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for Fri., May 19
  • The 39 Steps

    Mix a Hitcock masterpiece with a juicy spy novel, add a dash of Monty Python and you have The 39 Steps, a fast-paced whodunnit for anyone who loves the magic of theatre! This two-time Tony and Drama Desk Award-winning treat is packed with non-stop laughs, over 150 zany characters played by a ridiculously talented cast of four.
    Setp. 22-Oct. 8  
    Navasota Theatre Alliance
  • Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery

    Attention book club enthusiasts! Think you can solve a mystery before Sherlock Holmes? Here's your chance to win FOUR free tickets to the TexARTS production of Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery. Grab your magnifying glass, put on your detective hats, and prepare for an unforgettable evening at TexARTS.
    Sat. Oct. 7, 7pm  
    TexARTS
Recommended
  • Arts

    Theatre

    48-Hour Improv Marathon

    Yes, The Hideout Theatre's 48-Hour Improv Marathon is back after a four-year hiatus – and, as part of the Hideout's commitment to increasing diversity in improv, this year the core eight improvisers are all members of the BIPOC improv community. Those eight? Adrian Prado, Cass Gutierrez, J.R. Zambrano, Jess von Schramm, Lahari Dunn, Steph Vasquez Fonseca, Tyler Groce, and Stephanie Rae. They'll improvise nonstop for 48 hours, with a new format with fresh performers joining them (almost) every hour. Note: Each hour to attend – to watch these champions soar and then, as time takes its relentless toll, to witness them struggle valiantly against the need for sleep – will set you back $5. Or, highly recommended, you could buy an all-marathon pass for just $48 and catch their action whenever you choose.
    Straight through from Fri., May 19, 5pm, until Sun., May 21, 5pm. $5 per show ($48, full-fest pass).  
  • Arts

    Classical Music

    ASO: Scheherazade

    The Austin Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of Peter Bay, presents an enchanting performance of Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade and Chen Gang and He Zhanhao's The Butterfly Lovers Concerto, featuring the mesmerizing sounds of the Chinese erhu, performed by Jiebing Chen.
    Fri.-Sat., May 19-20, 8pm. $19 and up.  
  • Arts

    Theatre

    Sanctuary City

    Ground Floor Theatre presents Pulitzer Prize winner Martyna Majok's powerful story of two young DREAMers who fight to stay in America, the only country they know as home. Directed by Andrea Nuñez, with performances by Arielle Levin, Michael Galvan, and Kristian Bexar.
    Through June 3. Thu.-Sat., 8pm; Sun., 5pm. $25-45.  
  • Arts

    Theatre

    Short Shakespeare in Zilker Park

    Austin Shakespeare brings Short Shakespeare to the Zilker Hillside Theater, featuring four plays (20-minute versions of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Tempest, Twelfth Night, and Hamlet) with five actors and two musicians, directed by Gwendolyn Kelso.
    Thu.-Sun., May 18-21, 8pm
  • Arts

    Comedy

    Steve Martin & Martin Short

    Steve Martin and Martin Short’s show redefines comedy in unexpected and profound ways, as performed by two of the funniest, most influential and acclaimed talents of the past century. Their humor is often subversive, but it is always a joyous self-deprecating romp from two comedy masters driven to make each other laugh as much as the audience.
    Fri.-Sat., May 19-20, 8pm. $89.50 and up.  
  • Arts

    Visual Arts

    Window Dressing XXVII: Sunlight and Bone

    Damian Noll uses a magnifying lens to draw with sunlight, solar-tattooing his designs onto bones acquired from local hunters, butchers, or road kills. For a limited time, you can see these beauties on display, 24/7, in ICOSA's front window at Canopy – but don't miss the artist reception!
    Through May 22. Artist reception: Fri., May 19, 7-9pm
All Events
  • Arts

    Visual Arts

    Art & Parks Tour

    This sweet opportunity comes to us from the Downtown Austin Alliance, the Pease Park Conservancy, and Ride Bikes Austin – so we know it's a damned good thing indeed. Take the self-guided Art & Parks Tour to explore the best of what Downtown Austin art and parks have to offer through this selection of curated murals, artworks, and green spaces. You can sign up anytime, so click that URL and get ready to learn the most vibrantly visual parts of your city soon – live and in person.
  • Arts

