So it bought one: a 10,000-square-foot warehouse in the northern Design District. By 2020, the nonprofit had paid off the loan for purchase and was making fundraising and renovation plans to add a black box theater, a studio theater and rehearsal hall.
Then came COVID, which closed down live performances for months. Inflation was next, raising both the cost of renovation and the price for leasing performance spaces. Finally, there was the shift in our habits during post-pandemic hangover, leaving people less inclined to venture out for live entertainment, prompting countless articles and reports about the troubles regional theater companies were having luring audiences back to shows and winning over new subscribers.
That has led to layoffs and closing at nonprofit regional theaters nationwide, according to a report in Medium. The end of COVID-era federal grants intended to support theater in 2024 left regional theaters cutting costs with shorter runs of shows, simpler sets and smaller casts to survive.
In the face of all that, KDT carried on — any local arts group that can survive 34 seasons is going to be hard to stop — and is now getting ready to unveil its new theater in August.
It couldn’t come at a better time. As you might have noticed, Americans seem to be at one another’s throats these days, with people on either side in politics and culture quick to fault the other and slow to try to understand their opponents. Live theater, suggests Tina Parker, co-artistic director and company manager, helps people build the ability to understand and share the feelings of another.
“Theater creates empathy, man, and that's, like, what we need in the world today,” Parker says. “…It's good to sit in a room and have a communal experience with other people, whether it's at the theater show at Kitchen Dog or rock show at the Longhorn [Ballroom] or whatever, but that sense of community … we need it.”
To offer these lessons in empathy, live theater performers need donors, audiences in the seats, and a place to play. Theater companies without their own spaces are dependent on leasing other venues, and that’s gotten prohibitively expensive. Scheduling is difficult too, as companies need space to rehearse and the ability to have plays run long enough to draw audiences and recoup the expense of staging them. As another performance space, KDT’s new theater could help other arts groups, dance troupes and musicians by providing another place to perform, Parker says.
She knows how tough staging live performances can be without a permanent space.
“It’s hard to build momentum when you’re always on the move,” she says.
KDT spent the last two seasons on the road, playing at places as varied as the Roughriders baseball field, a CrossFit gym and a record store. Last season was successful, she says, but she’s looking forward to giving up the peripatetic life. Packing and moving shop continually to stage another show is tiring.
“You know it's bad when the dude at the U-Haul knows who you are,” Parker says.
Having its own space will also allow KDT to continue to offer new works and staged readings that are edgier, entertaining, moving and challenging. Containing costs and allowing for longer runs of plays will also help the company maintain its program of reserving a few free or low-cost tickets to ensure that the live theater experience is accessible to everyone.
“Kitchen Dog wants to … shine light on what's going on in the world around us and raise questions,” as Parker says — and to do it in a way streaming videos alone at home cannot replicate.
“Challenging” plays might seem a risky bet in a time when self-examination, critical thinking and empathy are so far out of fashion, but challenging convention is part of KDT’s mission statement to “provide a place where questions of justice, morality and human freedom can be explored. We choose plays that challenge our moral and social consciences, invite our audiences to be provoked, challenged and amazed.”
Sharing the experience of watching live actors perform works exploring all the facets of being human is key to the effect live theater can have on making the world a little more understanding.
“The only way to understand other people is to be in the room with other people … and to see plays from other perspectives, and that's what we present at Kitchen Dog,” Parker says. “It does kind of make us look at what is the norm [and] how can I widen my perspective? How can I ask questions of what's going on around me? How can I be empathetic to my fellow man?”
KDT is staging Wakey, Wakey at Expo Park, 840 Exposition Ave., through Feb. 23. Written by Will Eno and directed by Parker, it's a dark comedy about a wheelchair-bound man facing his imminent death and asking questions about what in life is worth treasuring.
Next is The Grown-ups, by Simon Henriques and Skylar Fox, about a group of adults escorting kids on a camping trip who, after putting the children to bed, gather ‘round a campfire, make s’mores and talk about traditions while debating what to tell the kids about an apocalyptic civil war headed their way. It runs April 24–May 11 at Samuell-Grand Amphitheatre, Side Stage,1500 Tenison Parkway.
Christopher Carlos and Elizabeth Sankarsingh star in Kitchen Dog Theater's production of Wakey, Wakey.
Jordan Fraker
Also coming to Dallas stages:
Dallas Theater Center
Primary TrustFeb. 27–March 23
Bryant Hall at Kalita Humphreys Theater, 3636 Turtle Creek Blvd.
Winner of the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for drama, Primary Trust tells the story of Kenneth, a bookstore employee in a town in New York living a dull, predictable life who is moved to find a better one when the store shuts down.
Waitress
March 29–April 20
Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre, 2400 Flora St.
With music and lyrics by Sara Bareilles, Waitress follows down-on-her-luck Jenna as she navigates a loveless marriage and an unexpected pregnancy. She’s almost about to abandon her dreams of opening a pie shop, but a new beau and a nearby baking contest present a way out. For ages 13 and up; you won’t want to miss this production in the Arts District’s Wyly Theatre. Purchase tickets through dallastheatercenter.org.
