Spider House Ballroom
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Arts Reviews 2,451 results
"Tammie Rubin: Before I Knew You, I Missed You"
Rubin's porcelain figures are both sympathetic and menacing, referencing the African-American experience through cones resembling KKK hoods
Reviewed by Sam Anderson-Ramos, Nov. 10, 2016
Who Killed These Girls?
Lowry brings a careful and deeply compassionate approach to her investigation of the Yogurt Shop Murders
Reviewed by Rosalind Faires, Nov. 3, 2016
The Devil’s Sinkhole
The follow-up to The Devil's Backbone is not only another wild ride but more proof that Bill Wittliff is a master storyteller
Reviewed by Joe O'Connell, Nov. 3, 2016
Razor Girl
Carl Hiaasen brings the Florida Man of tabloid headlines into his criminal swampland with gut-bustingly funny results
Reviewed by Tim Stegall, Nov. 3, 2016
The O. Henry Prize Stories 2016: The Best Stories of the Year
The 20 tales packed into this volume go to unexpected places and reveal lifetimes in just a handful of pages
Reviewed by Joe O'Connell, Nov. 3, 2016
The Blind Astronomer’s Daughter
John Pipkin's novel rooted in astronomy is as compelling as the brightest arrangement of stars beneath the vault of heaven
Reviewed by W. A. Brenner, Nov. 3, 2016
The Last Painting of Sara de Vos
The novel traces a painting's four-century history through a gallery of characters drawn with fondness and poignancy
Reviewed by Rosalind Faires, Nov. 3, 2016
White Sands: Experiences From the Outside World
Dyer has penned a thinking person's travelogue through territories geographic, cultural, and personal
Reviewed by W. A. Brenner, Nov. 3, 2016
The Terror Years: From Al-Qaeda to the Islamic State
This companion to Wright's The Looming Tower offers more insight into the radical transformation of the Middle East
Reviewed by Michael King, Nov. 3, 2016
The Wangs vs. the World
Chang's alternately humorous and poignant novel explores what it means to be American when the notion of America wears away
Reviewed by Melanie Haupt, Nov. 3, 2016
Wild Things, Wild Places: Adventurous Tales of Wildlife and Conservation on Planet Earth
Part memoir, part call to action, Alexander's book makes an effective case for caring for our world
Reviewed by Jessi Cape, Nov. 3, 2016
Sweetbitter
Danler makes fusion cuisine of the kitchen confidential genre and a naif-in-the-city tale and reaps the rewards of both
Reviewed by Kimberley Jones, Nov. 3, 2016
A Gentleman in Moscow
With literary sleight of hand, Amor Towles takes an epic tale of Russia and finesses it into a charming romp
Reviewed by Kimberley Jones, Nov. 3, 2016
Today Will Be Different
The novel fuses absurd comedy and heart into a story that is compulsively readable and surprisingly resonant
Reviewed by Adrienne Martini, Nov. 3, 2016
The Vortex’s Ballot Eats the Bullet
This timely production’s extraordinary performers speak truth, as black women in America, that makes us see them
Reviewed by T. Lynn Mikeska, Nov. 3, 2016
Tapestry Dance’s One Step at a Time
The rhythm tap company’s production offers not just wonderful dance but perhaps the most necessary commentary of this electoral season
Reviewed by Robert Faires, Nov. 3, 2016
“Tania Mouraud: Everyday Ogres” at UT VAC
The artist’s disturbing videos capture the ominous sense of an industrial intelligence beyond humans’ capacity to manage
Reviewed by Sam Anderson-Ramos, Nov. 3, 2016
"Painters Painting Painters" at Davis Gallery
With 10 artists making portraits of themselves and one another, it’s the variety of styles that provides the show’s strength
Reviewed by Sam Anderson-Ramos, Oct. 27, 2016
Hidden Room Theatre's Houdini Speaks to the Living
In this drama featuring Harry Houdini and Arthur Conan Doyle, a debate on the talking dead springs to dramatic life
Reviewed by Robert Faires, Oct. 27, 2016
The Institution Theater's It Came From Your Brain
This improvised retro sci-fi monster movie may pique your curiosity enough that you’ll want to visit the “drive-in” more than once
Oct. 27, 2016
Priscilla, Queen of the Desert
Long may Zach Theatre's musical Queen reign!
