Email Author Margaret Downing

Awards

• 2012 - Maggies: The Magazine Awards of Western Publishing, published December 22, 2011

  "Mistaken Identities"

• 2011 - Maggies: The Magazine Awards of Western Publishing, published December 23, 2010

  "Children of God"

• 2011 - Lone Star Awards, published December 23, 2010

  "Children of God"

• 2011 - Lone Star Awards, published December 30, 2010

  "The Whipping Boy"

• 2011 - Lone Star Awards, published June 3, 2010

  "Homeless High"

• 2010 - Lone Star Awards, published June 4, 2009

  "Let the Record Reflect"

• 2009 - Education Reporting Awards/National Education Writers Association, published April 10, 2008

  "Exit Exams"

• 2009 - AAN AltWeekly Awards, published May 8, 2008

  "Mental Anguish"

• 2009 - Lone Star Awards, published November 13, 2008

  "Bad Faith"

• 2008 - Lone Star Awards, published August 23, 2007

  "Judging Books and Their Covers"

• 2008 - Maggies: The Magazine Awards of Western Publishing, published May 31, 2007

  "Killing Fences"

• 2008 - First Amendment Awards/The Fort Worth Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, published October 25, 2007

  "Death in a Box"

• 2008 - Lone Star Awards, published October 25, 2007

  "Death in a Box"

• 2007 - Education Reporting Awards/National Education Writers Association, published October 5, 2006

  "Opt In, Opt Out'

• 2007 - Lone Star Awards, published October 5, 2006

  "Opt In, Opt Out"

• 2007 - Lone Star Awards, published May 11, 2006

  "Diary of a Mad Man"

• 2006 - Lone Star Awards, published August 11, 2005

  "Who Cares?"

• 2006 - Lone Star Awards, published February 17, 2005

  "Mind Reading"

More

2012 Stories by Margaret Downing

• Tommy Tune Awards Are on for Tonight at the Hobby

  published Apr 17, 2012

  You have your 15 minutes of fame and you have 15 minutes of rehearsal time and that's all you get, as students from high schools throughout the Houston area had reinforced to them today. The Hobby Ce... More >>

• Rutherford Cravens: From No Country for Old Men to Richard III

  published Apr 17, 2012

  Last year, Rutherford Cravens, who's been on screen in RoboCop 2, Friday Night Lights, Ray and most recently No Country for Old Men, went to Prague in King Lear, where he says the city is filled with ... More >>

• Wrong Time, Wrong Place

  published April 19, 2012

  Meyson Garcia was a student at St. Pius, where he played on the football team and got pretty good grades. But during the summer before his... More >>

• 

  FEATURED STORY

  George Hamilton Steps into a Dallas Strip Mall for a Haircut, Gets "a Huge Hole" Put in His Head

  published Apr 17, 2012

  George Hamilton is as well known for his tan and his liaisons with assorted women as he is for his movie roles over the years. Apparently he should also be known as a man willing to take risks. Sched... More >>

• Eric Cutler Tries to Make Two Women Happy in Mary Stuart

  published Apr 16, 2012

  The biggest difference between Houston Grand Opera and many other companies is that Houston doesn't rely on one outstanding singer to carry a production, says tenor Eric Cutler, here to sing the Earl ... More >>

• In the Next Room (or the vibrator play)

  published March 15, 2012

  Playwright Sarah Ruhl’s In the Next Room (or the vibrator play) is more than just a play with a titillating hook.... More >>

• The Unexpected Man: A Romantic Thriller on a Train

  published Apr 11, 2012

  A man and woman get on a train -- strangers -- and end up in the same compartment. Neither one is a kid; each is having a crisis of sorts. He's a famous writer uncertain if he should continue the same... More >>

• Actor Jeffrey Bean Injured, Alley's Production of The Seafarer Delayed UPDATED

  published Apr 10, 2012

  UPDATED: Performances of The Seafarer are rescheduled for April 14,15, 17 and 18 with Opening Night on April 19 and continuing through May 5. Patrons who have tickets that are not on the new schedule ... More >>

• Touchback Movie Passes Still Good, But at Different Theater

  published Apr 10, 2012

  If you picked up a screening pass for the Touchback screening scheduled for Thursday, April 12, at 7 p.m., the theater has changed. The new screening info is: TOUCHBACK Edwards MarqE 23 7600 Katy... More >>

