"About the pauses and silences: Please heed them," writes Annie Baker on the first page of her 2010 script, The Aliens. "At least a third of this play is silence." more ›

Austin's newest literary journal, "Unstuck," is launching today with a reading at the Hyde Park Theater. The mag's focus is to "emphasize literary fiction with elements of the fantastic, the futuristic, the surreal, or the strange," and their first issue includes "work from authors whose fiction has previously appeared mostly in genre magazines, as well as work from writers who have published only in university-affiliated literary quarterlies." more ›

Frontera Fest’s Long Fringe festival is over, but the wildly popular short fringe powers on! Every Tuesday through Friday there are shows of 5 short plays, then every Saturday the best of the week is selected for an encore performance. This is the last week of debuting new short fringe shows. Next week, the Best of the Festival will have its victory lap. If last night’s shows were any indication, there are still plenty of great performances yet to see. more ›

Political correctness will, of course, be the death of us. In seeking a balance, those adherent to it's principles often cause more trouble than they solve (fuckin' duh) and get trapped in repetitive, walking-on-eggshell patterns. Annie Baker's Body Awareness,concerned with the misadventures of lesbian educators Phyllis and Joyce, their son with(?) Asberger's, and a guest artist in their home that might be a pedophile, nails this concept head-on: The script's structure emulates the tightrope sway of liberal Switzerland-hood. However, in doing this, it eschews the satirical scathe and sear of similarly-concerned plays (like Bruce Norris' The Pain and the Itch) for a softer mockery of the tedium and frustration that politically correct placation induces. more ›

Disasters and diseases suck. They kill people, they inspire (with the aid of fearmongers) exorbitant amounts of anxiety, and they provoke playwrights to scribe trite, mawkish, pontificating tripe. Generally. In certain cases, when their implications regarding human relations are looked at from a philosophical, conversational point of view, they've a better chance at being successful (see: Neil LaBute's The Mercy Seat). Sick is not one of those cases. more ›

Frontera Fest is such a playing-field-leveled egalitarian opportunity for creative types from all walks and skill levels to have a night in the spotlight. Totally worth the $12 -14 price of admission but don’t wait to figure this out later. The wait for unclaimed tickets on sold out nights starts an hour before showtime and baby it’s cold outside. more ›

Local writer Spike Gillespie (along with a dozen of her closest friends) has been holding forth on the subject of wookin pa nub in all the wrong places. The Dick Monologues run once a month at Hyde Park Theater. When we walked in, there was a sea of women with tiny plastic cups of red wine. Any trepidation over being surrounded by that many sleeveless tops quickly dissipated as the raucously hilarious women (and... more ›

Austinist recently had the opportunity to talk with Zell Miller III about his upcoming show Hip Hop Theater Explosion!. Miller was this year's winner of the Mark David Cohen New Play Award for his work My Child, My Child, My Alien Child. He received critical acclaim for last year's B-Boy Bluez, and packed houses the previous year for his phenomenal Evidence of Silence Broken. Now he's showcasing Austin's best and brightest hip-hop talent in what... more ›

FronteraFest, Austin’s annual fringe performance festival, breeds all kinds of odd experimentation, leaps of theatrical faith, and – this past year – a political satire with kitchen appliances as puppets. Puppet Government, written by Steve Barney and directed Chris Humphrey, has grown beyond its Frontera beginnings, and is now re-tooled, re-worked, and heading for the New York International Fringe Festival. Before they set sail for the Apple, the company is holding a fundraiser at... more ›

: : FRIDAY : : [music] Early Man, Atomic Bitchwax, Lions and Black Earth @ Emo's [art] "A Pairing:Exhibition of Works by Women of Wine & The Men Who Adore Them," 5:30pm-8:30pm @ Gallery Lombardi [music] St. James, Andy Davis and Matt Wertz @ Stubb's [music] The Ugly Beats and American History Project @ Beerland [music] Beta Valentine CD Release with Super Sonic Soul Squad and DJ Bigface, 8pm @ End of an Ear... more ›

: : FRIDAY : : [film] New Movies @ Your Local Theater! [music] Willie Nelson @ Stubb's (also Saturday) [music] The Queers, The Vibrators, The Independents (outside) and Wolf Eyes, Prurient and Rubble (inside) @ Emo's [music] CD release show for The Lovely Sparrows & Big Blue Marble @ Beerland [music] The Arm and New Model Army @ Elysium [film/lecture] Rabia Clark presents her short film, "The Dervish Project", 7pm @ Ventana del Sol... more ›

: : FRIDAY : : [music] De La Soul & Rahzel @ La Zona Rosa, 9pm [music] Brian Jonestown Massacre @ The Parish, 10pm [in-store] American Momo CD Release Show @ End of an Ear, 6pm [comedy] "Charlie and the Non-Existent Biological Weapons Factory" by Gag Reflex @ Hyde Park Theater, 8pm - $10 [dance] "AZTLAN Underground" @ Santa Cruz Center for Culture, 8pm - $12 [theater] "The Three Cuckholds" by the Tongue and... more ›