A reconfiguration of balcony side sections will eliminate all obstructed-view seats. The University of Texas venue will host in-person shows come fall

Bass Concert Hall at the University of Texas just turned 40 years old. Stage supervisor Conrad Haden knows every nook and cranny, as well as every twist and every turn. Haden often works about 50 feet above the stage. He’s been working at the theater since its beginning.

One year after the coronavirus pandemic forced Austin’s live shows and events to shut down, many are planning for a safe return.

Musical theater lovers can now buy tickets for September performances of “Hadestown” in Orlando, a November run of “Rent” in Charlotte and December dates of “Hamilton” in Austin, signaling a performing-arts comeback this fall with Broadway leading the charge.

Westminister Abbey, the Sonoran Desert, a Pennsylvania trailer park, a night view of an island city, a rooftop panorama of Madrid. The behemoth paintings in “Behind the Scenes: The Art of the Hollywood Backdrop,” an exhibition currently staged on the stage of Bass Concert Hall, are singular as works of art.

Austin's art scene was largely shut down by the coronavirus pandemic, but now it’s slowly starting to reopen. One example is Bass Concert Hall. It’s been off-limits to audiences for almost a year but was just transformed into a gallery to allow audiences back inside.

The exhibition of 12 vintage backdrops painted for MGM films reveals their techniques for creating grand illusions.

When she’s not teaching painting, you’ll find Karen Maness putting the finishing touches on her own works of art. Maness teaches at the University of Texas in Austin, but the paintings she works with at UT are Texas-sized! They’re old movie backdrops Maness helped acquire from MGM, now housed at UT.

Ever wanted to live inside an Elizabeth Taylor movie? Soon, you'll be able to really picture yourself there.

In another clever move to use the currently empty Bass Concert Hall at the University of Texas, the vast stage will turn into an exhibition space for 12 historic — and enormous — hand-painted film backdrops.

Texas Performing Arts partnered with Fusebox Festival to create a new production residency program that gave financial and practical assistance to locally-based performing artists. Such an initiative represented something beyond badly needed immediate and direct support for Austin dance-makers and theater-makers.

This year, Texas Performing Arts partnered with Fusebox Festival to create a new production residency program that aims to give financial and practical assistance to local preforming artists. Bob Bursey, the executive director of Texas Performing Arts, says the idea was both idealistic and pragmatic.

On Dec. 17 and 18, Line Upon Line will perform in the new Texas Big Top, a tented outdoor temporary venue set up on the plaza of the Bass Concert Hall.

In K ! :D D: Ö, you get to not only watch these kinetic provocateurs move through virtual environments, but also influence their actions

After the March lockdown, Charles O. Anderson only spent a moment mourning the canceled tour of his most recent opus, (Re)current Unrest, before creating a digital version. The digital iteration launched the Texas Performing Arts season in October.

The Brannen Temple ElecTriO with Bobby Sparks and James Robinson perform on Fox 7's Good Day Austin.

The lights may be off on Broadway this year, but that hasn’t stopped Patti LuPone from taking to the stage in a new virtual format.

Just how did the great Hollywood studios make doorbusting blockbuster movies back before CGI, drones and other modern day techno wizardry? All is revealed in a first-time collaboration between San Antonio’s McNay Art Museum and Texas Performing Arts as they debut six rare hand-painted, sound-stage backdrops from one of Hollywood’s legendary filmmakers, Metro Goldwyn Mayer (MGM) Studios. 

Through the pandemic and other obstacles, the choreographer and UT teacher continues to adapt

Charles O. Anderson spoke to Fusebox Co-Artistic Director Anna Gallagher-Ross about (Re)Current Unrest back in 2017, and in this 2020 interview they revisit their conversation from three years prior, and discuss what it means to reimagine this important work right during what has been called the largest civil rights movement in history.