Don Toner

The Austin City Council unanimously approved a recommendation from the Austin Economic Development Corporation that Austin Playhouse receive a $4.5M investment from the 2018 Creative Spaces Bonds.

Austin Playhouse has announced the cast for Previews of Departing Attractions, a collection of short plays by local playwright Lowell Bartholomee, running August 5–20, 2022.

Following its departure from ACC Highland in 2021, Austin Playhouse will now call 405 West 22nd home while continuing to pursue the vital project of establishing its permanent venue in Austin.

Austin Playhouse announces that after 60+ years of producing theatre in Austin and beyond, Founder and Co-Producing Artistic Director Don Toner will step down from his role as Co-Producing Artistic Director. Current Co-Producing Artistic Director Lara Toner Haddock will continue alongside recent additions to the leadership team, Associate Artistic Directors Ben Wolfe and Sarah Fleming Walker.

Austin Playhouse announces the return to live performance with The Catastrophist directed by Austin Playhouse Founder Don Toner and starring Company Member and new Co-Associate Artistic Director, Ben Wolfe.

Austin Playhouse announces leadership team expansion with the addition of Ben Wolfe and Sarah Fleming Walker as Associate Artistic Directors alongside current Co-Producing Artistic Directors Lara Toner Haddock and Founder Don Toner.

This summer will also bring the public launch of Austin Playhouse's Capital Campaign for their permanent home. Announcements to come and will have information on campaign goals, naming opportunities and all the ways everyone can be involved in the building of this new venue space that will house Austin Playhouse and serve Austin's creative community.

Austin Playhouse is celebrating the holiday season with the romantic musical comedy, She Loves Me. She Loves Me is a charming story set in the 1930's about two feuding shop clerks, Amalia and Georg. By Day, the two sparring co-workers can't seem to find common ground, but by night write beautiful love letters to their a?oesecret admirersa??. The unlikely romance unfolds as Georg and Amalia discover the truth that the anonymous pen pals they are falling for happen to be each other! But will their love continue to blossom once their identities are finally revealed? Musical favorites include, a?oeVanilla Ice Creama??, and a?oeShe Loves Mea??. She loves me is a musical adaption of the 1937 play Parfumerie. The story has also been adapted into the popular films The Shop around the Corner (1949) and You've Got Mail (1998).  

Austin Playhouse is celebrating its 20th Anniversary Season by revisiting two of their favorite characters, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson.

Austin Playhouse announces their 20th Anniversary Season celebrating the human connections at the heart of live theatre.

The mission statement of Austin Playhouse is to "Provide opportunities for both Austinite performers and audiences to celebrate the human experience". COPENHAGEN, now playing at their temporary home in the ACC Highland Campus, examines a highly debated meeting between Quantum Mechanics pioneer Werner Heisenberg (played by David Stahl), and his mentor, the "Pope" of Quantum Mechanics, Niels Bohr (play by Ev Lunning Jr.). Also attended by Bohr's wife Margrethe Bohr (played by Babs George), this meeting of the minds takes place years after their first skiing vacations together, in which they collaborated to prove Albert Einstein wrong on atomic theory. The examined reunion took place in September 1941, when Heisenberg was working in Nazi Germany as part of their atomic program. Travelling to Denmark to meet with Bohr, a Danish Jew, tensions ran high as the time for the meeting came closer. Within the polarizing political climate of the time, the show displays the current debate and inherently speculative narrative of what was discussed during this visit and how it may have changed human history.

On Wednesday, April 3, 2019, Austin Playhouse closed on a 2.8 acre site at 1717 E. Anderson Lane, along the 183 frontage road in Northeast Austin. The building site will be developed into a home for the veteran professional theatre as well as serving as a rental facility for other arts organizations. The purchase price of $1,280,664 was primarily funded by a $1 million anonymous contribution and a bridge loan from Comerica Bank.

THE MYSTERY OF EDWIN DROOD (or, as it is sometimes called, the much shorter, 'Drood') is a 1985 musical based on Charles Dickens unfinished novel The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Written entirely by Rupert Holmes, it was the first Broadway musical with multiple endings determined by the audience. Holmes received Tony Awards for Best Book and Best Original Score. The production won five Tony Awards out of eleven nominations, including Best Musical. The musical is derived from both Dickens' final unfinished novel and British pantomime and music hall traditions that reached the height of their popularity in the years following Dickens' death. Produced originally by Austin Playhouse in 2005, it was nominated for six B. Iden Payne awards including the winner of Best Director for Musical Theatre (Don Toner). Jill Blackwood, Rick Roemer, and Jacqui Cross reprise their roles from that 2005 production.

Austin Playhouse is thrilled to open its 2018 - 2019 season with the world premiere of Monroe by local playwright Dr. Lisa B. Thompson. The play was a winner of the Austin Playhouse Festival of New Texas Plays, receiving a staged reading in April 2018.

SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE is a 2014 stage adaptation by Lee Hall of the 1998 Academy Award winning film by Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard of the same name. It was first created under the auspices of Disney Theatrical Productions and Sonia Friedman Productions. The story concerns an imaginary love affair involving Viola de Lesseps (Claire Grasso) and playwright William Shakespeare (Stephen Mercantel) while he was writing Romeo and Juliet. Many of the characters are based on historical figures, and many of the characters, lines, and plot devices allude to Shakespeare's plays. The production, now playing at Austin Playhouse, is one of their biggest productions to date. This script has become one of the most produced plays in America this season, and rightfully so, as it as entertaining as the 1998 film was.

Director Don Toner first directed Mark Harelik's THE IMMIGRANT 28 years ago. Happily for Austin, he and Austin Playhouse have decided to restage this charming, inspiring and touching tale for a new generation. THE IMMIGRANT is based on the true story of Harelik's grandfather, a young Russian-Jewish man who entered America through the port of Galveston. Set in Hamilton, Texas (a tiny town with a population of 1,203, no Jews) Haskell Harelik (Joseph Garlock) begins life in America with only a hand pushed fruit cart and a mere smattering of English words at his disposal. It is his gentle spirit and hard work that touches the heart of the local banker and his wife to win him a helping hand. Milton (Huck Huckaby) and Ima Perry (Cyndi Williams) offer him a place to live and eventually, financial help from Milton. With their help, Haskell finally saves up enough money to open a store and send for his wife, Leah (Estrella Saldana). Since the original World Premiere production, directed here in Austin by Toner, Harelik has also adapted the show into a chamber musical.

This Random World, the new Steven Dietz play that kicked off Austin Playhouse's 18th season on September 8th, is a well paced and finely built show. The production at Austin Playhouse, utilizing a handful of skilled actors and minimalistic set, deftly crafts a consistently interesting and entertaining show that captivates the audience as it unfolds.

GUYS AND DOLLS is presented by Austin Playhouse as part of their 2016-2017 season. Directed by Don Toner and with musical direction by Susan Finnigan, this musical theatre gem tells the story of rolling the dice and taking a gamble on love. The musical, based on two short stories by Damon Runyon, originally premiered on Broadway in 1950 with music and lyrics by Frank Loesser and book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows. It went on to win the Tony in 1950 for Best Musical and was later adapted into the 1955 film starring Frank Sinatra and Marlon Brando.

BASKERVILLE is a rollicking bit of fun, especially for the mystery fans among us.

The game's afoot! Austin Playhouse produces the Texas premiere of a famous Sherlockian tale, Ken Ludwig's BASKERVILLE, A Sherlock Holmes Mystery.