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ZACH Theatre
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12 reviews for ZACH Theatre
Leave it to Kelly S to remind me that I have not reviewed this theater yet. In all fairness it could be because I haven't been in a coupla years, but this is my two cents and fave memories. What everyone says is right....there is not a bad seat in the house. I went twice to see Rocky Horror and I swear by my panties that Dr Frankenfurter looked me in the eye and blew me a kiss, and it landed wetly on my cheek. Altho when I approached him after the show (the actors used to meet and greet in the hall), and told him that he was a beautiful and sexy man, he looked like a deer in headlights. Maybe if hubby had said it instead.....Ahh, Joe, I can't help being hot over a muscle-bound man in fishnets and thigh high boots and black fingernails. We miss you dearly!
The actors often interact with the crowd, which is unavoidable as we are practically sitting in their laps. The music, the sets, and the costumes are brilliantly creative and well-done....again the audience is so close as to notice every seam on every corsette. And the reason I saw Rocky twice in the same season was, on the first nite they had audio difficulties 3/4 of the way thru, so they offered everyone to come back for the whole thing again.
They have serious talent here, frontstage and backstage! It's always a great time!
Was it the quality of the show that is making me feel overgenerous? Probably. Love, Janis was amazing. But we got there late after dropping off my parents -- the nice stage manager lady found us two seats and because we had to walk through some people, she gave us two free drink tickets.
Total bonus that the seats are ALL good. There is literally no place in this smallish theater that is bad.
Zachary Scott theater is one of Austin's tried and true venues for performing arts and for little reason more than its longstanding history, should be revered by citizens interested in keeping the Austin arts community at the forefront where it belongs. The quality of programming that is churned out year after year is sure to keep it in operation, but theater needs an audience to be truly successful. Your support for things local should include an occasional trip to the theater. If you've had little interest in theater before now, this current returning production might just make you a strong convert with a total winner in Love, Janis.
Love, Janis is an adaptation of the book by the same name penned by the sister of the late Janis Joplin. The book is a collection of the artist's letters written to her family in Port Arthur Texas. Two actors grace the stage as Janice per night. Before you become a skeptic, understand that these ladies are seasoned veterans of the stage whose talent will immerse you in gritty musical performance backed by a wonderful live band as well as a gripping account of Joplin's vulnerability as told through the letters to her mother and exerpts of re-enacted radio and television interviews. Additionally, the performance is passed from one actress to the next seamlessly but cleverly separated by the distinctive personality differences in her fearless on-stage persona and the approval seeking daughter from Port Arthur. From her early years in Austin to her eventual demise in New York shortly after promises of sobriety made to her family, the performance will rekindle your love for Joplin's music (or make you a new fan) as well as transport you back in time to the cultural revolution of which Joplin spoke with wild affection.
You don't have to be an aficionado of the arts or a musical genius to attend the theater, but you may leave with an enriched sense of culture and a deeper appreciation for a portion of our education that seems to have been fairly marginalized of late by the digital age. The time that acting troops take to make a show available to the public in a live performance is always evident in theater, and in a way brings the audience much closer to the craft of acting and performance than the glossed over product presented over the airwaves in HD. In short, HD is great, but there is no substitution for 3-D.
The coziness of this theater is a bonus as there is not a bad seat in the house. You will feel like you are in the middle of the play. The staff is attentive and professional and the seats, while not the most comfortable in the city have been graced by the butts of some very important people and you are certain to feel like you've shared culture with some of Austin's elite should your butt grace this Austin institution. The arts are still alive, and Zach has something to fit any taste.
We saw Espy Randolph play the role of the Elf in David Sedaris' Santaland Diaries. We are big fans of this actor, as we have seen him several times in the epic Esther's Follies, so we were excited to see him do other pieces.
David Steakly directed the show with the intention of making the Santaland experience fuller and richer. Specifically, he added an actress/singer and another act. We enjoyed hearing Espy and Meredith Mcall spout out some of the sicker, funnier holiday tunes you don't get on your digital cable station, songs about Mrs. Claus and her breakdown, for instance. However, we were not ready to have 45 minutes of a first act, so we thought when intermission started, "Where's all the Elf crap?" Then we actually read the program only to realise that the Santaland script is what makes up the second act.
That said, if you would like to get the full warm-up, the second act is worth the wait, and Espy Randolph fills the role with shades and degrees that range from sweet, effeminate, and even loving, to acerbic and appropriately wry. Those levels is what makes the show pretty funny. There are moments we were just howling, particularly with his Sarah Palin jabs and his assertion that he would "kill" one annoying mother while she manipulated her was through Macy's Herald Square.
So if you have no interest in that syrupy White Christmas hooey, you will find your new friends and all of their personalities at the Zach this season.
The show is on stage until January 11th, so you have time. Just don't let it slip by!
Camron was cool enough to ask me along so he and I went to the Zach Scott Kleberg theater to see 'Speeding Motorcycle' this weekend. If you have ever heard Daniel Johnston's music or seen his artwork, you will probably enjoy this production. I have not and I was a little confused. I would recommend watching the documentary "The Devil and Daniel Johnston" first... I've heard good stuff about it.
The Kleberg theater itself is nice and has comfortable seats and all of them have a good view of the stage (unless the large actor stands between you and the action most of the time). The parking in this area is totally ridiculous and I would recommend you show up early. I got unlucky and parked in Mexico.
I want to give a Missed Connection out to Adriene Mishler who played Laurie. After the show, you stood in front of me and managed to get your shoulder under my hand and coaxed me into saying, "hey, great job." PM me.
