Our Bodies, Our Selves

An unusual convergence of dramas dealing with women and disabilities prompts a conversation among four actors about what playwrights are trying to say through characters who are disabled, and how actors approach playing a disability.

"...got together Lara Toner (Laura in The Glass Menagerie), Monika Bustamante (Dot in Blur), Lee Eddy (Francis in Blur),..."

March 22, 2002 Arts Feature by Robert Faires

Austin Critics Table Nominations, 2003-2004

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

"...Monika Bustamante, Julius Caesar..."

May 14, 2004 Arts Feature by Robert Faires

Io: a myth about you

Monika Bustamante's updated Greek myth comes in a top-notch production that rages about like a rough sea

"...Local playwright Monika Bustamante has recreated Io in a world so immediately..."

Nov. 2, 2007 Arts Review by Avimaan Syam

Perdita

Perdita, playwright Monika Bustamante's chilling exploration of what can happen when loss barrels its way through everyday lives, is one of the most tightly crafted and beautifully written works of the year, and its production at Hyde Park Theatre is of sterling quality.

"...Perdita, a new play by Austin playwright Monika Bustamante, is a chilling exploration of what can happen..."

Sept. 12, 2003 Arts Review by Molly Beth Brenner

Julius Caesar

The Austin Shakespeare Festival's timely production of Julius Caesar, deftly directed by Paul Norton, features an effective, almost all-female ensemble whose depiction of the play's bold, rule-breaking politicians and opportunity-grabbing power brokers who send their enemies into disarray summons up parallels to the state of American politics.

"...Stealing the show, and the entire empire, is Monika Bustamante's Marc Antony. Cold and distant at first, yet..."

July 11, 2003 Arts Review by Robi Polgar

Seven Deadly Sins

The seven short plays that make up iron belly muses' production Seven Deadly Sins aren't always pleasurable to watch, but several capture that desperation behind sins' commission and ask interesting questions about transgression itself.

"...whom was assigned a sin by director Shoshana Gold: Monika Bustamante, vanity; Lisa D'Amour, sloth; Jessica Hedrick, envy; Naomi..."

April 26, 2002 Arts Review by M.B. Rice

References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot

José Rivera's References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot is a magical love story in which nature reflects human relationships, and this Refraction Arts Project production is beautiful to look at with several stand-out performances.

"...One thing about the production consistently distracted me. Monika Bustamante plays Gabriella, and while she is an obviously..."

Oct. 26, 2001 Arts Review by Barry Pineo

Iphigenia Crash Land Falls on the Neon Shell That Was Once Her Heart

This update of a Greek tragedy has a modern look but the same old sense of the inevitable

"...father and the slurred speech and blurred gaze of Monika Bustamante's martini-swilling mother; even in the deliberate steps and..."

Feb. 20, 2009 Arts Review by Robert Faires

Trash Anthems

Each of the seven short plays written by Dan Dietz in Shrewd Productions' Trash Anthems unfolds like a gift being opened, full of surprising scenarios and sympathetic characters

"...but the work remains cohesive thanks to production directors Monika Bustamante and Andrea Skola (who also works as a..."

May 11, 2007 Arts Review by Hannah Kenah

Stillborn: a bedtime story

The title of Monika Bustamante's 'Stillborn' is no pun but a promise of what is to come: two hours of anger, rape, murder, and stillbirth that is upsetting, dark, and, unfortunately, not illuminating

"...respite from the wallowing. One starts to wonder if Monika Bustamante, the playwright, isn't better at writing male characters..."

Oct. 13, 2006 Arts Review by Hannah Kenah

Cheater

With cheating so hip today, Andrea Skola and Shrewd Productions have put together eight original 10-minute plays that explore the contemporary nuances of being a cheat

"...lovers bleed into the sheets. The show ends with Monika Bustamante's dark "Lie/Mind/Game/On," a series of postmortem confessionals delivered..."

May 12, 2006 Arts Review by Patti Hadad

Sitting Room Only

From its annual competition, Austin Script Works has picked eight new 10-minute plays for presentation in the annual Out of Ink Festival, and this year's crop is outstanding throughout, serving up some fairly serious situations and complex characters treated with sensitivity and not a little humor.

"...gems are peopled with characters finely wrought and multilayered. Monika Bustamante's Flatline in Midair also has characters full of..."

June 27, 2003 Arts Review by Robi Polgar

Double D'Amour

In one week, Austin is blessed with two theatrical projects by gifted playwright Lisa D'Amour: her 16 Spells to Charm the Beast, a curious romance between a big-city enchantress and the fairy-tale beast who adores her; and Nita and Zita, a cabaret in which the ghosts of two sisters relate the story of their lives as a vaudeville team and as eccentric "gypsy ladies" in New Orleans in dance numbers, songs, and malapropisms.

"...her hirsute suitor at bay. A fine cast -- Monika Bustamante, Harvey Guion, and Cyndi Williams, with Lana Dieterich..."

Feb. 28, 2003 Arts Feature by Robert Faires

16 Spells to Charm the Beast

Playwright Lisa D'Amour's 16 Spells to Charm the Beast is an urban fable of loneliness and love set in a whimsical world where furry brutes pine for sophisticated housewives; at its best Salvage Vanguard Theater's production casts its own spell, capturing us in a thrall of poetic visions reflecting natural desire and supernatural devotion.

