Upcoming: Educating Rita brought back by Sidetrack Productions, November 12 -21

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Your second chance for first rate comedy -- an encore presentation of Willy Russell’s

Educating Rita

November 12-21, Friday & Saturday at 8 pm; Sunday at 5 pm at the Austin Playhouse, Larry L. King Theatre, 3601 S. Congress, Bldg. C. Tickets are $20, $10 for students and can be ordered online at www.austinplayhouse.com or by calling 512-476-0084.

Sidetrack Productions returns with Educating Rita for six performances only, November 12-21 at the Austin Playhouse, Larry L. King Theatre. After a successful run in April/May, professional actors Michael Stuart and Molly Karrasch star once more in Willy Russell’s award-winning British comedy.

Rita is the irreverent, impulsive and chatty title character; a young working-class hairdresser with a burning desire for a better life. Enrolling in an Open University literature course, she is taken under the reluctant wing of Frank, her often inebriated English professor. The duo spend the next year waxing poetic about England’s class system, finding oneself, the pitfalls of institutional education, change, freedom and love.

In its May 12 review Austin Live Theatre said, “Educating Rita slipped through with a low profile during its short run at the Larry L. King stage at Austin Playhouse. … Michael Stuart is solid as ever [and] Molly Karrasch sparkled and was an absolute delight.… Their vivid portrayal of the developing relationship made this one of the best comedies onstage so far this season.” The production was also recognized by Austin Live Theatre with two ALT Applause awards for Best Comedy and Best Actress in a Comedy.

Educating Rita runs November 12-21, Friday & Saturday at 8 pm; Sunday at 5pm at the Austin Playhouse, Larry L. King Theatre, 3601 S. Congress, Bldg. C. Tickets are $20, $10 for students and can be ordered online at www.austinplayhouse.com or by calling 512-476-0084.

Educating Rita, Sidetrack Productions at Austin Playhouse, April 23 - May 9

Educating RIta slipped through with a low profile during its short run at the Larry L. King stage at Austin Playhouse. That off-key, self-effacing approach seems typical of big Michael Stuart, the show's director and the male lead in this two-person production. He did something similar in last summer's theatre off season, sharing the Austin Playhouse stage with Zeb West in David Mamet's A Life In the Theatre.

Stuart can do that because within the season subscribers to his home-base theatre, the Austin Playhouse, there is a goodly number of admirers for this man's gentle, rumpled humor. He doesn't have to advertise. For love of Stuart they queue up to fill the seats in that space, which serves literally as a sideshow to the much more extensive Austin Playhouse season.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .