If A Tree Falls: This Week in Theatre

We’ll just come right out and say it: it’s a slow week in Austin performance. Our normally buoyant theatre and dance communities seem to be taking a break, gearing up for what looks to be an amazing summer. Before the UT kids come traipsing back into town in August, we’ll have seen productions from Rude Mechs’ Second Stage, Salvage Vanguard, Yellow Tape Construction Co, Dirigo Group, Rubber Repertory, Hyde Park Theatre, Zach Scott Theatre, The Getalong Gang…and that’s just off the top of our heads.

Maybe no one wanted to compete with the opening of the DaVinci Code, although rumor has it that it blows. Fortunately for you, live performance enthusiast, there are two cool new shows opening this weekend, and a bitchin’ party tonight from Sally Jaques and Blue Lapis Light (which we posted about earlier).

Austinist pick of the week:
Anna Deavere Smith. Remember how much you loved House Arrest at Zach Scott? That's the same Anna. This time she’s gone and conducted a bunch of interviews on “Health and Well-being”, presenting them here as monologue-in-progress. Take this chance to get the skinny on what will undoubtedly be a major hit at some future date.

Second up, The 24th Day. We haven’t seen anything from Naughty Austin in awhile, but we hear this is a major shift from their regular M.O. It’s about a straight man, who, after years of marriage, discovers that his one-time-only sexual encounter with another man has left him HIV positive. Just when you’re thinking that this show was funded by the Catholic Church, think again. The straight guy hunts down and kidnaps the gay guy, takes his blood sample, and threatens to kill him if it comes out positive. And you thought Sordid Lives was full of drama!

Check out all the shows still running from last week after the jump!