"Annie Baker's smart comedy, now getting a delightful spin at Hyde Park Theatre . . . A shrewd director of modern comedies, Webster keeps the play's pacing at a relaxed yet efficient clip, letting the pauses in Baker's dialogue linger to greater comic effect. . . Stephen Mercantel stands out as the awkward man-child Jared, gracefully handling his character's strange ricocheting between clever quip, childish defensiveness and hurtful jabs."
- Austin American Statesman

"A home run . . . honest and hilarious . . . Ken Webster and Hyde Park Theatre seem be on a roll, churning out hit after hit, selling out houses and receiving standing ovations every night, and they don't show any sign of slowing. Body Awareness is an important play, brimming with just as many heartfelt moments as hilarious ones, and Webster and his team over at Hyde Park are able to balance this difficult dichotomy with gusto."
- Austin Theater Examiner

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" ("if we could correct the mistake on any posters or publicity materials, that would be great.") Her partner Joyce is trying to persuade her socially awkward son ("Actually, I'm not a kid. I'm 21. I could have sex with an adult woman.") that he may have Asperger's Syndrome. Frank, the guest artist staying at their home, photographs nude women of all ages...all ages. A warm and hilarious comedy of sexual and family politics by one the hottest young NYC playwrights, Body Awareness was staged off-Broadway in 2008 with JoBeth Williams and was nominated for a Drama Desk Award and an Outer Critics Circle Award.

Body Awareness features an extraordinary cast of award-winning actors: Kenneth Wayne Bradley, Katherine Catmull, Emily Erington, Stephen Mercantel, and Ken Webster and is directed by Webster (The Pillowman, Dog Sees God, The Drawer Boy), nine-time B. Iden Payne Award winner for Best Director and member of The Austin Arts Hall of Fame.

The show runs at 8:00 PM on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, April 8 - May 8. Every Thursday is Pay What You Can Night; Friday and Saturday tickets are $19 ($17 for students, seniors, and ACOT members). Hyde Park Theatre is located at 511 W. 43rd Street. Purchase tickets online or call 479-PLAY (7529).

Thanks to our 2009-2010 season sponsors Hyde Park Bar & Grill and New World Deli--both excellent places to grab a bite before or after the show--and BuyPlayTix.com.

Hyde Park Theatre is located at 511 W. 43rd Street. Covered off-street parking for the patrons of HPT is available in the lot at 4315 Guadalupe Street, just north of The Parlor. You can drive through The Parlor's parking lot to reach it. Evening HPT parking also available at Kenneth's Hair Salon, just south of HPT, and at the Hyde Park Church of Christ on the northeast corner of 43rd & Avenue B. We are grateful to them all for their generosity.

Be our hero: make a tax-deductible donation to HPT today.

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Hyde Park Theatre is funded and supported in part by the City of Austin through the Cultural Arts Division and by a grant from the Texas Commission on the Arts and an award from the National Endowment for the Arts, which believes that a great nation deserves great art.