AUSTIN – Douglas Carter Beane recently paid a visit to the Live Oak Theatre in Austin, Texas, to check out the first regional production of his Off-Broadway smash, As Bees in Honey Drown, which opened in the Lone Star State on May 8 and continues through June 7.

As Bees in Honey Drown is currently being produced by the Drama Dept. at the Lucille Lortel Theatre in New York. Don Toner, who directs the Live Oak mounting of a show that has theatergoers buzzing, was thrilled at the chance for some authorial pointers. So were Babs George, who stars as Alexa Vere de Vere, an Auntie Mame-like producer, and John Vincent Hoff, who plays the naive up-and-coming author whom Alexa commands to write the screenplay of the story of her "fabulous" life.

Artistic director of the Drama Dept., and with other playwrighting credits including Advice from a Caterpillar (soon to be a movie directed by Don Scardino), Beane also wrote the screenplay for the hit flick To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar. A film version of As Bees in Honey Drown is underway for Universal.

As Bees in Honey Drown continues at the Live Oak Theatre in Austin through June 7. For tickets, $15 - $17, call (512) 472-514

By Peter Szatmary
Texas Correspondent