Understanding Islam

Steve Moore's latest play makes a pilgrimage to the truth of a misunderstood faith

"...For some 225 years, this country never felt any pressing need to think about Islam, much..."

Nov. 10, 2006 Arts Feature by Robert Faires

Keeping Cesar Alive

Actor Ed Begley Jr. explains how he was inspired to write a musical honoring his friend Cesar Chavez

"...If all you know of Ed Begley Jr. is his work on television or film – say,..."

Sept. 23, 2005 Arts Feature by Robert Faires

Where They're Coming From

Connecting the Dots of Texas Writers Month 2002

"...That was 1998, on the eve of the Month's fifth year, and Holland was being..."

June 7, 2002 Books Feature by Shawn Badgley

The Thing in the Lake

"...Five times in this decade, you could find a revival of one of these Pinter plays -- Betrayal or..."

Feb. 5, 1999 Arts Feature by Sarah Hepola

Street Corner Arts' Pocatello

Rich performances highlight the pain, hope, and heart in this staging of Samuel D. Hunter's family drama

"...teen Becky (Sydney Huddleston) and Troy's dementia-ridden father Cole (Ev Lunning Jr.). The rest of the waitstaff, Isabelle (Kayla..."

Dec. 8, 2017 Arts Review by Shanon Weaver

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

This revival proves Albee's 1962 drama to be as brutal and unsettling as ever

"...lives for the hunt and operates on primal instincts. Ev Lunning Jr. infuses his George with more cunning, calculating..."

Nov. 19, 2010 Arts Review by Robert Faires

E/R Emergency Room

The smallish stage of the Mary Moody Northern Theatre is effectively transformed into the downright bloody, intense and exciting emergency room at a Chicago hospital when the Organic Theatre Company's E / R Emergency Room is brought to life at St. Edward's University under the tourniquet-tight direction of Ev Lunning.

"...damned effective splattering. It's damned effective theatre, too, this revival of the original E/R Emergency Room, scripted years ago..."

April 27, 2001 Arts Review by Wayne Alan Brenner

Different Stages' The Dresser

Different Stages’ The Dresser shows where to find the juiciest drama in the theatre: backstage

"...Anyone who has ever worked on a play will tell you that as..."

July 7, 2017 Arts Review by T. Lynn Mikeska

Merrily We Roll Along

You wouldn't know this Sondheim musical was a legendary flop from the impressive staging at St. Ed's

"...a largely student cast overcome these challenges? The numerous revisions over the years certainly help, and to combat the..."

April 11, 2014 Arts Review by Russell M. Dembin

Viva l'Opera!

A rollicking tone made this choral salute to opera's greatest hits an entertaining evening

"...Methodist Church sanctuary. A tough act to follow if ever there was one, her photographed preshow presence was nevertheless..."

Aug. 24, 2012 Arts Review by Adam Roberts

Peer Gynt

An unrelentingly fast tempo flattens out the St. Ed's staging of Ibsen's epic

"...Henrik Ibsen's play, it is bring the energy. Director Ev Lunning Jr. has the production physically flying around the..."

Feb. 19, 2010 Arts Review by Barry Pineo

Romeo and Juliet

The trick in staging Romeo and Juliet has ever been keeping the suspense in the second half that the first half never really needs, and the Austin Shakespeare Festival almost manages it

"...fools. The trick in staging this bipolar play has ever been keeping the suspense in the second half that..."

April 30, 2004 Arts Review by Robi Polgar

The Kentucky Cycle

The Mary Moody Northen Theatre's decision to stage Robert Schenkkan's monumental The Kentucky Cycle is laudable, and the St. Edward's University student actors and their Equity counterparts put their all into every moment of effort, but the production's nuggets of brilliance are lost in technical inadequacies, inconsistent acting, and awkward staging.

"...the audience on a phenomenal American journey from the eve of the Revolutionary War to the economic downtimes of..."

Feb. 28, 2003 Arts Review by Robi Polgar

A Question of Equity

Is It Time for Austin Actors To Go Union? And Vice Versa?

"...and he also knows that no such contract was ever drafted for this show. The company producing the show..."

June 9, 2000 Arts Feature by Robi Polgar

Austin Playhouse's Copenhagen

In the conversations of this Michael Frayn drama, we learn that history is broken, just like us

"...Physicists Werner Heisenberg (David Stahl) and Niels Bohr (Ev Lunning Jr.) and Bohr's wife Margrethe (Babs George) meet..."

April 19, 2019 Arts Review by Laura Jones

Austin Shakespeare’s Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

This production is everything but sultry, which is the very thing the Tennessee Williams drama needs most

"...The play revolves around members of the divisive Pollitt family, who have..."

