Last night, Austin's theatre denizens gathered at Zach Scott Theater for the annual B. Iden Payne Awards ceremony. A function of Austin Circle of Theaters, every fall the BIPpies recognize outstanding work on Austin's stages. This year's ballot was chock full of amazing talent—undoubtedly the voting public had some difficult choices to make. With a fabulous ceremony helmed by Andrea Skola and the women of Shrewd Productions, and featuring commentary from the always-funny Buzz......

And they're off.... The nominations for this year's B. Iden Payne Awards have been announced. We received 'em this morning, straight from the offices of the Austin Circle of Theatres. If you want to get in on the action, ballots will be available starting this Thursday, September 21, at ACoT (701 Tillery Street) & AusTIX (kiosk at the Austin Visitors Center, 209 E. 6th Street). You must be an ACoT member to vote, but......

And from the belly of the heaving bastard they ripped the dangling, puke-covered, festering, imp of a baby. Then they all blew themselves up and barbequed some genitalia. They called it…theatre. In honor of our Austinist pick of the week, we thought we’d get all Sarah Kane on your ass. If you’re not already familiar with the playwright that shocked the crap of every English theatre-goer right up until she killed herself in 1999,......

MONDAY [1] [music] Islands, Why?, Cadence Weapon, Wilderneess, Year Future, Parts & Labor at Emo's (info) [art] Opening reception for hovel jumbles, with works by Paul Gigliotti at End of an Ear (Free, 6pm) (info) [music] Richard Buckner with Doug Gillard (Guided by Voices) at Cactus Café ($12, 8pm) (info) [film] The Boys of Baraka at Alamo Downtown (7pm) (info) [film] The Wild Angels at Alamo Downtown (9:45pm , $1) (info) [film] Anime Movie Monday......

FRIDAY 28 [music] Ghostland Observatory, Glass Family, Clap! Clap! and Crash Gallery at Emo's (info) [music] White Ghost Shivers (CD Release Ball) with The Small Stars at The Parish Room (info) [music] Texas Sapphires at Waterloo Records (Free, 5pm) (info) [music] Joe Satriani at The Paramount Theatre (8pm) (info) [music] Southern Culture on the Skids at Continental Club (Through Sunday!, 11:30pm) (info) [music] My Education and Cue at Blue Theatre ($6) (info) [music/food] ATX Fest,......

We are the Walrus. We are the Eggman. We are a shameless, self-promoting, self-interested no-goodnik with nothing but themselves at heart. We also have difficulty conjugating verbs while writing in the royal “we”. Why all the self-loathing? Because we've picked ourselves as the Austinist pick of the week! Even though Austin Lyric Opera is celebrating Mozart's 250th birthday by performing what is arguably the best opera ever written.... Even though Austin Shakespeare Festival, upon......

For anyone who still hasn’t made it out to see Decameron Day 7: REVENGE, even though we loved it, the Statesman loved it, and the Chronicle loved it, you’ve now got six more chances to check out the faux soap masterpiece. The show was originally meant to close this Saturday, but after public outcry, massive demonstrations at the theatre, and pleas for clemency from celebrities on both coasts, the Rude Mechs decided to cave......

MONDAY 24[music] TV On the Radio, Celebration, The Cocker Spaniels at Emo's (info) [film] Save Our Springs Alliance presents "Driving Sprawl," A 20-minute documentary about Advanced Micro Devices planned move to the Barton Springs watershed. at Ruta Maya (8pm) (info) [music] Josh Rouse at Cactus Café ($22, Through Tuesday) (info) [film/drinking] FuseBox Happy Hour/Nerve.com Screening at Blue Theater (6pm, $5, FREE beer and wine) (info) [books] Anthony Horowitz presents Ark Angel : An Alex Rider......

Ah, the theatre. Drenched in history, glory, shame, and the passionate pursuit of dreams. Wrought with the epitomic struggles of man – the epochal moments of our modern age – wrangling that which is humanity onto our most noble public platform – the stage. So yeah, just like every week there’s a manwich-size portion of performance going on in town this weekend. Beyond the kick-ass stuff that’s already going on, the new show garnishing......

FRIDAY [21] [music] Sons of Hercules and The Bad Rackets at Woody's South (link) [music] Those Peabodys, Grand Champeen, Birds of Avalon (ex-Cherry Valence), Man Eaters of Tsavo at Emo's (link) [music] The Radiators at The Parish (link) [music] Blue October w/ People In Planes and Bril at Stubb's (link) [music] The Shells CD Release at End of an Ear (Free, 6pm) (link) [lecture] The Texas Observer presents David Sirota, author of Hostile Takeover: How......

MONDAY [17][music] The High Flyers at Continental Club (10pm) (link) [lecture] Josh Rushing, future host of a show on Al Jazeera International and "accidental media star" in "Control Room," speaks at UT LBJ Auditorium (7pm) (link) [art] Opening Reception for Michael Schliefke's newest works, "What If We Could Get It All Back?" at bolm Studios (6pm-11pm) (link) [film] Oscar-Nominated Documentary shorts at Alamo Downtown (7pm) (link) [film] Anime Movie Monday at Ventana del Sol (7:30pm)......

It's been all talk of days gone by in Austin's land-o-live performance. Robert Faires remembers 1985, when the original version of this week's In2 The West put our local theatre community on a national stage. Michael Barnes recalls the life of Alfred King -- a long time arts donor who sadly passed away this week. And most notably, Steve Moore and Wayne Allen Brenner document the storied histories of Austin's two fringe theatre giants......

Ah, the Decameron. Proof that even medieval folk can get down and dirty. It suggests the “soap opera” is not merely a contemporary cultural phenomenon – but instead a timeless beacon of truth a la tragedy, forever nestled comfortably in the very fabric of that ridiculous farce…humanity. At least that’s what the Rude Mechs think – as, with their usual aplomb, they’ve taken Boccaccio’s famed allegory and mashed it together with modern soap opera,......

MONDAY [10][karaoke] Monday Karaoke at Beerland (Free, 9pm) (link) [film] Monday Movies al fresco, with 'Heavenly Creatures" and "Welcome to the Dollhouse" at Sidebar (link) [comedy/books] David Sedaris at Bass Concert Hall (8pm) (link) [music] Elizabeth McQueen at Theadgill's (Free, 8pm) (link) [film/drinking] FUSEBOX Happy Hour at Blue Theater (6pm, $5, screening of short films by Austin's Zellner Brothers as part of the ongoing FUSEBOX Festival) (link) [theatre] "Durang/Durang" at Mary Mood Northern Theatre (8pm,......

Grrr. There's some straight-talking, cut-that-jive-or-I'll-slap-you karma in the air this week. Out in Washington, members of congress are smacking around their local law enforcement, in NYC, city detectives have been shooting people for money, and here in Texas, some ass on the Sunset Advisory Commission has issued fightin' words 'gainst our arts community. Well theatre-goers, we're fighting back. Grrr, again. Earlier this week we told you how local artists have rounded up mad cash......

[Update: All the tickets have been claimed! Thanks to everyone for playing, and congrats to the lucky winners -- enjoy the show! -Ed.] Wanna see the latest star-packed thriller from the Rude Mechanicals: Decameron Day 7: REVENGE? Wanna go for FREE? Be one of the first five people to send us an email (be sure to take the () off the @), and we'll set you up with two tix, complimentary of the Rudes.......