"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 ›

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 ›

If you've ever craved the opportunity to see live theater unfold on Cap Metro buses, song-and-dance break out in the prepared foods section of the Whole Foods flagship, have your fortune told by a vaudeville performer on the Lamar Pedestrian Bridge, or hear Austin theater luminary Ken Webster offer a dramatic interpretation of a prepared speech by Dame Judy Dench, Saturday's World Theater Day events in Austin are likely to be a non-stop buffet of interesting times. more ›

The Collection, a play written by Harold Pinter and currently showing at Hyde Park Theatre, is purposefully ambiguous and, at times, flat out intentionally confusing. That said, the truly puzzling thing about the performance, which is directed by (and also features) Austin’s own gift-to-the-stage, Ken Webster, is this: In this town where the standing ovation is de rigeur, to the point that a gaggle of pre-schoolers toddling across the street can merit wild vertical applause, Webster and company did not receive a sustained, leap-to-their feet round of deafening clapping from the near full house in attendance last Friday night. Which is not to say the crowd was unappreciative. Oh no. From the laughter that punctuated the evening at all the right moments, it was clear folks got what was going on— as much as one could get it. Maybe, then, everyone was just stunned into ass-stuck-in-seat mode at the end. Or perhaps they stayed down in hopes that the cast would come back out and run through the entire 73 minutes a second time. That would’ve been just fine. more ›

This year, multiple-award winning actor and director, Ken Webster, celebrates thirty years of being in theater. He’s spent many of those yeas at the Hyde Park Theatre, bringing to life countless plays that are hilarious and dark, often at the same time. The thing about Webster and his domain—upon first glance we have but one man and one small room— both, rather than exhibiting signs of age, continue to hold up remarkably, amazingly, shape-shiftingly well. It’s something bordering on incomprehensible to contemplate how Webster can, time and again so utterly inhabit whatever character he is playing. His one-man shows are particularly magic as typically he will be onstage for a full ninety minutes— set totally spare, props precious few—and yet leave an audience feeling, as they stand to applaud (almost always the case) like they have been fully transported into another creature’s bizarre universe. more ›

Let us begin this review of bombs in your mouth by lifting a definition for dark matter from Wikipedia: In astronomy and cosmology, dark matter is hypothetical matter that is undetectable by its emitted radiation, but whose presence can be inferred from gravitational effects on visible matter. And now, let us consider Hyde Park Theatre director Ken Webster has a thing for dark matter. You can pretty much count on his productions to evoke laughter and cringing, often simultaneously, as the plays he selects always leave room for plenty of between-the-lines interpretation. Webster is en garde! personified, keeping his audience on their toes as he continues to advance, advance, advance, refusing to retreat or even shy away from pushing them to think thoughts they might want to pretend aren’t there, but really, they are. more ›

Ken Webster has done it again. Black is this year’s black. Blackbird is this season’s latest thought provoking, stomach punching, try-all-you-like-you-won’t-be-able-to-shake-it offering from the little theatre on 43rd Street in cahoots with Capital T Theatre. Its directed by David Harrower and starts Ken Webster and Xochitl Romero as a pair (let’s not call them couple) that meets up after a decade and a half of a highly advisable, partially law-enforced separation. more ›

Ken Webster never met a deep dark comedy he didn’t love. Once again, this time offering up his take on playwright Bert V. Royal’s, Dog Sees God, Hyde Park Theatre’s artistic director has produced and directed a humdinger of insightful sarcasm served up in perfect pitch black. There’s not a weak performance in the piece which imagines a more real, more down and dirty, emotionally raw world for players who resemble, remarkably, a certain collection of beloved cartoon characters original conjured by an artist who’s name rhymes with Marles Tultz. more ›

