Play Dead

The true beauty of the slasher film is the polarizing nature of the genre. People either have their tickets for every adolescent-studded, gore-driven flick that hits the theaters purchased a week in advance (despite incredibly bad reviews) or they sit through 15 minutes of the movie and begin to wax intellectual about the many affronts to feminism onscreen. Both camps know what they're getting into well beforehand. These movies are the definition of formulaic, exploring the destabilization of the nuclear family by slicing, dicing and chainsawing hapless and vacant women who don't have the sense to kick off their stilettos before running for their lives. It's patently offensive if you really want to look at it that way, sure...but it's a genre that is probably one of the more interesting barometers of what's going on in our society at any given time. Playwright Allison Moore plays with this notion throughout the plot of Slasher, a tongue-in-cheek examination of the genre that follows the plight of an actress who scores her dream part in a low-budget slasher only to incite feminist rage in her off-kilter mother. In true slasher fashion, the production by Kitchen Dog Theater, is equal parts camp and social commentary and will play at the McKinney Avenue Contemporary, 3120 McKinney Ave., Thursdays through Sundays, November 13 through December 12. For showtimes and tickets, visit kitchendogtheater.org.
Nov. 13-14, 8 p.m.; Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sun., Nov. 22, 2 p.m.; Wed., Nov. 25, 8 p.m.; Sun., Dec. 6, 2 p.m.; Wed., Dec. 9, 8 p.m. Starts: Nov. 13. Continues through Dec. 12, 2009