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“Born With Teeth” at Austin Playhouse
Liz Duffy Adams’ play Born With Teeth is predicated on the idea that Will Shakespeare and Kit Marlowe did indeed collaborate on the writing of the Henry VI trilogy, and asks: so, what did they talk about while they worked? “Imagined conversations between two real people” is a well established theatrical genre; Born With Teeth…
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“The Twilight of the Golds” at City Theatre
If you are (like I was until last week) unfamiliar with Jonathan Tolins’ Twilight of the Golds, the main conflict of the story is a woman who contemplates terminating a wanted pregnancy after finding out via experimental in-utero DNA testing that her baby is 90% likely to turn out gay – shocking and offending her…
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“The Library” at Different Stages
Scott Z. Burns’ The Library is heavy. I guess it would be silly to suggest that any story about a school shooting and its aftermath could be anything but heavy. Different Stages’ current production of The Library (directed by Carl Gonzales and Lacey Cannon Gonzales) is heavy – but not oppressively so. Some hard topics…
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“Back To You” at Austin Rainbow Theatre
Everyone wants to be an auteur. I suppose there’s nothing wrong with being an auteur, as long as you have the talent. I would even argue that the fellow artists an auteur surrounds themself with are just as important as their own sensibilities. Back To You is a two-character play about two gay boys named…
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“The Ghosts of Christmas Past”: A Staged Reading at Archive Theater
The Ghosts of Christmas Past seems to have had a fraught (though brief) history. It was intended (as a full production) to be Archive’s winter show when they announced their 2023 season, but in the middle of October it was cancelled due to a lack of “spirit/force/resources” and actors. Then three weeks later, the show…
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“Miss Lulu Bett” at Different Stages
Zona Gale’s Miss Lulu Bett was written 100+ years ago, but the script is fresh, rich, and modern. It is maddening and hopeful. It’s been a long time since I have felt such real indignation and frustration for a fictional character. (Maybe since I first read Ella Enchanted 20 years ago?) The brief synopsis from…
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“El Cid” at Austin Shakespeare
At one point in the first act of Austin Shakespeare’s Friday night performance of El Cid, an audience member on stage left started to unwrap a loud snack. The crinkling of the plastic paused, then continued. Paused, then continued. Heads turned from the stage towards the sound. Crinkle, crinkle. A woman a few rows in…
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“Ride the Cyclone” at Texas Theatre and Dance
When I first read the online blurb for Ride the Cyclone at UT Austin, I wasn’t very interested. The plot seemed fine, but the marketing line about every song being in a different genre and having “something for everyone” seemed overdone. I’m a documented pop-concert-musicals hater! Who wants to see a musical with no consistency…
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“Deathtrap” at Jarrott Productions
Deathtrap is a witty, self-aware, tightly packed script. No line is a throw-away. It’s a play that knows what it is and invites each actor to really dig their teeth into their roles. I found, however, that though Jarrott Productions’ current run of Deathtrap is almost technically perfect and enjoyable to sit through, it seemed…
Bat City Stage Reviews
A review blog for live theater in Austin, Texas