Out-of-Site Art

DallasSITES exhibit at DMA gives the city's art scene the attention it deserves

New York has the press. Miami has the parties. But the contemporary art scene in Dallas has something far more important — potential for growth as wide open as a Texas sky.

Opening Sunday, May 26, the Dallas Museum of Art’s new exhibition DallasSITES: Charting Contemporary Art, 1963 to Present takes a closer look at both the past and future of North Texas’s bold and distinctive art scene, from the envelope-pushing work of the Betty McLean Gallery in the mid-’50s to painting, sculpture and performance art provocateurs of the 21st century.

“The moments where Dallas’ history of contemporary art crisscrosses with a more national or international history will be a real eye-opener for our audience,” says assistant curator Gabriel Ritter.

Dividing the exhibition into geographic areas — the Arts District and downtown, Deep Ellum, Oak Cliff, Oak Lawn and Cedar Springs, as well as university communities like Arlington and Denton — DallasSITES presents the history of the local art world through gallery invitations, posters, photography, video and objects culled from private archives and public records.

Supported by a grant from UTD’s Texas Fund for Curatorial Research, DallasSITES was originally spearheaded by former DMA contemporary art curator Charles Wylie. Leigh Arnold, a curatorial research assistant for the exhibition, began sourcing materials in May 2011 under Wylie’s direction.

“When I was hired to begin the research, Charlie had seen the Pacific Standard Time exhibit [at L.A.’s Getty Center], as well as similar exhibitions in Houston. These were early influences, and he gave me a road map of highlights he had heard about and wanted me to go into in greater detail.”

“The amount of material that Leigh has unearthed and the alternative narrative that we were able to articulate will be a surprise to everyone,” explains Gabriel Ritter, DMA’s Nancy and Tim Hanley assistant curator of contemporary art.

“There are favorites [artists and galleries] they’ll be quite familiar with, but the moments where Dallas’ history of contemporary art crisscrosses with a more national or international history will be a real eye-opener for our audience.”

This includes guest appearances from Claes Oldenburg (who staged a 1962 “happening” at the Dallas Museum for Contemporary Arts) and Robert Smithson (who spent a year as an artist-in-residence at a local college). A timeline that illustrates significant moments such as these grounds the exhibition with visual ephemera.

Throughout July and August, the DMA presents DallasSITES: Available Space, a month-long experimental showcase of some of today’s top contemporary talent, including interactive installations by the Fort Worth-based HOMECOMING! Committee collective, Oil and Cotton workshops, and programming from the Dallas VideoFest.

“We’re excited about bringing community into the space of the museum; it bookends the exhibition in an interesting way,” Ritter says. “It’s a continuation and the beginning of a fruitful relationship between the Dallas Museum of Art and the artists working in this community.”

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DallasSITES: Charting Contemporary Art, 1963 to Present is on view May 26 through September 15, 2013. DallasSITES: Available Space runs run July 19 to August 18 in the Barrel Vault and surrounding galleries.

"Detour" Public Art Tour of Dallas brochure, c. 1966.

Dallas Museum of Art Archives

"Detour" Public Art Tour of Dallas brochure, c. 1966.

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Season Announcement

Dallas Theater Center finds rhythm and rhyme in 2025-26 season

Photo by Joan Marcus

"Ragtime" was recently staged in New York by City Center Encores.

The 2025-26 season for Dallas Theater Center is a mix of classic and new, large and small, and it even raises the curtain on more collaborations with the Tony Award-winning regional theater.

This season includes the launch of a three-year partnership between Dallas Theater Center and Stage West Theatre in Fort Worth, as well as a multi-year partnership with SMU’s Meadows School of the Arts and the Sexton Institute for Musical Theatre. An ongoing collaboration continues with TheatreSquared in Fayetteville, Arkansas, and DTC will newly partner with Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra on a concert to be performed at Bass Performance Hall featuring FWSO, conducted by Robert Spano, and actors from DTC’s Brierley Resident Acting Company, directed by DTC's executive director Kevin Moriarty.

“Collaboration is at the heart of DTC’s mission,” Moriarty says. “It’s wonderful to join with TheaterSquared to support Jonathan Norton’s brilliant playwriting and introduce his work to a national audience. Further, by partnering with Stage West Theatre, SMU’s Meadows School of the Arts and the Sexton Institute for Musical Theatre, and the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, we are able to expand opportunities for artists, introduce new audience members to the arts, and enrich our artistry. I’m grateful to be surrounded by so many talented, visionary artists and arts leaders here in North Texas and honored to be partnering with them this season.”

“In curating Dallas Theater Center’s 2025-26 season, I chose to follow my mission as a playwright, which is to break down barriers through the shared joy of great storytelling,” says interim artistic director Jonathan Norton. “And the five shows in our upcoming season will do just that."

First up is the classic slapstick farce Noises Off by Michael Frayn, directed by Ashley H. White.

This play-within-a-play plunges you into the chaotic world of Nothing’s On, a fictional touring production tormented by backstage romances and onstage blunders. From flubbed lines to slamming doors, witness the hilarious unraveling of a troupe of eccentric actors. It runs October 3-26, 2025, at the Kalita Humphreys Theater.

