"The city's liveliest and most polished professional theater." - The Statesman
ZACH Theatre in the News
That Obscure Object of Delight
By Robert Faires, The Austin Chronicle
People who finish your sentences for you. People who interrupt you when you're doing something important. People whose cell phones go off in the theatre. People who answer their cell phones when they go off in the theatre. Honestly, doesn't the rudeness of some people today make you want to just lock the door, close the blinds, and lose yourself in some bit of mindless entertainment? Man in Chair feels your pain ... (Read more.)
THE DROWSY CHAPERONE: A vibrant, lavish escape
By Ryan E. Johnson, Examiner.com
ZACH seems to be on a roll lately, cranking out a stream of hit plays that likes of which few other companies in town can boast, but this leaves them with heightened expectations for each production. How they possibly top the excellence of productions like Our Town and Becky’s New Car? It helps when the piece is the winner of five Tonys, including ones for Best Book and Best Score. It also helps when you bring in one of the most talked about talents in the country, Nick Demos, who just recently won the Tony award for his production of Memphis on Broadway (which, itself, won numerous Tonys) ... (Read more.)
THE DROWSY CHAPERONE @ ZACH-- Holy Crap! What A Show!
By Spike Gillespie, "Spike Speaks"
You want to know a couple of surefire signs that a show is fan-f****g-tabulous? Here's one: as you sit in the theatre, you are so excited, so utterly thrilled, so giddy beyond giddy that it grows a little hard to concentrate because your brain keeps wanting to interrupt your focus on the show to make a mental list of all of the people you know who MUST see it ... (Read more.)
THE DROWSY CHAPERONE at ZACH Theatre
By Michael Meigs, AustinLiveTheatre.com
Run, don't walk, to the ZACH box office to get your first set of tickets for this sparkling evening of music, comedy and light-hearted fooling, a clever reincarnation of Broadway at its wonderful beginnings ... (Read more.)
Play-by-Play Play Commentary: THE DROWSY CHAPERONE
By Katherine Kloc, The Daily Texan
The lights come up, and The Man in the Chair (Martin Burke) welcomes the audience into his cozy fantasy world of 1920s theater, which offers him a departure from the frustrations of the less exciting life he leads outside the bubble of his well-decorated apartment and treasured record collection ... (Read more.)
BECKY'S NEW CAR: ZACH Has a Hit on Their Hands with Dietz's Latest Comedy
By Ryan E. Johnson, Examiner.com
In Becky’s New Car, Dietz has balanced the elements in such excellent alignment, it’s a shock to watch it all unfold. With a tight, fresh script, a cast that seems a sampling of all the best talents in town, inspired lighting design, and even a rockin’ soundtrack, featuring all your favorite driving songs, Dietz has created one of the most successful and polished pieces to hit Austin stages this year ... (Read more.)
Review: BECKY'S NEW CAR
By Jeanne Claire van Ryzin, The Austin American-Statesman
Directed by [Steven] Dietz, the ZACH production sparkles thanks in no small part to a cast with whip-smart comedic timing who manage the ever-escalating farcical action with charm and sincerity ... (Read more.)
Go See BECKY'S NEW CAR!
By Spike Gillespie from jetBlue Magazine
Dietz's play, like the others I've seen Lauren in, is quite delicious. It's very, very funny, but not comedy for comedy's sake. See, it makes you think. On the other hand, it doesn't exist simply as a means for the playwright to flex his literary muscle and show us how smart he is. Instead, we get a very fine balance of laugh-think-laugh-think-laugh that carries through from start til finish. ... (Read more.)
From C.C. Babcock to Becky: The Many Faces of Lauren Lane
By Marilyn McCray, AustinWoman Magazine
"I couldn’t be distilled into some physical description and some 20-year-old writer’s idea of what a 40-year-old woman should be. There just aren’t that many opportunities for theater artists to grow and ripen." ... (Read more.)
A Year's Cheers: The nominees for the 2010 Austin Critics Table Awards
By Robert Faires, The Austin Chronicle
For the 18th year, an informal affiliation of local arts critics has recognized the year's most exceptional achievements in dance, classical music, the visual arts, and theatre ... (Read more.)
Thornton Wilder's OUR TOWN at ZACH Theatre
By Spike Gillespie, jetBlue
I had the great fortune of catching Our Town on opening night. I couldn't believe how such purposefully simple, sparely elegant sets managed to convey such richness. Steakley pulls genuine, deep emotion from his talented cast, communicating the play's poignant message — that we must relish every moment of our too-short lives — loud and clear ... (Read more.)
Austin Arts Review: Our Town
By Barry Pineo, The Austin Chronicle
While all of the acting is energetic and committed, certain performances stand out, none more so than Jaston Williams as the Stage Manager. Wilder was one of the first writers to break the fourth wall that had been constructed by American realism, and he used his Stage Manager character as both a narrator and a philosopher, directly addressing the audience and demonstrating for us how Grover's Corners represents the essence of human experience. Steakley could not have made a better choice for the role than Williams ... (Read more.)
Review: ‘Our Town’ at ZACH Theatre
By Jeanne Claire van Ryzin, The Austin American-Statesman
ZACH Theatre’s production of “Our Town” is creative and fun, and once again Steakley does an admirable job of connecting theatre to the local community ... (Read more.)
Arts Review: The Flaming Idiots
By Wayne Alan Brenner, The Austin Chronicle
February 26, 2010
Ah, yes, it's been six years since Zach Theatre regulars Pyro, Gyro, and Walter galumphed across the boards of the Kleberg Stage, and now they're back. "Reignited," as the ad copy goes, "and it feels so good." Well, we agree ... (Read more.)
Flaming Idiots Fly Again, Sans Flame
By
Lack of combustion has not stopped the Idiots from performing an act mastered during the past 20 years. From making a sandwich with one's feet to shoving a 3-foot balloon down one's throat to making audience members kick an Idiot, the show is full of surprises. (Read more.)
Gifts of the Magi
By Robert Faires, The Austin Chronicle
December 4, 2009
Like the magi in the Christmas story, these three men come from different places but are making the same journey. What they seek is an Austin that's compassionate and just, and they follow a vision of community bonded through art, with their creative talents to offer as gifts ... (Read more.)
Barbara Chisholm: A Shining Star in Austin's Arts Constellation
By Terri Schexnayder, Austin Woman Magazine
December 2009
ZACH Theatre: First Look at a New Stage
By Robert Faires, The Austin Chronicle
October 30, 2009
So what will the third theatre in Zach Theatre's burgeoning South Lamar and Riverside compound look like? The company gave us a sneak peek last week with the release of two exterior images by Andersson-Wise Architects ... (Read more.)
ZACH Theatre unveils designs for new venue
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By Jeanne Claire van Ryzin, The Austin American-Statesman
October 19, 2009
Zach Theatre will release designs today for a sleek 430-seat theater that will be surrounded by a tree-filled plaza and grounds. Slipped onto Zach’s site at South Lamar Boulevard and West Riverside Drive, the new building promises to help establish an arts park on Lady Bird Lake ... (Read more.)
The Laramie Project, 10 Years Later
By Robert Faires, The Austin Chronicle
October 9, 2009
A young man savagely beaten, then tied to a fence and left to die, which he did, sadly, six days later. If the murder of Matthew Shepard shocked you as deeply as it did so many around the world, you may find it difficult to believe that more than a decade has passed since that tragic incident occurred ... (Read more.)
ZACH Theatre: New Stages for New Stages
By Robert Faires, The Austin Chronicle
August 7, 2009
What's the first rule of the stage? No matter what disasters may rain upon the theatre or your own head, the show must go on. And so it goes at Zach Theatre with regard to the company's long a-borning building expansion plans. The economic collapse may have put the kibosh on dream projects at other arts organizations, but the folks at Zach, like true troupers, are marching forward with theirs, with the results already in evidence ... (Read more.)
‘Porgy’ Meets Katrina, and Life’s Not So Easy
By Ralph Blummenthal, The New York Times
January 29, 2008
“Summertime/And the livin’ is easy” takes on a whole new meaning when the time becomes the summer of 2005, and the storm-tossed denizens of Catfish Row find themselves stranded on the Katrina-flooded rooftops of New Orleans ... (Read more.)
