Upcoming: University of Texas New Theatre (UTNT), February 27 - March 9, 2014

UTNT (UT New Theatre), the annual showcase of new plays from The University of Texas at Austin M.F.A. Playwriting Program, returns this spring with five dynamic works by emerging playwrights. 

Now in its seventh iteration, UTNT 2014 presents the following:

 

 Preview Productions

Annie Jump
Written by Reina Hardy
Directed by Natalie Novacek

February 27, March 1, 7 at 8:00 p.m.
March 9 at 5:00 p.m.

Annie Jump is a 13-year-old science genius whose alien-obsessed father is the laughingstock of Strawberry, Kansas. One night in August, a meteor falls, and Annie meets Althea, an intergalactic supercomputer that manifests itself in the form of a mean girl with really nice hair. Althea’s here to help Annie take humanity from the earth to the stars, but being the Chosen One isn't all glory. What is Althea hiding? And what will Annie have to sacrifice to fulfill her destiny?

 Advance Man
Written by Abe Koogler
Directed by Will Davis

February 28, March 6, 8 at 8:00 p.m.
March 2 at 5:00 p.m.

Bear Creek is a small town. So when rumor spreads of an impending visit from the President himself, everyone gets very excited. There's just one problem – no one knows when he's coming, or why. And who's that mysterious man in a dark suit, asking all those questions? A dark comedy about the way we live now.

Individual tickets and ticket packages for these preview productions go on sale early January 2014.

Enhanced Readings/Presentations

‘ratio Visual Narrative by William Anderson
Text Narrative by David Turkel
Directed by Jess Hutchinson

March 1 at 11:00 a.m.
March 8 at 2:00 p.m.

In the weeks following Hamlet’s death, Horatio navigates a harrowing regime change at Elsinore under the rule of bloody-minded prince Fortinbras.

Still Now Written by Katie Bender
Directed by Rudy Ramirez

March 2, 9 at 2:00 p.m.

After witnessing the fall of the twin towers, Annie heads to Japan to study Butoh, looking for a dance form that expresses the destruction she can’t comprehend.  Ten years later, Annie is diagnosed with stage four cancer and returns to Butoh to prepare for her final dance. Still Now confronts us with the accelerated motion of a woman learning and losing her body, accompanied by the doctors, teachers, friends and lovers that become her partners in movement, to ask the question: what can our bodies teach us that our minds cannot fathom?

Or, “The One with the Dogs” Written by Briandaniel Oglesby
Directed by Jeremy Lee Cudd

March 1 at 2:00 p.m.
March 8 at 11:00 a.m.

In a crappy house surrounded by a dead walnut orchard, brothers Boomer and Dirt struggle with each other, with themselves, and with their dog-breeding business. As their prized pregnant pooch swells, they seem on the way to strike it big. Their dreams are disrupted when Boomer brings home Marisol, who should be a one-night stand, and Dirt finds a boy who will never grow up.

 UTNT (UT New Theatre) is curated by Steven Dietz and Gia Marotta. Performances are February 27 through March 9 in the Lab Theatre. Ticketing information will be available in December 2013.

STILL LIFE WITH IRIS by Steven Dietz, Gaslight Baker Theatre, Lockhart, June 14 - 29, 2013

[216 S. Main Street, Lockhart, TX - click for map]

presents

Still Life With Iris

A Whimsical Journey
Written by Steven Dietz

Directed by David Schneider

Jun. 14 - Jun. 29

Set in the imaginary world of Nocturno, where all the things one sees by day are made by the people who live there at night while the rest of the world sleeps. Still Life With Iris chronicles a young girl's quest to regain her memory and with it her home. With the help of the incredible people she meets along the way, Iris' crusade recovers more than her past. She succeeds in finding herself: the power of faith and the courage of persistence. These traits will lead her home. 

Click Here to Purchase Tickets Online

(Click to go to the AustinLiveTheatre front page)

Mad Beat Hip & Gone by Steven Dietz, Zach Theatre, April 3 - 28, 2013

by Michael Meigs

At first I was disconcerted by the time-line.


Playwright-director Steven Dietz places his creations the Nebraska buddies Danny and Rich in 1949 and engineers an encounter with beat adventurers Jack Kerouac and Neil Cassady. We don't see it; as in ancient Greek theatre that event is reported to us, endowing it with distant mystery and epic sense.



