Pop-Up Magazine Brings Its One-of-a-Kind Show to Austin

One Night and One Night Only
Pop-Up Magazine is not your typical magazine. It has the essentials – storytelling, photography and culture – but it’s completely live. Pop-Up is bringing their unique show to six cities this winter, including Austin’s Hogg Auditorium on February 13. Contributors gather to tell stories with animation, illustration, music – the list goes on. And the kicker is, nothing goes online after the show. The only way to experience it is to be in the room when it happens.

The magazine was started in 2009 by a group of friends as an idea to bring a number of mediums together to create one cohesive experience for the audience. Never-before-told stories are brought to life with visuals on a giant screen, an original score played by Magik*Magik Orchestra and a post-show party where audience members can mingle with the performers.
Haley Howle is a senior producer for Pop-Up. A Texas native, Howle spent years at KUT doing a little bit of everything – events, reporting and producing. Howle worried that she would eventually have to choose one thing, but that’s not the case at Pop-Up, where journalists put every piece of the show together. “We are magazine editors up until a month out and then become a theatre production company,” Howle says.

Each show is catered to the specific audience with hyperlocal stories. The Austin show will feature an original piece from KUT’s Audrey McGlinchy. The story will revolve around one of the last holdouts in a rapidly gentrifying street here in Austin. Any guesses?!
Contributors include musician Will Butler of Arcade Fire, bestselling author Ed Yong and This American Life producer Stephanie Foo, among others.

Howle is particularly excited for the show in Austin where she’ll serve as the night’s host. “It’s like a homecoming for me. It feels emotional and weighty, while having really funny and really topical stuff,” Howle says.
One night. One show. One chance to see it. As Howle says, “The show is going to start at 7:30 so no matter what. It’s simultaneously terrifying and exciting.” We can’t wait.