Best Play of the Season in Austin:
A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder Roy Horniman could scarcely imagine that one of his books would be turned into a film and then a theatrical production. His novel,…
Take Care of My Friend
Director Elizabeth Newman of the Filigree Theatre strayed a bit from her previous repertoire with the world premiere of Take Care of My Friend. Starring Kathleen Fletcher, who wrote the…
Dear Evan Hansen Waves Pain Through a Window
Most theatregoers know the story of Dear Evan Hansen, as it was a tremendous success on Broadway for six years in a row and was also a film and a…
Others Were Here Beforehand: City Theatre Austin’s Men on Boats
There is a single line in Jaclyn Backhaus’s Men on Boats, now running at City Theatre Austin through April 12, that cuts through everything: the rapids, rhetoric, gender politics, and…
Witch — Bewitchingly Witty
I was fortunate to grab one of the remaining tickets for the closing night performance of Witch, at Hyde Park Theatre, a bewitchingly witty play directed superbly by Ken Webster…
One Woman, Many Lives: Penfold Theatre’s “Wild Horses” Kicks Up the Dust of a Violent Coming-of-Age
Jennifer Coy Jennings carries an entire world on her shoulders — and makes it look effortless. There’s a moment in “Wild Horses,” when playwright Allison Gregory’s language hits “freedom takers…
Yellow Face: The Mirror America Refuses to Hold Up
There’s a particular courage required to write a play in which you are the fool. David Henry Hwang possesses that courage in abundance, and Yellow Face — now receiving a…
When Stillness Becomes Stagnation: The Trip to Bountiful
There is a difference between quiet and stagnation. Horton Foote wrote his 1953 play The Trip to Bountiful during an era that tolerated stillness, repetition, and domestic realism as dramatic…
Beehive – A Musical Medley from the ’60s through the ’70s
Beehive, created by Larry Gallagher and directed by Megan Richards, with choreography by Erin Ryan, is a buoyant, high-octane throwback to my era. I grew up in the ’60s with…
Urinetown: The Musical – Flush with Humor, Flooded with Truth
Originally premiering on Broadway in September 2001, Urinetown remains as politically pointed today as it was at the dawn of the 21st century. Urinetown: The Musical, with music by Mark…