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In The Dead Presidents Club, Larry L. King brings together Calvin Coolidge, Harry S. Truman, Lyndon Johnson, and Richard Nixon in the afterlife for a lighthearted exploration of these American leaders' strengths and foibles, and the best part of Austin Playhouse's funny, entertaining revival is the inspired work of the excellent team of actors who fully embody these presidents.

Twelve of Austin's cultural heroes will be inducted into the Austin Arts Hall of Fame at the 2003 Austin Critics Table Awards ceremony, and here is an introduction to them and some of their significant contributions to the local arts scene.

Stuffed to bursting with outrageous characters, broad reactions, and slapstick, The Merry Wives of Windsor as mounted by the Austin Shakespeare Festival and Austin Playhouse is big on big comedy, and the crisp comic work of the cast makes it a sizable pleasure.

While each of the seven bedroom dialogues in Aidan's Bed, Blake Yelavich's tight comic subversion of melodrama, relates to a deadly sin, the play as produced by Naughty Austin, is harmless at worst and titillation at its best.

Local Arts Reviews

Austin Playhouse's production of the musical Blues in the Night pinpoints feelings of love and loss among three women all hurt in love, with singers Jacqui Cross, Janis Stinson, and Melanie Wilkinson blending their three strong voices into a mighty harmony and reclaiming blues music for their sex.

Although Austin Playhouse's revival of The Fantasticks is burdened with more than a few trips and stumbles, the show has evident charms, and here familiarity breeds not contempt but something warmer.

Austin's Historic Victory Grill

Extolling an Exciting New Era of Austin Theatre

Director Mark Ramont Leaves Austin

Jackie and Foxy Brown?! Yes please!

Things to do when you're not staring at an interloping moon

America’s most infamous axe murderer gets a riot grrrl makeover

The year celebrated through moments when performers stunned their audiences into silence

Guitarist and bandleader elemental to Eastside music history

Movement therapy pioneer who knew the greats of dance has died

E.A. Poe musical Nevermore leads the way with 11 noms

Works that struck a nerve with the political state of our city and our nation stood out in this year's outstanding theatre productions

A cast of familiar faces conjures Kander and Ebb's Jazz Age classic in an entertaining way

Steve Mims concocts a mischievous story about a happy, if rudderless Austin couple

Katori Hall's drama probes Martin Luther King Jr.'s mortality and legacy on the last night of his life

A look back at some of the year's most gripping performances

Street Corner Arts revives this tale of Cold War arms negotiations with style, notably in the forest set

Nigel O'Hearn terminates Palindrome Theatre after three years, just as planned

A peek beneath the tutu from Austin's Mike McKinley

Michael McKelvey's just a guy who cain't say no (to musicals)

Construction is starting on Zach's third performance space, its biggest yet

Penfold Theatre makes its entrance up north – where it's always wanted to be