Recent Reviews
Review: The Last Seance of Harry Houdini by Bottle Alley Theatre Company
by Michael Meigs
Published on October 31, 2025
The Last Séance of Harry Houdini in the evocative setting of the Flower Hill mansion gathers historical figures into a world without ghosts but one that still yearns for transcendent experience.
Old houses—and especialy mansions that are no longer inhabited—have memories. Or at least we impute memories to them, for they have housed generations of families, people no longer with us, people so long gone. Step into a well-preserved dwelling that once contained daily lives fifty, a hundred, or more years ago, and it becomes a temple. Like François Villon, it subtly asks us, Où sont les neiges d'antan? Metaphoricaly though not literally, that's "Where have …
Review: APPREHENSION by L.B. Deyo, Holi Shamoli Productions, Austin
by Brian Paul Scipione
Published on October 30, 2025
Something is happening to Joe, and yet the characters around him are eerily ignoring his breakdown. A cast of Austin theatre royalty portrays overlapping stories and extreme emotion. And a colossal denouement.
Have you ever stared at Niagara Falls? It is beautiful in its chaos, so mesmerizing you can’t help but feel enchanted and overwhelmed at the same time. It's impossible to stand there without imagining what it would feel like to jump in. This is the feeling I had while watching the theatrical spectacle Apprehension. The play draws a razor-thin line between comedy and drama while showcasing true-to-life characters at one of the most consequential moments …
Review: Sagittarius Ponderosa by Austin Rainbow Theatre (ART)
by Michael Meigs
Published on October 23, 2025
In our divisive times, Austin Rainbow Theatre's choice of Kaufman's warm but unsentimental family portrait is both entertaining and consoling.
Austin Rainbow Theatre's Sagittarius Ponderosa is a slightly eerie, entrancing portrait of a multigenerational family living in a forested area that could well be enchanted. Playwright MJ Kaufman's story is dream-like, and director Adam Adolfo endows it with fluidity and grace. The family of protagonist Archer (née Angela) is revealed around a symbolic Thanksgiving table, and each member takes a turn identifying something for which he/she/they is/are thankful. They're an agreeably quirky bunch. Though we …
Review: The Heart Sellers by Austin Playhouse
by Vanessa Hoang Hughes
Published on October 21, 2025
In ninety minutes the audience in the small studio space becomes fast friends with two recent immigrants from Asia, sharing laughter and catharsis.
When two lonely strangers in 1973 decide to spend their Thanksgiving together, a sentimental night of newfound friendship ensues. The Heart Sellers tells the story of Jane and Luna, two Asian immigrant women who spend a night sharing tales of love, womanhood, and belonging. Lloys Suh’s script debuted in 2023. Ten productions in the 2024-2025 season made it one of the most produced plays in the United States. Alexa Capareda is Luna, the extroverted hostess …
Review #2 of 2: Mirror Lake by Jarrott Productions
by Michael Meigs
Published on October 21, 2025
Savor your shivers, admire this handsome couple, wish them the best; Mirror Lake offers them opportunity but also the perils of the best of intentions.
It's spooky scary season, y'all. Jarrott Productions chose Steven Dietz's two-hander Mirror Lake to fit the season. Director Caroline Cearley makes the most of the intimate space at the Trinity Street Players' space in central Austin, and MacKenzie Mulligan's lighting is appropriately dark and suddenly spotted with reveals. It's a tale of a couple married now for ten years who have the custom of trying to scare one another witless on their anniversary. They travel …
Review #1 of 2: MIRROR LAKE by Steven Dietz, Jarrott Productions
by David Glen Robinson
Published on October 21, 2025
This suspense thriller with inflections of horror features brilliant dialogists and movers, Juliet Robb especially.
Fear of the dark. Fear of the unknown. Fear of what’s outside. Fear of hunters. Fear of confinement. Fear of what’s in the box. Fear of your spouse. Fear of the fog. Fear of dark, murky waters . . . .These fears may seem archetypal, but they are only the playing pieces of the marital game Philip and Dinah play on their wedding anniversary every year, ten so far. Jarrott Productions has premiered Mirror Lake, …