Frank Benge News

It's your last week to vote for the 2014 BroadwayWorld Austin Regional Awards! Check out the latest live stats as of December 26th. Voting closes at the end of the year, in under one week!

Time is ticking on your last chance to vote for the 2014 BroadwayWorld Austin Regional Awards! Check out the latest live stats as of December 19th. Voting closes at the end of the year!

Voting has now opened for the 2014 BroadwayWorld Austin Regional Awards! Check out the latest live stats as of December 4th.

Voting has now opened for the 2014 BroadwayWorld Austin Regional Awards! Check out the latest live stats as of December 4th.

Voting has now opened for the 2014 BroadwayWorld Austin Regional Awards! Check out the latest live stats as of November 25th.

Ask anyone you meet and they're bound to tell you that, with the possible exception of The Godfather Part II, sequels aren't as good as the original. That seems to be the case with Rex's Exes, now playing at Sam Bass Theatre. For three years in a row now, Sam Bass has opened their season a slapstick, Texas-themed comedy of errors by the writing team of Jessie Jones, Nicholas Hope, and Jamie Wooten. This year's offering is a sequel to last year's Red Velvet Cake War, and while the performers at Sam Bass give it their all, it seems that Jones, Hope, and Wooten are on auto-pilot, recycling jokes and plot points that we've now seen for three years running.

This deliriously funny Southern-fried farce finds the Verdeen cousins of Sweetgum, Texas-Gaynelle, Peaches and Jimmie Wyvette-teetering on the brink of disaster again. Gaynelle, frustrated and frazzled from working too many two-bit jobs, stubbornly refuses to face the fact she's turning the Big 5-0. I

This deliriously funny Southern-fried farce finds the Verdeen cousins of Sweetgum, Texas-Gaynelle, Peaches and Jimmie Wyvette-teetering on the brink of disaster again. Gaynelle, frustrated and frazzled from working too many two-bit jobs, stubbornly refuses to face the fact she's turning the Big 5-0. I

There's no shortage of incredible pieces of art and theater that were lost, at least temporarily, during the Stalinist era of Communist Russia. Thank God, though, that Nikolai Erdman's absurdist masterpiece The Suicide somehow survived. Had it not, the world would be without one of the best commentaries on Communist society's impact on the freedom of the individual to think, feel, and be for themselves. Additionally, Austin theatergoers would be without one of the best theatrical productions of the year.

Sam Bass Theatre is pleased to announce its 2014-2015 season full of laughter, drama and song!

paper chairs presents Nikolai Erdman's slapstick tragedy, The Suicide, opening tonight, May 15th at the Off Center.

paper chairs proudly presents Nikolai Erdman's slapstick tragedy, The Suicide, opening May 15th at the Off Center.

'The Chalk Garden' by Enid Bagnold opens tonight, April 11th at Sam Bass Community Theatre. Directed by Frank Benge.

'The Chalk Garden' by Enid Bagnold opens April 11th at Sam Bass Community Theatre. Directed by Frank Benge.

Bust out the egg nog. Sam Bass Community Theatre's currently celebrating the Holiday season with an unconventional Christmas comedy, Mrs. Bob Cratchit's Wild Christmas Binge by acclaimed playwright Christopher Durang. A musical parody of the Charles Dickens classic, A Christmas Carol, Mrs. Bob Cratchit's Wild Christmas Binge asks what if Mrs. Cratchit wasn't so goody-goody and was instead a angry, stressed out modern-day American woman who wanted out of her harsh 1840s London life.

'Mrs. Bob Cratchit's Wild Christmas Binge' by Christopher Durang opens tonight, December 6th at Sam Bass Community Theatre. Directed by Laura Vohs. Choreography by CiCi Barone.

'Mrs. Bob Cratchit's Wild Christmas Binge' by Christopher Durang opens December 6th at Sam Bass Community Theatre. Directed by Laura Vohs. Choreography by CiCi Barone.

Last October, I visited Sam Bass Theatre for the first time. They were producing The Hallelujah Girls, a Southern screwball comedy by Jessie Jones, Nicholas Hope, and Jamie Wooten, and I was instantly impressed at the company's ability to bring zany characters to life. It's now a year after my first visit to Sam Bass. Once again, they're staging a comedy by Jones, Hope, and Wooten, and once again, I'm impressed. Their current production of The Red Velvet Cake War is so delectable and delicious, it could only be improved if the audience were fed some complimentary red velvet cake.

While the title may suggest that the play may be a run of the mill romantic comedy, Gurney's play is more of a character study, and through Sam Bass's sturdy production, those characters vividly come to life.