[This review comes from new contributor Anna Hanks! -Ed.] In our culture, children are usually considered innocent until sullied by the grown-up world. Otherwise, why would we have family-friendly TV programming, G-rated movies, and continual furor about “inappropriate” books being taught in public schools? Noah Haidle’s dark little comedy, Mr. Marmalade, brilliantly twists the preconception of childhood innocence into an inspired script. We attended the final weekend of this just-closed, Capital T Theatre production at......

Ken Webster has been having a mighty fine time of things lately. He was ushered into the Austin Arts Hall of Fame last summer. He was the subject of a big ol' cover article in the Austin Chronicle in April. Just last week he won an acting award from the 2007 Austin Critics' Table for two of his recent solo stage appearances, Thom Pain (based on nothing) and St. Nicholas (we can't help but think......

My how this city has grown. Austin used to be the kind of town where the summertime theatre offerings were slim pickings. Not so...not anymore. The joints are jumping, and this week is no exception. It's darn near impossible to offer a Pick of the Week, so this week we're suggesting not one but two productions we think you'll enjoy. First, however, we need to report on some awards show shenanigans that went down earlier......

Capital T Theatre, led by Artistic Director Mark Pickell, is getting down to brass tacks. Small, young companies like Capital T – especially in Austin – often suffer from a lack of focus or attention to detail. In his production of A Brief History of Helen of Troy, however, Pickell does a fine job in replicating the kind of aesthetic and professionalism you might find Off-Broadway. The lighting design is intelligent and effective; the......

As we enter into another weekend of hard nosed thespianic action, we remember being 15. Everyone told us we were worthless and ugly, so we turned to a life of porn – that’d show ‘um, bastards. It’s a familiar story. So familiar in fact, that it’s the focus of our Austinist Pick of the Week: A Brief History of Helen of Troy. You know those posters around town where the young-looking girl is sucking......

Ah, junior high. That barely pubescent period when we all drowned in social misery – grotesquely flailing our arms and nashing our brace-ed teeth – hopelessly succumbing to that ridiculously awkward ocean of pre-teen despair. Ah, and how ripe it is for comedy. That’s the story from the Getalong Gang, one of Austin’s newest young performance collaboratives, as they present Talent Show 1989. Its part actual talent show and part love-story-ala-80s-movie, with multiple romances......