After a night of watching a comedy show, audience members leave talking about many things. They loved the comedian, they hated the comedian, that one joke was really clever, and so on. They’re naturally focused on the comedians, but what about the person who put the show together? A comedy…
Plano is getting its first comedy festival this week, but the founders of the fest had to do a little shuffling at the last minute. The first Plano Comedy Festival kicked off Thursday and runs through Sunday with more than 30 comedians performing live comedy shows at locations around Plano…
The moment that comedian and impressionist Melissa Villaseñor learned she’d be a cast member on Saturday Night Live, she didn’t celebrate the way most people think they would. “My brother picked me up [from the airport], and we went to go have pizza and we watched Dunston Checks In,” Villaseñor…
The crew behind the Stomping Ground Comedy Theater, a new nonprofit comedy community space that’s been in the works for the last year, has a week to go before its grand opening, and there’s still a long to-do list. Managing director Lindsay Goldapp’s vision of a nonprofit space dedicated to…
One of the greatest accomplishments for a stand-up comedian is to have an hour of material recorded and released as a special. It’s a time capsule of all the memories and experiences the comedian lived through while piecing together, minute by minute, an hour of his or her best comedy…
In a row of industrial storefronts in the Design District is a misleadingly small entrance to Viva’s Lounge. Twice a month, staff members flip on the lights and open the doors, inviting a returning loyal audience to see Viva’s newest offering of burlesque entertainment. Confetti Eddie’s Naughty Magic Show, a…
Kevin Moriarty is tight-lipped. “This could be the most pointless conversation you will ever have,” joked Dallas Theater Center’s artistic director when asked about DTC’s upcoming production of White Rabbit Red Rabbit. “Nearly everything you ask, I will dodge and weave.” Iranian playwright Nassim Soleimanpour wrote White Rabbit Red Rabbit…
The tell-all celebrity autobiography is more than just an easy way to make another buck for a person who’s lucky enough to spend any amount of time in the spotlight. It’s become a comedy goldmine for writer and performer Eugene Pack and the other stars he sends out onstage with…
Tig Notaro relishes the challenges of doing stand-up, but doing a charity show like the one she’ll be doing on May 31 at the Eisemann Center for Cancer Support Community North Texas takes the challenge to another level. “I would say I do one every other month for some sort…
An anonymous complaint was sent to the fire marshal stating both buildings that make up Dallas Comedy House were over capacity, thus creating a fire hazard. Of the two buildings, only one is open to the public, that being the home to DCH’s two theaters and bar area. The other…
In 2000, there weren’t many avenues for dancers and choreographers in Dallas, but that same year saw Contemporary Ballet Dallas widen the pool when it first opened its doors. Now after 18 years, one of the longest running ballet companies in Dallas is changing its brand and its mission. Starting…
Gladys Johnson entered the dance world via a Black Eyed Peas music video in 2009. After appearing in the “Hey Mama” hit, she went on to star in K-Swiss and AT&T commercials and become a backup dancer at the MTV Music Awards. Now, she is empowering Dallas women through her…
Vision seems to be the driving force for The Classics Theatre Project. Joey Folsom, a Dallas actor and director, considers the purpose of a theater company to be to get people in the room where they might find “a moment of humanity and empathy.” And in this highly polarized moment,…
The Tony Award-winning play The Humans explores the tough work of being human in a family filled with other humans. Disappointment, unmet expectations, illness, betrayal and aging are vividly portrayed alongside the deeply human need to find refuge with other humans who bring their own unique set of needs, flaws…
The vision many people get when they think of cruise ship entertainers is not a kind one — a musician or a performer who couldn’t make it in the big cities, so now he lives on a ship, playing the same out-of-tune song show after show. A picture of a…
Throughout May, there is no shortage of events to attend at the Women Galore festival. There are concerts, book readings, film screenings and guest speakers from various professions and walks of life. For the last two years, these events have been at The Wild Detectives in Oak Cliff. Now in…
Daisy Eagan began acting when she was 9 years old. Just two years later in 1991, Eagan became the youngest recipient of a Tony Award for her performance in the musical The Secret Garden. On May 8, Eagan comes to Dallas to perform in The Humans, the 2016 Tony Award-winning…
Four years and three Star Wars movies ago, Shoshana Portnoy, Viva Dallas Burlesque producer, began her preparations. A lifelong fan of both the classic sci-fi series and archaic modes of tantalization, Portnoy says she swiped a garage full of promotional materials from big-box store dumpsters. She’ll be able to clear…
In the small dance room at Green Space Arts Collective in Denton, fully wooded and mirrored for optimal practice, a group of women gathers to practice a routine based off the popular anime Love Live. They all stare intently in the clear glass to hit the right steps and make…
It’s not an act. When comedian Lewis Black is screaming into a microphone on a stage or thrusting his pointer fingers at the camera to punctuate his rage during one of his editorials on Comedy Central’s The Daily Show, it’s not something he picked up from his years in theater…
Kitchen Dog Theater, now in its 27th year, recently premiered Pompeii, a musical comedy about the ill-fated citizens of the eponymous ancient city in the final days before the eruption of Vesuvius. The doomed residents of Pompeii serve as stand-ins for all of humanity going about their day-to-day lives just…
After more than seven years at the helm, Keith Cerny resigned his position as CEO/general director of the Dallas Opera in December. Six months later, the Dallas Opera announced its choice to replace him. Ian Derrer is the new CEO and general director of the Dallas Opera, the eighth in…