    Visual Arts

    Art for the People: Springing Into Colour

    The movers and shakers of AFTP have transformed this lively gallery with at least 90 new pieces created by more than 33 Austin artists – including 13 who are showing their work here for the first time – to bring a bright flood of spring into our city.
    Through June 2
  • Arts

    Visual Arts

    Atelier Dojo: Remote Studios

    The local powerhouse of figurative painting, the art school that's the smart school for artists of all kinds, they've got a painting-along-at-home series going to help you keep your skills honed in these socially restrictive times, featuring live costumed models posing on camera and a thriving community of creatives rendering that lovely human biotecture from their separate studios. "Join us for a three-hour costumed-model drawing session. Use any supplies you wish, listen to music, share your work, chat with others. It’s a great way to stay connected with your art community!"
    Tuesdays, 1:30-4:30pm; Fridays, 6:30-9:30pm; Saturdays, 9:30-12:30pm. $5.  
  • Arts

    Visual Arts

    Austin Pastel Fest

    The Austin Pastel Society's 2023 festival of works is presented by Artworks Gallery.
    Through June 17
  • Arts

    Dance

    Ballet Austin: Classes

    Learn your way to physical grace with a dance class at Ballet Austin. There are so many varieties to choose among – ballet, barre, contemporary dance, hip-hop, tap, cardio dance fitness, Pilates, and more – and all taught by professional instructors. See website for details.
    $3-7 per class.
  • Arts

    Visual Arts

    Butridge Gallery: Children of the Earth + The Other Side

    The "Children of Earth" paintings by Camille Lema are about human connections and being grounded to the planet that's our home. Meena Matai's "The Other Side" is an exploration of the personal stories of her family and millions of others who were affected by the India-Pakistan partition of 1947. Together, these two exhibitions shine with power and beauty.
    Through May 20. Free.  
  • Arts

    Comedy

    Cap City Comedy Club

    That's right: Cap City Comedy Club, the longtime cornerstone of Austin's comedy scene for nearly four decades is at a new venue in the Domain. And here's Valerie Lopez with a closer look at what's in store for the scene via the venue. Click for details!
  • Arts

    Theatre

    Chronicles of an Indigenous Offspring

    Inspired by James Baldwin's Notes of a Native Son and Ta-Nehisi Coates' Between the World and Me, Zell Miller III uses hip-hop culture, jazz aesthetics movement, and spoken word to weave an authentic tapestry offering a picture of what it means to be a person of color in this southern city. This new show is "a therapeutic exhale that documents growing up Black in Austin, Texas," and "a love letter to cultural landmarks that have been erased from the city's consciousness, Chronicles also exposes the city's dark past. Famed photographer Ivan Millers's black-and-white images create a striking visual environment, and Miller's longtime musical collaborator Thomas "Hitman" Wheeler on percussion creates a funky sonic landscape.
    Through June 3. Thu.-Sat., 8pm. $21-23.  
  • Arts

    Visual Arts

    Cloud Tree: Fired Up

    "Fired Up," is it? Well, of course that means an exhibition of the work of 12 celebrated artists, both local and national, in Cloud Tree's first group showcase of ceramic art. Behold an array of clay-based wonders thrown and shaped and glazed by Ryan McKerley, Mimi Bardagjy, Scott Proctor, Rebeca Milton, Alejandra Almuelle, Claudia Reese, Mary F. Fischer, Sarah German, Stone Anderson, Noelle Mercado, Eliana Bernard, and Hillary Cumberworth.
    Through May 27
  • Arts

    Comedy

    ColdTowne Theater

    ColdTowne's new brick-and-mortar place is totally open, and who knows what they'll shake this city with next? But one truth remains: ColdTowne is a designated den of gold, baby, sweet comedy gold.
  • Arts

    Visual Arts

    Davis Gallery: The Poetry of Spring

    This is a new exhibition of works by Cookie Ashton, who uses wet pigments, inks, charcoals, and pastels in exploring dreamlike territories of abstraction.
    Through June 10
  • Arts

    Theatre

    Disco Dracula

    The commedia dell'arte madcaps of La Fenice have taken everything they love in 1970s films about New York's seedy underbelly – and scary, awkward, or awkwardly-scary Dracula media – and crammed it all into one late-night show that, they tell us, you'll immediately feel ashamed you saw. "All of our vampires will sparkle. Every one of us will shake our money maker. Every one of us will apply a dubious accent with less-than-stellar consistency." With Kareem Badr, Nate Dunaway, Kelly Hasandras, Kate Meehan, and Adam Rodriguez japing wild? Sounds like a good time to us!
    Through May 20. Fri.-Sat.,10pm. $10-20.  
  • Arts

    Dance

    Diverse Space Dance Theatre: Sprites and Spirits

    Diverse Space Dance Theatre presents a multigenerational dancework featuring original music by composer and music director Victoria Schwarz. The music is scored and mixed by Stephen Trudell. The performance is choreographed by Michael Jahoda (Amsterdam), Toni Bravo (Austin), and the DSDT cast.
    May 18-21. Thu.-Sat., 7:30pm; Sun., 6pm. $15-37.  
  • Arts

    Comedy

    East Austin Comedy Club

    Founded by comedians Raza Jafri and Andre Ricks, this club that operates out of Tiger Den on the Eastside is the city's only BIPOC-owned comedy venue.
  • Arts

    Comedy

    Esther's Follies

    Esther's Follies – Austin's not-so-secret weapon in the fight against ennui – the comedy gem that still dazzles this growing urban hub – returns to the weekly live and in-person stage of their club on Dirty Sixth, the whole troupe bringing back old favorites and debuting a new program of hilarity with topical, ripped-from-the-headlines sketches and musical numbers. And you do need a laugh or two, right about this time, don't you, citizen? (And how about a margarita to go with that?) We'd add that the mind-boggling illusions of magician Ray Anderson are a bonus in the night's clever spectacle … but, the way that arch maestro conjures mystery and delight, "bonus" would be an insult.
    Thu., 7pm; Fri.-Sat., 7 & 9pm. $30-40.  
  • Arts

    Comedy

    Fallout Comedy

    This hotbed of local performance is carrying on even more than usual, with an eclectic mix of live, mind-rocking comedy from some of Austin's best, all week long. Hey! The place is our cover story, as reported by Valerie Lopez! And, srsly, who would ever disagree with the sentiment of Monday night's Fuck This Week show? Check the website for details.
  • Arts

    Visual Arts

    Flatbed Press: Flatbed Flatheads

    Flatbed's current artist-in-residence Enrique Figueredo is featured in this new exhibition that includes work by Alfonso Huerta, Alyssa Ebinger, Aparna Rupakula, Belinda Casey, Emery Spina, Enrique Figueredo, Hannah Spector, Jess Nordquist, Katherine Brimberry, Matthew Magruder, Mike Hart, Nina Tichava, and Samantha Melvin – displaying a wide array of printmaking methods, including intaglio, relief, monotype, and lithography.
    Through June 3
  • Arts

    Visual Arts

    Goodluckhavefun: Hard/Gentle

    This Westside gallery presents a collection of new works that use paint, ceramic, and comic illustrations to build a world of gentle strength.
    Through June 3
    1207-A Enfield
  • Arts

    Visual Arts

    grayDUCK Gallery: The Chase

    This new exhibition from artists Brittany Ham and Justin Korver builds on their earlier co-authored works, the newest pieces in the show placing the characters of women, dogs, men, and stags in collaboratively drawn landscape settings. Eleven new woven tapestries and a new relief sculpture join the original narrative depicted in "The Hunt."
    Through May 28  
  • Arts

