THE TRIP TO BOUNTIFUL by Horton Foote, Hope Church at Monument Cafe, Georgetown September 12 - 14, 2013

Hope United Church, Agape Actors Co-Op and the legendary Monument Café of Georgetown
are joining forces to produce a dinner theatre production of the classic play

The Trip to Bountiful
by Horton Foote

September 12-14, 2013
as a benefit for Hope United Church and the Caring Place in Georgetown TX. 
Monument Cafe, 510 S. Austin St., Georgetown - click for map
Tickets are on sale now.

The Trip to Bountiful is staged by veteran director Olin Meadows who has directed recent productions of Steel Magnolias, and You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown. The Production features Joan Baker as Mrs. Carrie Watts, the role that recently won Cicelll Tyson a Tony Award. Nicholas Mani, an alumnus of St. Edwards University and Summer Stock Austin joins in as Ludie Watts, the Son who is worried about his older mother. Rounding out the family is Ivah Marie Sorber, who was recently seen in her 7th production of the Vagina Monologues. Joining the cast is Austin theatre veterans Mindy Rast Keenan and R. Michael Clinkscales, along with Sun City actors Patrick McElhinney, and Chuck Schlewitt.

The production is being presented as dinner theatre featuring a fantastic and delicious buffet of home cooked food from The Monument café, the Gold winner of “Best of Georgetown” and has been featured on the Food Network and in Texas Monthly magazine. Monument Café features mostly organic vegetables which are locally grown, Kobe beef, and free range eggs.

Tickets range from 40.00 for VIP seating, 35.00 for General Admission and 30.00 for students and seniors, tickets are on sale now and are available online at






www.brownpapertickets.com/triptobountiful. 

For those who are uncomfortable with online purchasing they may contact Olin Meadows at 512-468-0610 or by email olin.meadows@gmail.com.

(Click to go to the AustinLiveTheatre front page)

Steel Magnolias, Sam Bass Community Theatre, Round Rock, January 27 - February 19

At one point in Robert Harling's mischievous script for Steel Magnolias, set in Truvy's beauty shop in Chinquapin, Louisiana, tidily turned out Clairee Beltcher responds when the newly hired perm-and-trim assistant Annelle worries that one of the husbands might intrude into that women's world. "Oh, those men wouldn't ever come in here," she says. "They're afraid that we might be running around nekkid or something."

Harling's 1987 play and the 1989 film of succeed exactly because of that. These simple, charming women are sweet and frank with one another, emotionally naked and not the least ashamed of it.

Steel Magnolias is a story with a powerful attraction, one that transcends the merely "chick flic" aspect of it. It's a story of friendship and binding over the long term. No wonder that this play is so frequently produced in community theatre. I first saw it at Way Off Broadway Community Players in Leander in January 2009, then again a few months later at the Trinity Street Players of First Baptist Church. I was out of town when the City Theatre did it this past December. Sam Bass has this appealing production running until February 19, the Renaissance Guild in San Antonio stages an African-American edition for three weekends starting on Friday, February 4, and the Hill Country Community Theatre near Marble Falls holds auditions late this month for an April production.

It's popular with audiences because they know the story and they can't resist the story of the fragile young Shelby surrounded by those funny and affectionate older women. Almost everyone loves a good cry -- 'cepting maybe the caricatured Louisiana men who never look inside the beauty shop.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Images from Sam Bass Community Theatre: Steel Magnolias, January 28 - February 14

Images received directly from the Sam Bass Community Theatre:

Sam Bass Community Theatre, Round Rock, presents

Steel Magnolias

by Robert Harling

directed by Olin Meadows

January 28 - February 19, 2010

600 Lee Street, Round Rock (click for map)

Sam Bass Theatre of Round Rock is pleased to announce its first production of 2011, STEEL MAGNOLIAS, written by Robert Harling and directed by Olin Meadows. Come join us as we take you take you back to the 1980's in the heart of Louisiana to Chinquapin Parish and meet the colorful and vibrant ladies of this small southern town.

This show is sure to be a hit, with Joan Baker as Claree Belcher, the former First Lady of Chinquapin, along with Veronica "Ronni" Prior as Ouiser Boudreax, the crotchety but lovable old crow of the town, followed up by Alicia "Cici" Barone and Kat Connor, doubling in the role of Shelby Eatenton Latcherie, the prettiest girl in town and the conductor of this roller coaster ride of emotions, aided by her mother, M'Lynn Eatenton, played by Cathie Sheridan. And featuring Meagan Henderson as Annelle Dupuy, the young budding beautician and her mentor Truvy Jones, played by Edie Elkjer, the proprietor of Truvy's Beauty shop where all the action happens in this rollercoaster of fun, laughter, tears and heartwarming moments.

Director Olin Meadows has directed many productions across the state of Texas and is best known for his creation of Saffire T. Stone one of the top female impersonators in the state of Texas, as well as Sam Bass Theatre's annual "Evening Under the Stars," staged every New Year's Eve as a fundraiser for local arts in Round Rock.

Click to view additional images at AustinLiveTheatre.com. . . .

You Can't Do That, Dan Moody!, Palace Theatre at Georgetown Courthouse, September 4 - October 11

You Can't Do That, Dan Moody! offers spectators some cracking drama, particularly in the second half, with riveting re-enactments of brutality by the Ku Klux Klan and of the 1923 trial at the Georgetown courthouse in which district prosecutor Dan Moody became the first in the nation to convince a jury to convict and jail Klansmen.

But in intention and form this production is directly in line with the epic origins of theatre.

An epic, taken from the Greek epikos, is a poem or song of heroes. The Oxford English dictionary comments, "The typical epics, the Homeric poems, the Niebelungenlied, etc., have often been regarded s embodying a nation's conception of its own past, or of the events in that history that it finds most worthy of remembrance. Hence by some writers the term national epic has been applied to any imaginative work (whatever its form) which is considered to fulfill this function."

You Can't Do That, Dan Moody! was prepared for the 1998 celebration of Georgetown's sesquicentennial. The Palace's artistic director at that time, Tom Swift, worked with attorney Ken Anderson and his account of Moody's success against the Klan and his political and civic career, including service as governor of Texas.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .