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In Pro Arts Collective's admirable production of Having Our Say, the intimacy of the performing space and warmth of the show's two actresses make the experiences of the centenarian Delany sisters -- and the history they have lived -- come alive in a remarkably personal way.

A few weeks ago, Ronald Harwood's Taking Sides -- about the interrogation of a world-class conductor and possible Nazi sympathizer during WWII -- wouldn't have seemed all that relevant to the world's headlines. Now, it does, this solid production from ActAustin and the Magnolia Theatre Company may make you consider the characters (and thus the situation) beyond the decorated stage's rectangle of light.

Capturing the creepy power and tone of Franz Kafka's novella The Metamorphosis, in which a man awakes one morning to find himself turned into a giant beetle, in a stage production may be as difficult as capturing the rare Megolaponera foetens. Still, the Refraction Arts / Public Domain co-production of The Metamorphosis is a valiant attempt, and possible required viewing for any Kafka aficionado.@META_Category_arts: Review

Director Mark Ramont and his production team stage the world premiere of The Apeman of Manhattan fairly realistically, with some impressive acting, but Rosalyn Rosen's script, in which a well-off advertising executive struggles with her feelings for a former lover who is using her in the worst kind of way, may have you wondering what the show is really all about.

Despite some fine performances, consistently lush and well-executed chorus numbers, and stunning sets and costumes, the Austin Musical Theatre production of Oliver! leaves one wanting more.

In the Public Domain Theatre Company's production of King Lear, director Robi Polgar and company bring Shakespeare's play into the present with high tech and high fashion, and the smooth execution of the concept create a novel version of this familiar tragedy with a striking proximity to our lives.

Brave enough to use symbols like the butterfly, the flower, the heart, the egg, and the dove, Austin artist Pio Pulido also proves in his new exhibition at the Dougherty Arts Center that he is wily enough to find new energies in these tired subjects.

In Second Youth's 10th anniversary production of The Snow Queen, the ending can be sensed from the beginning, but it's the journey that counts, and this journey is full of wonderful surprises and theatrical magic.

As its title suggests, Preaching to the Perverted is unlikely to deliver much that's new to its expected audience. Still, Holly Hughes' new solo piece serves as both intelligent entertainment and rousing battle cry for those who see all too clearly the many faults in the logic of the mainstream.

In the Earth and Sky Acting Co.'s 8 Tracks (No Disco), john daniels, jr. has conjured the Seventies rock world of hot chicks, backseat lovin', and sentimental ballads via a spate of endless musical numbers and ill-conceived poems and skits.

The Gilbert & Sullivan Society of Austin's latest voyage on the HMS Pinafore benefits from the presence of director Ralph MacPhail at the helm. His light comic touch keeps the boat bobbing along merrily, a most agreeable ship of fools.

Chronicle arts reviews

Genius and madness are the ac and dc of inventor Nikola Tesla's life, as portrayed in the Rude Mechanicals' biographical tribute Requiem for Tesla, and this new version provides the atmosphere and quickening charge of an old Universal horror film.

Yasmina Reza's Art has come to Austin, and the Zachary Scott Theatre Center production is equal to the playwright's work. It's a pearl and it's the inside-out of a pearl -- a thing of beauty and the irritant that creates it.

With a pair of gut-bustingly funny solo shorts, Kings of the Universe Louis Wells and Chris Alonso stick their fingers in every dessert on the display tray, then refuse to order any : and that's satire.

Local Arts Reviews

The comic skill of the actors in OnStage Theatre Company's revival of Bell, Book, and Candle makes magic

In 'A Traves de mis manos / Through My Hands,' painter Esteban Machado Diaz offers us a gallery of playfully impossible landscapes reminiscent of Escher

All the elements come together to produce something truly magical in KidsActing's revival of 'The Velveteen Rabbit: The Musical'

Both Anna Deavere Smith's script for 'House Arrest' and Zachary Scott Theatre Center's production of it fall short as meaningful political theatre

"New American Talent – The 19th Exhibition" merits repeated visits, for the abundance of energy and originality of vision among its many featured artists

Much of the Seventies send-up Debbie Does Dallas – The Musical is so bad it's good, but overall, Naughty Austin's production is wildly inconsistent

Onstage Theatre Company's production of Crimes of the Heart focuses on the relationships among Beth Henley's small-town Southerners and describes them simply, truly, and beautifully

Friendship was the theme of the Budjanova Chamber Orchestra's A Night in Vienna, which was dedicated to the memory of Danielle Martin, the late UT professor whose life touched many of those at the concert

The Bedlam Faction's production of Wayne Alan Brenner's Screwed Into the Book of Love is an ambling journey through a maze of situations built upon the effects and circumstances of love

Using inventive props, puppets, costumes, and live music, the gang at Esther's Follies stuffs fast-paced skits, political satire, and illusions into a tightly compacted show

Michael Frayn's Noises Off is funny stuff, and while this Naughty Austin production sometimes works, it has only one basic level: big, fast, and loud

The U.S. of Cyndi Williams' American Arcana is a country unraveling, and Refraction Arts' production portrays this with a sense of urgency and tension

The many paths we walk can shape the people we become in life. Ballet East united old and new troupe dancers and choreographers to present multiple works in Paths.

The Bedlam Faction's sci-fi, action-movie, musical upgrade of Aphra Behn's 17th-century comedy The Emperor of the Moon is a good time that's edgy enough for the wilder bunch and tame enough for conventional crowds.