Addison’s WaterTower Theatre has released the lineup for this year’s Out of the Loop Fringe Festival, happening March 5-15. It includes a mix of world premieres, “Best of Loop” winners, local and visiting talent, and the return engagement of one critically lauded work from the Wyly Theatre’s Elevator Project.
The lineup is as follows:
Ah, Whoopsies!
You Need Go Search
Ah, Whoopsies is Jen Browne, Lauren Ferebee, Timothy Giles and Montgomery Sutton, who, between the four of them, have acted, directed, written, composed and danced in New York, Dublin, London, Vancouver, Toronto, South Carolina, Dallas and beyond. You Need Go Search is an off-kilter hero’s journey that follows four people in unusual clothes whose lives are lit by flashlights and dime-store lanterns, anchored by broken stuff and communicated via bubbles. It’s okay to laugh. Studio Theatre on March 10, 7:30 pm; March 13, 9:30 pm; March 14, 5 pm.
The Alternative Comedy Theater
The Victims Improv Comedy Hour
The Victims of the Alternative Comedy Theater have entertained audiences all over the country with theatrical unscripted comedic mayhem since 2006. With improv comedy, every show is unique, and the scenes are created on the spot from audience suggestions. Stone Cottage on March 6, 9 pm; March 13, 9:30 pm; March 14, 5 pm.
2014 Best of Loop Winner:
Audacity Theatre Lab
Cyrano A-Go-Go
Brad McEntire takes on Edmond Rostand’s swashbuckling masterpiece of romance, tragicomedy and bravado in a hilarious and breathtaking solo show. Presented as an old-school oration, McEntire weaves the historical and literary with his own personal narrative to reflect on the nature of theatricality, the nobility of personal identity and the hard-won lessons of love — unrequited and otherwise. Stone Cottage on March 7, 5 pm; March 13, 7:30 pm; March 15, 7:30 pm.
Blaque Artists Collective
Blaque-To-Blaque: A Trilogy of Play Shorts
Does a white suburban housewife know more about black trivia than black people? Can a worn-out, professional woman get her sexual groove back? What happens when a son comes out to his gay dads during the Zombie Apocalypse? Blaque Artists Collective is dedicated to cutting-edge, out-of-the-box theatrical storytelling within the African-American community. Studio Theatre on March 7, 2 pm, and March 14, 8 pm.
Contemporary Ballet Dallas
Bottled Poetry
Contemporary Ballet Dallas’ progressive, diverse style combines ballet with modern movement and music to bring dance to audiences like they’ve never seen it before. Bottled Poetry offers works that juxtapose the concept of beauty — as both an idea or item — against disparate backdrops and situations. Beauty, for all its glory, is also hard to maintain and often draws a jealous reaction. The evening includes premieres by Addison Reed, Jen Arellano and Marielle McGregor. Main Stage on March 8, 5 pm, and March 13, 7:30 pm.
Artist CJ Miller
Resonate
CJ Miller returns to WaterTower Theatre as the Out of the Loop Fringe Festival featured artist. This install features six new works from his Resonate series and several works from his Square One series. His work has been shown at the Visit Addison Gallery, Small Gallery, Stage West and WaterTower Theatre. Opening reception: March 5, 6-8 pm in main lobby.
Dallas Neo-Classical Ballet
Penumbra
Dallas Neo-Classical Ballet presents a series of works where lightness and darkness intermingle, creating an unsettlingly beautiful vision of movement. The performance includes five works from DNCB’s recent repertoire: The Red Shoes and Shades by Victoria Tran, Heartstrings by Emilie Skinner, Folie à Deux by guest choreographer Danielle Georgiou, and You Are a Memory by company member Addison Reed. Main Stage on March 7, 8 pm, and March 14, 2 pm.
