Inside the Actors Arena

Terry Kiser does it for the kids

"...first youth class at his newly formed studio, the Actors Arena. Evidently, the first round went quite well...."

Sept. 3, 2013 Screens Post by Chase Hoffberger

Weekdays at Bernie's

Film's best-known dead guy is alive and kicking in Austin

"...Kiser, Al, and me onstage were two athletic-looking young actors both there to pick up my eventual corpse – today's..."

June 28, 2013 Screens Feature by Chase Hoffberger

Birthday Girl

"...alike and rocketed her into the ranks of “serious” actors. Never mind that Kidman has always evinced brazen and..."

Feb. 1, 2002 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

Find Me Guilty

Like the criminal justice system it portrays, Find Me Guilty (starring Vin Diesel in the dramatic lead) ultimately works a great deal better than you might expect.

"...defense attorneys, cops, juries, and judges – and their arena of work, the courtroom stage. Find Me Guilty returns..."

March 31, 2006 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

Cradle Will Rock

"...art and big money. These range from the social arena (rich folks hoping to buy social cachet) to the..."

Jan. 21, 2000 Movie Review by Russell Smith

Sayles Talk

More on the making of 'Go for Sisters' from John Sayles

"...say: about his writing process, how he works with actors, and – spoiler alert! – the film's ending...."

Dec. 7, 2013 Screens Post by Robert Faires

Othello

In jeans and T-shirts, five British actors summoned Othello's pride and Iago's envy with relentless ferocity

"...John Simon writes, "No matter what they do, American actors will never equal British ones in Shakespeare, at the..."

Nov. 15, 2013 Arts Review by Stacy Alexander Evans

DVDanger: Gridlocked

It's all about timing for Trish Stratus

"...Most actors would worry about going headfirst into the floor. So..."

June 14, 2016 Screens Post by Richard Whittaker

sxswm: Foo Fighters, Sound and Vision

Grohl's gang hit Paramount and Stubbs

"...packed Paramount, and then they joined the list of arena bands to have played totally unsecret secret SXSW shows..."

March 16, 2011 Screens Post by Richard Whittaker

Tru Artistry

With Jay Presson Allen's Tru, performer Jaston Williams takes a vacation from the little town of Tuna, Texas, with which he is so closely identified, to portray celebrated writer Truman Capote, and in the process reminds us what an actor of range and skill he is.

"...Oh, it doesn't mean that folks don't enjoy these actors and their work tremendously; they do. They just tend..."

Sept. 22, 2000 Arts Feature by Robert Faires

Articulations

Requiem for the founder of the St. Edward's University theatre program and co-founder of Washington, D.C.'s Arena Stage, Edward Magnum

"...St. Edward's University and co-founder of Washington, D.C.'s storied Arena Stage, passed away on January 10 following brain surgery...."

Jan. 19, 2001 Arts Column by Robert Faires

VHYes

Bizarro tribute to camcorder culture is silly and profound

"...otherwise chaotic and scattershot in-camera anti-editing. Kudos to child actors McNulty and Braslaw, who give pitch perfect performances as..."

Jan. 17, 2020 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

Bullet Head

A cracking good Tarantino-esgue heist film

"...film’s wonderful monologues, which must have lured these sterling actors to the project like catnip. It’s dogs, however, that..."

Dec. 8, 2017 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

St. Edward's University has bravely undertaken Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and the show is, strangely, a good time

"...Ed Araiza, who uses the Mary Moody Northen Theatre's arena stage as a viewing chamber, with the audience above..."

July 2, 2004 Arts Review by Heather Barfield Cole

Exhibitionism

My Children! My Africa!: Schoolbells in the Revolution

"...Zachary Scott Theatre Center Whisenhunt Arena Stage, through June 27 Running time: 2 hrs, 10..."

June 11, 1999 Arts Review

Making History, Part Two

Director Bill Rauch on bringing LBJ to the stage in 'All the Way'

"...in this country new work is two to four actors in a play. It's a small story. So to..."

Aug. 17, 2012 Arts Feature by Robert Faires

Wayne Alan Brenner's Top 10 Arts-Related Program Activities of 2016

Uncommon combinations – dance with horses, music with robots, drama with a Tesla coil – made the year unforgettable

"...1) JENNIFER SHERBURN IN GENERAL, BUT ESPECIALLY ARENA A sudden marvel on the dance scene this year,..."

Dec. 30, 2016 Arts Feature by Wayne Alan Brenner

Art: But I Know What I Like

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.

"...Whisenhunt Arena Stage..."

Jan. 26, 2001 Arts Review by Wayne Alan Brenner

Entrances & Exits

Comings and Goings on the Theatre Scene

"...call Austin theatre. Each season sees the arrival of actors, directors, designers, playwrights, dancers, technicians, choreographers, patrons, musicians, managers,..."

Sept. 5, 1997 Arts Feature

The Emperor Jones

"...he played Marvin, the nastiest man alive. Lots of actors could have played the evil aspect of his character,..."

April 30, 1999 Arts Feature by Robi Polgar

The Virtues of Flexibility

Re-Imagining the Production Process

"...these complex, very demanding works, and produce them with actors who cannot always make the text clear or whose..."

Aug. 11, 1995 Arts Feature by Robert Faires

Wheels of a Dream

With the long-awaited Topfer Theatre, Zach races full-throttle into the future

"...tall proscenium sides, expansive enough to hold four dozen actors, comfortably spread out, to ooh and aah over the..."

Oct. 5, 2012 Arts Feature by Robert Faires

Making History, Part One

Playwright Robert Schenkkan on bringing LBJ to the stage in 'All the Way'

"...grew up in Austin. I grew up in this arena, and that Hill Country vernacular and the colorful storytelling..."

Aug. 17, 2012 Arts Feature by Robert Faires

Second Life

For her new play's sophomore production, Suzan-Lori Parks turns director

"...author anyway. Having seen in that initial production how actors shaped the text, how the play's actions cohered into..."

June 17, 2011 Arts Feature by Robert Faires

Let's Fix That

How New Plays Are Developed in Austin

"...Striding to the stage, he not only addresses the actors who are still groping their way into the scene,..."

Oct. 18, 1996 Arts Feature by Brett Holloway-Reeves

From the Archives: Linklater on Linklater

Our 1991 self-interview by the Slacker filmmaker

"...the movie is its large cast of mostly non-professional actors. Where did you find such poorly dressed people?..."

July 24, 2020 Screens Feature by Richard Linklater

Shooting Star

Stories told this well don't come around very often, and this one deserves to be seen

"...many directors staging a show in the round. His actors move easily and appropriately around Zach's Whisenhunt Stage with..."

March 20, 2009 Arts Review by Barry Pineo

The Movies That Matter

An interview with Killer Films producer Christine Vachon

"...Larry Clark (Kids) and Cindy Sherman (Office Killer), and actors Ethan Hawke (Chelsea Walls) and Tim Blake Nelson (The..."

March 11, 2005 Screens Feature by Marjorie Baumgarten

The Aliens

This fierce work of theatre feels like unrehearsed life at its most casual and intense

"...The play, the script, the direction, the actors, all of it. Even the relative newcomer to the..."

April 6, 2012 Arts Review by Wayne Alan Brenner

Toronto Diary

Dispatches from the 2003 Film Festival

"...Young and Crazy Horse performing live in Toronto's hockey arena was the siren call I responded to on my..."

Sept. 12, 2003 Screens Feature by Marjorie Baumgarten

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