🎭 Why you must see ‘The Outsiders’ this week

🦇 The Airport Has New Bat Art

A new, 200-foot art display at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport shows off the city’s bats. The mural is located in the departures area of the Barbara Jordan Terminal bordering the airport’s Atrium Infill project. [City of Austin]

• Still haven't visited Austin's 1.5 million Mexican free-tailed bats under the Congress Avenue bridge? Check out our guide!

🗳️ Why Some Austinites Are Against Prop Q

Prop Q, the measure to raise property taxes on the Nov. 4 ballot, is not without its critics. Austinites against the tax hike say it's too spendy and the city should be more frugal. [City Cast Austin 🎧]

🚂 Study on Train to San Antonio in the Works

A study to determine if building a high-speed rail from Austin and San Antonio is possible was approved by Travis County Commissioners this week. The line would start near the Austin airport and extend to Interstate 10 in San Antonio. [CBS Austin]

📰 Watson Says He Wasn’t Notified of Abbott Homeless Sweeps

Mayor Kirk Watson said that he was shocked by Gov. Greg Abbott’s order to state police to clear out homeless camps across Austin. Watson said the city was already planning to clear out camps as a wildfire precaution. [KUT]

“The Outsiders” is incredible.

The show is based on the 1967 novel by the same name, and is at Bass Concert Hall on The University of Texas at Austin campus this week. This cannot be stressed enough: You must go see it.

“The Outsiders,” if you also haven’t brushed up on the book since seventh grade, follows Ponyboy Curtis as he navigates life as a Greaser in 1967 Tulsa, Oklahoma. Curtis, his brothers Sodapop and Darrel, and their Greaser gang members experience life on the literal wrong side of the tracks. They’re targeted by their affluent peers, the Socs (pronounced “sew-shiz”).

This musical has something for everyone. If you’ve been having a “West Side Story” itch, it will scratch it. In need of an inspiring story about a boy with dreams bigger than his small town? You’ve got it. Are you due for a cry about the beauty of friendship and the families we create? Absolutely.

Ponyboy, who is played by Nolan White, narrates the story, speaking directly to the audience. You’ll know you’re in for a show like never before shortly after the lights dim – Ponyboy is attacked by the Socs and the way extreme violence is executed in this show is stunning. It is done again and again throughout via thoughtful light work, slow-motion movement, and extraordinary choreography.

Gang violence should always be illustrated with acrobatic feats and pirouettes – we learned that ages ago. But the way “The Outsiders” does this is out of this world. It will knock you off your feet. You will start to become concerned with how often you get goosebumps during the show’s two-and-a-half-hour run time. The moves are as impactful as they are graceful.

The cast also has a little bit of home with them – Tyler Jordan Wesley, who nearly steals the show as Dallas Winston; and Emma Hearn, the saccharine Cheery Valance, are both graduates of Texas State University. And oh my do they do Central Texas proud. Be sure to remember their names. I’m not kidding.