THE SECRET GARDEN, Mary Moody Northen Theatre, St. Edward's University, June 13 - 30, 2013

(St. Edward's University, 3001 South Congress Avenue)

presents

The Secret Garden

Music by Lucy Simon, Book and Lyrics by Marsha Norman
Based on the novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Directed by Robert Westenberg

June 13 – 30, 2013

Thursdays – Saturdays at 7:30 p.m., Sundays at 2 p.m.

Mary Moody Northen Theatre, St Edward’s University, 3001 South Congress Avenue, Austin, TX 78704   Map: http://www.stedwards.edu/map/maincampus

Tickets: $25 Adults Advance ($20 Students, Seniors, SEU Community); $25 at the door
Available through the MMNT Box Office, 512.448.8484 -- Available online at http://www.stedwards.edu/theatre    Box Office Hours are M-F 1-5 p.m.

STUDENT DISCOUNT NIGHTS: Friday, June 14 and Thursday, June 20: Student tickets $8 with ID.

Mary Moody Northen Theatre, the award-winning producing arm of the St. Edward’s University professional theatre training program, concludes its 40^th anniversary season with The Secret Garden, music by Lucy Simon, book and lyrics by Marsha Norman, based on the novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett and directed by Broadway veteran Robert Westenberg, running June 13 - 30, 2013. This coming of age story based on the classic children’s novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett is filled with suspense, magic and wonder. 11-year-old Mary, orphaned by a cholera outbreak, is sent from India to Scotland to live with her reclusive widower uncle. Lost in their grief and surrounded by visions and voices from the past, Mary and the rest of the family struggle to regain their footing. The young girl’s discovery of a secret garden, coupled with her dedication to revive the magical space, leads to rebirth and renewal for all. This Tony-award winning musical will set your heartstrings aflutter. Featuring Equity guests Greg Holt, Cara Johnson, Ev Lunning Jr. and David Long.
A must-see for any of us that have retained the sense of magic and wonder from childhood. - TalkingBroadway



About Robert Westenberg
After a lengthy performing career that included work on Broadway and Off-Broadway, in regional theatres, national tours, television and film, Mr. Westenberg is now concentrating on teaching and directing. He is perhaps best remembered for his roles in the original Broadway casts of Into the Woods as the Wolf and Prince, for which he received a Tony nomination and Drama Desk Award, Secret Garden as Neville Craven, and Sunday in the Park with George, where he replaced Mandy Patinkin in the title role. He also performed the role of Javert in the Broadway production of Les Miserables. Other Broadway credits include leading roles in 1776, Company, Abe Lincoln in Illinois, A Christmas Carol and Zorba, for which he received a Theatre World Award. His national tour credits include Zorba, Funny Girl, and The Full Monty. His film and television credits are The Ice Storm, Before and After, The Stars Fell on Henrietta, Mr. and Mrs. Bridge, Swift Justice, Central Park West, and Law and Order: SVU. He recently performed the roles of Mr. Darling and Captain Hook opposite Cathy Rigby’s Peter Pan in Branson, Missouri. Mr. Westenberg is a graduate of the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco and teaches at Drury University where he serves as Chair of the Theatre Department.


About Mary Moody Northen Theatre

Mary Moody Northen Theatre operates on a professional model and stands at the center of the St. Edward’s University Theatre Training Program. Through the Mary Moody Northen Theatre, students work alongside professional actors, directors and designers, explore all facets of theatrical production and earn points towards membership in Actor’s Equity Association, the union of professional actors and stage managers in the United States. MMNT operates under an AEA U/RTA contract and is a member of Theatre Communications Group. For more information, contact the theatre program at 512-448-8487 or visit us online at www.stedwards.edu/theatre.


About St. Edward's University

St. Edward’s is a private, liberal arts Catholic university in the Holy Cross Tradition with more than 5,300 students. Located in Austin, Texas, with a network of partner universities around the world, St. Edward’s is a diverse community that offers undergraduate and graduate programs designed to inspire students with a global perspective. St. Edward's University has been recognized for ten consecutive years as one of "America's Best Colleges" by U.S. News & World Report, and ranks in the top 20 of Best Regional Universities in the Western Region. St. Edward’s has also been recognized by Forbes and the Center for College Affordability and Productivity.
(Click to go to the AustinLiveTheatre front page)

Mary Moody Northen Theatre Season 2012-2013, St. Edward's University

2012-2013 Theatre Season

(image: Mary Moody Northen Theatre)

Mary Moody Northen Theatre announces our 40th anniversary season!

