre, August 13 - 30

On the evidence of this production alone, I would have to conclude that Rupert Reyes is a better playwright than Dario Fo, who won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1997.

Fo, a prolific and provocative theatre artist, was in the thick of Italian political debate from the 1960s through the 1990s. He and his wife Franca Rame were social activists and she was a member of the Italian Communist Party. They and others occupied an abandoned factory in Milan in 1973, titled it "Liberty Square" (Palazzina Liberty) and established a wildly popular theatre that garnered 80,000 season subscribers within a year.

Those were dangerous years in Italy for leftists. Rame was abducted, tortured and raped by a fascist group.

Fo's company staged Non si paga, non si paga! (often translated into English as Can't Pay? Won't Pay!) the following year. The farce dramatizes the plight of factory workers exploited by owners and abused by law enforcement.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .