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With the clock counting down to Christmas, you’re probably rushing to holiday markets, searching for presents, and fitting holiday parties into your (sparse) free time. Let’s be real. The holidays tend to be more stressful than fun sometimes.
If you need to take a step back and enjoy a fun activity with the family, then the Austin area has multiple classic and original Christmas shows that can transport you to another place. Here are my nine recommendations for 2019.
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Founded in 1993, The Adderley School for the Performing Arts operates in both Texas and California. Janet Adderley, founder and veteran of Broadway and television, calls Austin her home.
Since the school’s inception, thousands of children across all age groups have found a passion for musical theater. On stage, they gain confidence in their voice and movement.
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The whirlwind of a child’s nightmare, with a dim flashlight of hope under the canopy of childlike imagination, set the tone for “Matilda The Musical”—now playing at ZACH Theatre.
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Don’t be intimidated by Richard III like the Duke of Buckingham (Credit: Kimberley Mead)
For anyone wondering what the true form and function of theater looks like, consider “Booth’s Richard III” at Austin Scottish Rite Theatre, playing for one more weekend on June 29 and 30. This performance of Colley Cibber’s “Richard III,” taken from the original script notes by American thespian turned villain, John Wilkes Booth, is unlike anything you’ll see this year.
Let me frame it for you. Beth Burns, Artistic Director of Hidden Room Theatre and the Master of Play, announces the show and briefly explains what you are about to see: lots of stage violence, melodrama, gesture acting, and hundreds of lines of Shakespeare. In short, maybe everything you hate about theater. And yet, she begs, there is one thing fundamental to bringing Shakespeare’s plays to life: you, the audience. [Read more…]
Lily Wolff, Austin theater director
Theater director Lily Wolff’s career has rarely followed the traditional path. From her cosmopolitan upbringing, to her interest in Devised Theater, to her freelancing business plan, Wolff is carving out her own course in a city that appreciates unique trajectories.
Austin theater-goers are reaping the benefits of Wolff’s prolific talent. As she prepares for the opening of the second of three directed plays in 2018, I sat down with Wolff to learn more about her life, the Austin theater scene, and why the arts could benefit from our support. [Read more…]
Set of “A Delicate Ship” by Anna Ziegler (Credit: Nicolette Mallow)
When Elizabeth V. Newman and Stephanie Moore met, neither one anticipated founding a theatre company together. But all the hard work paid off and Austin-based Filigree Theater came to be. With Newman as Artistic Director and Moore as Managing Director, the women-led artistic group has produced several critically-acclaimed shows. Newman and Moore have worked diligently to shine light on Austin’s visual and performing arts that go beyond the music our city is known for. [Read more…]
Rude Mechs is taking Austin back, one district at a time (Credit: Rude Mechs via Flickr)
Last year, Austin lost over 30,000 square feet of artistic performance space. Think about that for a second.
Austin is an artistic city. We have built a huge portion of our economy around it. The arts attract tourists and transplants, and businesses follow them here. The arts are the foundation for so much of what makes Austin the vibrant city that it is.
But the sad fact is that Austin has become a victim of its own success. As people and money flow into the city, the price of doing business here increases. Rent goes up, and creative hubs begin to shutter. We might not notice the immediate impact, but over time, the trend erodes a big part of what originally made Austin attractive and lucrative. Eventually, the rest of the food chain can suffer.
Rude Mechs is an Austin ensemble theater company standing against the [Read more…]
Scene from The Comedy of Errors at Zilker Hillside Theater (Credit: Sam Zavieh)
Free Shakespeare in Zilker Park is an experience I look forward to every year. It combines three of my favorite things: Shakespeare, being outside under the stars on an early summer evening, and free stuff. That’s right! Shakespeare in the Park is completely free theater, although they gladly accept donations.
This is a great place to take a special someone or your group of friends, and let the Bard’s words wrap around you while the fireflies dance. [Read more…]
A look at the signature crazy costumes worn by the cast of “Priscilla, Queen of the Desert” (Credit: Kirk Tuck)
When ZACH opened up the Topfer Theatre in 2012, the Austin theater scene jumped up a few notches. ZACH has presented quality musicals and plays since 1932, but once they built a beautiful contemporary theater to house their productions, the whole experience was elevated.
A perfect example of this creative boost is the newly opened “Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.” With booty shaking music and enough costume changes to boggle the mind, this musical will have audiences grinning from ear to ear for over two hours. [Read more…]
Lisa Scheps’s mission is to provide a stage where “soft voices” can be heard
Guest article by Dana Sayre
Austin’s Ground Floor Theatre celebrates under-represented populations in Austin, broadening the diversity of the local theatre community.
You might be familiar with Austin local Lisa Scheps from “Off the Stage and On the Air,” a radio show she hosts each Wednesday on KOOP 91.7. Her latest brainchild is Ground Floor Theatre, a new theatrical venue in East Austin, at the corner of Airport and Springdale.
The goal of Ground Floor Theatre is to foster “an environment for creative thinkers and artists to produce new works by and for underrepresented communities, lifting voices that need to be heard to people who need to hear them.” [Read more…]