Nov. 23, 2018 Arts Review by Bob Abelman

Austin Shakespeare's The Seagull

This new adaptation of Anton Chekhov's beloved classic takes wing well enough but doesn't quite soar

"...avant-garde, here to destroy the old conventions and "fix" everything. It's almost as though Chekhov purposely placed The Seagull..."

Feb. 23, 2018 Arts Review by Shanon Weaver

Different Stages' John Gabriel Borkman

The pleasure of this production of Ibsen's drama comes in the complex exchanges among the deeply committed actors

"...and each pays the price. Different Stages' production makes every downfall as clear as the cold, biting air of..."

July 8, 2016 Arts Review by Elizabeth Cobbe

Mary Moody Northen Theatre's She Loves Me

This production at St. Edward's University knows just how to bring forth this modest musical's many charms

"...such Broadway standards as Oklahoma!, West Side Story, or even the blockbuster that Bock and Harnick wrote just after..."

April 15, 2016 Arts Review by Robert Faires

The Attic Space

A husband and wife play out their decades-long marriage in this intriguing farewell from Palindrome Theatre

"...is thorough. Lead actors Babs George as Harriett and Ev Lunning Jr. as Harold are established pros who turn..."

Dec. 21, 2012 Arts Feature by Elizabeth Cobbe

Long Day's Journey Into Night

Ar Rud's production is how O'Neill's study of family and fragility is supposed to be

"...thank God there's enough booze to go around for everyone...."

June 5, 2009 Arts Review by Avimaan Syam

On the Town

High spirits, drive, and lively interplay make this musical comedy a peppy peach of a show, a real swell treat

"...the day is out – heck, before the sun even hits high noon – and not only that, but..."

April 18, 2008 Arts Review by Robert Faires

Ring Round the Moon

Though at times long-winded, Jean Anouilh's farce still has enough charm and humor to entertain

"...concerned with parentage, innuendo, and who knows whom. They believe their servants love being servants; they're bored by the..."

Nov. 16, 2007 Arts Review by Avimaan Syam

Parade

'Parade' is an ambitious musical for a university theatre department, but the entire company presenting it at St. Edward's is impressively in tune with Alfred Uhry and Jason Robert Brown's retelling of the Leo Frank case

"...hills of his Georgia home. It – and almost every scene flowing from it – throbs with the deep..."

Oct. 6, 2006 Arts Review by Robert Faires

Antigone

Mary Moody Northen Theatre's 'Antigone' opens in riveting fashion, but its clever 1960s concept ultimately doesn't plumb the depths of this Greek tragedy

"...of the classic Greek tragedy. Director David Long attaches relevance to the production through a historical narrative epitomizing loyalty,..."

Feb. 24, 2006 Arts Review by Heather Barfield Cole

Stella Adler and the American Theater

UT's Harry Ransom Center, which acquired the complete archive of Stella Adler, celebrates her impact on American acting in the symposium Stella Adler and the American Theater

"...Bedlam Faction are founded on the same principles, and even local companies not recognized as ensemble companies, such as..."

Feb. 17, 2006 Arts Feature by Barry Pineo

Payne Pleasures 2004

Sam Bass Theatre's Forever Plaid took top honors at the 30th anniversary B. Iden Payne Awards

"...out its annual B. Iden Payne Awards, honoring outstanding achievements in local theatre from August 2003 through July 2004...."

Oct. 8, 2004 Arts Feature by Robert Faires

Payne Pleasures 2004

Latest ACoT theatre-award nominations favor two Austin musicals

"...hall entertainment, were both created in Austin and scored seven nominations each, including Outstanding Music Theatre Production, Original Script,..."

Aug. 20, 2004 Arts Feature by Robert Faires

A Flea in Her Ear

Seeing actor David Stokey in the Mary Moody Northen Theatre production of A Flea in Her Ear, carrying off the spectacle of a man whose life has utterly unwound for the most preposterous of reasons, provides a refreshing reminder of the pleasures of farce.

"...'A Flea in Her Ear':Devilishly Delightful Devolution..."

Oct. 3, 2003 Arts Review by Robert Faires

Kentucky by Way of Austin

A decade after The Kentucky Cycle's premiere, the hometown of playwright Robert Schenkkan has the opportunity to experience the work's power in with a homegrown production at the Mary Moody Northen Theatre.

"...who mine it. It's an epic journey through the evolution of the territory called Kentucky -- revealing in nine..."

Feb. 21, 2003 Arts Feature by Robert Faires

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