Michael Meigs

Michael Meigs established AustinLiveTheatre.com, now CTXLiveTheatre.com, in June, 2008. He has written more than 800 reviews of live narrative theatre produced in Central Texas and has published another 400 written by colleagues. He extended the site's area of coverage first to San Antonio and later to  theatres within an area bounded by Waco, Bryan-College Station, Brenham, Corpus Christi, Kerrville, and Fredericksburg.

Michael graduated from Vanderbilt University in Spanish literature with a minor in drama and earned a master's degree from the University of Kansas in international drama (comparative literature and technical theatre studies).  A career with the U.S. Foreign Service took him, his wife Karen, and their two children to Africa, South America, the Mediterranean, Europe and the Caribbean. Along the way he earned additional graduate degrees in business, economics and national security studies.

His principal foreign languages are French, Spanish, German, and Swedish. He is a member of the Swedish Translators in North America (STiNA) and the UK-based Swedish-English Language Translators Association (SELTA). The Scandinavian-American Foundation awarded him its 32nd annual translation prize in 2011 for Lars Gustafsson's The Dean. In October 2013 Other Press published his translation from Swedish of Gabi Gleichmann's The Elixir of Immortality. Amazon Crossing, a subsidiary of Amazon.com, publishedhis translations of 2018 Spanish thriller The Dark Circus by Ana Ballabriga and David Zaplana and two novels by Delores Redondo. The American Translators Association awarded his translation of Redondo's All This I Will Give to You  the 2020 Lewis Galantière literary translation award, and the Queen Sofia Institute put his translation of her The North Face of the Heart on the short list for the 2022 Queen Sofia Prize. He translated the first two novels of a popular historical trilogy by German writer Carina Bomann The Inheritance of Lion Hall (2021) and Matilda's Secret (2022) for Amazon Crossing.

Michael has served on the board of Gilbert & Sullivan Austin (GSA) in various capacities since 2010. As GSA production coordinator during the 2021 COVID shutdown, he recruited Austin theatre artists for 17 Fresh Takes on Gilbert & Sullivan, contempory reworkings of famous musical theatre sequences. He did the translation from English to Spanish of the opening numbers of HMS Pinafore and collaborated with Argentinian director/performer Sebastian Vitale to produce El Buque Parasol.  That video and the rest of the Fresh Takes are all posted at the Gilbert & Sullivan Austin website. Michael was inducted into the G&S Austin 'Hall of Fame' in 2022.

In 2023 he translated Pierre Corneille's 1635 Le Cid from French into English blank verse (85 percent) and Spanish reminiscent of the Golden Age (1600-1620)(15 percent). Austin Shakespeare staged his version, retitled El Cid, at the Rollins Theatre, Long Center for the Arts, Austin, from November 10 - 26. Artistic Director Ann Ciccolella directed.

Michael is a member of the American Translators Association, the American Literary Translators Association, the Authors Guild, American Theatre Critics Association, and the Austin Critics Table. He's webmaster for the Austin Critics Table Facebook page. In June, 2017 he appeared onstage at City Theatre as Gremio in Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew, directed by Kevin Gates.

He is a board member of Gilbert & Sullivan Austin, as well as a board member of the Austin Area Interpreters and Translators Association (AATIA).

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David Glen Robinson

David Glen Robinson, “Dr. Dave,” has lived off and on in Austin for just more than 40 years, pursuing graduate work and a professional career.  Also, he has worn variously the hats and face paint of the dance, theatre, art, and writing communities on the vibrant Austin scene.  He has contributed more than 100 reviews to CTX Live Theatre. (Photo by Steve Rogers)

Brian Paul Scipione

Freelance writer, sommelier, international traveler, Brian Paul Scipione holds a bachelor's in Creative Arts from Hofstra University and a master’s degree in Journalism from the University of Texas.  As an amateur actor he has appeared on stage in many eclectic places including Austin, Texas, Long Island, New York, Oxford, England and Dubai, United Arab Emirates. As a journalist he's had articles printed in the Middle East, India and the USA.  His play Cat in the Rain was produced by Shakespeare and Company, Lenox Massachusetts.  

Vanessa Hoang Hughes

Vanessa Hoang Hughes has enjoyed live theater since she was three years old. Born and raised in Austin, Texas, Vanessa currently attends Kealing Middle Magnet School and is a member of Zach Theatre's Pre-Professional Company. She is also a writer and theatre & film actor. 

Charles Ney

Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Department of Theatre & Dance, Texas State University, San Marcos. Full academic biography HERE.