Reviewed by T. Lynn Mikeska, Oct. 20, 2016
"Meet the Beetles"
This Art.Science.Gallery exhibit celebrating the order Coleoptera in art will have you screaming "Yeah, yeah, yeah!"
Reviewed by Wayne Alan Brenner, Oct. 20, 2016
"Lorena Morales: Urban Kaleidoscope"
At CAMIBAart, the artist's altered images of Austin hint at the fickle phenomenon of memory and its transience
Reviewed by Sam Anderson-Ramos, Oct. 20, 2016
Jarrott Productions' The Price
This staging of the Arthur Miller drama keenly appraises the worth of a life
Reviewed by Robert Faires, Oct. 13, 2016
UT Dept. of Theatre & Dance's In the Red and Brown Water
Multiple storytelling modes make Tarell Alvin McCraney's complex play operate as both theatre and ritual
Reviewed by Elizabeth Cobbe, Oct. 13, 2016
"The First Horizons of Juno" at MASS Gallery
Within this smart and variable group show are three works that are muscular, robust, something to pump your fist to
Reviewed by Sam Anderson-Ramos, Oct. 13, 2016
Hyde Park Theatre's Lungs
The company has gathered all the right people for this beautiful, painful, timely tale of a man and a woman in a dying world
Reviewed by Elizabeth Cobbe, Oct. 6, 2016
Mary Moody Northen Theatre's The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui
This gangster spectacle based on Hitler's rise feels more than timely in the current election year
Reviewed by Robert Faires, Oct. 6, 2016
"Richard Forster: Levittown" at Lora Reynolds Gallery
The artist's reconsideration of his suburban hometown hinges on the conflict between the mass-produced and the personal
Reviewed by Sam Anderson-Ramos, Oct. 6, 2016
Silent Sky at Austin Playhouse
This luminous staging of Lauren Gunderson's play brings wonder to the universe and makes it at once vast and intimate
Reviewed by Robert Faires, Sep. 29, 2016
"Elliott Erwitt: Home Around the World" at the Ransom Center
This survey shows how the photographer captured the culture of his time in ways both compelling and frightening
Reviewed by Sam Anderson-Ramos, Sep. 29, 2016
Teatro Vivo’s EL
Raul Garza's new play explores the power of the storyteller
Reviewed by Roxanne Schroeder-Arce, Sep. 22, 2016
The Theorists’ Hiraeth
A sprawling evening of art and community organized by Amy Morrow and the Theorists showed the challenge of editing in our age
Reviewed by Jonelle Seitz, Sep. 22, 2016
“Figure/Heads: David Bae and Erin Cunningham” at ICOSA Collective Gallery
It's rare for a show to combine work by two artists so different in such a complex and intensely unified way
Reviewed by Sam Anderson-Ramos, Sep. 22, 2016
Theatre en Bloc's The Totalitarians
This ridiculous but smart satire about a Nebraska political race may be the only political play that can deliver laughs this election season
Reviewed by Elizabeth Cobbe, Sep. 15, 2016
Ethos' Atlantis: A Puppet Opera
This new musical take on the fall of Atlantis pulls us into an ancient place, powered by myth and ritual
Reviewed by Robert Faires, Sep. 15, 2016
"Femme National(e): Audrey Brown, Christina Coleman, Kasumi Chow / Desiree Michelle Espada, Emmy Laursen, Juliana Isabel Ramirez"
This group show is messy and a little berserk, but that's what makes it important and kindles joy in us
Reviewed by Sam Anderson-Ramos, Sep. 15, 2016
Out of Bounds Comedy Festival 2016: The Frank Mills, Loverboy, People of Earth
These three improv troupes gave us an earful at this year's OoB
Reviewed by Robert Faires, Sep. 8, 2016
"Sum You Some Me" at Butridge Gallery
This show pairing artwork by Felice House and Dana Younger feels dedicated and warm, a committed homage to the body
Reviewed by Sam Anderson-Ramos, Sep. 8, 2016
Hand to God at Hyde Park Theatre
Capital T Theatre delivers a fast-paced, funny take on this tale of a demonic hand puppet in a church basement
