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Oh, holy shit. That unstoppable Trouble Puppet crew, led by Connor Hopkins, often as sick and twisted as they are brilliant – and, yeah, they've been mind-bogglingly good at times – returns with a true-historical tale of the sort of privilege, entitlement, and hubris that leads to nation-building … and sometimes cannibalism. This spectacle is performed by Zac Crofford, Caroline Reck, Marina DeYoe-Pedraza, Indigo Rael, Jay Young, Zac Carr, and Melissa Vogt. It's a musical, too, with an original score by Mother Falcon. Recommended, but note: This is not the sort of puppet show you wanna take your smaller kids to – unless you've been feeding them long pig all this time.

You know Johannsen is "one of the finest and more cerebral comics around," right? That's why you're reserving a seat for the weekend's shows right now.

"Three talent-packed days of staged readings of new plays by five great playwrights." We'd usually rewrite an opening PR statement like that. You know: ditching most of the adjectives? But, no, from our experience of theatre in this town, that description is pretty spot-on – concerning the writers and directors and performers alike. A veritable company of glory is gathered to present this showcase of original works for you. Friday features Austin Traffic: The Musical pReview by Megan Ortiz (7pm) and Europa, about "two women, their children, and the after-effects of sexual violence," by Sarah Saltwick (8:30pm); Saturday brings Megan Tabaque’s Two Sweaty, about the "unexpected friendship between two women in an urban cycling studio" (3pm) and Travis Tate's Seneca, a time-shifting tale of a town of freed slaves and immigrants in the mid-1800s, that is where New York City's Central Park is now (8pm); and the series wraps on Sunday with Ruby, Raul Garza's "poetic journey through realms of art, science, and the natural world" (3pm) and Lulu in Rochester by Allison Gregory, about "silent film star Louise Brooks’ temporary emergence from obscurity in the Fifties" (8pm). See website for details.

Robert Mueller (as played by Hyde Park Theatre's own Ken Webster), with help from a rotation of local all-star actors, presents highlights of the special counsel’s two-volume, 400-plus page report in this staged reading – including, of course, the Mueller team's assessment of Russian interference and the president’s efforts to obstruct the investigation into his campaign. Conceived and directed by Mark Pickell for Capital T Theatre. (Also, we feel compelled to add, in the interests of full disclosure: FUCK TRUMP.)

The photographer Ilana Panich-Linsman gives us a small glimpse into the lives of those detained and displaced, via images captured on the U.S.-Mexican Border.

This new play, devised by a trans/nonbinary ensemble – the lead writers are Libby Carr and Lane Stanley – tells the story of a "found family" living together in the same house, redefining the meaning and importance of community and overcoming personal grief and loss while fostering an atmosphere of love and acceptance. Directed by Lisa Scheps and Jess O'Rear for Ground Floor Theatre.

This is an intimate portrait of Ann Richards, the legendary late governor of Texas, bringing audiences face to face with a complex, colorful, and captivating character bigger than the state from which she hailed. Written (and originally performed) by Holland Taylor, Ann takes a revealing look at the impassioned woman who enriched the lives of her followers, friends, and family. The lady's played by the talented Libby Villari in this show, directed by the original Broadway helmsman, Benjamin Endsley Klein. And now, here's our review of the show.

Here's an exhibition – adventurous, fantastic, and let's not forget fun – by 57 Texas-based artists, featuring a diversity of styles and mediums.

Cindy Stapper’s contemporary landscape paintings reflect her fascination with elemental forces and the unexpected associations and subtle contrasts present in nature. Stapper builds paintings using oil, cold wax, powdered pigments, and natural materials that are layered and excavated to reveal hidden depths of color and texture.

Marta Lee and Cheyenne Weaver "depict the hidden and subtle aspects of our daily lives in a fairly intense way, revealing the extraordinary depth and complex emotional landscape intrinsic to the trivial moments and objects of life."

This new show highlights new developments in Jeffrey Gibson’s genre-bridging practice, with 50 works made between 2014 and 2018 – including intricately beaded wall-hangings and punching bags, paintings, ceramics, garments, helmets, and a new video commissioned for this exhibition.

This is a solo exhibition of 14 large photographs and photographic collages by artist Elizabeth Chiles, showcasing two series of her work: "Figs from Thistles," created in 2013 during the worst Texas drought in over a century, and "On Water," created in 2018 during months of historic flooding along the Colorado River.

How many amazements in just 60 minutes? Join your host and canine-savvy jester Darren Peterson for this delightful spectacle of five circus dogs, a singing scarlet macaw, and one human. Featuring juggling, unicycling, Rola-Bola, yo-yo tricks, and other such antics – all in the air-conditioned afternoon!

This is an exhibition by Adrian Armstrong, exploring the topic of mental health in African-American culture, encompassing the artist's personal struggles and a discussion about why mental health is often a taboo topic in the culture he was raised in. Note: Visitors are encouraged to bring an internet-capable device and headphones to listen to the musical components of the show; free Wi-Fi is available on-site.

Yippee ki yay, space cadet, it's time to head 'em off at the Pass Nebula as the State History Museum presents an exhibition that spans more than 150 years of Western and science fiction history and features 100-plus artifacts (including props from Star Trek, Star Wars, Firefly, and other skiffy media fare). And our arch-geek himself, the estimable Richard Whittaker, also a part-time Sith Lord, reviews the show for you here.

This is one extensive group exhibit focused on repetition and daily practice, for which each of the participating artists has created a new work or carefully chosen a work from the past. And we mean, these are some of the most fascinating artists who ever breathed our city's air – Steve Brudniak, Malou Flato, Denise M. Fulton, Jan Heaton, David Leonard, Randall Reid, Caprice Pierucci, John Sager, Chun Hui Pak, and many more. So, even if visiting galleries isn't part of your, ah, daily practice, you'll be well rewarded by checking out Davis Gallery's array of visual creations.

The elegant Eastside gallery of three-dimensional creation – those folks responsible for the public beauty of that Sculpture Garden on Springdale – present GD Wright's first solo show in Austin, featuring works composed of metal structures, concrete castings, and blown glass with mirrored surfaces. Note: This show exists partly via sponsorship from UT-Arlington to produce more than 200 pounds of blown glass.

This is a solo exhibition by Leslie Kell, about whose digitally manipulated photography we've fairly raved, because she does it so well and frequently handcrafts and embellishes the frames she displays it in. For this show, in addition to her typical graphic deconstructions of nature and so on, Kell's created at least one work using images of the Ney's own sculptural inventory. It's never a poor idea to visit this Hyde Park gem of a venue, and right now it's an even better idea than usual.

In Donja R. Love's new play set in the Jim Crow South, Olivia and Charles’ marriage is threatened when four little girls are bombed in a church and that tragedy and years of civil unrest leave Olivia believing that “this world ain’t no place to raise a colored child.” Directed by Tarik Daniels for Whatsinthemirror?

This new group exhibition at grayDUCK features a wide range of new work by eight artists – Veronica Ceci, Madeline Irvine, Paloma Mayorga, Virginia Lee Montgomery, Michael Jay Muelhaupt, Manik Raj Nakra, Matthew Steinke and Jenn Wilson – who participated in the Contemporary Austin's Crit Group, an eight-month-long program supporting artistic growth through monthly critiques and professional development workshops.

New work by Amy Bench and Jenn Wilson explores how narratives are structured: always appearing to move forward, yet occasionally twisting and bending, obscuring parts of the story. Filmmaker Bench addresses the often contradictory feelings associated with childbirth and early motherhood; painter Wilson invokes narrative via weaving stills from bygone television flops, found photography, memories, comic panels, and images from Song dynasty scrolls.

Here's "a new wave" of artwork from the Imagine Art community.

The bestselling author of How to Walk Away presents her new novel about family, hope, and learning to love against all odds.

The artist David Ellis, captured on camera while working on his Animal at UT's Visual Arts Center in 2010, gets the big screen treatment here, and you can watch: Videos are accessible to all and free to view.

