The Age of Aquarius

Last Sunday, I went to see my friend Meg in her final performance of Hair at The City Theatre, an adorable local theater in East Austin. She was fantastic as always, and the show was beautifully crafted and executed by an amazing cast of local Austinites.  

I have seen a lot of great theatre in Austin over the years-- and I'm not just talking shows, but good theatre with the -re, performances that encompass every aspect of the world of performance. Austin boasts a large artist community as well as a large community that supports the arts, but what we have is so much more than people who like to perform and people who like to watch others perform.

We're experimental, and sometimes those experiments fail. We work on limited budgets, limited time, and limited resources--- so sometimes our costumes choices don't make sense, our sound cues aren't as loud as they should be, and our theaters aren't as nice as they could be. But, it's the 'we' that sets us apart from many other cities that also boast a thriving theatre scene.

We love our local Austin playwrights, and our annual musicals in the park, and our sometimes hair brained takes on classical literature (see: The Grapes of Wrath, The Musical). Oh, and most of all, we love our performers-- the leasing agent at my apartment complex, my co worker's daughter, this one guy I met in the Radisson parking lot who talked my ear off about Hamlet for twenty minutes, and of course, my former acting buddies.

Meg & the girls at Red House after the show, toasting her fabulous performance with a Pimms Cup. There were, of course, some protestations when the camera came out... 

.... but then they got into the spirit!*

*Hillary is holding my drink. 

Pictured in the hazy darkness behind us is a slew of my coworkers. I wonder what they thought about our photo shoot, which extended way beyond these few pictures after all of our drinks were drank and food was eaten and Meg's camera came out to play. 

The star herself! Good show, Meg Bear. 

So thank you Austin, once again, for being a cool place to life. I will try to hold these sentiments close next time you grace us with a 105 degree day.