Martin McDonagh's The Lonesome West, now playing at Hyde Park Theatre has nothing to do with Marfa or Alpine, so don't let the title fool you. Set in an Irish village where murder, suicide, and alcoholism are as common as eating and breathing, the play centers on two brothers who spend just about the entire show pissing off each other in increasingly creative ways. Compared to The Pillowman (which played last year at HPT), Lonesome West is almost sitcom light. more ›

Photo by Bret Brookshire, courtesy Hyde Park Theatre Thom Pain (based on nothing)Through 12/22, Th/Fr/Sa at 8pmHyde Park Theatre (511 W. 43rd. Street)Reservations: 479-PLAY[info]Every so often when doing a review, we’ve gotta own up to something from our past. In this case, it’s that we used to be in a cult. In our defense, it was a good cult. Back in college we were part of the American Forensic Association*—"forensic" meaning “having to do with... more ›

Last night, Austin Circle of Theaters ushered in a whole new batch of B. Iden Payne Award winners. The event took place on the lovely St. Ed's campus; MMNT artistic director Ev Lunning Jr. hosted, along with members of the Actor's Equity association. Local heroine Karen Kuykendall was this year's Outstanding Honoree; Austin Chronicle Arts Editor Robert Faires presented her award. It was an elegant and exciting evening, to be sure! We weren't shocked by... more ›

Ken Webster has been having a mighty fine time of things lately. He was ushered into the Austin Arts Hall of Fame last summer. He was the subject of a big ol' cover article in the Austin Chronicle in April. Just last week he won an acting award from the 2007 Austin Critics' Table for two of his recent solo stage appearances, Thom Pain (based on nothing) and St. Nicholas (we can't help but think... more ›

My how this city has grown. Austin used to be the kind of town where the summertime theatre offerings were slim pickings. Not so...not anymore. The joints are jumping, and this week is no exception. It's darn near impossible to offer a Pick of the Week, so this week we're suggesting not one but two productions we think you'll enjoy. First, however, we need to report on some awards show shenanigans that went down earlier... more ›

'Tis the week of the fest here in A-town, and making the biggest bang is Refraction Arts' Fuse Box Festival, starting this Friday. Fuse Box is a three-week smörgåsbord of performance and other types of arts, featuring artists from around the globe. We've got this one covered, with pointers to a few things that stood out to us this week. Along those lines, this Saturday's Blue 60 — the Fuse Box fundraiser and kick-off party... 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 ›

FRIDAY [2] music • A Fist Full of Duckets, featuring The Interest Kills, Finally Punk, and The Fucking Transmissions at The Mohawk (10pm, 18+, $6) ® music • Dave Barnes at Stubb's music • Black Before Red at End of an Ear (6pm, Free) ® music • Sparklehorse, Jesse Sykes and the Sweet Hereafter, Bill Baird (member of Sound Team) at Antone's ® music • For Her & The Snow, The Unfortunate Heads at... more ›

That's right: it's time to heat up your winter nights again, with the 14th season of FronteraFest. The Short Fringe, the Long Fringe, or Mi Casa es su Teatro -- FronteraFest is five weeks of alternative, offbeat, new, and just plain off-the-wall fringe theatre presented by Hyde Park Theatre and Austin Script Works. For complete FronteraFest 2007 information, including times and locations for the Short Fringe, the Long Fringe and Mi Casa es su Teatro,... more ›

FIRST THURSDAY [1] music • Tre Orsi (members of Shearwater, South San Gabriel, Little Grizzly), The Paper Chase, Red X Red M, at Emo's music/benefit • ME! Live presents the Emerging Artist Series Debut with Meagan Tubb band, Tacks, the Boy Disaster and the Channel at Antone’s (7pm, $5) music • Yonder Mountain String Band at La Zona Rosa music • Onion Creek Crawdaddies at Waterloo Records (5pm, Free) music • Horse + Donkey,... more ›