DGDG (Danielle Georgiou Dance Group)
Nice
An original work from DGDG, Nice explores the societal guidelines that we try to follow in our everyday life to be nice and polite. But what happens when we hide our true feelings and motives? Taking liberties with the audience-performer relationship, DGDG wants to entertain the Nice out of you. Nice first premiered at the Wyly Theatre 6th Floor Studio Theatre as part of the Elevator Project and includes live music from local musician and radio host Paul Slavens. Main Stage on March 7, 5 pm, and March 12, 7:30 pm.
Elizabeth Berkman
¡My Sweet Bat-ceañera!
¡My Sweet Bat-ceañera! is the story of an adopted girl who must determine who and what she is. This solo performance from Dallas actress Elizabeth Berkman seeks to discover what it means to belong and how we as humans struggle to peel back the labels in order to excavate who we really are. Stone Cottage on March 12, 7:30 pm; March 14, 2 pm; March 15, 5 pm.
2014 Best of Loop Winner: Jenn Dodd
Melancomedy: Funny Scenes About Sad Folks
Jenn Dodd, an Andy Kaufman Award finalist, is a character comedian and writer whose work focuses on the hilarity of everyday people. Divorce, soul-crushing day jobs, repressed sexuality, death — isn’t life hilarious? You will cry ’til you laugh with Dodd as she portrays several melancholy misfits in this solo sketch comedy of tragedies. Studio Theatre on March 6, 7:30 pm; March 7, 5 pm; March 8, 2 pm.
John Leos Creative
Eating Pavement
Eating Pavement is an environmental, devised theatre-movement piece conceived by John Leos and Melissa Riggins. It tells the story of two silent, homeless vagrants, Wants and Needs, as they dig through the trash in order to find what it takes to survive. Outside on March 6, 7:30 pm; March 12, 7:30 pm; March 14, 7 pm.
Cellist Jordan Cleaver
Jordan Cleaver graduated from Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in 2008. She studied at Kennesaw State University in Georgia for two years where she served as principal and co-principal cellist. She has performed with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra as well as members from the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and in the 2014 Loop Festival. Main lobby on March 14, 7 pm, and March 15, 4 pm.
Melinda Wood Allen
Not An Ingenue
This is a truly original cabaret show by an award-winning performer with a voice that critics have called “pure confection” and “at once big and crystalline, boisterous and precise.” Written, directed and performed by Melinda Wood Allen, Not An Ingenue features songs from the best of musical theater (popular and obscure), interspersed with humorous narrative about life, art, dreams, self-acceptance and coming home. Accompanied on piano by Jay Adkins. Stone Cottage on March 11, 7:30 pm; March 14, 8 pm; March 15, 2 pm.
Miniature Curiosa
An Excruciatingly Ordinary Toy Theater Show
Through low-fi technology, puppetry and non-linear storytelling, Miniature Curiosa explores the underbelly of childhood nostalgia with the disappointed eyeballs of adulthood. In this production, Zach Dorn weaves lost journal entries into peculiar tales by manipulating digital cameras through toy-sized streets filled with paper puppets. A lonely puppeteer stalks the child of two notorious celebrities, a 3-foot ghost plagues an 8-year-old boy’s fragile psyche and an opera-singing landlord refuses to return a security deposit. Stone Cottage on March 7, 8 pm; March 8, 5 pm; March 10, 7:30 pm.
Muscle Memory Dance Theatre
Including You
Including You explores the fusion of modern, contemporary and aerial dance, as well as physical theater, video artistry, live music and bubble-wrap installations. Choreographer Megan Odom looks at how alienation and fetishism in modern society can lead to the investigation of an honest reality of the individual within mass culture and society. Main Stage on March 6, 7:30 pm, and March 8, 2 pm.
2013 Best of Loop Winner:
Patrick O’Brien
The Fever
Patrick O’Brien led the sold-out run of Underneath the Lintel at the 2013 Out of the Loop Fringe Festival. He’s back with another solo show called The Fever in which an affluent traveler to a poor country is leveled by a nightmarish but enlightening fever that challenges the consciences of the most liberal of theatregoers. The Fever is written by Wallace Shawn and directed by Patrick O’Brien. Stone Cottage on March 6, 7:30 pm; March 7, 2 pm; March 8, 2 pm.
