The Utter Reading Series is back tomorrow, with more pathos than Hillary, more transcendance than Barack, more grit than McCain, and more exposure (for local writers) than a bead-strewn balcony on Bourbon Street. As always, the reading is free and open to the public, and the audience is invited to join the readers afterwards for drinks and conversation at Opal Divine's on 6th....

What, exactly, is postmodernism? We ask ourselves this question whenever the work of a postmodern playwright makes the stage in Austin. Charles L. Mee is one such playwright. Did you know that he encourages writers to "pillage [my] plays as I have pillaged the structures and contents of the plays of Euripides and Brecht and stuff out of Soap Opera Digest and the evening news and the internet, and build your own, entirely new, piece..."?......

Fall finally arrived on Sunday, not that anyone would notice. However, autumn also brings a start to most theatre companies' 2007-08 season. Things are kicking on Austin's boards. Here're a few shows we're excited about. If you need to warm up, consider taking in Naughty Austin's Cellbloq. In the words of writer-producer Blake Yelavich, who says it best, "Yes, it's about a bunch of muscular guys in prison, but that doesn't mean it is strictly......

For the last few years, the good people at St. Edwards University and Zilker Theatre Productions have quietly been running a very nifty little summer program for high school students called Summer Stock Austin. The program is essentially its own theatre company; high school students perform and work side-by-side with experienced college students in an environment that's staffed and supervised by seasoned professionals. The outcome, after several weeks of intensive work and training, is two......

MONDAY [22] books • The Ludicrous Speed Book Club discusses The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. LeGuin at BookPeople (7:00pm) film • The Glamorous Life of Sachiko Hanai at Alamo Drafthouse Downtown film • Cold Hearts: Icelandic Music Shorts at Alamo Drafthouse Downtown film • "24" at Alamo Drafthouse Village film • "Heroes" at Alamo Drafthouse Village film • St. Edwards University Paper Project at St. Edwards ® indicates a recommended event.......