The New Orleans theatre scene's downtown renaissance continued to blossom in 2012, as the companies decided they liked each other so much that they'd work together. The continued addition of Shakespeare and Broadway in NOLA also gave the community a classical grounding that made the fringe seem even fringier. Here's a look at what we're still loving from 2012, and an early rundown of 2013 dates to save:

In the appreciated absence of a histrionic reinterpretation of Oscar Wilde’s classic drawing-room comedy, The Importance of Being Earnest (directed by Garrett Prejean), Skin Horse Theatre presents this favorite at The Contemporary Arts Center with earnestness, indeed, as it chuckles through a witty evisceration of social institutions and classist expectations.

Another huge local theatre collaboration is coming to New Orleans this weekend. Jess Bingham previews The Lily's Revenge, a five-act epic opening Wednesday in the Marigny.

by Michael Cohn-Geltner

Fringe Fest may have tested the amount of theatre one can see in a day, but a new Festival is testing how much theatre one can make. This Friday, 52 people will have 24 hours to create seven plays that will play back-to-back Saturday evening.  Since the concept has been around since the mid-90’s, it’s unclear if this will be the first “24” festival to take place in New Orleans, but it’s the first in recent memory. It will be an opportunity for all NOLA theater artists to come together and unleash their creativity, not to mention create their own piece of finished work.

NoDef Theatre Writer Helen Jaksch heads to the CAC for the first of four March installments of the Skin Horse Theatre's stage adaptation of Lewis Carroll's The Hunting of the Snark.

You're going to have to work to prove your friends wrong and find weird stuff on the Internets today, as sites like Wikipedia, BoingBoing, Reddit and even the online home of local drama collective The Skin Horse Theater are shut down for a 24 hours (That's about 5 years and 340 days in the Internet time contiuum). While cat pictures on the ICanHasCheezeburger network and Christopher Walken's biography will be missed, the Web geeks - nay, powers - say they're doing it for a good cause. They're mad about the support Congress and Hollywood appear to have thrown behind the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), and its sister bill. the Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA). As it turns out, three of our own are among these Congressional supporters.

NoDef Theatre Critic Jim Fitzmorris looks back at a handful of awe-inspiring theatrical moments from 2011

NoDef's theatre critic reviews weekend performances of "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" and the premiere of three one-act plays by Tennessee Williams.