• Joyce DiDonato Sings the Title Role in Maria Stuarda for HGO

  published Apr 10, 2012

  Joyce DiDonato will sing the title role in Maria Stuarda, Gaetano Donizetti's opera about the battle of wills between Queen Elizabeth I and Mary, Queen of Scots. DiDonato is coming back to Houston aft... More >>

• Katie Van Kooten Powers Her Way Through HGO's Maria Stuarda

  published Apr 09, 2012

  Katie Van Kooten says she usually plays "the whimpering, dying person no one loves." So she jumped at the chance to portray Queen Elizabeth I -- "someone who has power and destiny" -- in Houston Gra... More >>

• Dennis Quaid, Brett Cullen & More Return to UH to Honor Theater Prof Cecil Pickett's Memory

  published Apr 06, 2012

  Cecil Pickett, who died in 1997, is a revered name not only in Houston theater circles but across the United States among his former students. But when Steve Wallace, director of the University of Hou... More >>

• Annie

  published March 29, 2012

  When Sandy (real name: Macy) runs through his paces onstage in Theatre Under the Stars’ upcoming production of the musical... More >>

• Behind the Pulpit

  published March 29, 2012

  Most people remember her as Thelma, the daughter in the mid- to-late ’70s show Good Times who played off her onscreen brother J.J.... More >>

• Broad Prize: HISD a Finalist Again, Goes for a Second Win

  published Apr 04, 2012

  Houston ISD got some great news today -- it's been nominated once again as a finalist for the Broad Prize for Urban Education thanks to an increased African-American graduation rate, more African Amer... More >>

• Brandon Jovanovich: From Linebacker to Acclaimed Opera Tenor, Appearing in Don Carlos

  published Apr 04, 2012

  Six-foot, three-inch Brandon Jovanovich had a football scholarship at the University of Mary and was set on being a linebacker. Problem was, UM is located in Bismarck, North Dakota, and even though Jo... More >>

• 100 Creatives 2012: Katya Horner

  published Apr 04, 2012

  What she does: In her first several iterations, Katya Horner was a paralegal manager, a businesswoman and the head of an educational consulting business. At age 35 (about six years ago) she picked up ... More >>

• UPDATED:The Seafarer: Gregory Boyd Bets It'll Make You LOL and Stop Your Breath

  published Apr 03, 2012

  Due to an injury incurred by actor Jeffrey Bean, the performance run of The Seafarer was postponed. They have been rescheduled for April 14,15, 17 and 18 with Opening Night on April 19 and continuing ... More >>

• Person of Interest: Identity Crisis

  published Mar 30, 2012

  As much as we love this show, last night's episode showed some tired ideas after starting out with an intriguing twist on its usual Number of the Week. And while it's good to see Lionel Fusco occasion... More >>

• 

  FEATURED STORY

  The Dastardly Bastard Cabbage and What It Has Done to Texas Bluebonnets

  published Mar 29, 2012

  Right now, Texas wildflowers are putting on quite a show in any number of places in Texas, but elsewhere, such as in West Texas and Houston, things are a little disappointing. So we called the gurus... More >>

• Christine Goerke in Verdi's Don Carlos

  published Mar 28, 2012

  Opera soprano Christine Goerke had never even thought about taking on Eboli, the princess in Giuseppe Verdi's Don Carlos. "This role is most often sung by mezzo sopranos. I had never considered it for... More >>

• Frank Sinatra's Vocals Pair With Twyla Tharp's Dance Steps in Come Fly Away

  published Mar 26, 2012

  It was his ice-skating teacher from Russia who got Nathan Madden into ballet. Madden, the son of two Air Force parents, ended up in Minot, North Dakota (known worldwide for its question motto: "Why No... More >>

• Tommy Tune 2012 Nominees Named Today

  published Mar 21, 2012

  Theatre Under the Stars today announced the nominees for TUTS' tenth annual Tommy Tune Awards -- the awards dedicated to shining a light on high school theater's best and brightest. John C. Breckenr... More >>

• The Bricklayer

  published March 15, 2012

  The reunification of an Iranian family at Bush Intercontinental Airport is the starting point for the English-language opera The... More >>

• Fared Shafinury & Tehranosaurus: Persian Music at the Houston Grand Opera

  published Mar 16, 2012

  Last night, following the world premiere of The Bricklayer, a chamber opera developed by Houston Grand Opera's HGOco as part of its Song of Houston: East +West initiative, Fared Shafinury of Tehranosa... More >>