    Visual Arts

    Harry Ransom Center: Drawing the Motion Picture

    Explore the beauty and complexity of moviemaking through sketches, storyboards, and designs that illuminate the creation of motion pictures from the silent era to the present day in this new exhibition, featuring production art from iconic movies like Rebel Without a Cause, Raging Bull, Apollo 13, and Lawrence of Arabia, many connected with innovative directors Alfred Hitchcock, David Lean, Mike Nichols, Michael Powell, Nicholas Ray, Martin Scorsese, Stephen Spielberg, King Vidor, and more.
    Through July 16
  • Arts

    Visual Arts

    Ivester Contemporary: read somewhere and Bloom

    In the main gallery: New paintings and prints by Rachel Livedalen. Also: Anya Molyviatis' first solo exhibition with the gallery is an ongoing series of three-dimensional textiles that are handwoven on AVL dobby looms, using dramatic color gradients, physical depth, and structure to create a multisensory experience.
    Through May 27
  • Arts

    Visual Arts

    Laguna Gloria

    This local treasure of a venue, run by those Contemporary Austin folks who also bring us the Jones Center shows Downtown, is all about the outdoors – which is perfect for these trickily navigated times of ours, n'est-ce pas? Recommended: Stop by and breathe in the air, enjoy the lawns and gardens and the many examples of world-class sculpture arrayed across the property, and (as Frankie used to say) r-e-l-a-x.
    Thu.-Fri., 9am-noon; Sat.-Sun., 9am-3pm
  • Arts

    Visual Arts

    Lance Letscher: Sail to the Moon

    Stephen L. Clark Gallery presents this new exhibition of works by Lance Letscher, the locally based artist internationally known for his vibrant, colorful collages of wood, metal, paper, and old books.
    Through Aug. 26
  • Arts

    Visual Arts

    Landmarks: Self-Guided Walking Tour

    Use your smartphone to access self-guided tours of the outdoor public art sited by UT's award-winning Landmarks program any time you feel like it. BONUS: There's also a free, docent-led tour starting at Marc Quinn's "Spiral of the Galaxy" (1501 Red River) on Sun., Jan. 8, 11am.
  • Arts

    Visual Arts

    Last Day of the Eureka Room!

    Austin's most absurd and fun attraction will have its last day on September 24th, so visit while you still can! It's the Eureka Room, a participatory experience where visitors engage with curious and playful programming within a unique 100-square-foot room filled with light and sound.
    See website for reservations. $25.  
  • Arts

    Visual Arts

    Link & Pin: Size Is Everything

    What if art was all one size? Not too big and not too small. With modern art, abstract pieces, traditional works, and whimsical art all in the same room? We hope you will come and see! Featured member artists for "Size Is Everything" include: Kay Hughes, Sherry Fields, Janet Sopp-Sims, Eddie Sutherland, Rhea Pettit, Supriya Kharod, Kathleen Stafford, Martha Paisley Ruth, Betty Jameson, Eileen Pestorius, Beryl Kerwick, Sonja Besondy, Genevieve Holland, and Sonja Kever.
    Closing reception: Sat., May 27, 3-5pm
  • Arts

    Visual Arts

    Lora Reynolds Gallery: Snails In Comparison

    The Lora Reynolds gallery inaugurates its brand new space(!) with this whimsical and wonderful show by those irrepressible Haas Brothers. Observe as fraternal twins Niki and Simon Haas unveil a group of sculptures of big, bizarre snails: their first endeavors in combining a material new to their practice (blown glass, which constitutes the gastropod's soft bodies) with another medium they've known longer than any other: the snails' shells are hand-carved marble.
    Through May 27
  • Arts

    Visual Arts

    Lydia Street Gallery: From Dodge City to Shiprock

    Lawrence McFarland's photographs function as a metaphoric poem, defining not only his photographic journey but in a larger sense his life.
    Through June 18
  • Arts

    Visual Arts

    Martha's Contemporary: Hokey Pokey + What You See Is What You Get

    Here's a two-person exhibition that features painting, installation, videography, and sculpture by Moll Brau and Wes Thompson. It's a deep dive into a pool of loneliness, triumph, and rebirth. It's a forest of mazes where fireflies provide the light. It's a show of creations from a pair of terrific, hardworking local artists and you don't want to miss it.
  • Arts