"...affects the continental savoir-faire of a B-movie Don Juan. Monika Bustamante imbues Lillian's daughter, the no-nonsense Norma, with a..."

Feb. 28, 2003 Arts Review by Robert Faires

FronteraFest 2003

It's time again for that annual performance jamboree FronteraFest, and time to mark its first decade of presenting Austin with adventuresome new theatre, comedy, dance, and spoken word by anyone with the courage or folly to take a stage.

"...11 full-length productions from such dynamic creative forces as Monika Bustamante, realmdanceproject, Emily and Rick Fordyce, Hans Frank, and..."

Jan. 17, 2003 Arts Feature by Robert Faires

Blur

As produced by Hyde Park Theatre, playwright Melanie Marnich's Blur draws the audience along in a briskly-paced, dynamic ride.

"...with subtlety and sweet charm by an utterly unpretentious Monika Bustamante. There are moments when she simply stares in..."

April 5, 2002 Arts Review by M.B. Rice

The Metamorphosis

Capturing the creepy power and tone of Franz Kafka's novella The Metamorphosis, in which a man awakes one morning to find himself turned into a giant beetle, in a stage production may be as difficult as capturing the rare Megolaponera foetens. Still, the Refraction Arts / Public Domain co-production of The Metamorphosis is a valiant attempt, and possible required viewing for any Kafka aficionado.@META_Category_arts: Review

"...misery, and even his championing sister Grete (played by Monika Bustamante, who does an especially fine job when her..."

June 22, 2001 Arts Review by Wayne Alan Brenner

Raised by Lesbians

In the Subterranean Theatre Company production of Raised by Lesbians, writer Leah Ryan and director Ken Webster transport the audience to the heart of The Who's "Teenage Wasteland," dealing with adolescence, lesbians, and men and women's notions of each other without laughing at teens or distorting them with nostalgia.

"...the agony of a boy beset by bullies. Multitalented Monika Bustamante plays Joe's one friend, Gracie, a character of..."

April 13, 2001 Arts Review by Rob Curran

Exhibitionism

The Soldier Dreams: Misreading Clues Around a Deathbed

"...than her Jell-O desserts, which she foists on everyone. Monika Bustamante plays little sister Judy with an earnest earthiness..."

May 14, 1999 Arts Review

Austin Critics Table Nominations, 2002-2003

The full list of nominations for the 2002-2003 Austin Critics Table Awards, recognizing outstanding achievements in local theatre, dance, classical music, and visual art

"...Monika Bustamante, 16 Spells to Charm the Beast..."

May 9, 2003 Arts Feature by Robert Faires

Exhibitionism

"...The strongest piece of the evening came from Monika Bustamante, a former recipient of "Best of the Fest"..."

Jan. 22, 1999 Arts Review

Another Round of Praise

Nominations for the 2007-2008 Austin Critics Table Awards

"...Io: a myth about you, Monika Bustamante..."

May 9, 2008 Arts Feature by Robert Faires

The Glory of Living

As staged by Hyde Park Theatre, Rebecca Gilman's 'The Glory of Living' walks a tightrope between offensive slurs and comical jabs over solemn social issues

"...an ensemble of favorite HPT faces, such as Skola, Monika Bustamante, and Jude Hickey, are dead-on. Director Ken Webster..."

March 31, 2006 Arts Review by Patti Hadad

FronteraFest Schedule

"...production is written by Sharon Bridgforth, Daniel Alexander Jones, Monika Bustamante, and Cyndi Williams and co-directed by Dustin Wills..."

Jan. 8, 2010 Arts Feature

Mi Casa Es Su Teatro: Home is where the art is

Time again to get your theatre outside the theatre and inside someone's home, via FronteraFest's one-day, site-specific fiesta, Mi Casa Es Su Teatro

"...breakfast while presenting a story of suspended hope by Monika Bustamante. Limited to 15 people. 1100 Angelina...."

Feb. 9, 2007 Arts Feature by Robert Faires

365 Days/365 Plays: Week 5

The yearlong festival of plays by Suzan-Lori Parks continues with seven short plays presented by Hyde Park Theatre in Week Five

"...Hyde Park Theatre, 511 W. 43rd. Reading by actors Monika Bustamante, Margaret Hoard, Christopher Loveless, Marisa Pisano, Jessie Tilton,..."

Dec. 8, 2006 Arts Feature

Free Night of Theater 2006: The list

Take your pick of 21 performances being offered at no charge with Free Night of Theater 2006

"...Shrewd Productions: Stillborn: A Bedtime Story, by Monika Bustamante; Hyde Park Theatre, 511 W. 43rd..."

Oct. 6, 2006 Arts Feature

Austin Power and Light

A guide to 10 new companies that are charging up Austin's theatre scene

June 16, 2006 Arts Feature by Elizabeth Cobbe

Most Memorable Theatre I Chanced to See in 2003 -- A SemiHierarchical List

"...6) Monika Bustamante in 16 Spells to Charm the Beast (Salvage..."

Jan. 2, 2004 Arts Feature by Barry Pineo

More Places at the Table

The Austin Critics Table is about to hand out its annual awards for achievement in the arts for the 10th year, and the list of nominees is longer than ever.

"...Monika Bustamante, Blur..."

May 24, 2002 Arts Feature by Robert Faires

1   2     NEXT ›    2 »