MANSON: The Musical!

A long-running 1990s cult hit in Chicago, this dark musical comedy about Charles Manson features music, book and lyrics developed through improv by the members of Annoyance Theatre. This is the story of an aspiring musician named Charles Manson. With an affinity for hallucinogenic drugs, group sex, and random violence, Manson and his cult of misfits prepare for "Helter Skelter," a prophesied war among the races in the US. This revolutionary Family musical features guest appearances by The Beatles, Sharon Tate, The Beach Boys and more.

MANSON: The Musical! was the brainchild of Institution Theater Artistic Director, Tom Booker, and former “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” Musical Director, Laura Hall. Tom and Laura originally created and directed “MANSON: The Musical!” in 1990, when they were working together at Chicago’s Annoyance Theatre. But now The Institution Theater is bring it back and bringing it to Austin!

The Institution Theater revival of “MANSON: The Musical!” will be directed by Tom Booker with Musical Direction by Esther’s Follies Musical Director, Doug Ewart and choreography by Carissa McAtee (The best choreographer on radio!) and will still feature the wonderful songs written by Laura Hall. Songs like “Charlie, Chuck or Just Plain Charles”, “Me, Sharon Tate” and the fabulous torch song, “I Have No Regrets” sung by Charlie Manson himself.

Free hits of "acid" at the door. And if you have an 'X' on your forehead, you'll get a dollar off the ticket. (Those who purchased their ticket online will get a dollar back at the box office.)

ANGEL live!

The institution theater, the creative minds behind Teen Angst Tuesdays and Dr. Horrible Live, presents a live staged production of Angel complete with live puppetry. Come see Angel, a soul-having vampire intent on righting his past wrongs, get turned into a puppet, an all felty fluffy puppet... And his nose comes off. The Angel Avengers (see what I did there?) fight to save the lives of children who've been struck down by a pack of demons who look remarkably like Sesame Street characters. With the help of Spike, Wesley Wyndam-Pryce, Charles Gunn, Lorne and Winifred "Fred" Burkle they battle to win, knowing that these children's lives are at stake and, ya know, Angel would like to be back to normal.

The idea of making puppets into evil demons had been with Mutant Enemy productions for quite sometime but it never came to fruition until the fifth Season of Angel with their episode “Smile Time”. With a story from Joss Whedon and Ben Edlund and a script from the latter it was bound to be a great time but nobody knew the extent of that greatness until Angel first sees his felt hand. The need to help these children now becomes a need to "reverse [his] puppet problem."

With 25 years performance experience, The Institution Theater strives to bring you an array of both the new and the old but, always, with a creative take. They also offer improv and sketch classes for both beginning and advanced students. Check out their website to register for a class or two and come to their new space for a laughing good time had by all. www.theinstitutiontheater.com 3708 Woodbury Dr., Austin, TX 78704

Live TV Tuesday Angel stars many of The Institution's rising stars: Heath Allyn, Peter Rogers, Victoria Bui, Joel Ausanka Reese, Kevin Machate, Adam Mengesha, Carissa McAtee, Chad Wellington, Heidi Caldwell, Robin Anderson, and Angela Maldonaldo. With puppetry by Sara Farr, Chad Wellington, Heidi Caldwell, and Joel Ausanka Reese. Directed by Chelley Pyatt, Assistant/Puppet director is Sara Farr, with Todd Hart on lights, Carlos San Miguel on sound, dialect coaching by Allison Asher and costuming by Robin Anderson. Come and join the demon-y puppet fun.

Works In Progress: The Sketch Showcase

If you like Saturday Night Live, MADTV, Kids in the Hall, Mr. Show, Monty Python, or just love to laugh, then you’ll want to come see the best of The Institution’s sketch comedy classes. Bringing you a series of short sketches written by members of the Sketch 301 class, this Sunday will be a rip-roaring free-for-all of fun, adventure, and laughter. All new and all funny, written expressly for your enjoyment.

Featuring works by:
Richard Bingham
Beth Doughty
Roanna Flowers
Andy Hush
Jessica Salinas

FIREFLY: The Musical

PLEASE NOTE: THE HIGHBALL SHOWS ARE ALREADY SOLD OUT. TICKETS ARE ONLY AVAILABLE FOR THE SHOWS AT THE INSTITUTION.

The Institution Theater is taking their run of Live TV Tuesdays, where they perform live stage productions of popular television shows to the next level: Musical!

Taking the beloved “Our Mrs. Reynolds” episode from Joss Whedon’s most short-lived genius, Asaf Ronen and Michael Thomas have added original country-style songs in homage to Whedon’s own love of musicals. Songs include the bittersweet Inara and Mal duet, “I Won’t Let You In”, Saffron’s seductive number “Let Me Have My Wedding Night”, Jayne’s comical Toby Keith-inspired solo “Guns and Women” and four more original numbers. The music and lyrics have been peneed by Michael Thomas and Asaf Ronen.

With 25 years performance experience, The Institution Theater strives to bring you an array of both the new and the old but, always, with a creative take. They also offer improv and sketch classes for both beginning and advanced students. Check out their website to register for a class or two and come to their new space for a laughing good time had by all.

Directed by Asaf Ronen with Musical Direction by Michael Thomas and Chelley Pyatt. The entire crew of the Firefly Serenity will be there: Michael Thomas as Mal, Lindsey Reeves as Inara, Sabrina Jones as Saffron, Ammie Leonards as Zoe, Adam Mengesha as Shepherd Book, Alexa Ramirez as River, Stephen Robinson as Wash, Peter Rogers as Simon, Sarah Swofford as Kaylee, Jason Vines as Jayne. Also featuring Heath Allyn, Jeremy Logan, and David Young.

Firefly: The Musical takes flight on Tuesdays, May 1st, 8th, 15th and 29th at 8:00 pm at The Highball.