Upcoming: Into The Woods by Sondheim and Lapine, Texas State University, November 12 - 18

presents

Into the Woods

Texas State

Book by James Lapine
 Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Directed by Michael Costello
November 13 – 18 @ 7:30pm and November 18 @ 2:00pm
November 12 @ 7:30pm - $5.00 preview  

An ambivalent Cinderella? A blood-thirsty Little Red Ridinghood? A Prince Charming with a roving eye? A Witch...who raps? They're among the cockeyed characters in James Lapine and Stephen Sondheim's fractured fairy tale. When a Baker and his Wife learn they've been cursed with childlessness by the Witch next door, they embark on a quest for the special objects required to break the spell, swindling, lying to and stealing from Cinderella, Little Red, Rapunzel and Jack (the one who climbed the beanstalk). Everyone's wish is granted, but the consequences of their actions return to haunt them later. What begins as a lively irreverent fantasy becomes a moving lesson about community responsibility and the stories we tell our children.

(Click to go to the AustinLiveTheatre front page)

Upcoming: Lear Workshop Showcase, Austin Shakespeare, November 23

Found on-line:

Showcase: King Lear Workshop

directed by Ann Ciccolella

Austin Shakespeare presents a FREE Showcase of King Lear highlights at 8 pm Tues., Nov. 23 at Salvage Vanguard, 2803 Manor Rd.

Featuring Michael Costello, Justin Scalise, David Boss, Cyrus Cassells, Steve Cruz, Jennifer Davis, Lindsley Howard, Chelsea DuVall, Simon Day, Bridget Farias, Senait Fessahaye, Ciara Flynn, Stacey Glazer, Hanna Haide, Robert Stevens, Ashely McNerney, Lindsey McKenna, and Jason Phelps.

Meet Lear, and his fool, his daughters: Regan, Goneril, and Cordelia, the heroic Edgar, the devious Edmund, and experience the transformation of Gloucester!

Upcoming: A Servant of Two Masters by Goldoni, Texas State University, San Marcos,

Found on-line:





presents

A Servant of Two Masters

by Carlo Goldoni
Translated and Adapted by Jeffrey Hatcher and Paolo Emilio Landi
Directed by Michael Costello
Main Stage — Theatre Center
April 20 - 24

Carlo Goldoni’s 18th century comic masterpiece The Servant of Two Masters reinvigorated commedia dell'arte and has influenced the great comic actors to the present day. It tells the story of a clever and mischievous servant, Arlecchino, who decides that two paydays are better than one and hires himself out to two different masters at the same time. As he attempts to juggle the demands of two high-strung lovers who have lost each other and are looking for each other in an unfamiliar city (the woman happens to be disguised in men’s clothing), absolute chaos ensues. You’ll find rich characters, broad comedy, and a love story in this classic commedia tale.
[NOTE: Trinity University in San Antonio is also staging Harlequin: The Servant of Two Masters, in a new translation directed by Roberto Prestigiacomo, April 16-18 and 21-24. Click for more information about the Trinity University staging.]

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

The Glass Menagerie, Tex-Arts, Lakeway, February 26 - March 14

[click on image to view larger version]


The Glass Menagerie is a memory play, narrator Tom Wingfield tells us in his opening soliloquy. Director Michael Costello and the gifted actors in this cast treat it as just that, a dream-like sequence of deeply felt events taking place in the shadowed, intimate space of Tex-Arts' Kam and James Morris Theatre out in Lakeway.

For those who don't know or have forgotten this American classic: it's the late 1930s. A mother and her two grown children live in a rented apartment in St. Louis, barely getting by. The son Tom pays the bills with the wages from his menial job in a warehouse; his handicapped younger sister Laura, turning ever inward, has dropped out of secretarial school and devotes herself to her collection of glass animals, the glass menagerie of the title. Their father disappeared long ago -- a telephone man "in love with long distances." Their mother Amanda Wingfield, a faded southern belle, is searching for some way to secure the family's uncertain future.

This 1944 two-act play was Tennessee Williams' first stage success. It has lived over the many years since then because Williams captured with his simple story and quiet imagery the fragility of hope and the enduring call of memory.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Upcoming: The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams, Tex-Arts, Lakeway, February 26 - March 14

Click for ALT review, March 5




UPDATE: Review by Barry Pineo for the Austin Chronicle, March 4

Found on-line:

Tex-Arts' professional program presents

Tennessee Williams'

The Glass Menagerie
with Babs George and Jude Hickey
directed by Michael Costello
February 26 - March 14
Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m., Sundays at 2 p.m.
Kam & James Morris Theatre
2300 Lohmann's Spur, Lakeway

Tickets $30 - $56 through NowPlayingAustin.com

The Glass Menagerie is one of America’s great plays, written by Tennessee Williams and performed as part of TexARTS’ professional Off-Broadway Series. The semi-autobiographical play was originally written for MGM. It premiered in Chicago in 1944 and in 1945 won the New York Drama Critics Circle Award.

The Glass Menagerie was Williams's first successful play. He went on to become one of America's most highly regarded playwrights. Williams (whose real name was Thomas) largely reflects himself in the main narrator character of Tom, who recounts his life with his mother Amanda and his sickly, supposedly mentally ill sister. William's real-life sister Rose is transformed into Tom's sister Laura, whose nickname in the play is "Blue Roses," a result of an unfortunate bout of pleurosis as a high school student. This union production integrates some of the region’s finest talent and brings one of our greatest American plays and playwrights to life with depth and quality.