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
June 13–July 13
Dee & Charles Wyly Theatre, 2400 Flores St.
The Broadway musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice tells the biblical story of Joseph, son of Jacob, his 12 brothers and his coat of many colors. Tickets start at $45.
Ochre House Theater's presentation of Matthew Posey's Under the Moon was simply stunning, The Exposition Park theater has a '60s-set play until March 1.
Justin Locklear
Ochre House Theater
Fate CompleteThrough March 1
825 Exposition Ave.
Set in the ‘60s, Fate Complete, written and directed by Ochre's Kevin Grammer tells the story of an actress at the top of her game who chucks fame to marry a movie mogul and “love of her life.” Given what we know about the love lives of Hollywood moguls, it’s not surprising her life descends into abuse and darkness. Tickets are $19.
Pegasus Theatre
Mystery at the Old CafeMarch 7–22
The Bath House Cultural Center, 521 E. Lawther Drive
Watch Miss Bubbles LaTour, a character from Pegasus’ Hunsacker/Living Black & White series, celebrating a pivotal character. In this homage to the series, “Bubbles and her friends stop the bad guys and do it in heels!” Tickets are $49
The Villains’ Supper Club
June 6–21
The Bath House Cultural Center, 521 E. Lawther Drive
Can the modern woman have it all — love, career, family and a mother who doesn’t criticize her? Maybe she can if she's a super hero like Galactic Girl, who juggles life and motherhood while fighting her archenemies.
Theatre Three
The Miss B Show and Dry Clean Only!March 14–22
2688 Laclede St., No. 168, downstairs in Theatre Too
A comedy two-banger: Miss B is a sort of adult version of Pee Wee’s Playhouse, with puppets, comedians, story time and song, all promising to be naughty. Dry Clean Only! is an improv troupe offering high-energy short-form improv and physical comedy. Tickets are $30
Intimate Apparel
March 27–April 20
2688 Laclede St., No. 168
Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage’s play follows Esther, an African-American seamstress, as she explores life in early 20th-century New York. Tickets are $40.
The Mystery of Irma Vep
April 24–May 18
Theatre Too, 2688 Laclede St., No. 168
Irma Vep is a comedic parody of a haunted English mansion story, with “gothic melodrama” and “supernatural shenanigans.” Tickets are $40.
Xanadu
June 5–July 6
2688 Laclede St., No. 168
This is a pop music-fueled musical comedy about following your dreams — on rollerskates. Tickets start at $40.
Scott Zenreich and Elly Lindsay perform in Undermain Theatre's John. The theater has three cool new offerings this year.
Katherine Owens
Undermain Theatre
BoxMarch 1–23
3200 Main St.
Undermain describes Box as, “Part magic show, part historical speculation, part romantic drama — this play explores the harrowing story of Henry Box Brown, the abolitionist lecturer and early magician who escaped slavery by mailing himself to freedom and went on to become a famed magician on the London stage. Using actual magic, this world premiere imagines an unwritten chapter in the story of one of history’s most overlooked folk heroes.” Tickets start at $18.50
Hello Kitty Syndrome
May 1–25
3200 Main St.
Hello Kitty Syndrome is an absurd comedy about an ex-cop enduring family drama, romance and “noir,” all while wearing a Hello Kitty costume.
An Iliad
June 5–22
3200 Main St.
This popular one-man/one-musician show stars Bruce Dubose as “the poet,” retelling Homer’s saga of the fall of Troy with modern relevance.
Uptown Players
We Are ContinuousUntil Feb. 23
Norma Young Arena Stage, 2688 Laclede St., No. 120
Harrison David Rivers’ play explores the complex relationship between a gay Black son, his devout Christian mother and her husband, Abe. On Feb. 23, the cast will host special post-performance talk sessions in partnership with Visions for Change. Tickets start at $40.
Xanadu
April 25–May 4
Kalita Humphreys Theater, 3636 Turtle Creek Blvd.
Uptown players also is staging Xanadu, like Theatre Three. Is rollerskating in again? Tickets start at $40
Everybody's Talking About Jamie
July 18–August 3
Kalita Humphreys Theater, 3636 Turtle Creek Blvd.
This musical is based on a true story about a young American boy following his dream to become a drag queen. Challenges ensue and, seeing it’s a musical, they're overcome. Tickets start at $40.
Catch the stage adaptation of Richard Linklater's School of Rock at Watertower Theatre in March.
Mat Hayward/Getty Images for IMDb
Watertower Theatre
A Streetcar Named DesireMarch 26–April 6
5650 Addison Road, Addison
Tennesee Williams’ class work follows romantic innocent Blanche du Bois’ descent into madness after she moves into the New Orleans home of her younger sister Stella and her brute of a brother-in-law, Stanley Kowalski. Tickets are $49
School of Rock
July 23–27
5650 Addison Road, Addison
Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical adaptation of the hit Jack Black movie follows a wannabe rocker who poses as a substitute teacher at a prep school. Tickets are $49