That's right: we're celebrating 40 years of top-quality productions blending the talents of St. Edward's University theatre students with professional actors, director and designers from near and far. American realism? Got it. Shakespeare? You bet! A fabulous musical? Well of course! And more! Season tickets go on sale August 24. Come join in the fun at the theatre on the hill.

All performances are Thursday – Saturday evenings at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m.

Under Construction
by Charles L. Mee
September 27 — October 7, 2012
Directed by David M. Long

Mee’s postmodern comedy explores the impossibly broad, messy, changeable and non-linear nature of life in these United States. Inspired by the art of Norman Rockwell and Jason Rhoads, this theatrical collage juxtaposes 1950s Thanksgiving dinner with the contemporary blogosphere, explores feminism, dancing and the barbershop quartet, and, ultimately, shines a light on our struggle to define the American experience. Originally produced by the SITI Company at the 2009 Humana Festival of New American Plays, MMNT's production features the talents of guest artists Amy Downing and Greg Holt.

A magical mystery tour of American hipster culture from the 1950s to the present. – Theatre Louisville

Under Construction contains strong adult content and language.

Bus Stop
by William Inge
November 8 — 18, 2012
Directed by Christina J. Moore

In this 1955 romantic comedy, a late-season blizzard forces a highway shutdown and detains five weary travelers overnight at a small Midwestern diner. Stranded together, this motley crew - an aging professor with a predilection for younger women, a rodeo star bent on marrying a woman who doesn’t love him, a struggling young nightclub singer - explores individual hopes and dreams over coffee, donuts and country music. A big-hearted celebration of love and transformation, Inge's delightful play harkens to an earlier era. Featuring guest artists Sarah Gay, David Jones and David Stahl.

A feel good slice of 1950s Americana. – What's On Stage

Measure for Measure
by William Shakespeare
February 14 — 24, 2013
Directed by Michelle S. Polgar

What do you get when you combine an enigmatic and absentee ruler, a zealot surrogate, lustful youth, a pious nun, a dash of hypocrisy and personal desires at odds with the law? Shakespeare’s last comedy tackles these questions, deftly examining who sins most in a congregation of murderers, pimps, politicians, whores and clergy. Add to the moral tale a complement of bawds, a touch of disguise, and some adroit plot management and the result is a marvelous, thought-provoking evening of theatre.

Richly rewarding…an exuberant and memorable evening. - The Daily Mail

The Importance of Being Earnest
by Oscar Wilde
April 11 — 21, 2013
Directed by Richard Robichaux

Join young suitors Algernon, Jack, Cecily and Gwendolyn as they negotiate mislaid babies, mistaken identities, secret engagements, baffled suitors, one overbearing mother and some of the wittiest wordplay ever volleyed over cucumber sandwiches. Its 1895 premiere in London offered a stinging critique of love, sex, and hypocrisy. This glorious comedy of manners features the talents of guest artists Barbara Chisholm, Robert Faires and Irene White.

The Importance of Being Earnest is the rare work of art that achieves perfection on its own terms. – The New York Times

The Secret Garden
Music by Lucy Simon, Lyrics and Book by Marsha Norman
Based on the novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett
June 13 — 30, 2013
Directed by Robert Westenberg

This coming of age story based on the classic children’s novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett is filled with suspense, magic and wonder. 11-year-old Mary, orphaned by a cholera outbreak, is sent from India to Scotland to live with her reclusive widower uncle. Lost in their grief and surrounded by visions and voices from the past, Mary and the rest of the family struggle to regain their footing. The young girl’s discovery of a secret garden, coupled with her dedication to revive the magical space, leads to rebirth and renewal for all. This Tony-award winning musical will set your heartstrings aflutter.

A must-see for any of us that have retained the sense of magic and wonder from childhood. - TalkingBroadway

Tickets Season passes go on sale August 27 through the MMNT box office at (512) 448-8484 and online at www.stedwards.edu/theatre. Single tickets for each production go on sale three weeks prior to opening and may be purchased through the MMNT box office or the website. Box Office hours are 1 – 5 PM Monday – Friday when classes are in session and one hour prior to curtain. All seats are reserved.

