Image from www.loadedguntheory.comThe holidays are a busy time for theatre in Austin, with too many seasonal shows to choose from. As the glut looms, several fine shows are closing. Get to these while the gettin's good! Much-lauded director Karen Jambon helms Loaded Gun Theory's Little Murders. You can't judge a show by its artwork, but we think theirs is the best we've seen all year. This dark comedy about an overbearing daughter—played by the always-delightful......

O, the mighty men and women of Austin's stages! They get so busy this time of year. There's more than enough to choose from this week, but here are the theater picks that top our list. ProArts Collective wraps up the Black Arts Movement Festival with Incognito on Thursday at 8pm, and Spoken Word Caravan on Friday at 8pm. The former is a one-man drama, performed by author Michael Fosberg, about a man who grew......

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......

Note: Several weekend events will be added in the afternoon. THURSDAY [5] fashion/music/party • Car Stereo (Wars), Visuals by Super!Alright!, and 30-40% Everything at Strut (6-10pm) film • "Military Intelligence and You" at Alamo Drafthouse Lakecreek (7:30pm) art •Opening Reception for Aki Nagasaka's "Yellow Labyrinth" at Women and Their Work (6-8pm) books •Pam Oslie presents Love Colors at BookPeople (7:00pm) books •Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht presents "In 1926: Why and How?" at The Harry Ransom......

Welcome, welcome, the return of This Week in Theatre, our weekly attempt to point you, dear reader, in the direction of some of Austin's best and brightest theatre offerings. Pickings are a touch slim this week, probably due to the spring holiday, but here are a few things that caught our eye. First, the Bard-lovin' thesps at Austin Shakespeare Fest have ganged up with none other than Richard Garriott to bring you an Easter......

FRIDAY [30] music • The Skeletons at South Austin Speedshop (7pm) fashion/music • Couture de Amore with fashions by Loves, Mariessa; Stiletto Gold; Sea and Enemies; Amy Kline (Jewelry), and Clap!Clap!, Golden Bear, Haunting Oboe Music, The Valentines at The Parish Room ($10) music • Video/CD release for "The Projeckt" at Latitude 30 music • Bluebonnet Blues Festival, benefitting Historic Main Street Association of Marble Falls, at Marble Falls music • 3rd Annual Global......

THURSDAY [29] theatre •Yellow Tape Construction Company presents I Am Not Tartuffe at play! Theatre (8pm) theatre •The City Theatre Company presents The Boys Next Door at The City Theatre (8pm) theatre •Ohio Trip, a "slide show adventure" by Elizabeth Cobbe at Women & Their Work Gallery (7:30pm) theatre •The Vortex presents Hamlet at The Vortex (8pm) theatre •Hyde Park Theatre presents Zell Miller III's My Child, My Child, My Alien Child at Hyde......

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......

MONDAY [15] books • The Xenogia Spoken Word Collective, Uprise Productions, and the Vortex present Genevieve Van Cleve and Sharon Bridgeforth with host Zell Miller III at The Vortex (6:45pm, $3) film • 24 Season Premiere party, night two at Alamo Downtown (7pm) film • James Brown, Boston Garden 1968 at Alamo Downtown (9:45pm) Photo of Bull Creek by mr3wan on flickr......

FRIDAY [6] agliff/party • here! presents the aGLIFF member mingle at Rain (9pm) theatre • "Psycho Beach Party" at Arts on Real (8pm, $30) theatre • "At Home With Dick 2" at Dick's Apartment (3309 Grooms) (8pm, $10-$25) ® theatre • "Stillborn" at Hyde Park Theatre (8pm, $15) theatre • Zell Miller III: "Mix Tape, Theatre Style" at Off Center (8pm, $10) theatre • "Bitten: A Zombie Rock Odyssey" at Dougherty Arts Center (8pm,......

This week, ProArts Collective's Black Arts Movement Festival concludes with more amazing works by more amazing performers. Though there's a motherload of theatre open and opening in A-town right now, we think you should give these gems some serious consideration when you're planning your artful outings for the next few days. Note: Tickets are $10, door only / $35-$65 via festival pass, online only. Dance: ACC Dance, Dallas Black Dance, and UpRise! Productions We......

TUESDAY [12] theatre • Hairspray at Bass Concert Hall (8pm, $18.50-$60) ® fashion/party • Blue Velvet turning their Cupcake Party into a monthly event! Every second Tuesday, enjoy free homemade cupcakes, a keg o' beer, tropical punch for the teetotallers (and, well, kids), DJs, and an extra 20% all their vintage threads. Tonight's tunes provided by DJ Polaris. At Blue Velvet Vintage Clothing (5pm-8pm, 2100-B Guadalupe Street) ® film • AFS Essential: Finger of......

The folks at The Vortex were kind enough to let us backstage to snap a few pictures just before the start of Zell Miller III's B-Boy Bluez and Maggie Gallant's Hot Dogs at the Eiffel Tower, so even though the shows are over, we wanted to put the photos up. Original write-up is here. One more backstage shot and two from the performances below the Expand-o-Tron.......

"Back in the days when I was a teenager / Before I had status and before I had a pager / You could find the abstract listenin' to hip-hop / My pops used to say it reminded him of bebop / I said well Daddy don't you know things go in cycles..." — Q-Tip Tonight is the last of four performances of Zell Miller III's B-Boy Bluez, 8 p.m. at the Vortex. This photographer......

A few titillating theatre pieces are going down in Austin right now, from dancing prancing ladies to pinko feminazi confessions. Curiouser and curiouser. But our list is topped by the New Plays/Fresh Voices performances running two weeks only at the Vortex. This and next weekend only, two new plays by two local playwrights will be on the boards. One of the works is the latest from local, award-winning playwright, poet, and performer Zell Miller,......

Adding to the flood of entertainment options available this Saturday, some of Austin's most popular slam poets will be facing off to figure out who gets to represent our fair city at the National Poetry Slam this summer. On the bill for the event are Tony Jackson, Krissi Reeves, Big Poppa E, Zell Miller III, Erin Livingston, Christopher Lee, Genevieve Van Cleve, Da'Shade Moonbeam, Christopher Michael, Shannon Leigh, Andy Buck, and Ohio Jake --......

This week’s theatre offerings have nothing to do with John Aielli or KUT, and we won't be playing a variety of songs referencing how exceptionally cold it’s been these past few days. Really, we just liked the title. (Sorry to all you non-KUT listeners who we’ve just completely excluded.) Plus, it actually is a very eclectic week on the boards (or, er, the concrete floors...in our local warehouse theatres). There’s an exciting collaboration afoot......

[This post comes courtesy of reader Julie Holden, who'll soon be joining the Austinist staff. Welcome, Julie!] Last night we caught the preview of Zell Miller III's "The Evidence of Silence Broken" at Hyde Park Theatre. Miller is a local playwright, actor, and poet who received The Austin Chronicle's Best Author/Poet award for 2004. He's an energetic, captivating performer whose work includes poetry slams, theatre eduction, and much more. We've seen Miller on stage......

MONDAY [music] Say Hi to Your Mom, Summer at Shatter Creek, 1986 at Stubb's BBQ. [music] Digable Planets with The Procussions, DJ Vajra at La Zona Rosa [party] Digable Planets After-Party with Element 7D, DJ Kunal M, DJ Inverse at Red Fez. [poetry] Speaking the Spoken: The Art of Verse at The Vortex. Hosted by Xenogia and Zell Miller III. Readers $1, all others $3. 7pm-945pm. TUESDAY [film] Austin Film Society presents John Schlesinger’s "Billy......