SHOOTING STAR Reaches New Heights

The art of storytelling is playwright Steven Dietz's genius, and in SHOOTING STAR, a romantic comedy about two lovers -- one from Austin, one from Boston -- Dietz tells a startlingly close-to-home story that has been leaving audiences awestruck at the poignance, grace and humor they see on stage with this ZACH Theatre production.

"Stories told this well don't come around too often," Austin Chronicle art critic Barry Pineo said in a review published this morning. Austin360.com blogger Jeanne Claire van Ryzin agrees: "Dietz makes reality poetic."

And the poetic realism of this play has been captivating audience after audience ever since the play began. It strikes close to home, it's a story we can all relate to and, as AustinLiveTheatre.com blogged, "SHOOTING STAR trades on a fascination similar to that mined by www.classmates.com. 'What ever happened to ...?' 'Do you really, really want to know?'"

Oh, yes. We do!

"(Barbara) Chisholm and (Jamie) Goodwin (the show's actors) so naturally and totally inhabit their roles, they manage to cross that magical line where storytelling becomes as compelling as life," Pineo said.

One thing that's exceedingly clear to night-after-night of unmoving audiences is this is a familiar tale. It's about what happens when nostalgia and coincidence collide, the beauty of such happenstance, and the power and permanence of human love.

"Dietz’s gift as a writer is an acute attention to our modern language. He elevates ordinary conversation to a kind of music with precise rhythms and exquisitely timed phrases. In Dietz’s hands conversation sounds natural, but smart," van Ryzin wrote.

"See it!" Pineo concluded. And you still can -- but the show closes soon.

Tickets are available online.

P.S. An online photo gallery from the show has been posted on ZACH's website. KUT's radio interview with the actors from SHOOTING STAR is available here.