Chaos Woods celebrates their fifth year in business, bringing some of their favorite artists and musicians together for a show featuring the art of Harry Angel, Beachwalker Boxes, Chaos Woods, Scott Rolfe, and Linda Wandt.

The six figurative painters represented in this new show – J.C. Amorrortu, Lawrence Jolly, Meena Matocha, Rhea Pettit, Kristi Standley, and Linda Wandt – may have different styles, but all the works tell a story.

This 24th annual exhibition is, as ever, dedicated to the professional development of emerging Latina/o/x artists and curators, with Tatiane Santa Rosa bringing together the works of eleven Latina/o/x artists defining Buen Vivir.

He's from Detroit, okay? He's wry, witty, cunning, and crass – or so we've heard. He's a relentless fucking road warrior, this palooka with that mug, and he's touring his stuff to Austin this weekend.

Objects as feelings? Sunbeams from broken devices, breezes through screen doors – an August frisson, thrilling this intimate Eastside space with a group show by Sev Coursen, Michael Hambouz, Christine Heindl, Candace Hicks, Amanda Julia Steinback, Phillip Niemeyer, and James Turner.

That excellent Austin gallery, gone missing since the old Flatbed World HQ closed months ago? It's popping up at MOHA with a new show about "nude, as a color, as its cultural perception finally shifts away from the upsetting pinky Band-aid and crayon-box infamy." Curated by Holly Bobisuthi (who is, did you know, the most exciting jewelry maker in this city if not the entire goddam state) and featuring diverse work by artists from all over the country (and Spain), this is an exhibition sure to open wide in delight any previously jaded eyes.

This multipartite stagework, relating the true stories of seven women who bravely fought for the well-being of women, families, and children around the globe, is conceived by Carol Mack and written by seven award-winning playwrights: Paula Cizmar, Catherine Filloux, Gail Kriegel, Carol K. Mack, Ruth Margraff, Anna Deavere Smith, and Susan Yankowitz. NB: This play addresses themes of sexual assault, rape, suicide, self harm, war, and violence.

This exhibit showcases the work of Martha Grenon, one of Austin's premier music photographers, her images capturing the excitement of bands performing in Austin since the early Eighties.

This installation presents new work that expands Lily Cox-Richard’s research into the contextual history of materials, making visible unseen systems that dictate materials’ production, value, and use, and engages larger questions of natural resources, labor, the specifics of place, and the politics of viewership.

Here's the 15th annual exhibition at Austin City Hall, presenting a wide array of painting, sculpture, drawing, and other media by 113 local artists. This year, the exhibition includes a special selection of photographs: The Bold Beauty Project of Texas, featuring images of Texas women with disabilities taken by photographers from across the state.

You know the Workman Gallery loves this Los Angeles-based painter whose work is inspired by form and figure as depicted by the Impressionists and Modernists of the early 20th century, right? Thus, this seventh solo exhibition at the excellent Westside venue.

In which podcast legend Dan Carlin uses the power of virtual reality to transport audiences to one of the most extreme battlefields in history: the Western Front of the First World War. "Physical and virtual elements combine to create a visceral, realistic simulation far more immersive than a film or video game." Note: Only one participant will enter at a time and there is no late admission; runtime is 12 minutes.

Each of Shana Hoehn's large sculptures consists of two women, either as a double or camouflaged in one form through double imagery, inspired by the sexualized female archetypes sourced from ship figureheads, hood ornaments, carnival portraiture, pinups painted on WWII aircraft, and horror films. Note: The Chronicle's Robert Faires recently paid a visit to the gallery, and this is his response to the show.

Bruce Lee Webb of Waxahachie, Texas, is a folk art gallerist and an antique dealer and in his travels he collects vintage cotton sacks and journal paper on which he then paints and draws. That's putting it mildly. That's without saying, "Whoa, damn, don't miss this terrific show at Randy Franklin's excellent gallery there on South Congress." Need we remind you, it was Webb's collection that was responsible for the most amazing show in the too-brief history of the gallery of Domy Books back in the day? Recommended, recommended, recommended.