Curtains Up

Round Rock's trailblazing Penfold Theatre announces 2025-26 season

Penfold Theatre put on Ordinary Days in its 2024-25 season.

Photo by Steve Rogers

More drama is coming to Round Rock this year. Penfold Theatre, the first professional company to put down permanent roots in the city, has just unveiled its lineup for the 2025-26 season.

The season launches in September with the Tony Award-winning musical comedy The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. For younger audiences, a production of Rosita y Conchita will showcase choreography by Round Rock Ballet Folklorico, integrating local talent into the Día de los Muertos-inspired show.

Audiences can also enjoy a fresh take on the holiday comedy A Tuna Christmas, featuring an all-female cast taking on the 22 characters traditionally played by men. Kate Meehan, founder of Austin's award-winning commedia dell'arte troupe La Fenice, will direct this reimagined version of the Texas comedy classic. The season also includes dark comedyWild Horses, a one-woman play about "adolescent firsts" starring Austin performer Jennifer Coy Jennings.

Finally, the season concludes with Vincent, a dramatization of letters exchanged between the van Gogh brothers. Written by Leonard Nimoy (famous for his role as Spock in Star Trek), Vincent returns after earning high praise during its initial Penfold run in 2023.

As a nonprofit organization, Penfold's mission extends beyond entertainment. It focuses on building community, developing local talent, and fostering human connection through storytelling.

“Season 18 lifts stories of people we might write off because of their age, where they live, or how they experience the world,” says co-founder and producing artistic director Ryan Crowder. “We all dream passionately, struggle deeply, and strive to find meaning in our own corners of the world, especially when much feels beyond our control. When we recognize that in each other, we open ourselves to receive the good we can offer each other.”

For those hungry for entertainment before the new season begins, Jennifer Coy Jennings will close out the current 2024-25 season with Anton Chekhov Is a Tasty Snack, a comedy about theater and "the ridiculous people who make it”. Audiences can catch this production before Jennings returns to the Penfold stage in next season's Wild Horses.

Tickets for the remaining shows in the current 2024-25 season are available at penfoldtheatre.org. More information about the 2025-26 season membership packages ($120) and individual tickets ($35 standard admission) will be announced at a later date.

theatre plays musicals

Truly Talks

Music icon Lionel Richie drafts Austin live talk for new memoir Truly

Photo by Rebecca Sapp/Getty Images for The Recording Academy

Lionel Richie is coming to Austin to discuss his book, which will have been out for a single day.

In an age where some 20-something-year-old celebrities are turning out memoirs, it might come as a surprise that 75-year-old music legend Lionel Richie had yet to publish his own story. Truly, a no-holds-barred memoir detailing Richie's exciting personal and professional life, is set for publication September 30, 2025, and he's bringing it to Austin the next day.

To celebrate the book release, Richie is touring the country with just a few limited appearances this fall. On October 1, he'll be at Austin's Paramount Theatre for a "conversation with friends," according to a recent press release.

"Richie invites you to join him as he shares his intimate, deep, and candid moments," says the press release. "In his memoir, Truly, Lionel chronicles lessons learned during his unlikely story of remarkable success — his dramatic transformation from painfully shy, 'tragically' late bloomer to world-class entertainer and composer of love songs that have played as the soundtrack of our lives."

Though the "friends" Richie will be chatting with have yet to be announced, we do know that tickets to this BookPeople-sponsored event will include access to a moderated conversation between Richie and a special guest, as well as a copy of the book.

Richie is the man behind such hits as “Truly,” “Hello,” “Endless Love,” “All Night Long,” “Stuck on You,” and dozens of other late-night love songs. During his time in The Commodores in the 70s, he was the voice of now-classic songs like "Three Times a Lady," "Easy," "Still," and "Sail On."

This Grammy, Oscar, and Golden-Globe winning superstar has the remarkable distinction of having written number one songs every year for eleven consecutive years, and is one of only two songwriters in pop history to claim solo credit (music and lyrics) for the most number one Billboard Hot 100 hits.

He's also been romantically linked to celebrities like Diana Ross, and has worked with the likes of Michael Jackson, Shania Twain, and Willie Nelson; he's the father of millennial icon Nicole Richie; and has been outspoken about his own highs, lows, and struggles with ADHD for years. So a memoir of his life in the spotlight feels like a long-time coming.

Tickets ($36) to "Truly: An Evening of Lionel Richie with Friends" go on sale May 16.

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