But in the opening scenes of Mad Beat Hip & Gone, suddenly Jacob Trussell as Danny is ranting center stage in full Beat style, declaiming verse that has no rhyme, not much reason, a rush of disconnected jagged images. Now how did this smalltown boy start channeling the fullblown Kerouac style, when On the Road wasn't published until 1951?


But I got over that. Dietz made it clear before too long that he was taking us to fantasy land, where his two protagonists weren't really tracking or channeling the beats; they were engaged in their own shambolic adolescent plunge toward adulthood. It takes the entire first act to get Danny and his gregariously goofy buddy Rich (Jon Cook) into the front seat of the sedan that's going to be their literary vehicle.



 
They don't have much help growing up in that first act. Danny's father disappeared long ago, although Rick Roemer regularly appears in that role, always ineptly tangled up in something or other. No adult help there; he's long gone, another fantasy figure, wearing a suit but walking gnomically barefoot or appearing as a traveling salesman, always present but always absent. 


 Babs George as Danny's mom is equally unhelpful, a sort of spiritual weather vane spinning merrily in the winds of her own cheerfully unapologetic irresponsibility.


And The Girl -- doesn't every coming-of-age fable need A Girl? -- dominates the second act. First encountered in the company of Jack and Neal, Erin Barlow as Honey becomes real for us after the intermission when our protagonists, too, get to the land of dreams in San Francisco. Pale, hip, distracted, a beat hanger-on, she's with us just long enough to drive our boys wild and then to disappear into the fog of the Golden Gate. Then they learn that yet another jumper has thrown herself from that span down into the void.


Topaz McGarrigle hangs about the stage during much of this, working his melodious saxophone.

Read more and view images at AustinLiveTheatre.com

Auditions in Lockhart for Still Life with Iris by Steven Dietz, March 24 and 26, 2013

Still Life With Iris by Steven Dietz

Audition Dates: March 24 at 4:00 pm and March 26 at 7:00 pm -- Performance Dates: Jun. 14 - Jun. 29

Casting 8 adults (any age) and 13 youth (all ages)

Three leads are youth that can play ages 10-14 (two female, one male). These three roles are very large and will require a significant time commitment by the youth and their parents. The show has 9 performances. Rehearsals will begin the first week of April. A schedule will be provided at the time of the auditions.

Rehearsal slots are not required. Auditions will consist of cold readings from the play. A copy of the script will be in the reference section at the Dr. Eugene Clark Public Library for review, but cannot be checked out.  

For more information, please email us at info@gaslightbakertheatre.org

Happy Hour Theatre Opportunity: Zach Offers $28 Evening with Free Food, Cheap Drinks and 'Mad Beat Hip & Gone' by Steven Dietz If You're Under 30, April 5, 2013

We're back! Happy Hour Theatre is back in the gorgeous new Topfer Theatre, but 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!


On Wednesday, April 5, we're offering discounted $28 tickets to MAD BEAT HIP & GONE for all patrons under 30. The show starts at 8 pm, but get there at 6:45 pm to take advantage of some free grub, hobnobbing and of course cheap beer and drink specials! And after the show, join us in the Serra Skyline Lounge to mingle with the cast!


We'll be checking IDs at the box office for the discounted ticket price, and, as always, you have to be 21 to drink.

for April 5, 2013

This show will sell out, so reserve your seat now by using the discount code HAPPYHOUR, calling ZACH's Box Office at 512-476-0541 x1 or stopping by during normal Box Office hours — Monday through Saturday, 12 noon - 7pm.

Remember to join our Facebook group to keep tabs on all future Happy Hour Theatre events!

DREAM OF PERFECT SLEEP by Kevin Kautzman, University of Texas New Works, April 18 - 27, 2013

(University of Texas theatres, Winship Drama Bldg. (WIN), near 23rd St. and San Jacinto, Austin)

presents

Dream of Perfect Sleep
Written by Kevin Kautzman
Directed by Courtney Sale
April 18 and 26 at 8:00 p.m.
April 21 and 27 at 2:00 p.m.
Lab Theatre
Tickets: $15 adults/$12 UT faculty and staff/$10 students with valid I.D.
Tickets are available online, by phone at 512-477-6060 or 800-982-BEVO, and in person at:

• Texas Performing Arts’ Bass Concert Hall, Monday - Friday 11:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
• Winship Drama Building Box Office, Opens one hour prior to curtain. Sales at this time are cash only.

About the playMary and Gene are old. Mary suffers from severe vertigo and just wants to watch her show, gosh-darn-it. Gene has some big news for their middle-aged kids. When new-ager Melissa and recovering-addict Robert return to a home decorated for the holidays (when it’s not the holidays), the family must make a hard decision about what it means to exit this world with grace.

About the playwright
Kevin Kautzman is a playwright originally from North Dakota pursuing his M.F.A. at the Michener Center, with a screenwriting secondary. In 2012 he premiered six plays (three full-lengths and three shorter works) at theatres in Canton, Dallas, Detroit, Fort Worth, New York, and Saint Paul. Honors include the Playwrights’ Center’s Jerome Fellowship, the Tennessee Williams Scholarship, and the International Student Playscript award. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild, the Playwrights’ Center, and Scriptworks. He can be found online at kevinkautzman.com.
UTNT (UT New Theatre) is curated by Steven Dietz and Brian Kettler.
Buy your tickets today!

(Click to go to the AustinLiveTheatre front page)

2013-2014 Theatre and Dance Season, University of Texas

Catch a Glimpse of Our 2013-2014 Season

The Department of Theatre and Dance at The University of Texas at Austin announces a special sneak preview of its 2013-2014 season!  Keep an eye out in the next few months for a complete season announcement featuring dates, directors, and venues.

Fall 2013

Dial M for Murder By Frederick Knott
Set in 1950s London, Tony Wendice concocts a plot to murder his wealthy wife Margot. When the scheme goes awry, he devises a sinister backup plan to get her out of the picture for good.

Salt and Pepper By José Cruz González
In this heartwarming story about friendship and family, Salt is a 10 year old boy who can barely read. Pepper, a young migrant worker and voracious reader, comes to town and teaches him the value of reading and storytelling.

Our Country’s Good By Timberlake Wertenbaker
Royal Marines and convicts in an 18th century Australian penal colony work together to produce a comedic stage play.

Fall For Dance Artistic Directors David Justin and Charles O. Anderson
The annual showcase presents breathtaking dance pieces from renowned choreographers.

The Fault By Katie Bender
A small ragged house stands perched on a fault, pressed between the redwoods and Pacific Ocean. The Davies family resides within, holding together and splitting apart.

Spring 2014

Dead Man’s Cell Phone By Sarah Ruhl
When a woman answers the cell phone of a recently deceased café patron, she holds on to the device to keep the man alive in a strange yet significant way.

Dance Repertory Theatre Concert
Dance Repertory Theatre, the celebrated student ensemble, returns to the stage, presenting new dance works and re-staged masterpieces by nationally and internationally acclaimed guest artists and faculty.

UTNT (UT New Theatre) Curated by Steven Dietz
UTNT presents newly developed work of emerging playwrights from the Department of Theatre and Dance and Michener Center for Writers. Now in its seventh season, many plays produced in UTNT have since been professionally produced across the country.

In the Heights Music and lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda
Book by Quiara Alegría Hudes
This four-time Tony Award winning musical shows life in the Washington Heights neighborhood of New York amongst the tight-knit community of Dominican-American residents.

Ears, Eyes + Feet
Collaborative works by student and faculty composers, choreographers, and video artists from the College of Fine Arts.

All titles are subject to change.

UT New Theatre plays announced for April, 2013, University of Texas

UTNT (UT New Theatre), the annual showcase of new plays from the UT M.F.A. Playwriting Program, returns this spring April 18 - 28 in the Lab Theatre with four dynamic works by emerging playwrights. UTNT (UT New Theatre) is curated by Steven Dietz and Brian Kettler. Specific dates, times and ticketing information will be available in January 2013. For additional information, call 512-471-5793.


Now in its sixth iteration, UTNT 2013 presents the following:


Staged Works:
 
70 Secrets of Marmalade Kittens by Gabrielle Reisman

Seduced by a pair of ceramic figurines, Quinn wrestles with abandoning her husband, her young children, and their lonely life on an Iowa hog confinement farm. Ten years later her now grown children - with the counsel of an aging pet goose - must choose between selling off their father's business, and tracking down the ghosts of their mother's desires.
 
Dream of Perfect Sleep by Kevin Kautzman
Mary and Gene are old. Mary suffers from severe vertigo and just wants to watch her show, gosh-darn-it. Gene has some big news for their middle-aged kids. When new-ager Melissa and recovering-addict Robert return to a home decorated for the holidays (when it's not the holidays), the family must make a hard decision about what it means to exit this world with grace.
 
The Kingdom by Andrew Hinderaker
A Catholic priest of 22 years has stopped taking confession. He has stopped delivering mass. Hiding out in the basement of his church, he seeks to perform miracles of his own making. What becomes of a priest who has lost his faith in us all?

Reading:
 
A Perfect Robot by Sarah Saltwick
Believe Alan Turin - that girl is really a robot. It's just that Mollybot's face is uncannily human. She hasn't been so perfect since her creator went missing and there's only one chance to convince the investors of her worth. One far away woman holds the key to unlocking it all.

Playwright/UT Prof Steven Dietz Speaks at St. Ed's on March 29

St. Edward’s University’s Visiting Writers Series will host UT Austin Professor of Playwriting Steven Dietz, in their Visiting Writers Series on Thursday, March 29 at 7:30 pm.

Since 1983, Dietz’s thirty-plus plays have been seen at over one hundred regional theatres in the United States, as well as Off-Broadway. International productions have been seen in England, Japan, Germany, France, Australia, New Zealand, Sweden, Austria, Russia, Italy, Slovenia, Argentina, Brazil, Peru, Singapore, Thailand and South Africa. His work has been translated into ten languages.

Mr. Dietz joins authors Oscar Casares and Debra Monroe, and poets Marie Howe and Naomi Shihab Nye on the list of celebrated writers that the Visiting Writers Series will be bringing to the St. Edward’s University campus for the 2011-2012 academic year.

Location: Maloney Room, 3rd Floor of the Main Building (at the center of the campus)
St. Edward’s University, 3001 South Congress Ave. (click for campus map)

[photo: Steven Dietz, via University of Texas]

Zach Theatre Announces 2012-2013 Season

Received directly from:

ZACH’s 2012-13 Mainstage Season features:

• Ragtime
• White Christmas
  
• 33 Variations
• Harvey
• Mad Beat Hip & Gone
  
• And a Broadway-bound musical TBA

Season extras are:

• Tru
• The Santaland Diaries
  

“I’m thrilled to bring Austin so many firsts, filled with unforgettable moments, in our first spectacular season in the Topfer Theatre,” says Producing Artistic Director Dave Steakley. “From Ragtime – the largest and most extraordinary musical ZACH has ever produced, to the world premiere of a new play written especially for us by Steven Dietz, the most-produced playwright in America and an Austinite; from the dazzling holiday favorite White Christmas brimming with effervescent Irving Berlin hits, to a riveting drama starring Anton Nel, one of the greatest concert pianists in the world; and from a brand new Broadway-bound musical to a fresh revisioning of the beloved classic comedy Harvey, starring Martin Burke, the funniest man in Austin. For an artist like myself with a 20-plus year commitment to this city, it’s a dream come true. There will be so many delicious moments for all of us who love this city to savor and inspire and celebrate!”

Click for additional details about the upcoming Zach season

Images by Jeff Heimsath and Video of Director's Comments: 360 (Round Dance) by Steven Dietz, University of Texas, November 11 - 20

Images by Jeff Heimath and video from Texas Performing Arts for

production of

360 (Round Dance)

by Steven Dietz
based on the 1900 play Reigen by Arthur Schnitzler
drected by Courtney Sales at Oscar G. Brockett Theatre, Winship Drama Building, near 23rd and San Jacinto (click for map)

November 11 - 13, 16 - 18, 20 weekdays and Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 2 p.m.

This production includes mature content.

Tickets $10 - $20 through Texas Peforming Arts; purchase on-line

Over a century ago, Arthur Schnitzler’s play Reigen ignited conversation, prompting both public outrage and support. Steven Dietz’s adaptation of Schnitzler’s story continues to hold today’s audience rapt as the narrative intertwines pairs of lovers and their encounters.

Comments from director Courtney Sales:

[Apple users: can't see the video? Click to go to YouTube]

Click to go to AustinLiveTheatre.com to view additional images from Jeff Heimsath of performers in360 Round Dance . . . .

Arts Reporting: UT Gives Steven Dietz Creative Research Award

From the University of Texas:

UT Gives Steven Dietz Creative Research Award

(www.utexas.edu) October 26, 2011

Department of Theatre and Dance Distinguished Professor of Playwriting Steven Dietz received the Creative Research Award last week at the Robert W. Hamilton Book Awards, an annual event honoring the scholarship of faculty members. [ . . .]

“The award is an acknowledgement of the extraordinary professional accomplishments of Steven Dietz,” said Brant Pope, chair of the Department of Theatre and Dance. “Our students, faculty and audience at The University of Texas at Austin are the great beneficiaries of the amazing talents of this playwright, director and teacher.”

“Steven Dietz has tremendous scope as a playwright, achieving the same humane economy of language and action whether writing serious drama, children’s theater, historical adaptations, comedy, or criticism of contemporary theater and theater education,” added College of Fine Arts Dean Douglas Dempster. “He is one of the leading playwrights of our day and exactly what we strive for in a first-class research university that values the arts.”

The Creative Research Award caps off a banner year for Dietz. He is the third recipient of the nationally-coveted Ingram New Works Fellowship from the Tennessee Repertory Theatre and recently premiered a new play in Minneapolis, A Year Without Summer, commissioned by the famed Tyrone Guthrie Theater.

Read full text at site for UT Theatre and Dance . . . .

Upcoming: 360 (Round Dance) by Steven Dietz, University of Texas, November 11 - 20

Found on-line:

presents

360 (Round Dance)

by Steven Dietz
based on the 1900 play Reigen by Arthur Schnitzler
drected by Courtney Sale
presented by the Department of Theatre and Dance

Oscar G. Brockett Theatre, Winship Drama Building, near 23rd and San Jacinto (click for map)

November 11 - 13, 16 - 18, 20 weekdays and Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 2 p.m.

This production includes mature content.

Over a century ago, Arthur Schnitzler’s play Reigen ignited conversation, prompting both public outrage and support. Steven Dietz’s adaptation of Schnitzler’s story continues to hold today’s audience rapt as the narrative intertwines pairs of lovers and their encounters.

Steven Dietz is one of the most produced playwrights in America, recently placing eighth on the list of the Top Ten Most Produced Playwrights in America. Current and upcoming productions of Dietz’s work include: Fiction (ZACH Theatre) Jackie and Me (Chicago Children’s Theatre and Seattle Children’s Theatre); Yankee Tavern (Tennessee Repertory Theatre and Stages Repertory Theatre); Becky’s New Car (ZACH Theatre, Baynan Theater Company and Theatre Aspen) and Go, Dog, Go!, adapted by Dietz and Allison Gregory (Seattle Children’s Theatre).

360 (round dance) is presented as part of the Oscar G. Brockett Theatre Season, which offers an intimate setting showcasing the student talent from the Department of Theatre and Dance.

Click to read text of University of Texas press release

Becky's New Car by Steven Dietz, Zach Theatre, June 3 - July 11

Zach's post card calls it "A Revved-up Comic Adventure!"

The website is even more breathless, promising

"[a] life-affirming comedy about an eccentric millionaire who offers Becky the keys to a brand new life [in][. . . . ] a fantastically funny exploration about class, wealth and selling out during Becky's wild ride through a clever twist of events. Huge laughs, hairpin plot turns and a story with the pedal to the metal. Buckle up!"

So when we got a last-minute, unexpected chance to attend a dress rehearsal of Becky's New Car at the Zach, we couldn't resist. We even dressed up a bit, only to find ourselves well splashed by the Wednesday night downpour by the time we got to the theatre.

The house was relatively sparse, as you can see in these photos taken that same evening by Kirk R. Tuck. Playwright and Director Steven Dietz welcomed us but cautioned us that in this dress rehearsal they might at any time stop for adjustments or even decide to re-run scenes. That did not happen, but we were aware of Dietz and assistant director Courtney Sale sitting in rear rows and intently making notes.

Just as well. The web-blurb rode the car metaphor too far and promised more than the work-in-progress delivered that evening.

Lauren Lane is warm and endearing in her role as 40-something working mom Becky Foster. Playwright Dietz sets her up to win our hearts by granting her permission to talk directly with audience members. She's gracious and friendly, with a vague, lost air as she moves around the Whisenhut's intimate theatre in the round. When we first see her, she is picking up after her 26-year-old unemployed stay-at-home student son and her husband Joe the roofer. Most of the stage serves as her suburban home, with the desk in the southeast representing her job -- bookkeeper to a car dealership. Dietz gives her apparent command of the lights and staging, so that she can shuttle from one locale to the other at will.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Upcoming: Steven Dietz on the Art and Craft of Playmaking, Austin Scriptworks at the State Theatre, November 10

Received directly:

presents
in its Dramatis Personae Series

Steven Dietz on
The Art & Craft of Story Making

Tuesday, November 10 7:00-9:30 pm
The State Theatre,719 Congress Ave.

