Gay people and good theatre go hand-in-hand, see: ancient Greece and Tennessee Williams. Conversely, good gay-themed theatre can be hard to come by. How many tired ensemble pieces populated with predictable muscle marys, self-important disco queens, wilting PLWA s, stoic bears and bubbly twink ingenues (each grappling with their place in the world) can one art form support?...

When I graduated from college, there's weren't a lot of gay characters in movies and TV. This was the mid-90's so when there was a gay character, he was usually dying of AIDS. I saw every one of these movies, but I was desperate to see characters more like myself....

The third annual see.hear.speak fest opens on Thursday and closes on Saturday, with shows nightly at 8 & 10 at Coldtowne Theater. Bringing a few big-name comedy groups to town, this year's fest has quite the lineup....

As we mentioned in last week's TWIT, Capital T Theatre Company is currently running Samuel Beckett's "most cheerful" play, Happy Days, at Hyde Park Theatre. In case you're not familiar with this particular Beckett work, it's about "a middle-aged woman, Winnie, [who] finds herself increasingly submerged in a mound of earth. An incurable optimist, she uselessly follows the daily routine of her life. Over the passage of time, her few possessions gradually dwindle, and her......

O, the mighty men and women of Austin's stages! They get so busy this time of year. There's more than enough to choose from this week, but here are the theater picks that top our list. ProArts Collective wraps up the Black Arts Movement Festival with Incognito on Thursday at 8pm, and Spoken Word Caravan on Friday at 8pm. The former is a one-man drama, performed by author Michael Fosberg, about a man who grew......

[This review comes from new contributor Anna Hanks! -Ed.] In our culture, children are usually considered innocent until sullied by the grown-up world. Otherwise, why would we have family-friendly TV programming, G-rated movies, and continual furor about “inappropriate” books being taught in public schools? Noah Haidle’s dark little comedy, Mr. Marmalade, brilliantly twists the preconception of childhood innocence into an inspired script. We attended the final weekend of this just-closed, Capital T Theatre production at......

Every once in awhile a show comes along that sounds like a sure bet. The press for Capital T Theatre's upcoming production of Noah Haidle's Mr. Marmalade makes us believe this is just such a show: Lucy is a four-year-old girl with a very active imagination. Unfortunately, her imaginary friend Mr. Marmalade doesn’t have much time for her. Not to mention he beats up his personal assistant, has a cocaine addiction, and a penchant for......

FRIDAY [7] [film] Patton at Paramount Theatre (7:30pm) (link) [film] Sinus Show: Footloose at Alamo Downtown (7pm & 10pm, $12.50) (link) [books] Robert Sullivan presents Cross Country: Fifteen Years and 90,000 Miles on the Roads and Interstates of America ... at BookPeople (7pm) (link) [theatre] Capital T Theatre presents "A Brief History of Helen of Troy" at Hyde Park Theatre (8pm, $10-$20) (link) [theatre] "The Hollow" at Vortex (8pm, $10-$30) (link) [theatre] "In On It"......

Capital T Theatre, led by Artistic Director Mark Pickell, is getting down to brass tacks. Small, young companies like Capital T – especially in Austin – often suffer from a lack of focus or attention to detail. In his production of A Brief History of Helen of Troy, however, Pickell does a fine job in replicating the kind of aesthetic and professionalism you might find Off-Broadway. The lighting design is intelligent and effective; the......

THURSDAY [6] [film] Hanging Tough: The Boy Band Sing Along at Alamo Downtown (7pm, Sold Out) (link) [film] Patton at Paramount Theatre (7:30pm) (link) [music] We Will Rock You: The Queen Sing Along at Alamo Downtown (9:45pm, $10) (link) [film] Terror Thursdays: Parents at Alamo Downtown (11:50pm, FREE) (link) [books] Helen Thomas presents Watchdogs of Democracy at Austin Marriott at the Capitol (6pm, $5 in advance or at the door) (link) [books] Sheila Kohler and......

MONDAY [3] [film] Sergeant York at Paramount Theatre (7pm) (link) [film] Hands on a Hard Body at Rounders Pizzeria (8pm, FREE) (link) [film] Swingers at Austin Java (8pm, FREE) (link) [film] Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill at Café Mundi (8pm, FREE) (link) [film] Pride of the Yankees at Paramount Theatre (9:20pm) (link) [music] Quintron & Miss Pussycat, Pong, Harry Merry at Emo's (link) [music] Mendoza Line at Hole in the Wall (link) [music] Black Crowes......

As we scourged all the theatre listings this week, endlessly digging for all the dirt on all the shows in all the venues from all the companies in all of Central Texas, we realized…there is no spoon. There’s also practically nothing opening this weekend. But never fear, dear theatre goer, there’s plenty, plenty of shows that are still running from previous weeks that – if you haven’t already seen them – will forever haunt......

As we enter into another weekend of hard nosed thespianic action, we remember being 15. Everyone told us we were worthless and ugly, so we turned to a life of porn – that’d show ‘um, bastards. It’s a familiar story. So familiar in fact, that it’s the focus of our Austinist Pick of the Week: A Brief History of Helen of Troy. You know those posters around town where the young-looking girl is sucking......

Elizabeth Cobbe, our esteemed colleague over at the Austin Chronicle, has put together a great article profiling the top ten up-and-comers in Austin's "rebel" theatre scene. As you may have noticed, Austinist has a weak spot for rebellious types, so we were excited to find the new punks on the block listed in one handy, helpful spot. (And to give full disclosure we were indeed pleased the company co-helmed by Austinist's own Jonathon Morgan......