Austin On Stage - Your Online Source for Austin's Performing Arts

Hyde Park Theatre Stages Southwest Premiere of Comedy Body Awareness

Hyde Park Theatre brings the new comedy Body Awareness to Austin for a four week premiere run. Written by Annie Baker and directed by Ken Webster, the production runs

April 8th through May 8th at the Hyde Park Theatre.

It's "Body Awareness Week" at a very-liberal-indeed liberal arts college in Shirley, Vermont, and tensions are coming to a head. Phyllis, one of the organizers, can't get people to stop calling it "Eating Disorders Week." Her partner Joyce is trying to persuade her socially awkward son that he may have Asperger's Syndrome. Frank - the guest artist staying at their home - photographs nude women of all ages...all ages.

The comedy of sexual and family politics - by one of the hottest young New York City playwrights - was originally staged off-Broadway in 2008 with JoBeth Williams, and was nominated for a Drama Desk Award and an Outer Critics Circle Award. The Austin premiere is directed by nine-time B. Iden Payne Award winner for "Best Director - and member of The Austin Arts Hall of Fame - Ken Webster (The Pillowman,Dog Sees God, The Drawer Boy).

The Austin production also features a cast of award-winning actors, including Katherine Catmull, (six-time B. Iden Payne Award winner, Happy Days, A Lie of the Mind; Critics Table Award for Betrayal), Kenneth Wayne Bradley (Critics' Table Award for The Pillowman), Emily Erington ( Critics' Table Award for Sin), Stephen Mercantel (Austin Theater Examiner nominee for Sick), and Ken Webster (Critics Table Awards for Thom Pain and St. Nicholas, B. Iden Payne Award for Sex, Drugs, Rock & Roll).

Performances will run Thursdays through Saturdays at 8 p.m. Tickets are $19 for general admission and $17 for students and seniors, and Thursday performances are "Pay-What-You-Can."

The Hyde Park Theatre is located at 511 West 43rd. For reservations and more information, call (512) 479-PLAY or visit www.HydeParkTheatre.org.

(Photo of Katherine Catmull by Bret Brookshire)