Next is the Pulitzer Prize-winning Fat Ham by James Ijames, a co-production with Stage West that's directed by vickie washington.

In this Dallas premiere of the hit Broadway comedy, Juicy’s got a lot on his plate — his mom just married his uncle. All he wants is to make his own way as a queer Black man in a Southern family. But here’s the rub: his father’s ghost just turned up at a backyard barbecue demanding vengeance. In this delicious and sizzling reinvention of Shakespeare’s masterpiece, a young man vows to break the cycles of violence in service of his own liberation and joy. It runs January 30-February 8, 2026, at the Kalita Humphreys Theater

The regional premiere of Donnetta Lavinia Grays' Where We Stand, another co-pro with Stage West, follows.

Directed by Akin Babatunde, Broadway actor and Dallas legend Liz Mikel plays a lone storyteller who weaves a world through music and magic — part fable, part call-and-response. Your town stands at a crossroads. A neighbor — desperate and out of options — has struck a dangerous bargain. Now, their fate lies in your hands. In this interactive play presented as a town hall gathering, the audience must choose: mercy or justice? The future of the town — and the fate of a soul — hang in the balance. This isn’t a game. It’s your choice. It runs February 27-March 22, 2026, at Bryant Hall on the Kalita Humphreys Theater campus.

The grand, sweeping musical Ragtime will be produced in partnership with SMU and AT&T Performing Arts Center, with direction and choreography by Sexton Institute for Musical Theatre director Joel Ferrell.

Based on the novel by E.L. Doctorow, with music by Stephen Flaherty, lyrics by Lynn Ahrens, and book by Terrence McNally, the musical tells the intertwined stories of three families from different walks of life, all chasing the American Dream in 1902 New York. It runs March 27-April 19, 2026, at the Wyly Theatre.

The world premiere of Jonathan Norton's Malcolm X and Redd Foxx Washing Dishes at Jimmy’s Chicken Shack in Harlem closes out the regular season.

A commission by and co-production with TheatreSquared, which previously supported the development of Norton’s I AM DELIVERED’T, the play will be directed by Dexter J. Singleton. In the sweltering summer of 1943, two young men — Little & Foxy — forge an unlikely bond over leftover fried chicken and dirty dishwasher. But as the world outside erupts in chaos, their friendship is tested by betrayal, ambition, and the call of history. Inspired by a true story. It runs May 8-June 7, 2026, at the Wyly's Studio Theater.

"There is nothing like the rejuvenating sensation of rollicking laughter spreading through packed houses at Noises Off and Fat Ham," says Norton. "Where We Stand will inspire rich conversations about forgiveness and redemption. Ragtime will send audiences home lifted by the stirring music and feeling ever more hopeful in these changing times. And Malcolm X and Redd Foxx Washing Dishes At Jimmy’s Chicken Shack in Harlem will leave you empowered with the knowledge that true friendship can change the world. I can’t wait for October, when I get to welcome audiences at the start of our new season. We will throw open our doors and become Dallas’ town hall — a place for the community to gather for conversation, celebration, and ultimately, connection.”

There are also two add-on productions, beginning with the company's annual presentation of A Christmas Carol.

Based on the novel by Charles Dickens, adapted by Kevin Moriarty, and directed by Alex Organ, with musical direction by Cody Dry, and choreography by Joel Ferrell, DTC's production takes audiences on a magical Christmas Eve adventure with Ebenezer Scrooge, as three otherworldly spirits whisk him away on a breathtaking journey of hope and redemption. From the nostalgic warmth of Christmases past to the stark truths of the present and the ominous shadows of the future, Scrooge's journey is a spectacle of wonder. It runs November 28-December 28, 2025, at the Wyly Theatre.

Under the direction of Robert Spano and Kevin Moriarty, the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra and Dallas Theater Center collaborate to bring musical drama and theatrical intrigue center stage in the FWSO's newest "Theater of a Concert" concept: Shakespeare at the Symphony.

Featuring Mendelssohn's Selections from A Midsummer Night's Dream and Prokofiev's Selections from Romeo and Juliet, interspersed with scenes from Shakespeare, the multi-discipline production brings The Bard to life. It runs February 27-March 1, 2026, at Bass Performance Hall in Fort Worth.

DTC’s Diane and Hal Brierley Resident Acting Company members will be featured throughout the 2025-26 season. Company members include Christina Austin Lopez, Tiana Kaye Blair, Blake Hackler, Bob Hess, Liz Mikel, Alex Organ, Molly Searcy, Tiffany Solano, Sally Nysteun Vahle, Esteban Vilchez, and Zachary J. Willis.

“The talent and collaborative spirit of my colleagues in the Brierley Resident Acting Company constantly inspires me,” Norton says. “And later this spring I look forward to announcing a new company member who will further enrich our artistry.”

Subscriptions are available now and can be purchased at DallasTheaterCenter.org and by phone at 214-522-8499. Single tickets are not yet available.

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