Last Halloween, theater director DR Hanson went as Freddie Mercury, the late lead singer of Queen. He chose to emulate Mercury’s famous outfit from a World AIDS Day performance. Hanson was sure it would be easily recognized. He was shocked — and disappointed — by the outcome. “So many people, gay…
For many, the holidays are a time of great anticipation and excitement. Much-needed breaks from work are coming, holiday music has been playing for months (but now we can all finally enjoy it) and a joyful buzz is in the air. The holidays can also mean traveling back to our…
Holiday theater productions are a great way to entertain out-of-town guests. If you’re looking for something more than the traditional holiday productions, there are great offerings that venture outside the box. Here’s a roundup of holiday theater in the Dallas area that promises unique, family friendly fun. Irving Berlin’s White…
Annie Baker’s John, now playing at Undermain Theatre, is a must-see, and it’s as simple as that. What’s not simple is the play itself. It opened at New York’s Signature Theatre Company in 2015, and the regional premiere in Dallas is not one to miss. Baker is a master of…
It can be difficult to get tickets to a show by a top-selling comedian like Jim Jefferies. The Australian comic tours the world annually and sells out venues such as Dallas’ Majestic Theatre, but there are other ways to see Jefferies if you have the right timing and know the…
WaterTower Theatre is in the midst of a season of change. This is its first season with artistic director Joanie Schultz at the wheel, and now the theater has added a new managing director, longtime Dallas attorney Nick Even. “When a theater moves beyond the vision of its founders into…
Prism Movement Theater has brought some of the most evocative theater to Dallas in recent years, all without uttering a word. Its latest creation is a wordless adaptation of one of Shakespeare’s most complicated plays, King Lear. Prism’s iteration is simply called Lear. Audiences might wonder how theater so rooted…
A few years ago, photographer Takiyah Wallace was searching for a dance studio in Dallas for her 3-year-old daughter, who had expressed an interest in ballet, when she noticed something. “One of the first things that jumped out to me in visiting local studios here was that there were not…
When you think of Saudi Arabia and its people, a great sense of humor probably isn’t the first thing that comes to mind, but last week The Middle East Institute was in Dallas to prove that the country has actually produced some fine comedians. The institute sponsored a free, hourlong…
Kitchen Dog Theater launched its 27th season this week with the regional premiere of Ironbound, Polish-born playwright Martyna Majok’s sobering look at the plight of immigrants in America. Ironbound follows immigrant Darja (Karen Parrish) during three periods of her life. The play begins with a scene between Darja and Tommy…
The three-act French opera Samson and Dalila, first performed in 1877, seemed like an odd choice to start the Dallas Opera’s 2017-18 season. But Friday’s opening-night performance proved that it has stood the test of time. Composer Camille Saint-Saëns recognized that opera is all about drama, and Dallas Opera’s interpretation…
In playwright Kate Hamill’s adaptation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, the droll, headstrong protagonist, Lizzy Bennett, tells her sisters that love is a game. So it makes sense that WaterTower’s production of the play, onstage through Nov. 5, opens with a basketball game. Actors sit on the benches, waiting…
Just before the show started — after I’d taken my seat between Mom and Dad in the front row at the Dallas Theater Center’s in-the-round production of Hair — an usher started talking about the view we were going to get. Dad’s attention was on his Toblerone, but Mom saw the…
After a tour in South Korea, artistic director Joshua Peugh’s home away from Dallas, Dark Circles Contemporary Dance will open its fifth season in its hometown of Dallas this weekend. Big Bad Wolf and Les Fairies will focus on dance pieces inspired by cautionary tales, or as Peugh describes, “the ways…
Halloween time is the perfect time for scary movies, but what about scary plays? Horror film fanatics should not discount the immediate experience of seeing a live performance when they’re in the mood to jump in their seats. House Party Theatre is attempting to make you do just that with…
Start with ABBA and throw in some Prince and the Muppets’ Swedish Chef, and you’ve got the recipe for the Drama Club’s new musical, Parables (for sleeping in daylight or dark). Its writers, Ian Ferguson and Michael Federico, are no strangers to musical theater. Ferguson, a musician, is a member…
Prism Movement Theater, Dallas’ wordless theater company, is starting a new season that will give the community a chance to learn the ways of the wordless. Following the success of its 2016 production Animal vs Machine and subsequent 2017 remount as Bruises, Prism proves once again that it is interested…
Men and women are about as opposite as any two forces on Earth. Yet many people spend their whole lives trying to find just one person of the opposite sex who is willing to just put up with them. Brian Howie, a writer, author and comedian who hosts The Great…
The yarn-dressed trees dotting the Arts District are proof that Kevin Moriarty is serious about providing a “fully immersive” experience with his newest musical production. Hair opens this week at the Wyly, and if you think the trees outside are over-the-top, just wait until you see the inside of the theater…
Jim Norton will perform at Texas Theatre this Friday, Sept. 29 Comedian Jim Norton can’t remember the first embarrassing, sexually perverted story he told. All he remembers is where it happened and that two other comics found it hilarious. “It was a Radisson hotel [in New Jersey] that had a…
Spending the majority of the year on the road isn’t a new experience for seasoned comedy couple Cameron Esposito and Rhea Butcher. They first met in the Chicago comedy scene and got to know each other while doing road gigs together. So what makes their Back to Back tour, which…
As temperatures begin to drop in Dallas, it’s perfect weather for sitting outside on a nice lawn with a bottle of wine while watching a stage fill up with blood. For the first time in its 46-year history, Shakespeare Dallas will present one of Shakespeare’s most violent plays, Titus Andronicus…
