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Theatre for Sat., April 20
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    Theatre

    Drug Stories, Live!

    Bat City Cinema, purveyor of 16mm and 35mm “classics and oddities,” presents what they term “a hallucinogenic head trip into a world of punks, drunks, jokers, tokers, pill-poppers and flip-floppers. A lysergic lesson in the do’s and don’ts of drugs.” The screening is a collaboration with the American Genre Film Archive and Something Weird Video, a distribution company based in Seattle that specializes in “the very best in exploitation cinema from the 1930s to 1970s.” It’ll be hosted by the “World’s Biggest Joint,” whatever that means. Why not find out! – Lina Fisher
    Sat., April 20
ONGOING
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    Theatre

    A Year With Frog and Toad

    For generations of children, Arnold Lobel’s stories of amphibian best buds Frog and Toad have been a charming guide to the complexities and joys of friendship. Now the pair take to the stage for this delightful Tony-nominated musical. It’s truly a family affair, adapted by Lobel’s son-in-law Mark Linn-Baker with music by Robert Reale and book & lyrics by his brother, Willie. This new production, directed by Best of Austin winner Sara Burke, features Jillian Sainz and Victoria Brown donning the signature jackets and trousers of Frog and Toad, respectively. – Richard Whittaker
    Fridays-Sundays. Through May 12
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    Theatre

    Disaster! The Musical

    The first night on a giant floating casino/discotheque just off Manhattan: What can possibly go wrong? Well, since this is the 1970s, the decade of the disaster movie, how about earthquakes, tidal waves, rats, explosions, and deadly slot machine handles? Jack Plotnick and Seth Rudetsky’s Broadway jukebox musical features toe-tappers from the decade of AOR and disco, so there’s no better place to be for a night of mayhem and Chuck Mangione. Just watch out for the sharks … – Richard Whittaker
    Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays through April 21
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    Theatre

    Born With Teeth

    The worst myth about William Shakespeare was that he was a unique genius who penned his greatest plays and sonnets in pristine isolation in his home in Stratford-upon-Avon. Lizzy Duffy Adams’ scathing comedy gets to the reality: that he was a jobbing playwright, a controversial upstart crow in Elizabethan London’s vibrant, tumultuous theatre scene. A long day with his contemporary, the radical Christopher Marlowe, becomes an examination of collaboration, influence, politics, desire, and the wild energy of life behind the stage. Austin Playhouse’s production runs Thursday-Sunday through April 28. – Richard Whittaker
    Thursday-Sunday, April 5-28
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    Theatre

    Into the Woods

    Who’s ready for a bedtime story? Because there’s nothing like Stephen Sondheim’s grand unification theory of the Brothers Grimm’s collection of German fairy tales. All your childhood folklore favorites become tangled up in the search for the cow as white as milk, the cape as red as blood, the hair as yellow as corn, and the slipper as pure as gold. Underneath the toe-tappers and cunning one-liners, there’s a fable about the perils of getting what you wished for and not paying attention to what you have, a moral reiterated by a witch who’s not good, not nice; just right. – Richard Whittaker
    Through April 21
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    Theatre

    Overheard on a Train

    All aboard for a theatrical adventure with the latest innovative journey from the experimental geniuses of Cheerful Secrets. This time, the audience is the cast: As you board the train, you’ll be handed your script, and you and three friends will be playing the parts of either the band or the bachelorette party. Intermission is at Black Star Co-op at Crestview before you board the train and return Downtown for the second act. Read more online. – Richard Whittaker
    Saturdays through May 25
    Red Line Downtown Station
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    Theatre

    The Black Feminist Guide to the Human Body

    Black cultural studies scholar Lisa B. Thompson’s “theatrical love letter to Black women and girls” premieres to a sold-out crowd this Friday at the Vortex. The choreopoem – which incorporates music, movement, and design, and culminates in an audience dance party – is “about embracing the ‘soft life’ for Black women, whose labor and dedication has sustained people, communities, and institutions,” says Thompson, who conceived of the idea during her 2021 MacDowell artist residency. The show was subsequently developed during a 2023-24 Texas Performing Arts and Fusebox residency, and includes songs co-written with composers Guthrie P. Ramsey, Jr. and Vince Anthony, as well as collaborations with choreographer Sadé M. Jones. The show runs Thu.-Sun. through May 4, and tickets are selling fast! – Lina Fisher
    Thu.-Sun through May 4  
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    Theatre

    The Prom

    OMG, it’s prom season, y’all! And what could make it better than four Broadway stars making it all about themselves? Zach presents the catchy tale of desperate thespians trying to gain relevance by “helping” a small town prom be less bigoted. Set to toe-tapping tunes, this musical entertains and educates. There will be laughs, love, and you know, someone might just learn something along the way. – Cat McCarrey
    Through May 12  

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