Upcoming: Shards of Love by Paulette MacDougal, Paradox Players at Unitarian Universalist Church, February 12 - 28

Found on-line:

present a world premiere!


Shards of Love
by Paulette Macdougal
Feb 12th - 28th, 2010

Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 3 p.m.

Eight stories, eightcouples, Eight less-than-perfect relationships. From a couple in their twenties to a couple in their nineties, these short comedies explore love, marriage and commitment in farcical, funky, wistful, sweet, and murderous variations.

This play was created especially for the Valentine season of Paradox Player's 10th anniversary year. Paulette MacDougal is also the author of Waiting for MacArthur, which was seen on this stage in 2003.

Shards of Love is directed by Lisa Foster, Charles R. Hill, Joni McCLain, Ann Edwards

Howson Hall Theater, First Unitarian Universalist Church of Austin
4700 Grover Avenue
Tickets: $20 Opening Night Gala (Friday, February 12, 8 p.m.)
$20 Valentine's Day Gala (Sunday, February 14, 3 p.m.)
$15 all other performances ($10 for seniors and members of groups of 10 or more)
Reservations by web or by phone at 512-744-1495. Purchase via Paypal.

FREE CHILDCARE for matinee performance on February 14 if reserved by February 7. For childcare reservations please email childcare@austinUU.org or phone 512-452-6168, ext 12.

Talking With by Jane Martin, North by Northwest Theatre Company at the City Theatre, October 9 - 18

The solo monologue is one of the purest demonstrations of the art. These six women come individually to you in the intimacy and immediacy of the City Theatre's small house. In each scene the actress takes that text with your complicity and, before your eyes, becomes the character.

"Jane Martin" is probably a pseudonym for Jon Jory, who has directed all of her ten plays. The mysterious Jane has never been seen. She twice won the American Theatre Critics' award for a new play and was nominated for a Pulitzer prize. Jory simply declines to discuss the matter -- perhaps a ploy, perhaps an artist's staking out the liberty to explore his feminine side.

Because each of these characters is vividly, irrevocably female. Michelle Cheney as the actress finishing her makeup as "fifteen minutes!" to curtain time is called; Renee Brown as the housewife who escapes daily reality; Wendy Zavaleta as a daughter grieving the death of her otherwise indomitable mother; Jennifer Coy as a brash auditioner perfectly willing to use blackmail; B.J. Machalicek as a dreamer at McDonald's; and Marsha Sray as a girl explaining the meaning of baton twirling.

That's just the first act.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Upcoming: Talking With, North by Northwest Theatre Company at City Theatre, October 9 - 18

Click for ALT review, October 13

From NxNW Theatre Company:

Talking With

by Jane Martin
directed by Joni McClain
October 9 - 18

A young woman tests her faith by handling poisonous snakes. A destitute woman longs to live in McDonald’s where the sick are cured by Big Macs. A housewife makes a daily escape to the magical land of Oz. Pulitzer nominated playwright Jane Martin gives us the provocative and heartfelt stories of these and other women who are ostracized by the American dream. Talking With is a powerful show, both funny and sad, that examines courage, awaking from complacency and the value of eccentricity. Starring Renee Brown, Michelle Cheney, Jennifer Coy, BJ Machalicek, Marsha Sray and Wendy Zavaleta.

October 9 - 18
Eight Performances Only!
Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat at 8:00, Sun at 2:00
Tickets $20, $18 students/seniors
The City Theatre, 3823 Airport Blvd

Hay Fever by Noël Coward, North by Northwest Theatre Company at the City Theatre, May 22 - June 7

Bernadette Nason sparkles like pink champagne in this amusing, silly piece written by "the master" Noël Coward when he was a mere boy of 25.

Hay Fever lightly chronicles the start of a weekend at a country house near London, property of the Bliss family -- David is a novelist, Judith is an actress who recently said her adieux to the London stage and their children Simon and Sorel have no identifiable professions or preoccupations.

They all have artistic temperaments and a cheerful disregard for social niceties. As Sorel says to her brother in the first scene, "You're right about us being slapdash, Simon. I wish we weren't." His reply: "It's not our fault -- it's the way we've been brought up."

That impulsiveness and disregard applies to relations within the family, as well.

Click to read more on AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .