Upcoming: Look Back in Anger by John Osborne, Out of Context Productions at the Off Center, Mondays - Wednesdays, November 28 - December

Found on-line:

presents

Look Back in Anger

by John Osborne

directed by Tyler King

November 28-December 14, Mondays-Wednesdays at 7:30 pm

at The Off Center, 2211-A Hidalgo Street, near 7th St. and Robert Martinez (click for map)

Recommended for Mature Audiences

**October Presale - All tickets $8**

Admission: Student/Military ID - $10, General - $15, Super Patron - $25 (Tax included)

Presented in London in 1956, Look Back in Anger revolutionized the British stage with its searing portrayal of the struggling working classes. Now fifty-plus years later, the play takes on a completely new relevance as we in America struggle to fix our jobs market, bolster our economy and escape a second recession. Passionate and unforgiving, Osborne challenges us to examine our human nature during times of uncertainty and ultimately take responsibility for our own future.


Set and Costumes by Leslie Turner; Lights by Becca Plunkett

Upcoming: The Most Wonderful Time of the Year, Overtime Theatre, San Antonio, December 3 - 18

Received directly:

presents

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

by James Hartz

directed by Justin Laughlin

December 3-18;, 8 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays & Saturdays, 3 p.m. Sundays.

The Overtime Theater in the Blue Star Complex, 1414 S. Alamo, #103, San Antonio, TX 78210 (click for map)

Tickets $12 general admission, and $9 for teachers, students, seniors 65+, active military, and SATCO members. Tickets can be purchased online at www.theovertimetheater.org

Further information: www.theovertimetheater.org, info@theovertimetheater.org, and (210) 557-7562

On Christmas Eve, George Moore's household is bursting with the holiday spirit with lavish decorations, plenty of food, and joy for all around. It seems to be the ideal Christmas; however, when George's estranged brother, Billy, unexpectedly shows up the foundations of this winter wonderland begin to crack. As the brothers confront each other, secrets on both sides are revealed which might make this Christmas their last. The Most Wonderful Time of the Year is a comedy that has all the yelling, laughing, lying, and violence that only the holidays can bring.

Click to view images and read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Upcoming: Standing on Ceremony - The Gay Marriage Plays, Zach Theatre, November 7

Via the Zach Theatre blog:

presents

a nationwide event, November 7, 7:30 p.m.

Zach Theatre, 1510 Toomey St. at S. Lamar (click for map)

All tickets $20 - tel. 476-0541, ext. 1 or purchase on-line

Commitment is a funny thing.

Two little words, and suddenly your whole world changes. Don't miss this evening of new short plays by an A-list lineup of writers with 2 Pulitzer Prizes, 4 Obies, 1 Emmy® and 3 Tony® nominations. Be there as they offer their unique takes on the moments before, during and after "I do." Witty, warm and occasionally wacky, these plays are vows to the blessings of equality, the universal challenges of relationships and the often hilarious power of love.

The short plays that make up STANDING ON CEREMONY are:

The Revision by Jordan Harrison, an amusing look at how two men might rewrite their vows to more accurately reflect the limited options available to a gay couple.

This Flight Tonight by Wendy MacLeod, which asks if there is any hope for happiness when a lesbian marriage begins in Iowa.

On Facebook by Doug Wright, adapted from an actual Facebook thread chronicling one long fight among friends on the subject of gay marriage.

White Marriage by Jeffrey Hatcher, in which a wife and husband discuss his “gay” sense of humor.

Strange Fruit by Neil LaBute, the story of two men in love whose plans to get married “the old-fashioned way” are stymied when reality rears its ugly head.

The Gay Agenda by Paul Rudnick, a sadly hilarious plea for understanding by an Ohio homemaker and member of Focus on the Family.

London Mosquitoes by Moisés Kaufman, a poignant story in which a widower tries to make sense of the loss of his longtime lover.

Pablo and Andrew at the Altar of Words by José Rivera, a moving play about two men who use their marriage vows to “say the things we never really say.”

MEDIA LINKS:

• "Standing On Ceremony: The Gay Marriage Plays to Debut Nationwide on November 7" - Broadway.com
• "Mini plays dealing with gay marriage go national" - AP

Please Note: Ticket price is not refundable. Late-comers are seated at the discretion of the House Manager. Unclaimed seats at curtain time are subject to release to patrons on standby.

Arts Reporting: San Antonio's 2011 Globe Awards

Found on-line:

San Antonio's ATAC Globe Awards:

And the winners are…

Classic Theatre and Overtime Theatre

text below by Deborah Martin, Arts Beat, San Antonio Express-News, posted on www.mysanantonio.com, October 23

Classic Theatre was the big winner at Sunday’s Globe Awards of the Alamo Theatre Arts Council, scoring more than 10 trophies, including four that went home with co-founder Allan S. Ross.

The Overtime Theater’s slate of original work did well, too, raking in honors that included several for “Dr. S Battles the Sex-Crazed Reefer Zombies: The Movie: The Musical” and “Broken Record.”

In addition to the awards presented by Alamo Theatre Arts Council, the audience at the Charline McCombs Empire Theatre was invited to vote on a People’s Choice Award. This was the second year for the award, which went to the Woodlawn Theatre’s “Miss Saigon.”

Jasmina Wellinghoff Award for Special Contribution to the Theater went to Susan Breidenbach for 26 years of volunteering behind the scenes. She has worked as a stage manager, run light and sound and as a dresser (or, as presenter Anna Gangai put it, “the best dresser I have ever had.”

Breidenbach, resplendent in blue, joked that “this seems to be the only event that gets me out of my tech black and into a skirt and hose.”

In her gracious acceptance speech, she thanked her parents, influential teachers and the tech crews she has worked with.

“I am honored to be a part of this family of passionate lovers of live theater,” she said.

