Actor Spotlight

Nathan Lane helps keep this Dallas actor busy in local theater

If you asked anyone in the Dallas-Fort Worth theater community who is the "glue," that person who makes every show special whether he's acting, directing, choreographing or even selling tickets, chances are they would say B.J. Cleveland.

Even if you don't know him from the local stage, Cleveland might still look familiar. Remember BJ & the Super Ones on Channel 11, or Cartoon Clubhouse with BJ & Lester on Channel 39, which ran between 1986 and 1994? He also appeared on The Facts of Life and in the film Streamers.

If you're somehow still unfamiliar with Cleveland, Uptown Players' production of The Nance would be a great introduction to this multitalented man. The Tony-nominated play about burlesque performers in the 1930s is at Kalita Humphreys Theater from June 19 through July 5.

Prior to the show's start, Cleveland took the time to fill out our survey of serious, fun and sometimes ridiculous questions.

Name: B.J. Cleveland

Role in The Nance: Chauncey Miles, "The Nance"

Previous work in the DFW area: More than 400 different shows as actor/director/choreographer since debuting onstage at age 6.

Hometown: Fort Worth

Where you currently reside: New Dallas resident!

First theater role: Hansel in Hansel and Gretel

First stage show you ever saw: Hard to remember — my mother took me to many — but I strongly remember The Wind in the Willows at Casa Manana.

Moment you decided to pursue a career in theater: As soon as I could read and had it memorized, I performed Go, Dog, Go for my grandparents.

Most challenging role you’ve played: Several, for different reasons. Of recent, Max Bialystock in The Producers — a marathon!

Special skills: Scenic painting, tap dancing, scuba diving, sky diving, Czech folk dancing. And I'm a dog whisperer!

Something you’re REALLY bad at: Saying no!

Current pop culture obsession: Whatever's trending on Facebook. I'm a 14-year-old girl. Caitlyn Jenner?

Last book you read: Yes Please by Amy Poehler. Hilarious. Even better to listen to.

Favorite movie(s): I'm a movie fanatic. I see everything. Classic fave: Singin' In The Rain. Recent fave: Love Is Strange.

Favorite musician(s): Old school: James Taylor, Billy Joel, Elton John. Recently: Meghan Trainor!

Favorite song: Show tunes!!!

Dream role: I've been fortunate to play a lot of them. Maybe Albin in La Cage Aux Folles, Tevye in Fiddler On The Roof — practically the same thing.

Favorite play(s): August: Osage County; Love! Valor! Compassion!

Favorite musical(s): Ugh! That's like Sophie's Choice. Gypsy, Sweeney Todd, The Music Man, Sunday In The Park With George.

Favorite actors/actresses: Meryl Streep, Jack Lemmon, Lucille Ball. Props to Nathan Lane — he keeps giving me roles. Right now, my current cast. I. Love. Them.

Favorite food: Brisket tacos

Must-see TV show(s): I Love Lucy — anytime it's on. Downton Abbey, RuPaul's Drag Race. How's that for eclectic?

Something most people don’t know about you: Raised in a strong Czech heritage, fundamental Baptist and former gymnast.

Place in the world you’d most like to visit: One of those beach huts out over the water in Bora Bora. My great-grandfather's birthplace is Novigrad. Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria.

Pre-show warm-up: Go to the potty! And hide in a corner and run difficult lyrics/dialogue to myself.

Favorite part about your current role: I get to fall in love every night and be loved. The expanse of emotions.

Most challenging part about your current role: Stamina and the expanse of emotions. I never dreamed this role would hit me so hard emotionally as much as physically.

Most embarrassing onstage mishap: Wasn't in a show, surprisingly. I was emceeing a big event, and the PowerPoint behind me was being run from someone else's computer, and they accidentally projected porn on a 24-foot wall behind me. For the longest 20 seconds of my life. And I was onstage alone with a live mic. It's quite funny — now.

Career you’d have if you weren’t in theater: Teaching. And I do, every day.

Favorite post-show spot: It was Snookie's. RIP.

Favorite thing about Dallas-Forth Worth: My family and my theater family. There is an abundance of great theater here. Please support it!

Cleveland, Sherry Hopkins and Bradley Campbell in the long-running hit Shear Madness at Theatre Three.

Shear Madness at Theatre Three in Dallas

Photo by Jeffrey Schmidt

Cleveland, Sherry Hopkins and Bradley Campbell in the long-running hit Shear Madness at Theatre Three.

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Lawsuit news

Artist sues FIFA for $25 million over painted-over Dallas whale mural

Facebook/Wyland

Artist Wyland's Whaling Wall mural being painted over for a FIFA World Cup-related mural in Dallas.

The artist who painted a giant mural on a building in downtown Dallas of life-sized swimming whales has filed a $25 million lawsuit against soccer's international governing body and others, saying they illegally painted over his work to promote the city's upcoming World Cup matches.

The artist Wyland says he hand-painted the sprawling mural that covered roughly 17,000 square feet (1,580 square meters) across two of the building's walls.

The mural stood for nearly three decades before workers began painting over it last month, causing an uproar among residents who admired the mural's grand scale and message of ocean conservation.

The area’s World Cup organizing committee said in a statement that, in place of Wyland's mural, new artwork is planned "that captures this current historical moment and reflects the energy, unity, and global spirit surrounding the World Cup 2026.” It said a portion of Wyland's mural would be preserved.

Wyland filed suit Monday, June 1 in U.S District Court in Dallas saying that World Cup organizers, along with the building's owner and management company, painted over his mural without his consent or even notifying him. He says their actions violated a 1990 federal law passed to protect visual artists from destruction of publicly displayed works.

Wyland is seeking at least $25 million in damages. His lawsuit says world soccer's governing body, FIFA, and other defendants “hastily and irrevocably destroyed a civic landmark” to promote the World Cup.

“Though FIFA claims they were working to develop art for the host city, in truth, they defaced an historic fixture of the host city,” the artist's lawsuit says.

A FIFA spokesperson said Tuesday the federation “has no involvement in this whatsoever” and referred a reporter to the tournament's local organizing committee.

A spokesperson for the North Texas FWC Organizing Committee declined to comment. The committee isn't named as a defendant in the lawsuit.

A spokesperson for Slate Asset Management, which manages the building where the mural was painted over, said in a statement that local World Cup organizers asked Slate in March to donate the mural space for “a new public art installation.”

“Slate is not being compensated in any way for the use of the wall space and was told by the local groups that Mr. Wyland had been notified,” the management company's spokesperson said in an email.

Dallas is hosting more World Cup matches than any of the other sites in the event co-hosted by the U.S., Canada and Mexico, with nine matches set to be played at AT&T Stadium in suburban Arlington, home of the Dallas Cowboys.

Wyland's Dallas mural, titled “Whaling Wall 82,” was finished in 1999 and is among more than 100 similar murals known as Whaling Walls the artist painted around the world to promote the conservation of ocean life.

An online petition protesting the mural's destruction and calling for protecting of public artwork in Dallas has received more than 2,600 signatures.

Wyland's lawsuit alleges violations of the Visual Artists Rights Act, a 1990 federal law that protects artwork of “recognized stature” even if someone else owns the physical artwork.

A judge cited that law in 2018 when he ordered a property owner to pay a group of New York graffiti artists $6.7 million for whitewashing dozens of their spray-painted murals on buildings that once housed a factory in Queens. The ruling was upheld on appeal.

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