After the performance, the players went to a stage outside and played a couple more Daniel Johnston songs. I will definitely be seeing more shows at the ZACH... and I'd call it a great date place.
PS I'm straight and so is Camrom.
I took my daughter to see Zach's production of Seussical the Musical at the auditorium at the Texas School for the Deaf. They were having a 10:30 a.m. perfomance and the place was packed.
What a fantastic performance. Wow. It's a great show for both kids and adults.
I'm deducting one star because the promised 15 minute intermission ended up being a TWO minute intermission. They packed the house with kids for a kids' show, sell juice and other drinks at the door, and then only allow two minutes for all those kids to make it through the bathrooms. Seriously. Bad idea. Fortunately it wasn't an issue for us, but a large portion of the crowd didn't make it back to their seats before Act 2 started.
I want to dispel any rumors about Don and me. We are not in a relationship. We are not gay. But if we were I would totally be the dominate.
Now that I have that out of the way, Don and I went to the Zach Scott Kleberg theater to see 'Speeding Motorcycle' this weekend. If you have ever heard Daniel Johnston's music or seen his artwork, you will probably enjoy this production. If not, you might be a little confused. I would recommend watching the documentary "The Devil and Daniel Johnston" first.
The Kleberg theater itself is nice and has comfortable seats and all of them have a good view of the stage. The parking in this area is totally ridiculous and I would recommend you show up early. I got lucky and saw someone backing out right in front of the theater.
I want to give a Missed Connection out to Adriene Mishler who played Laurie. Before the show, you peeked out from behind the stage door and we made eye contact. If you could feel the electricity too, PM me.
After the performance, the players went to a stage outside and played a couple more Daniel Johnston songs. I will definitely be seeing more shows at the ZACH.
Last night my nomadic cohort and I were the destitute artist quotient of the audience at the Zach's production of "Doubt." We are penniless because that is the current way of our lives, and we were lucky enough to get comps because my pal has applied for a box office position here - that they give comps to grubby yet passionate homeless creative types already says something cool about them overall.
(Funny, both of us decided we were seeing "Proof," which, while a great play, should probably not be mistaken for "Doubt." Moral lesson contained herein: don't mistake doubt for proof, as it gets you nowhere.)
Anyhoo, I'm not going to contain a review of the production herein, but I will say that the structure of the stage (a nice take on theatre in the round) and the small number of seats meant that there isn't really a bad seat in the house. Though sometimes people are (literally) within spitting distance of the actors.
Hey, I'm an actor myself, and I know that the spittle can fall like rain during those most passionate moments, so I'm not faulting anyone. I'm just sayin' - man. Some folks in the front row may well have been baptized by pure creative passion last night.
The volunteer helping us with the wine was awesome, and seemed totally stoked to be there. The volunteer usher apparently didn't like the look of me and didn't give me a program.
But it was all well and good in the end, and in parting I have only a few observations: parking is truly a mess (we walked). All the technical aspects of the play were handled beautifully; lighting and sound design were well done. Costume design for me left a little to be desired, but then, what is there to do when you are dressing nuns?
This theater does a remarkable job of producing plays that are edgy AND local while still maintaining a professional atmosphere and high quality performances.
I saw Speeding Motorcycle this weekend, too, and was impressed by the conceptualization and the Daniel Johnston tribute set after the show.
As I was sitting in the Zachary Scott Theatre this weekend, looking at the half naked man in little gold Speedos and gold boots running wildly away from the 6 foot tall transsexual from Transylvania ( Rocky Horror, y'all) I was hit by how much I love the Zachary Scott Theatre Center. The audience was standing doing the time warp, the actors were grooving away appropriately and there was a vibe in the air. This is what good theatre should be.
Reaching out to many different Austin groups with programs such as Project Interact- which takes theatre into elementary and middle schools, Gay/Lesbian before show party nights, and a really lively atmosphere- Zach Scott really proves its versatility. Its also collects money after the show for AIDS services of Austin, an added perk.
So if you have some extra cash to spend (Warning, tickets are expensive! Upwards of 35 dollars a pop. Less if you're a student) check this place out if you haven't. Also for you cheapskates out there, try ushering. For an hour or two of your time you get to see any show in the house for free, that's my kinda deal.
I've seen 2 plays at Zach Scott. The Rockin' Christmas, and Keepin' it Weird. Both were fantastic, local type shows that gave you and intimate feel at something particularly "Austin."
The theatre has a fantastic group of Actors, with true talent. I plan on definitely going soon to the Rocky Horror Picture show running this Oct. I plan on going to many future shows, and feel like Zach Scott has something that every Austinite can enjoy, and can give an out-of-towner a glimpse into what is behind the quirkiness that Austin embodies.
My first and only experience of the Zachary Scott Theatre Center was a good one. I went to the Santaland Diaries, written by David Sedaris, with some friends. The show was on the Wisenhut stage, a small theater in the "black box" style. We did have some difficulty figuring out which side of the building it was on but we soon found it and walked into a small lobby. We picked up are tickets at the window, turned off our phones, used the bathroom and searched for our seat. The usher checked our tickets and instructed us to the best door to use. Any seat is a good seat in this theater since it is so intimate. The first half of the show was a slightly bawdy selection of Christmas tunes sung mostly by Meridith McCall accompanied by piano. The second half was actor Espy Randolph's elf monologue. (Jim L., I know it's technically not a monologue but it works for me) The elf was funny and perfect for the part. There was an intermission and drinks were for sale in the lobby. I didn't buy anything so no opinion on the refreshment service. I am looking forward to another visit to this theater.
