Tomorrow night at Salvage Vanguard Theater, UT's Libraries and the Fine Arts Library are hosting a panel discussion with quite an impressive panel of local playwrights. None other than George Brant, Sherry Kramer, Kirk Lynn, and Steve Moore "will address their position as straddlers—young, critically acclaimed playwrights whose early successes in the 20th century influenced the theater’s trajectory into the 21st."...

Playwright and filmmaker David Mamet will appear at UT's Hogg Auditorium on Monday, February 4th for a discussion of his work with the Austin Chronicle's Robert Faires. The event is the first of several appearances by Mamet at UT in conjunction with the acquisition of his archives by the Harry Ransom Center....

The Bard is back! This weekend only—Shakespeare shenanigans you won't want to miss. But first we're dropping a hint about a little show we've heard is fantastic. Shrewd Productions' Io: a myth about you runs through November 10, Th/Fr/Sa at the Vortex. This play with music features an all-star cast, including our current biggest crush Jude Hickey. Described as a "foray into heroic tales, vengeance, decadence, salvation, forgiveness, and rock & roll," it contains strong......

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......

Plenty of delightful doings in A-Town this week! First, Austin is participating in Free Night of Theater 2007. The program is exactly what it sounds like: reserve tickets to see a show for free. It's like the biggest giveaway ever! And it lasts all the way through the first week of November. Only a few shows were available at press time, but we have it on good authority that new shows and fresh batches......

Why does a production company in general, or a director in particular, choose a difficult script? Is it the challenge? The thrill of potentially succeeding where others have failed? Certainly an easy script can be dull to work with, especially if it's something that's been done to death, such as many of the straightforward, heartwarming, popular theatre pieces that make up so much of community theatre fare. We mulled over this question while we recently......

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......

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,......

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,......

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......

A slew. A smorgasboard. A swarm. A bunch. A lot. All right, people. After a little bit of a lull last weekend, we’re back on form here in theatre-land. Dance, drama, debate, big cheesy musical adaptations of classic MGM films – it’s all here, and it’s all waiting. For you. Always for you. That being said, big ups to our Austinist Pick of the Week, Kathy Dunn Hamrick’s And Then There Were Twelve. Every......

In anticipation of tomorrow night's premiere of A Scanner Darkly, hosted by the Austin Film Society, movie- and music-lovers can check out a live performance of pieces from the film's score at 5pm tonight at Waterloo Records. For free, of course. Composer Graham Reynolds, along with some-odd nine musicians, including the current members of the Golden Arm Trio, will entertain and quite likely enlighten you, as Reynolds and his cohorts are wont to do.......

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......