QLive!
Thrill Me: The Leopold & Loeb Story
Relationships can be murder. Set in 1924 Chicago, Thrill Me (book, music and lyrics by Stephen Dolginoff) is a dark musical recounting the chilling true story of the legendary “thrill killers,” Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb, who committed one of the most heinous crimes of the 20th century. Leopold was passionate about Loeb, who was passionate about crime and excitement, which ultimately tore them apart. Main Stage on March 7, 2 pm; March 14, 5 pm; March 15, 7:30 pm.
Rhythmic Souls
Legends Never Die: Everything Old Is New Again
Rhythmic Souls brings its second installment of the hit series Legends Never Die. These fierce rhythm tappers translate memorable Hollywood movie musical scenes from screen to stage, featuring tributes to famous tap dance legends such as Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire, the Nicholas Brothers, Ann Miller, Eleanor Powell, Bill Robinson, Sammy Davis Jr., Gregory Hines and more. If you loved movies like Swing Time, Singin’ in the Rain, An American in Paris and 42nd Street, this show is for you. Studio Theatre on March 7, 8 pm; March 12, 7:30 pm; March 15, 7:30 pm.
Rite of Passage Theatre Company
Standing 8 Count
Standing 8 Count is Van Quattro’s hard-knuckled, true account of 1975: the year he spent as a semi-professional boxer. Punctuated by a soundtrack that breeds audience nostalgia and summons a host of memories, Quattro faces down an opponent more formidable than any he’s faced before: the ghost of his own youth.Rite of Passage Theatre Company is dedicated to the cultivation and realization of new and thought-provoking works by both emerging and established artists. Studio Theatre on March 8, 5 pm; March 11, 7:30 pm; March 15, 2 pm.
Silver Triangle Theatre Project
Nomad Americana
Nomad Americana, written by Kira Rockwell, is a nod to classic American theater, infused with contemporary ideas, centering around a nomadic family who takes temporary root in Texas. It’s a quirky, endearing coming-of-age story about a conglomeration of dreamers who are asking the same question, “What is my true purpose?” Main Stage on March 10, 7:30 pm; March 14, 8 pm; March 15, 5 pm.
Tori Scott
I’ll Regret This Tomorrow
I’ll Regret This Tomorrow, from New York-based singer and comedian Tori Scott, is an hour of brassy songs, slurred autobiographical stories and a celebration of poor life choices. Backed by a three-piece band, it features songs by Judy Garland, Bette Midler and Michael Jackson, taking the audience on a shameless journey of Scott’s childhood years in Texas to her unlucky struggles in New York City.Recently Scott was named as Time Out New York’s Top 10 Cabaret Artist. Studio Theatre on March 13, 7:30 pm; March 14, 2 pm; March 15, 5 pm.
2013 Best of Loop Winner:
WaterTower Theatre
The Spark
At night, Emma lives in a world of light and dark. Her father’s stories unveil a world of possibility and adventure, allowing her to find comfort in the darkness. “Make-believe and knowing how to use it,” he says. “That is your light in the dark.” But what happens when imagination is lost? Can it be rediscovered? The Spark is an exploration of light and storytelling through puppetry, music and the mind of a child. Main Stage on March 5, 8 pm; March 6, 9 pm; March 11, 7:30 pm; March 15, 2 pm.
Single tickets to all events go on sale February 24. Festival passes, now on sale for $65, include one admission to each festival event. WaterTower Theatre subscribers receive $10 off each festival pass. Individual ticket prices for each event are $10. Loop passholders may make reservations starting February 11.
Comedian Jenn Dodd brings her show Melancomedy: Funny Scenes About Sad Folks to the Out of the Loop Fringe Festival at WaterTower Theatre.