Our 40th Anniversary Join us for special events throughout the season as we celebrate 40 years of performances at the Mary Moody Northen Theatre. Events will include special alumni and subscriber gatherings, archival exhibitions and a year-end celebration with our distinguished guest, Robert Westenberg. Mr Westenberg is a Tony-nominated actor and winner of the Drama Desk Award for his performance as Cinderella’s Prince in the Broadway production of Into The Woods. He appeared with Mandy Patinkin in the original production of The Secret Garden on Broadway. Mr. Westenberg makes his MMNT directing debut with The Secret Garden.

About Mary Moody Northen Theatre Through the Mary Moody Northen Theatre, students work alongside professional actors, directors and designers to explore all facets of theatrical production, create dynamic artistic work and earn points towards membership in Actor’s Equity Association, the union of professional actors and stage managers in the United States. Our program is the only undergraduate-only program in the region producing a full regular season under an Equity agreement. MMNT is a member of Theatre Communications Group. For more information, contact the theatre program at 512-448-8487 or visit us online at www.stedwards.edu/theatre.

About St. Edward's University  St. Edward’s is a private, liberal arts Catholic university in the Holy Cross Tradition with more than 5,400 students. Located in Austin, Texas, with a network of partner universities around the world, St. Edward’s is a diverse community that offers undergraduate and graduate programs designed to inspire students with a global perspective. St. Edward's University has been recognized for nine consecutive years as one of "America's Best Colleges" by U.S. News & World Report, and has also been recognized by Forbes and the Center for College Affordability and Productivity.

On The Verge (or the Geography of Longing) by Eric Overmeyer, Mary Moody Northen Theatre, St. Edward's University, March 3 - 13

"Bebe Rebozo!"

Those two words summarize the wit and triviality of Eric Overmyers' On the Verge (or The Geography of Longing), now playing at the Mary Moody Northen Theatre at St. Edward's University.

I laughted at the sudden illumination of an impression from 40 years ago. Bebe Rebozo - Richard Nixon's buddy. The Florida banker. The guy with the home in Key Biscayne where our Darth Vader president took refuge from the demands of office.

But so what?

Overmyer invents a tale of three Victorian-era lady explorers venturing off to terra incognita. Pith helmeted and wrapped in voluminous skirts, they recount their observations to us and to one another in the quaintly precise language of 19th century journals. The playwright mischievously sends them enigmas and clues that signal to us the fact that these earnest and intrepid demoiselles are journeying in time as well as in space.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Images by Bret Brookshire: On The Verge (or The Geography of Longing), Mary Moody Northen Theatre, St. Edward's University, March 3 - 13

Images by Bret Brookshire, received directly:

presents

On The Verge (Or, The Geography of Yearning)

by Eric Overmyer

directed by David M. Long

March 3 - 13, Thursdays - Saturdays at 7:30, Sundays at 2 p.m.

Mary Moody Northen Theatre, St. Edward's University, 3001 S. Congress (click for map)

Advance tickets are $15 for adults and $12 for students and seniors. All tickets are $18 at the door. As special Student Night production on Mar. 10 at 7:30 p.m., offers half price tickets to those with a student ID.

Information and reservations at the box office, (512) 448-8484

St. Edward’s University Theatre Program goes on an expedition with playwright Eric Overmyer’s wild theatrical ride, On The Verge (Or The Geography of Yearning). Equipped with optimism, humor and a pound of pluck, three Victorian women set off on an expedition to Terra Incognita, uncharted territory. Armed with their umbrellas, backpacks, and terribly large vocabularies, the trio encounters a Beat-poetry spouting troll, Mr. Coffee, a Yeti, Cool Whip and a 1950s presidential campaign.

Playwright Overmyer is best known as a writer and producer for such acclaimed television series as “Treme,” “The Wire,” “Homicide: Life on the Street,” “New Amsterdam,” “St. Elsewhere,” “Law & Order,” and “Law & Order: Criminal Intent.” His plays include Native Speech, In a Pig’s Valise, In Perpetuity Throughout the Universe, Mi Familia Tropicano, Mi Vida Loca, Dark Rapture and The Heliotrope Bouquet, among others. He is the recipient of the Le Comte de Nouy Award for playwriting, a McKnight Fellowship, and a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship.

