We THINK Austin Playhouse is running Three Viewings as their very special Halloween episode for their 2010-2011 season. This play comprised of monologues that snapshot several funerals in a small Midwestern town isn't scary in any way, except for maybe how realistically sad the sparse set is. In our post-Six Feet Under world a viewing room in a funeral home is obviously a great setting for comedy AND drama. But when this play premiered in 1996 it was a different game. That said, the evening managed to surprise us. more ›

Thru 2/23, St Idiots Collective's You Are Pretty is about sex workers' struggles to find love within the harsh environs of a legal brothel. The yap about YAP is the megawatt heft behind it—the production is chock full of local luminaries. [tickets] // Thru 2/17, roving new kids NxNW Theatre are staging "wickedly funny" Five Women Wearing the Same Dress downtown at the Hideout. The titular characters do a little cussin' here, a little pot smokin' there, and cover topics with plenty of chops (religion, sexuality, AIDS). [tickets] more ›

Recently seen in another local media resource: "OK, I'll say it: Ken Webster's "St. Nicholas" is a tour de force." Ken Webster is an actor, the Producing Artistic Director of Hyde Park Theatre, and an advocate of the idea that more local actors and performers should get their 15 minutes of fame. From the beginning, he has been a part of FronteraFest, Austin's annual fringe theatre festival which opens its stages to dozens of... more ›

*This review comes from new Austinist contributor Rebecca Reed* With its grace notes of post-911 disillusionment, Kyle Henry’s Room screened to an enthusiastic hometown crowd at The Alamo on South Lamar, kicking off its local theatrical run. Julia Barker is a wife, mother, bingo parlor matron and telephone book delivery person who is hitting the proverbial wall. Or maybe four of them. Episodes of excruciating head pain provide her glimpses of a place that... more ›

Okay! Time for a little break from all the SXSW zaniness! Let's talk about women, shall we? Did you know that March is National Women's History Month? One of our favorite women, the Vortex's fabulous fearless leader Bonnie Cullum, clued us in to this fact a few days ago. To honor the so-called gentler sex, Vortex has created a menu of tasty treats for the entire month. I Look Like An Egg, but I... more ›

To kick off National Women's History Month, The Vortex is presenting Shrewd Production's Where Are They Now?, a "revived and revised" Cyndi Williams piece originally performed at Frontera Fest '05. We took it in, it all its glory, on opening night last Thursday. For starters, we feel compelled to state that Where Are They Now? is a moving and beautiful work, but it is unconventional in its story-telling, and it has the potential to... more ›