General Admission $40, Austin Scriptworks members, $25
information and reservations: 512.454.9727; info@scriptworks.org

[image: Ralph Barrera, Austin Statesman]

This master class with nationally-renowned playwright Steven Dietz will focus on the "living play." Simply putting words and action onstage does not "activate" a play, so what narrative strategies bring a theatrical story to life? Steven Dietz will describe candid and tangible tools of the playwright's craft used to make a play move, change, and push forward. In short: come to life.

Steven Dietz is one of America's most widely produced playwrights. Since 1983, his more than 30 plays have been regularly produced regionally, off-Broadway and internationally. His latest plays Yankee Tavern and Becky's New Car will be among the most produced plays at local and regional theatres this coming season. Mr. Dietz divides his time between Seattle and Austin, where he is professor of playwriting at the University of Texas.

ABOUT AUSTIN SCRIPT WORKS Austin Script Works is a playwright-driven organization that seeks to promote the craft of dramatic writing and to protect the playwright's integrity by encouraging playwright initiative and harnessing collective potential. The Dramatis Personae series was initiated to provide area playwrights a place to experiment with their craft and to expand their careers. Austin Script Works is funded in part by the City of Austin through the Cultural Arts Division and by a grant from the Texas Commission on the Arts, and is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts, which believes that a great nation deserves great art, and by individual donors.

Arts Reporting: American Theatre Profiles Austin's "Offbeat Ethos," October 2009

reproduced with the kind permission of American Theatre magazine:

Theatre Communications Group publishes in the October 2009 issue of American Theatre magazine an extensive profile of Austin theatre. Writer Justin Boyd opens the five-page spread by differentiating our theatre town from others:

"Most U.S. cities of a certain size have an experimental theatre scene -- one that's young, adventurous, low-budget and . . . small. That's because in most cities, 'experimental' is synonymous with alternative, alternative is usually the little brother of a much larger 'traditional' theatre scene.

Not so in Austin, Tex. In Austin, experimentation is the standard -- and if there's a tradition, it's an offbeat, do-it-yourself aproach to theatre making that dates back all of about 20 years."

Discussing the MFA Theatre program at the University of Texas and the playwriting program at the Michener Center, he writes,

"If one considers the work of the playwrights who've emerged from the center -- Lisa D'Amour, Kirk Lynn, Carson Kreitzer, Dan Dietz and Colin Denby Swanson among them -- it's easy to see that the center's writers aren't afraid to experiment.

"What are they afraid of? 'My first year here, I had a playwirght come into my office and sit down, and I said, "What's the matter?" Steven Dietz relates. 'This playwright said to me, "I don't know how to tell you this, but I think I'm writing a realistic play." There are probably a lot of other cities and departments that are working hard to break their writers out of a certain mode and expand their world. I'm the lucky recipient -- as are our students -- of an ethos of a scene that has experimentation not as a sidebar to the conversation. It just might be the conversation.' "

Boyd explores the ties between music and theatre, the role of financing from the City of Austin, loyalty to homegrown work, the audiences eager to experience eclectic, often whimsical theatricals, UT's increasing involvement in new works, and the challenge of re-invention as Austin grows. Among those he quotes are UT's Dan Dietz, Katie Pearl, Brad Carlin of the Salvage Vanguard, C. Denby Swanson, Kirk Lynn of the Rudes, Graham Reynolds, Christi Moore of Austin Scriptworks, Josh Meyer of Rubber Repertory, Jason neulander, UT's Susan Zeder, Steven Dietz, and Bonnie Cullum of the Vortex Repertory.

Click to read Justin Boyd's article "The Offbeat Ethos of Austin," © 2009 American Theatre magazine, reproduced by permission.

[Subscription information: American Theatre magazine is published monthly except for double issues in May/June and July/August and is available through membership in the Theatre Communications Group, $39.95 per year in the United States. Website: www.tcg.org; subscription e-mail: custserv@tcg.org.]