    Visual Arts

    Mexic-Arte Museum: Expresiones de México, Arte de la Gente / Art of the People

    This new show features an impressive collection of artworks created via techniques and skills passed down through generations, especially highlighting work by master printmaker Sergio Sánchez Santamaría.
    Through Aug. 20
  • Arts

    Visual Arts

    MHOA: Design for All Partnership

    Michael Hsu Office of Architecture has announced its second annual Design for All Partnership, a seed program supporting community-driven partners through design. The architecture and interior design firm is seeking another nonprofit partner that’s based in Austin or Houston. The partnership award will provide $20,000 in pro bono design and consultation services.: MHOA has just released its Request for Proposals (RFP) for interested nonprofit organizations and is now accepting submissions through May 19.
    Accepting submissions through May 19  
  • Arts

    Visual Arts

    Museum of Illusions

    Enter the fascinating world of illusions in this new venue that boasts a stunning array of intriguing visual, sensory, and educational experiences among new, unexplored optical wonderments.
    11010 Domain #100
  • Arts

    Visual Arts

    Prizer Arts & Letters: The Garden, the Body

    Featuring ink portraits and new large-scale works on canvas, this show by Austin-born artist Caroline Wright traces her experience postpartum – twice! – during the pandemic.
    Through May 27
  • Arts

    Visual Arts

    SAGE Studios: Label Makers

    This group exhibition features the work of artists with intellectual and developmental disabilities from across the country, focusing on how each artist incorporates text into their work and exploring how they've been labeled in the past versus how they choose to identify.
    Through May 20. Free.
  • Arts

    Comedy

    Snail Haven's Comedy Pregame

    This is a weekly stand-up comedy showcase to help you pregame your Friday night on the town. (Snail Haven also features music shows, film screenings, and general hangs. Best bet: Follow @SnailHavenShows on Instagram and DM them for event details.)
    Fridays, 8pm. Free.  
  • Arts

    Comedy

    South Austin Comedy Club

    South Austin’s first dedicated comedy venue is spearheaded by local comics Martin Henn, Andre Ricks, and Raza Jafri, and brings top-notch acts to South Austin every Wednesday through Saturday. Note: The upcoming comics – including nationally touring acts, local sweethearts, and everyone in between – will be listed on Instagram each night.
    Wed.-Sat., 7:30pm
  • Arts

    Comedy

    Stavros Halkias

    Stavros Halkias is a comedian, actor and writer originally from Baltimore, Maryland and currently based in Queens, New York. And this show in Austin? Is already SOLD OUT.
    Thu.-Fri., May 18-19, 7:30 & 10pm  
  • Arts

    Visual Arts

    Stephen Clark Gallery

    The gallery specializes in fine art photographs with an emphasis on contemporary work, also presenting an array of national and international vintage work. Best bet: The lensed and enhanced brilliances of Kate Breakey.
    Thu.-Sat., 11am-4pm
  • Arts

    Theatre

    The Baker's Wife

    Directed by Michael Cooper for the Alchemy Theatre. See Bob Abelman's full review right here!
    Through June 11. Fri.-Sat., 8pm; Sun., 2pm. $30-55.  
  • Arts

    Visual Arts

    The Blanton: Day Jobs

    This first major exhibition to examine the overlooked impact of day jobs on the visual arts is dedicated to demystifying artistic production and upending the stubborn myth of the artist sequestered in their studio, waiting for inspiration to strike.
    Through July 23
  • Arts

    Visual Arts

    The Blanton: Las Hermanas Iglesias

    Sisters Lisa and Janelle Iglesias present related textiles, collages, and sculpture that explore caregiving as part of a complex network of social issues, melding melds cultural references to the Dominican Republic and Norway (their parents’: home countries) with personal experiences – most recently their navigations of fertility, pregnancy, loss, and birth.
    Through July 9. Free on Thursdays.  
  • Arts

    Comedy

    The Comedy Mothership

    Joe Rogan's new venue is open and packing in the comedy-craving crowds at what used to be the Alamo Ritz, bringing in some of the biggest names (Rogan himself among them) and rising stars in the business, all presented with the kind of provocative pizzazz that makes Dirty Sixth (and especially this Mothership) a destination seven days a week.
  • Arts