Directed by David M. Long, the St. Edward’s production features Michelle Brandt, Avery Ferguson, Lindsley Howard and Jon Wayne Martin. George Marsolek provides the scenic design, with lighting design by Kris Carpenter, costume design by Alyssa Johnson, and sound design by Phillip Owen.

Click to view additional images by Bret Brookshire at AustinLiveTheatre.com. . . .

The Imaginary Invalid by Molière and David Chambers, Mary Moody Northen Theatre, St. Edward's University, September 16 - 26

Jean-Baptiste Poquelin would not have objected at all to this re-do of his 1673 farce. He wrote The Imaginary Invalid in rapid-fire prose, using verse only for comic ballets at the intervals (omitted in this staging). David Chambers' translation/interpretation of the piece follows the action faithfully, although often with slangy word choices. Between them, Chambers and director David Long apply a clownification of the characters and a Borscht Belt leer not obvious in the original texts.

David Long has a good time, sending the characters zinging along. Some of his direction recalled those presentational techniques he used last year for bobrauschenbergamerica -- marking soliloquies and the young lovers' mock operetta with rapid, showy shifts of lighting, for example.

Argan, the title character played with fine finicky flair by veteran actor Richard Robichaux, is a rich hypochondriac with two daughters. Their mother passed away and Argan remarried -- to an effusive gold digger determined to persuade him to deed his property to her. Chambers renders this character -- Béline in the original -- as "Nastya," played by the charming Jill Blackwood with a patently fake Russian accent. Argan is determined to marry off his elder daughter Angelina (Michelle Elisabeth Brandt) to a physician so that he'll have free medical care, but she has already fallen in love with another (Cléanthe, played by Jon Wayne Martin).

Robichaux has lots of grumpy one-liners, mostly insults. His perpetual antagonist is Toinette, the servant, but he also gets into it with physician Thomas Diablo (Robert Faires), with Cléanthe, and with his brother (also played by Faires). In contrast and to our great amusement, the hypochondriac goes all goo-goo eyes with wife Nastya and gets entirely panicked by the rages of his principal physician Dr. Defecato (Meredith Montgomery).

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . .

City of Angels, Mary Moody Northen Theatre, St. Edward's University, April 8 - 18

You have to be alert in this town to catch St. Edward's stagings at the Mary Moody Northen Theatre, off South Congress. They're of professional quality, well directed, well designed and well received. They even feature two or three Equity guest artists per production, whose participation spurs the already gifted St. Ed's students to even higher levels of accomplishment.

Their productions flash across the horizon like meteors, though. Two weekends and that's it.

City of Angels director Michael McKelvey in his white jacket and carnival barker style promised us before this show that next year the University will add another production, to make a season of five. He was hawking season tickets, available at impressively modest prices ($60 for general admission level). He forgot to mention one of the most agreeable aspects: the fact that the box office will call you well in advance to ask for your preferences for date and for location in the stadium seating of the MMNT theatre-in-a-square.

I had asked for my usual obsessive preference, first row, as close to the action as I could get. Not the best choice, I discovered, for this show, in this theatre.

Yes, the action opens right in front of you on the wide floor of the stage, and I jumped with anticipation when a striking quartet strode on with an up-tempo late 1940s stalking scat number. Michelle Brandt, Nathan Brockett, Andrew Butler and Elizabeth Newchurch glowered, postured, whirled and flirted across the floor with glinting, cynical sophistication. Then David Long as the private detective, Stone, arrived before me in his bare office. His gal Friday, Oolie, reluctantly let in a strange woman with brass blonde hair and black lipstick. The wise cracking began, a standoff of suspicion, while we got to hear Stone's thoughts, phrased in gaudy similes. Blonde Alaura Kingsley wanted Stone to locate her missing stepdaughter.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com. . . .

Upcoming in 2010 at Winedale and at St Ed's

News about upcoming seasons at Winedale and at the Mary Moody Northen Theatre, just received:

Dr. James Loehlin, director of the Shakespeare at Winedale program in the barn near Round Top, has scheduled

The Merchant of Venice on April 30 and May 1, 7 p.m., a presentation of the spring semester performance class.

