Joni Lorraine - Page 7

The Rudes. They're like the cast of Star Wars or Star Trek, iconic and revered in that way that Trekkers love Leonard Nimoy or George Takei, but for Austin and its avid theatre going Rude fans, well, that, and their collaborative works with others from Helsinki to Cedar Rapids. And their current production, REQUIEM FOR TESLA, is, in its third incarnation, like a Star Trek reboot. While other theatres around town dust off the usual December holiday fare, The Rude Mechanicals, never to be usual, have resurrected REQUIEM FOR TESLA in celebration of their 20th anniversary season. It's obvious they've been around and drummed up an enthusiastic fan base. (Full disclosure: I'm one of them). On opening night for this particular production, one ebullient fan behind us waxed poetic to total strangers about each and every Rude production he'd seen (many of which I've seen myself) including the 2001 and 2003 iterations of REQUIEM FOR TESLA.

ZACH's A Christmas Carol isn't the only game in town, ya know? Before Dave Steakley masterminded the mashup of the classic Dickens tale with contemporary hit music there was another staple of the Austin holiday theatre scene, ok? Martin Burke has been doling out shade on the holiday madness by way of David Sedaris' classic SANTALAND DIARIES since William Jefferson Clinton was in office. And there's practically no crying and sentiment and warm fuzzy Christmas cheer to be found in it, thank GOODNESS, fer CRYINOUTLOUD!

BASKERVILLE is a rollicking bit of fun, especially for the mystery fans among us.

"Neverland was an awfully long time ago…" In Kimberly Belflower's LOST GIRL, Wendy Darling takes center stage to give us her story of growing up and living in the shadow of the eternally youthful Peter Pan.

The game's afoot! Austin Playhouse produces the Texas premiere of a famous Sherlockian tale, Ken Ludwig's BASKERVILLE, A Sherlock Holmes Mystery.

ONCE ON THIS ISLAND is the product of bringing us a part of the African American experience, just as the Spectrum founders intend, and it's worth cultivating.

Students of McCallum Fine Arts Academy take on the story of the swashbuckling poet Cyrano in a challenging operetta.

THE PRICE is a beautifully executed piece of theatre that should be assigned viewing for any avid Austin theatre-goer.

SILENT SKY rises above the rest to create a unique little slice of heaven right here in Austin.

'On the twenty-third day of the month of September in an early year of a decade not too long before our own, the human race suddenly encountered a deadly threat to its very existence. And this terrifying enemy surfaced, as such enemies often do, in the seemingly most innocent and unlikely of places.' And so goes the prologue to the popular small cast musical LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS. Based on the 1960 movie directed by Roger Corman, LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS by writer Howard Ashman and composer Alan Menken, is the marriage of a 60's love story and the apocalyptic sci-fi films of the era set to music. The result is a crowd pleasing intimate campy black musical comedy. Its success led to the musical being produced as a movie in 1986 with Rick Moranis, Vincent Gardenia, Ellen Greene and Steve Martin in the lead roles.

ALL SHOOK UP is just the right antidote for all the rain, politicking and back to school mayhem at the moment. Go see. It's fun.

Taking on a story of such biblical proportions (pun intended) as SALOME is a courageous act and The Gale Theatre Company, is a courageous ensemble. 'Everyone is safe but no one is comfortable,' is a commitment the company shares in the program for their interpretation of SALOME. Salome, the 'dancing woman' from the New Testament, has been depicted in all manner of artful medium - theatre, opera, poetry, film, ballet, even a video game. She is an icon, arguably more interesting even than the first woman Eve. And so it is that the Gale Theatre Company, under the direction of Katherine Wilkinson and choreography of Earl Kim, tackle this biblical figure made icon by playwright Oscar Wilde, portrayed in film by the likes of Theda Bara and Rita Hayworth. In this depiction though, we start at Salome's end, rather than her beginning. 'What does a woman do when she is left alone to grieve?'

SMOKY JOE'S CAFE is a light and fluffy diversion. It may be just what is needed in July of an election year.

Tito Beveridge treats Texans to a taste of themselves in This Side of the Dirt.

Consider any country in Latin America wherein a dictatorship has preceded a democracy. Consider a woman has been held captive as political prisoner and tortured and raped by her captors in this country. Consider then, the effect that such trauma can have at every level. Consider then, DEATH AND THE MAIDEN.

BWW caught up with Tito Beveridge, owner of Tito's Vodka, to chat for a minute about his new play, THIS SIDE OF THE DIRT.

CLYBOURNE PARK is a play worthy of producing and seeing in any city that claims to be as progressive and liberal as Austin. It's a couple hours worth of good theatre by a theatre company that consistently produces excellent work.  We can sit in the dark and laugh at ourselves and race relations and enjoy some theatre that is, by the way,suffering from gentrification itself.

Based on the life of a young girl who is taken in the early 1800's to live among Native Americans in the Mid-Western U.S, Lou Clark's YOUNG BEAR follows five year old Frances Slocum's personal journey through two different cultures and looks at each through the eyes of a young child.