    Visual Arts

    The Contemporary Austin: Competing with Lightning / Rivalizando con el Relámpago

    The Contemporary Austin presents an exhibition tracing the evolution of Eamon Ore-Giron's dynamic paintings over more than twenty years of creative practice, revealing how the artist mines the complex nature of Latinx identity, the history of the Americas, and the many legacies of abstraction in art. ALSO: The newest exhibition space here is called HOST and features work by María Fernanda Camarena and Gabriel Rosas Alemán (aka the Mexico City-based artist duo known as Celeste).
    Through Aug. 20. Free (Aug. 9-13).
  • Arts

    Comedy

    The Creek and the Cave

    This snazzy spot for local and national stand-up acts has shows almost every night of the week. Case in point is this weekend's headliner: Nick Callas.
  • Arts

    Theatre

    The Last Cyclist

    City Theatre presents Naomi Patz’s reimagined production of a banned World War II comedy cabaret. Bear witness to this new historical record of atrocities, this fascinating work of Jewish defiance, this vividly staged proof that, in the darkest of times, art sustains life – and hope.
    Through May 21. Thu.-Sat., 8pm; Sun., 3pm. $15 and up.  
    1507 Wilshire
  • Arts

    Visual Arts

    The Mighty Uncanny Incredible Amazing Art Show

    Behold, fearless front-facer, as Guzu Gallery presents all-new pop culture art featuring characters ripped from the pages of your favorite comics! Each artist will pay tribute to their favorite comic book heroes, antiheroes, villains, and everything in between. Artists represented include Kyle Armstrong, Breazy, Mia Burwitz, Kevin T. Chin, Daddy Otis, Forces of Dorkness, Matt Frank, Half-Human, Stacey Miller, Tessa Morrison, Vo Nguyen, Chet Phillips, and more.
    Through June 5
  • Arts

    Visual Arts

    Unchained Art: Nature's Whispers

    This new gallery presents "Nature’s Whispers: In Dialogue with Poetic Abstraction," a solo exhibition showcasing the intuitive, deeply layered abstract paintings of Swiss artist Erica Wittenwiler.
    Through June 17
    1601 E. Cesar Chavez #101
  • Arts

    Visual Arts

    UT's Art Galleries at Black Studies: Old Wounds, Dark Dreams

    African-American artists Carrie Mae Weems, Cauleen Smith, Rodney McMillian, and Charles Gaines use video to meditate on anti-Black racism and the wounds it inflicts on the American psyche while participating in the tradition of appropriation – where artists quote other artists’ motifs, methods, and works to contribute new meanings to the old, which allows them to comment on, critique, or amplify the original.
    Through May 19  
    Christian-Green Gallery, 201 E. 21st
  • Arts

    Comedy

    Velveeta Room

    The legend of Ronnie Velveeta lives on at this storied 'stablishment of a stand-up stage, where some of the country's hottest comics come to make the floorboards quake with laughter every weekend on Dirty Sixth. Brandie Posey: Sat., May 20, 8 & 10pm. Jake Flores: Sat., May 27, 8 & 10pm.
  • Arts

    Visual Arts

    Wally Workman Gallery: Seeking Solace

    Mary Case’s paintings interpret organic forms with subtlety and spontaneity, rendering her vision of the natural world as ultimate architect – from the chaotic lines of brambles in the forest to the undulating forms of rivers and wetlands, encouraging micro- and macro- observations that awe and heal.
    Through May 28
  • Arts

    Visual Arts

    Wyld Gallery

    This is Ray Donley's gallery of art by Native Americans, located in that company of artistic glory called Canopy and resplendent with creations from the original people of our struggling country.
    Call for appointment
  • Arts

    Visual Arts

    Yard Dog: New Baseball Paintings

    Austin artist Will Johnson explores the history of baseball in a series of portraits of players. An avid baseball fan since childhood, he began creating these paintings in 2007 or 2008, wanting to pay tribute to some of his favorite players and stories — especially unheralded players — through folk art paintings.

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