In addition, on Saturday afternoon, May 1, the barn hosts 150 young players, drawn from third through sixth grade participants in UT's outreach programs, for a spring festival of play, followed by Eeyore's Birthday Party.

The summer program of Shakespeare at Winedale in July and August will present

Twelfth Night, Henry VI, Part I, and Macbeth

- - - -

Dr. Michael McKelvey greeted the opening night audience for City of Angels at the Mary Moody Northen Theatre, St. Edward's University, with an announcement of an expanded five-play season for 2010 - 2011 and an invitation to purchase season tickets. Coming up:

The Imaginary Invalid by Molière, directed by David Long

September 16 - 26

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Edward Albee, directed by Michelle Polgar

November 11 - 21

Eurydice by Sarah Ruhl

February 3 - 13

On the Verge by Eric Overmyer, including student works

March 3 - 13

Carousel by Richard Rogers and Oscar Hammerstein II, directed by Michael McKelvey

based on Ferenc Molnár’s play Liliom

April 7 - 17

(Note: the St. Edward's drama program regularly uses guest artists from Actor's Equity, a performance and preparation bonus both for theatre students and for the audience.)

bobrauschenbergamerica, Mary Moody Northern Theatre at St Edward's University, September 17 - 27

Don't go looking for Robert Rauschenberg the 20th century modern artist in this grab bag. This is homage purely by reference.

Playwright/facilitator Charles Mee is frank in his admission that the piece is a collage of ideas and random bits that had as their starting points some of the images that appear in Rauschenberg's work.

Mee and others free associated about those images. They collected texts and images and other random bits to share in theatre workshops. Mee says that he told his collaborators, "Anyone can steal anything I brought in to make whatever piece they might want to make, and I could steal whatever they brought in."

He sifted through the material, workshopped it again, threw half of the results away and worked the rest up with the SITI Theatre in New York in 2001. We Austinites can think of that ensemble theatre company as the Rude Mechs of New York City.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Upcoming: bobrauschenbergamerica, Mary Moody Northern Theatre, St Edwards University, September 17 - 27

UPDATE: Click for ALT review, September 21



UPDATE: review by Jeann Claire van Ryzin at the Statesman's Austin360 "Seeing Things" blog, September 21

UPDATE: Hannah Kenah's pre-opening piece in the Austin Chronicle, September 17

Found on-line:

The Mary Moody Northern Theatre
at St Edwards University
presents

bobrauschenbergamerica

by Charles L. Mee
directed by David M. Long
September 17–27
Thursdays-Saturdays at 7:30 p.m., Sundays at 2 p.m.

A wild road trip through the American landscape as artist Robert Rauschenberg might have conceived it had he been a playwright: a collage of people and places, music and dancing, love stories and business schemes, chicken jokes and golfing, and the sheer exhilaration of living in a country where people make up their lives as they go. Featuring Equity guest artists Babs George and Jamie Goodwin.





Info Phone: 512.448.8484
3001 South Congress Avenue Austin, TX 78704

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Upcoming: Cyrano de Bergerac, Mary Moody Northern Theatre, February 12 - 22

Postcard picked up at Austin Playhouse, January 23:

St Edward's Mary Moody Northern Theatre
presents
Cyrano de Bergerac
by Edmond Rostand
Translated by Anthony Burgess
Directed by Michelle S. Polgar

February 12 - 22

Soldier, poet and philosopher of heroic proportions, Cyrano de Bergerac is plagued with an enormous nose and believes he can never win the love of the fair Roxanne. A tale of honor, love and heroism filled with humor, intrigue, swordfights and poetry. Cyrano will warm your heart, delight your senses, and nourish your spirit.

"[A]n immortal. . . entertainment that pushes emotional buttons just as effectively today as it did. . . 110 years ago." -- Ben Brantley, The New York Times

Featuring Equity guest artists Greg Holt, David Long and Marc Pouhé

Cloud 9, Mary Moody Northern Theatre, St. Edwards Unversity, September 25- October 5

You must see this production. It plays only four more times, this coming weekend.

Unless you’re uneasy with frank sexual language.

Unless you get disoriented by anachronism, gender bending and actors morphing character, sex, time and intention.

Unless you are frightened by vulnerability, farce, celebration or intimacy.

Unless you prefer to miss breath taking range and versatility in acting by students and professionals alike.