The other principal Globe Awards went to:

Comedy production: “The Lion in Winter,” Classic Theatre

Drama production: “Buried Child,” Classic Theatre

Musical production: “Mame,” San Pedro Playhouse; “Godspell,” San Antonio College

Lead actor, comedy: Allan S. Ross, “The Lion in Winter”

Lead actor, drama: Andrew Thornton, “Hedda Gabler,” Classic Theatre; Jeff Dorman, “Extremities,” Sheldon Vexler Theatre; Jon Smith, “A Streetcar Named Desire,” Rose Theatre Company

Lead actor, musical: Byrd Bonner, “Miss Saigon,” Woodlawn Theatre

Lead actress, comedy: Terri Pena Ross, “The Lion in Winter;” Allie Perez, “Unnecessary Farce,” Sheldon Vexler Theatre

Lead actress, drama: Evie Armstrong, “A Streetcar Named Desire;” Christie Beckham, “Broken Record,” Overtime Theater; Susanna Morrow, “Pride’s Crossing,” Trinity University

Lead actress, musical: Anna Gangai, “Mame;” Kim Bianco, “The Light in the Piazza,” San Pedro Playhouse; Yesenia McNett, “Always…Patsy Cline,” Cameo Theatre and Circle Arts Theatre

Click to view full list published at www.mysanantonio.com . . . .

Night of the Living Dead, Weird City Theatre Company at Doughety Arts Center, October 13 - 29

by Hannah Bisewski

A note to the nervous: Weird City Theatre’s Night of the Living Dead will have you clenching the edge of your seats, squinting into the darkness to see if a zombie is lumbering in your direction. Director John Carroll’s arrangement of the performance space at the Dougherty Arts Center manipulates spectators to facilitate that sense of terror. A runway extends from the traditional proscenium, separating the audience down the middle and leading to a smaller stage behind them. More than once an actor rose from the dark and terrified someone in the back row with unexpected contact.

George Romero’s 1968 black-and-white zombie film provides the story. Almost all of the dialogue in the Weird City’s staging comes directly from the film, so fans will appreciate familiar lines with expressions idiosyncratic of the era.

From the first moment the atmosphere is that of a bone-chilling, midnight graveyard, swirling in fog, glowing under black lights and alive with heart-stoppingly eerie ambient sounds. An obviously human form sits in a downstage chair, covered by a blood-stained blanket. This ransacked interior will soon become the hideout of the surviving characters.

The action is as fast-paced as the film, and before long zombies are clawing at the Laffy Taffy innards of characters we meet only briefly.

The chills go down a bit after the intermission, as the focus shifts to the stressful entanglements of the refugees and the conflicting messages of ill-fated newscasters. Missed cues and dropped lines lowered the energy of the Saturday night performance, but gradually the tension rose once again. Zombies ambled comically in the background of the living room, staring down the remaining survivors. The nervous, creepy atmosphere of the opening builds to violent, overwhelming horror as zombies overwhelm the final few survivors.

Weird City Theatre Company will keep you transfixed to the very end of this Night of the Living Dead, even if you’re familiar with the classic film. This dedicated cast brings live dramatic irony to celluloid fantasies. You’ll feel tremendous relief to see the last of that hoard of zombies mosey out of the theatre.

EXTRA

Click to read ALT review of WCTC's first production of Night of the Living Dead, November, 2008

Ghosts, Penfold Theatre Company and Breaking String Theatre Company at Hyde Park Theatre, October 13 - November 5 (ALT Review 2)

by Michael Meigs

The Penfold-Breaking String joint production of Ghosts is a moody, beautiful piece. Its honesty to Ibsen's 1881 text is almost a disadvantage, for among we twentieth-first century chrononauts will be some who find inexplicable and inherently comic the restraint of his language. How quaint not to name the evils: prostitution, syphillis, debauchery, incest, spouse abuse, addiction, wifely duty, madness, social convention, obligatory purity for women, licensed libertinism for men . . . .

By retaining Ibsen's approach of creating in our minds the unnamed spectres which polite company will not name, director Graham Schmidt takes us back to the sharp blacks and whites of brittle European morality of the 19th century. Never mind that in our own day we indulge and are indulged by broad fields of gray and we celebrate the colors of experiment and diversity.

The subtle set designed by Ia Ensterë captures that world, with a sort of spider web of threads along the walls, wrapping the proper 19th century living space in an evocative indefinition. Costuming by Buffy Manners gives visual reinforcement to time and place -- from Mrs. Alving's gown to the opposed masculine visions of Pastor Manders' Norwegian cleric black and Oswald's muted extravagance.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .

Ghosts, Penfold Theatre Company and Breaking String Theatre Company at Hyde Park Theatre, October 13 - November 5 (ALT Review 1)

by Hannah Bisewski

Penfold Theatre Company and the Breaking String Theater joined forces to stage Ghosts, producing a well considered work that breathes a fresh vitality into a familiar story. Revolutionary reevaluation of old convention is precisely the theme of Ghosts.

Settling into their seats in the cramped, angular space of the Hyde Park Theatre, the audience sees a dusty, dirty, though elegant, Victorian-era living room. A dim chandelier hangs from a cobweb-lined ceiling. Given the play’s title, an uninformed audience member could reasonably guess that the cast will present a horror story.

Attractive young housemaid Regina Engstrand enters to clean the room, only to be interrupted by her scheming unwelcome father.One has no idea how entangled even the maid is in this family’s self-destructive legacy. Only during the confrontational conversation between the house’s matriarch Helene Alving and the family pastor, Manders, prompted by estate affairs following Captain Alving’s death, do the family secrets begin to spill forth. There are many, further complicated by Helene’s attempt to keep Osvald, her recently returned only son, from discovering any of them.

Click to read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .