Summertime in Austin seems a good season to waste with late breakfasts, midday naps, and other heat avoidance tactics. In Chekhov's Uncle Vanya, a stifling hot month spent in idleness is cause for complaint, and even violence, and the gentle pace of Breaking String's elegant production at the Off Center belies the sadness tucked away in each character's heart.
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It's 6,000 miles from Austin to Moscow (the one in Russia, not Texas), but one local theater company is striving to close that gap, bringing contemporary and classic Russian plays to life here. Breaking String, named after a much discussed stage direction in Anton Chekhov's , is led by a quartet: Liz Fisher, Robert Matney, Matt Radford, and Graham Schmidt. They call themselves Co-Producing Artistic Directors (a nod to the structure adopted by Austin's Rude Mechs). In conversation during a break in rehearsal for their latest production of Chekhov's Uncle Vanya, it's clear that Breaking String's creative partnership is strengthened by a mix of passion and intellect. more ›

This Halloween weekend is jam-packed with parties, arts events, and a touch of the supernatural, but you're unlikely to be transported to the Victorian age anywhere else but with Trouble Puppet and the Hidden Room, in a decidedly unusual venue downtown. more ›

Before West Side Story, before Beverly Hills 90210, before Sex and the City, before so much of the drama—high and low brow—we have turned to for entertainment over the past several hundred years…before all that, there was Shakespeare. Master of Play Beth Burns takes her best shot at Shakespeare with a production of the comedy Twelfth Night at the Scottish Rite Theater. The production is perfectly cast. These actors are all so clearly smitten with the bard’s work that you can feel the love as they deliver, and deliver they do. more ›