If you were looking for Tina Parker last month, she was hiding in a dark corner booth somewhere, slurping whiskey mixed with energy drinks, wading through 400 full-length play submissions. Her friends are used to her annual month-long absence though, because this is year 16 for Kitchen Dog Theater’s New…
Fort Worth Opera’s 2014 festival wraps up this weekend with finale performances of two contemporary American operas and a classic comedy by Mozart. There’s a lot of room for diversity within the operatic genre and this year’s FWO festival has celebrated the wide range of musical and dramatic styles opera…
North Texas is springing up with creative dance companies full of talented artists looking to expand their skills beyond their graduate studies and carry college projects through to workable careers in the metroplex. Meaning for you: there are a plethora of interesting physically creative shows happening nearby. For instance, Big…
Who’s your favorite Sherlock Holmes? Sexy-arrogant Benedict Cumberbatch in the BBC’s fast-paced modern-day version of the Arthur Conan Doyle stories? Muscular Robert Downey Jr. in the action-packed big-budget feature films? The most elegantly droll was British actor Jeremy Brett in the long-running series on PBS years ago. The facial profile…
No actor in a five-state area says “Go fuck yourself!” better than Dallas actor Terry Vandivort says it in Nicky Silver’s The Lyons, now playing at Uptown Players at Kalita Humphreys Theater. Vandivort plays Ben Lyons, an angry old cuss who knows he’s dying. From his Manhattan hospital bed, he…
In Game of Thrones, the ominous line “winter is coming” would be far more terrifying for a Dallas resident if it said “summer is coming.” With the arrival of May, the mercury is rising, as the temperatures swiftly approach triple digits. Lucky for us, even when our cars run out…
Nearly four years have passed since the Mark Morris Dance Group last came to Dallas, and upon their much-anticipated return, I wonder what this nearly 40-year old institution has up its sleeve? If you ask Morris, like I did recently, you’ll get this response: “I hope you like it.” Chances…
Dallas has a new dance company on its hands. Well, maybe not “new,” as it is in its second full season in Dallas, but you might not have heard of them yet. And that’s because they were first based in South Korea (and still have a branch there). I’m talking…
Steven Michael Quezada hears some form of the following statement just about every time he goes out on the road: “I’m kind of surprised that you’re a stand-up.” I learned that because that’s the simple-minded, poorly worded statement I used to open our 30-minute conversation. He doesn’t seem to mind…
Have you ever wanted to be a person who’s really good at parties? You know those people. They have arsenals of songs they can play on the piano, endless jokes to tell, and they know how to make an impressive cocktails. Everybody likes those people and they never have to…
Mark this in your calendar for next year, folks, April 29 is now officially Fort Worth Dance Day. To celebrate it, Texas Ballet Theater announced its 2014/2015 season. Featuring a princess, a solider, a merry widow, some shiny jewels, and a sexy rendezvous, TBT will be offering a selection of…
Outside of New York City, those of us who care about the Tony Awards are few and far between. But real theater nerds aren’t that different than movie enthusiasts or sports fans and today we started building our brackets. Because today is Tony nomination day. Sure, you may not have…
Dance lovers have plenty of reasons to kick up their heels in May. For example: May 2: TITAS Command Performance Gala “This is the pyrotechnics of dance,” says Charles Santos about the upcoming 20th anniversary of the TITAS’ Command Performance Gala. Command, as it is fondly referred to, brings to…
Venus in Fur is about sexual domination, but not one person over another. Although, there’s a bit of that too. Rather, David Ives’ play is about BDSM of the soul, the masochism of humanity and the perversion of artistry. It’s about the self-flagellation necessary to bring a play to fruition,…
This week, the cool kids know what’s up. They’re swinging their way into some shows and driving to the drama, to let the good times roll in a theater. All around town, the theaters are getting hip and mounting plays worth a good old heel-kicking happy dance. So, if you…
“Check the dictionary,” I scream at my friend, Annie. The zombie is growling just inches from my feet and the clock is ticking down to the end of the hour. Somewhere in the small, locked room there are clues to open the combination lock that secures the zipper of the…
“This is the pyrotechnics of dance,” says executive director Charles Santos about the upcoming 20th anniversary of the TITAS’ Command Performance Gala. Now, if that doesn’t spark your interest in dance, I don’t know what else can. Pyro-technics, people…
Tommy Davidson will be at the Arlington Improv for a special engagement May 1-4, telling jokes, singing, and fingers crossed — doing his spot-on President Barack Obama impersonation…
There’s a functional way to drag a corpse off a stage and there’s a funny way. The young actors in Fun House Theatre and Film’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead do it the funny way. Every time. Fun House, for theatergoers who haven’t yet discovered its extraordinary shows, is Jeff…
Last week, my sister invited me to be her date to Beauty & the Beast at the Winspear Opera House. I happily obliged, because I’m a sucker for nostalgia. She’s also a member of the press, so we had killer seats in the center of the orchestra section. We purchased…
You may not recognize his face, but if you’ve gone to an opera in Dallas at some point over the last 30 years, you’re likely familiar with the result of his work. Jonathan Pell, The Dallas Opera’s artistic director, has been the company’s resident taste-maker for three decades, making important…
It’s not fair to call the Kids in the Hall’s upcoming show at the Majestic a “reunion.” The troupe and their fans know that fate will always conspire to keep them together. “We’re part of what the Black Crowes call the river,” troupe member Bruce McCulloch said. “We just keep…