“Cloud 9,” the title, is a metaphor for sexual ecstasy. UK playwright Caryl Churchill worked with an improvisational theatre group in 1978, then reworked the ideas into this piece, which opened in 1979.

It plays today as fresh as a daisy, because the attractions and confusions of sex do not date.

That, in fact, is one premise of the play.

Act I shows us a group of pukkah sahib Brits somewhere in 1870 in colonial Africa, full of imperial certainties and sexual yearnings blooming in the dangerous dead air of foreign menace. Act II gives us the same seven actors and some of the same characters but played by different members in the cast, transposed to 1979 London. They are searching for love and sexual fulfillment in a post-imperial Britain where freedoms offer greater dangers, more confusions and new opportunities.

Raising the ante, Churchill specifies that certain key roles are to be played by actors of the opposite sex.

Undergrad theatre students at St. Edwards seize this opportunity to show an astonishing range. Guest artists Babs George and Matt Radford further strengthen the cast.

Ms. George surely should be nominated for a B. Iden Payne award for her performance in a duo and then solo scene at the finale as a fragile older woman belatedly awakening to sexuality.









Oh, for the certainties of Victorian times! Playwright Churchill does a fine job on the neuroses of those bearing the White Man’s Burden.


Jacob Trussell as explorer Harry Bagley (left) and Radford as administrator Clive (right) are blustering and adamant in their Duty beyond the reach of civilization. Behind that façade, though, they are boiling with frustration and passion (and not for one another).

The intimate, claustrophobic circle of society on the frontier includes their family members – Clive’s wife Betty (Christopher Smith,'10, right) and her mother Maud (Babs George, left). Smith is absolutely convincing in his depiction of the delicate Betty, stifled by circumstance, intimidated by the hypocritical, dogmatic Clive, and plaintively wishing for escape with explorer Harry. This is an entrancing performance.


As her mother, Babs George is sharp-eyed and sharp-tongued.

But we, the audience, are certainly not stifled. Act I is a happily wicked, fast-moving farce. Clive frantically pursues a widow brandishing a riding crop; and his wife Betty unwittingly attracts the passionate interest of the family governess (both roles by Helyn Rain Messenger, a graduating senior, played with such panache that I didn’t realize they were done in alternation by the same actress, in the same act).

Son Edward (Sarah Burkhalter, '10) prefers, instead of hunting and playing sport, playing with dolls.

African houseboy Joshua is at Churchill’s specification, played by a white (Jon Wayne Martin, ‘11). Joshua serves impassively amidst this madness, his anger growing as danger brews in the dark beyond the stage.




Act II, set in contemporaneous 1979, is equally fast moving, with the shock of recognizing those same actors in entirely different characters. Language is direct, dramatic, sometimes crude. The same uncertainties and desires are driving, but in the confusion and indulgence of contemporary society they take far different forms.



Take, for instance, the transformation of Smith from repressed colonial housewife to self-confident, cruising homosexual. And that of Martin from trusted servant to his gay lover Edward who would really prefer to be a woman, or maybe, if the opportunity arose, a lesbian.






Babs George hovers in genteel nervousness over the act, seeking to support her confused family – Edward the homosexual, daughter Victoria (Messenger) who is massively frustrated with her husband Martin (Radford) and their impossible daughter Cathy (another wondrous cross-gender performance, by Trussell, '10, formerly macho explorer Harry Bagley).

Sexes blur, sex blurs. In a dark wood there occurs an evocation of dark powers and an almost orgy, an apparition from beyond the grave, and a scandalized spouse. The comedy comes hard and fast, interspersed with scenes of a tenderness and intimacy that give you awe and make you squirm.

All of this builds into an explosion of light, color and music.





























Thanks to the administration at St. Ed’s for a lack of prudery and to the theatre staff there for taking on this play. Director David Long keeps his characters smoothly in motion so as to minimize the disadvantages of this vast theatre-in-the-square. The pace of the action is varied and finely tuned.

And this cast offers us a memorable evening, one that reminds us of the wonder and opportunity of passion.

Review in Daily Texan on-line by Aboubacar N'Diaye, October 2

Review by Avimaan Syam in Austin Chronicle, October 3

Wikipedia on Caryl Churchill

Caryl Churchill bio and critical evaluation, Contemporary Writers (British Council)

Wikipedia on "Cloud 9," including plot summary