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A conversation with the author of Stakes Is High

Austin Critics Table nominations, 2004-2005

Fans of J. R. R. Tolkien needn't wait until the December 12 opening of the film of Lord of the Rings to take a journey to Middle Earth. Second Youth Family Repertory Theatre, an Austin arts company acclaimed for its intelligent, highly theatrical stage shows for family audiences, will ferry you there this weekend via its production of The Hobbit.

Second Youth Family Theatre's production of The Hobbit offers much that is magical, but awkward staging and inexperienced actors keep the show from achieving true enchantment.

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

The full list of nominations for the 2003-2004 Austin Critics Table Awards, recognizing outstanding achievements in local theatre, dance, classical music, and visual art

Second Youth Family Theatre's Beauty and the Beast is no less magical than other versions of the tale, but its real enchantment comes from the way it show us its fairy tale characters discovering each other's hearts.

Should you attend the UT Department of Theatre and Dance production of Heartbreak House, you'll have to work to keep up with the student cast, which blasts through the wordy script, but your labors will be rewarded by some fine design work and acting, and G.B. Shaw's timely critique of the leisure classes awakening to a world at war.

Second Youth Family Theatre's season opener is a perky and enjoyable sampler of the works of Samuel Clemens, better known to readers of literature and fence painters the world over as Mark Twain.

Latest ACoT theatre-award nominations favor two Austin musicals

Remembering the ultimate theatre historian, Oscar Brockett, 1923-2010

The magic and spirit of Second Youth Family Theatre's production of The Arkansaw Bear make for a moving story of a child coping with a grandparent's death

Although it harbors minor inconsistencies, Allen Robertson's The Bremen Town Musicians, set in Depression-era America and scored with gospel and bluegrass music, is a fine play for family viewing. It has enough talking, singing animals to satisfy any kid and music that is highly enjoyable in and of itself.

In this version of A Christmas Carol presented by Second Youth Family Theatre, actors use minimal pieces of set and costumes to conjure the many places and characters of Dickens' familiar tale and move through the text with intense focus, knowing exactly what story they need to tell and telling it well.

In Second Youth's 10th anniversary production of The Snow Queen, the ending can be sensed from the beginning, but it's the journey that counts, and this journey is full of wonderful surprises and theatrical magic.

Despite its seemingly morose story, Zilker Theater Productions' The Secret Garden is most assuredly uplifting, even moving

Chronicle Art Reviews

For its staging of Sandy Asher's ironically titled children's comedy 'The Wise Men of Chelm,' Second Youth Family Theatre gets to bring the playwright to town

As Second Youth Family Theatre revives its original musical version of The Bremen Town Musicians, set in 1930s America with a country, bluegrass, and gospel soundtrack, writer / lyricist / composer Allen Robertson reflects on the show's creation 12 years ago.

A complete list of all Payne Award nominees.

UT students pack bigger, better New Works Festival with more thrills than a carnival midway

The year's best work on Austin stages.

Exhibitionism

Apollo 10 1/2, Sandra Bullock, and more join movie list

This Richard Price story about simmering racial tension that boils over during the course of a police investigation is choppy and erratic.

The boy wizard rides again and this outing proves zippier and spookier than the previous two.

From the sets to the story to the whole tone of the film, this first Potter film is an almost literal adaptation of J.K. Rowling's beloved children's book.