When audience members are seated for Rubber Rep's Biography of Physical Sensation, they're asked to choose a big, medium, or small chair. The bigger the chair, the more directly involved the person sitting in it will be in the situations that occur as part of the performance, which is designed to re-create dozens of the life experiences of a woman the company selected from a number of applicants: Her name is Jamie Damon, and all that the audience experiences are the sensory inputs - sights, smells, sounds, and touches - removed of their context. more ›

The Casket of Passing Fancy is not a play, and it’s not, in any conventional sense, improv. It’s a hyper-participatory extravaganza of perpetual surprise, culminating in a theatrical experience that, like a psychedelic Choose Your Own Adventure story, tailors to each individual audience member’s taste, curiosity, or hunger. more ›

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... more ›

This winter, Alamo Drafthouse and some of the folks at Emo's are teaming up to throw an enormous single-day music festival at Waterloo Park. Sponsored by yours truly, METV, 101x, The Onion, AT&T, Mickey's, and Waterloo Records, the FunFunFun Fest features three stages of nonstop indie rock, punk, and electronic bands, including several bigger acts like Peaches, Spoon, Prefuse 73 and Circle Jerks. From November 8 to November 22, we're giving away a pair... more ›

A couple of shows with big phatty hype open this week. So ph-ph-phatty, that we’re bringing back the word phat (with a p.h. homeslice!) just to emphasize how phatty it really is. PHAT. PH. AT. Ok. Our Austinist Pick of the Week is a toss-up. Red Cans is the show the press just can’t get enough of. Josh Meyer and Matt Hislope, the delightful duo behind Rubber Repertory – the company producing the project... more ›

(Photo by Matt Wright) As children, we were a car trip family. Five of us would pack into a Subaru and set sail from Cleveland for other, even more Midwestern destinations. Places like Lawrence, Kansas, where great grandmother lived until her death in 2004. In high school, we'd stand in the alley behind Grandma's house, sneaking cigarettes where the family couldn't see. Back there we saw the sordid underbelly of Lawrence -- kids up... more ›