MONDAY [29] opera • Philip Glass' Waiting for the Barbarians at Bass Concert Hall music • Unwed Sailor, Bayta Darell, The Twilight Lieutenants at Emo's Lounge music • Hidden Hand, Kylesa, The Roller, Ironclad at Emo's music • The Fray, Mute Math at Frank Erwin Center music • Hill Country Outdoors' New Member Meeting at Opal Divine's Penn Field film • Darkon: The Movie at Alamo Drafthouse Downtown film • Melody at Alamo Drafthouse... more ›

That's right: it's time to heat up your winter nights again, with the 14th season of FronteraFest. The Short Fringe, the Long Fringe, or Mi Casa es su Teatro -- FronteraFest is five weeks of alternative, offbeat, new, and just plain off-the-wall fringe theatre presented by Hyde Park Theatre and Austin Script Works. For complete FronteraFest 2007 information, including times and locations for the Short Fringe, the Long Fringe and Mi Casa es su... more ›

As happens this time every year, the last few months have been pretty slow at Austinist Theatre Central. The 2005-2006 season wrapped by late August or so, including the shorter, simpler summer productions and workshops that seem to be mainstays of so many local theatre companies. Finally the '06-'07 season is well planned and underway, and while we're looking forward to some exciting upcoming productions, we're also in the mood to look back at... more ›

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... more ›

We've made no secret of the fact that we like Ken Webster. We can't help ourselves. The man is good at what he does. And while we're not going to take credit -- although we have mentioned, repeatedly, that we'd like to see him take the stage more often -- we're happy to see he's turning out yet another one-man show over at Hyde Park Theatre these days. It's a deliciously odd one, too.... more ›

Welcome to a deliberately antagonistic This Week in Theatre, inspired by St. Nicholas – Hyde Park Theatre's one-man show about a theatre critic who hangs out with vampires. Not so subtle, and starring HPT’s Artistic Tour de Force, Ken Webster – a man who’s reportedly tumultuous relationship with local critics befits his role in said production. (Not that we’ve ever had any run-ins with Ken. Ever. Not even one time.) We say this to... more ›

Have you ever watched a comedy -- especially a dark comedy -- all by yourself? Imagine sitting in your living room, lights out, big bowl o' popcorn by your side, taking in Dr. Strangelove. Alone. That's what it's like to see a theatrical production of a dark comedy with a scant number of fellow audience members. There's a self-consciousness to all responses; laughing in particular feels forced. Such was our experience when we attended... more ›

Sometimes theatre is a deep, penetrating look into the human soul -- a full course dinner from soup to nuts. Other times it's more akin to tapas -- a variety of yummy snacks that adds up to light fare. Radio :30 (check out that whippy e-card!) at Hyde Park Theatre is somewhere in between. Both tragic and comic, both heavy and light, it's served up like tapas but lingers (in a good way) more... more ›

In honor of the big bi-lingual show that’s opening in town this week, we thought to ourselves, hey – why not write this post in both English and Spanish? But we don’t speak Spanish, so we used an online translator. El ir al teatro hará que las mujeres tienen sexo con usted. And now, on with our ¡Selección de Austinist de la semana! It’s a very close call between Petra’s Cuento, the aforementioned bi-lingual... more ›

There's a mighty long menu of theatre being served up in A-town over the next week or so...all of it intriguing. Hyde Park Theatre, Coda Theater Project, and the new St Idiot Collective open shows this Thursday. And the dirigo group, swooping in ahead of the pack, sneak previewed Daniel MacIvor's In On It last weekend at the Off Center. This funny, engaging story of a playwright's struggle with some of life's larger questions... more ›

Off like a prom dress indeed. This summer, theatre in the A-burg is gonna get all raucous on yah ass. The newbies, the small, feisty, ain’t-takin’-no-shit-from-the-man performance companies du resistance are all comin’ outta the woodwork to rock your sweet casbah. With that in mind, our Austinist pick of the week is Minus Tide. It’s a co-produced effort from Bayou Radio Productions (which isn’t too dissimilar from the dirigo group) and Austin fringe heroes,... more ›