Babs George News

The 2017 awards honor productions which opened between October 1, 2016 and September 30, 2017. Nominations were completely reader-submitted and after the nomination period ended October 31, BroadwayWorld's local editors proofed the list for eligibility and errors.

PRESENT LAUGHTER is a 1939 comedy by Noel Coward. The play's title comes from a song in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, 'present mirth hath present laughter', that urges the sense of carpe diem. Coward repeats one of his signature theatrical devices at the end of the play, where the main characters tiptoe out as the curtain falls - a device that he also used in Private Lives, Hay Fever and Blithe Spirit. The plot follows the life of self-obsessed actor Garry Essendine (Marc Pouhe) as he prepares for a theatrical tour in Africa. Amid a series of events that border on farce, Garry has to deal with women who want to be with him, placate both his secretary and his estranged wife, cope with a more than slightly crazed young playwright, and overcome an impending mid-life crisis. The story has been described by Coward as 'a series of semi-autobiographical pyrotechnics'.

Austin Shakespeare brings Noel Coward's classic comedy Present Laughter to the Rollins Studio Theatre at The Long Center for the Performing Arts from November 16, 2016 - December 4, 2016. Chaos, romance and dazzling dialogue are shaken up to concoct this perfect cocktail for the holiday season! Marc Pouhe stars as the 1930's matinee idol, Garry Essendine, who is self-obsessed, slipping into middle age, and still surrounded by admiring women. Artistic Director Ann Ciccolella says, "Marc was so funny offstage at Macbeth this summer that I envisioned him in a full-out comedy."

SILENT SKY rises above the rest to create a unique little slice of heaven right here in Austin.

At the dawn of modern astronomy, Henrietta Leavitt leaves her home and beloved sister to work in Harvard's male-driven observatory and map the night sky. She forms a new sisterhood with her fellow star "computers," Annie and Williamina, and begins to fall in love with her supervisor, Peter Shaw. As Henrietta makes a revolutionary discovery about where the Earth is in time and space, she must fight to be heard in a world where women's ideas are dismissed until men take credit for them. A celestial romance and a true story of determination, Silent Sky invites you to revel in the magic of the universe on this historic journey of love, family, feminism and science.

At the dawn of modern astronomy, Henrietta Leavitt leaves her home and beloved sister to work in Harvard's male-driven observatory and map the night sky. She forms a new sisterhood with her fellow star "computers," Annie and Williamina, and begins to fall in love with her supervisor, Peter Shaw. As Henrietta makes a revolutionary discovery about where the Earth is in time and space, she must fight to be heard in a world where women's ideas are dismissed until men take credit for them. A celestial romance and a true story of determination, Silent Sky invites you to revel in the magic of the universe on this historic journey of love, family, feminism and science.

Austin Shakespeare, central Texas' classical theater company, will collaborate with ACMC for the first time to create a music-filled production of Shakespeare's Henry VIII at 7:30 pm on Saturday, July 16th at the University of Texas' beautiful Bates Recital Hall. Part of the 20th Anniversary Austin Chamber Music Festival, this one night only event will feature professional actors in Tudor period costume performing alongside a piano quintet.

CLYBOURNE PARK is a play worthy of producing and seeing in any city that claims to be as progressive and liberal as Austin. It's a couple hours worth of good theatre by a theatre company that consistently produces excellent work.  We can sit in the dark and laugh at ourselves and race relations and enjoy some theatre that is, by the way,suffering from gentrification itself.

TRIBES by Nina Raine first premiered in 2010 at London's Royal Court Theatre. It won the 2012 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play in its Off-Broadway premiere. The play is a look at a dysfunctional British family, made up of parents Beth (Babs George) and Christopher (Mitch Peleggi) and their three grown children who are still living at home: Daniel (Aaron Johnson), Ruth (Ava L'Amoreaux) and Billy (Stephen Drabicki). Billy is deaf and was raised to read lips and speak but without knowledge of sign language. One evening in a nightclub, Billy meets Sylvia (Iris McQuillan-Grace), a woman born to deaf parents now slowly going deaf herself. As Billy falls in love with Sylvia, and she teaches him sign language, the play exposes the audience to the deep divide between the deaf and hearing communities.

STEEL MAGNOLIAS is a comedic drama written by Robert Harling, based on his experience with his sister's death. It is about the friendships and families of a group of Southern women in northwest Louisiana. The title references how these women are both delicate and strong. One of the most produced plays in America, you'd be hard pressed to find someone who has never seen at least the film version.

In any given small towns across the country, there can be found a cozy in-home salon where the ladies of the neighborhood get their hair coiffed on a weekly basis. Some people might think that these establishments are near extinct, like video stores or pay phones, but rest assured they are alive and well.

In any given small towns across the country, there can be found a cozy in-home salon where the ladies of the neighborhood get their hair coiffed on a weekly basis. Some people might think that these establishments are near extinct, like video stores or pay phones, but rest assured they are alive and well.

TexARTS presents Robert Harling's 'Steel Magnolias' at the Kam & James Morris Theatre, October 16-25. The third production in TexARTS' 2015-16 professional series, 'Steel Magnolias' is a glimpse into the lives of six Southern women who are 'delicate as magnolias but as tough as steel.'

TexARTS presents Robert Harling's "Steel Magnolias" at the Kam & James Morris Theatre, October 16-25. The third production in TexARTS' 2015-16 professional series, "Steel Magnolias" is a glimpse into the lives of six Southern women who are "delicate as magnolias but as tough as steel."

Jacob's Ladder is described in the Book of Genesis as a staircase to heaven that the biblical Patriarch Jacob dreamed about during his flight from his brother Esau. It is often used as an analogy for the spiritual ascetic of life. JACOB'S LADDER, a new play by Dennis Bailey & David Mixner, now in its World Premiere staging by Theatre en Bloc, tells the story of a hero, also named Jacob, who's not born but cornered as he wrestles with the idea that all evil needs to triumph is for good men to do nothing.

Austin Playhouse will present She Stoops to Conquer by Oliver Goldsmith, directed by Don Toner and Lara Toner-Haddock, tonight, February 13th - March 8, 2015.

This boisterous and charming comedy of mistaken identities has delighted audiences for over two centuries. Two well-bred young men arrive at the country estate of Mr. Hardcastle, intending to court his daughter Kate and her cousin Constance, but when local mischief-maker Tony Lumpkin plays a practical joke on the two urbanites, the Hardcastle household is launched into a dizzying, deliciously frothy romp that examines romance and social manners as well as the art of love. Our production will be a sumptuous celebration of the gorgeous language, elegant costumes, and outright hilarity of Goldsmith's classic.