Opportunity: Zach's $18 promotional price for under-30s, Next to Normal on Thursday, February 2

From an e-mailed announcement from

Happy Hour Theatre

We're back! Happy Hour Theatre is returning for a new year, and one thing hasn't changed: We're still out to create a night geared towards twenty-somethings that's destined to be a good time!

NEXT TO NORMAL is on stage and receiving rave reviews, so now it's our turn to fill the seats for this groundbreaking new musical.

On Thursday, February 2nd, we're offering discounted $18 tickets to the show for all patrons under 30! The show starts at 8 pm, but get there at 6:45pm to take advantage of some free grub, hobnobbing and of course $2 beers and 50% off house wines! We'll be hitting The Highball for a post-show party, some karaoke, and whatever other fun comes up — perhaps a visit from the cast? It's definitely a night you won't want to miss!

We'll be checking IDs for the discounted ticket price, and, of course, you have to be 21 to drink.

This show will sell out, so reserve your seat now by calling ZACH's Box Office at 512-476-0541 x1 or stopping by during normal Box Office hours — Monday through Saturday, 12 noon - 7pm. This special ticket price is available by phone only.

[image: Johnny Newcomb, Kelli Schultz; image by Kirk R. Tuck]

House of Several Stories, Imagine That Productions at Austin Playhouse, August 6 - 23

Think Bart Simson meets Betty Crocker on LSD, with a confident cast and decisive playwright/director who steer a comedy of infantile, broken characters through ambiguous plots and overlapping time to crisis and a touching resolution.

House of Several Stories, John Boulanger's MFA project at Texas State, had a reading at the university and played for just a flicker of time in early October, 2008 at the Blue Theatre in Austin. In April it won the Kennedy Center's American College Theatre competition for best student-written play. Boulanger's back in town under the aegis of a new sponsor, Imagine That Productions, and they have done up his script in style.

Members of this cast crackle with charisma. They play in a haunting 1950s- style interior in serene whites and greens designed by Griffon Ramsey. Sue, the mom, is a destroyed prom dreamboat who wears costumes in pink and in spangled green designed by Jillan Hanel. You might consider settling in your seat as soon as the house opens to enjoy 15-20 minutes of bright time-warp vocal pop put together by Craig Brock.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Upcoming: House of Several Stories, Imagine That Productions at Austin Playhouse, August 6 - 23

Click for ALT review of August 7

UPDATE: Jeanne Claire van Ryzin's interview of playwright John Boulanger, Statesman's Austin 360 "Seeing Things" blog, August 6

Received directly and explored on-line:

Imagine That Productions
presents its inaugural production

House of Several Stories: a tragedy in two acts of nonsense
winner of the 2009 Kennedy Center Student Playwriting Award
written and directed by A. John Boulanger

August 6-23, 2009
Thur-Sat, 8 p.m., Sundays. 5 p.m.
Austin Playhouse at Penn Field
3601 S. Congress

$20 general admission, $15 students,
special champagne opening Friday August 7--$30
tickets available through www.austinplayhouse.com
Media Contacts: www.it-productions.org or (512) 476-0084

Thanksgiving isn’t what it used to be in the absurdist play about an eccentric family and their unusual guests. House of Several Stories explores how stories (whether true, false, or borrowed) help fill the vacuum in our lives caused by death, loss, and dysfunction.

House of Several Stories won the honor of this year’s National Student Playwriting Award from the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival. The Austin professional premiere stars the Lauren Lane (CBS's The Nanny, Zach Scott's The Clean House), Martin Burke (Take Me Out, The Santaland Diaries) Meredith McCall (Caroline or Change, Urinetown) , Adam Pearson and Kelli Schultz (High School Musical) with lighting by Jason Amato, costumes by Jillan Hanel, and set by Griffon Ramsey.

John Boulanger received his BFA in directing from Texas State in 2005 and his MA in playwriting in 2009. House Of Several Stories was originally selected as one of seven productions presented at the regional American College Theatre Festival held at Texas State this past January. It was then chosen as one of four to make it all the way to the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C. This marked the first time a Texas State production had advanced to the national festival and the first time a Texas State student received the National Student Playwriting Award. Past award recipients include Paula Vogel, James Leonard, and Lee Blessing.