Theater Critic Picks

Dallas-Fort Worth theater critics applaud the best of 2016-17 season

Bucking the national trend of diminishing arts coverage, attendance at the annual Dallas-Fort Worth Theater Critics Forum was actually up this year. Nine professional critics gathered to nominate, vote for, and debate our favorites from the 2016-17 season — and was there ever debate.

In categories spanning new works to stellar performances, the nine critics fought for their favorites. Not everyone's picks made it through the voting process, which needed either more than 50 percent of the votes or a unanimous decision if only two or three critics had seen the production, so look out for personal favorites not included here to pop up in those end-of-year lists.

It was a strong year for women, with female directors earning six of the eight nods (way up from last year's four out of 10). Kitchen Dog Theater had a stellar showing, as did Stage West and Dallas Theater Center, and the majority of theaters stepped up their community involvement thanks to the pioneering spirit of performer, producer, and activist Denise Lee. Some artists scored both on and off the stage, earning nods for their performances as well as directing and/or design contributions.

Without further ado, here are the awards:

Outstanding Direction

Robin Armstrong, Ripcord, Circle Theatre
Emily Scott Banks, Stupid Fucking Bird, Stage West; The Gospel According to Thomas Jefferson, Charles Dickens, and Count Leo Tolstoy: Discord, WaterTower Theatre
Cheryl Denson, Angels in America, Part One: Millennium Approaches, Uptown Players
Marianne Galloway, Stiff, Risk Theater Initiative (Festival of Independent Theatres)
Kevin Moriarty, Electra, The Tempest, and Inherit the Wind, Dallas Theater Center
Jeffrey Schmidt, The Minotaur, Theatre Three
Joanie Schultz, Hit the Wall, WaterTower Theatre
Christie Vela, 'night, Mother, Echo Theatre; Straight White Men, Second Thought Theatre

Outstanding New Play or Musical

Br'er Cotton by Tearrance Arvelle Chisholm, Kitchen Dog Theater
Hood: The Robin Hood Musical Adventure by Douglas Carter Beane and Lewis Flinn
The Necessities, by Blake Hackler, Second Thought Theatre
Stiff by Sherry Jo Ward, Risk Theater Initiative (Festival of Independent Theatres)

Outstanding Touring Production

An American in Paris, Dallas Summer Musicals and Performing Arts Fort Worth
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, AT&T Performing Arts Center Broadway Series
Hedwig and the Angry Inch, AT&T Performing Arts Center Broadway Series
Into the Woods, AT&T Performing Arts Center Broadway Series
Tina Packer's Women of Will, Eisemann Center Presents

Outstanding Performance by an Actor

Christopher Carlos, Paper Flowers, Kitchen Dog Theater
Cameron Cobb, Trevor, Kitchen Dog Theater
Blake Hackler, Richard III and Measure for Measure, Trinity Shakespeare Festival; so go the ghosts of méxico, part one: a brave woman in méxico, Undermain Theatre
Selmore Haines III, Thurgood, Jubilee Theatre
Max Hartman, Trevor, Kitchen Dog Theater
Bob Hess, La Cage aux Folles, Uptown Players
Alex Organ, The Tempest, Dallas Theater Center
Randy Pearlman, Funnyman, Circle Theatre
Thomas Ward, Straight White Men, Second Thought Theatre

Outstanding Performance by an Actress

Deborah Brown, Ripcord, Circle Theatre
Whitney LaTrice Coulter, The Submission, Proper Hijinx Productions
Steph Garrett, The Great Dictator, Audacity Theatre Lab (Festival of Independent Theatres); Waiting for Lefty, Upstart Productions
Julie Johnson, Mame, Lyric Stage
Jenny Ledel, Grounded, Second Thought Theatre
Kelsey Milbourn, Richard III and Measure for Measure, Trinity Shakespeare Festival
Sally Nystuen Vahle, Electra and A Christmas Carol, Dallas Theater Center
Christie Vela, Paper Flowers, Kitchen Dog Theater; The Necessities, Second Thought Theatre
Sherry Jo Ward, Stiff, Risk Theater Initiative (Festival of Independent Theatres)

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble Cast

Angels in America, Part One: Millennium Approaches, Uptown Players
Hood: The Robin Hood Musical Adventure, Dallas Theater Center
Inherit the Wind, Dallas Theater Center
'night, Mother, Echo Theatre
Richard III and Measure for Measure, Trinity Shakespeare Festival
Stupid Fucking Bird, Stage West

Outstanding Design or Creative Contribution

Design team, Br'er Cotton, Kitchen Dog Theater
Stefany Cambra, properties design, Feathers and Teeth, Kitchen Dog Theater
Jay Dias, music direction, Camelot, Lyric Stage
John M. Flores, sound design, Feathers and Teeth, Kitchen Dog Theater
Pam Holcomb-McLain, musical direction, The Light in the Piazza, Brick Road Theatre
Design team, Jesus Christ Superstar, Casa Mañana
Brian McDonald, set and sound design, Grounded, Second Thought Theatre
Aaron Johansen, lighting design, Grounded, Second Thought Theatre
Michael B. Moore, wigs and makeup design, La Cage aux Folles, Uptown Players
Lauren Morgan, a season of costume design for Stolen Shakespeare Guild
James Ortiz, puppet design, Stefano Brancato, associate puppet design, Hood: The Robin Hood Musical Adventure, Dallas Theater Center
Design team, Trinity Shakespeare Festival
Sean J. Smith and Rhonda Jones, choreography, Fly, African American Repertory Theater
Trigg Watson, magic consultation, Midas, Prism Movement Theater

Special Citations

Dallas Theater Center, for engaging the city with its Public Works production of The Tempest, which used 200 members of the community in its cast, and for committing to continue the program in future seasons.
Denise Lee, for starting Community Conversation, following the Dallas Police shootings, as an ongoing, free, inclusive program that gives theater audiences an opportunity to discuss tense issues and create fellowship across different cultures, races, orientations, and/or social-economic statuses in a safe, judgment-free setting. The program is held every fourth Monday at Dallas Children's Theater, alternates every other month at Circle Theatre and Stage West in Fort Worth, and has been offered after Second Thought Theatre's Straight White Men, Kitchen Dog Theater's Br'er Cotton, and WaterTower Theatre's Hit the Wall.

Participating Critics
Lindsey Wilson, CultureMap
Alexandra Bonifield, CriticalRant.com
Nancy Churnin, Dallas Morning News
Jan Farrington, TheaterJones.com
Janice Franklin, TheaterJones.com
Martha Heimberg, TheaterJones.com and Dallas Weekly
Arnold Wayne Jones, Dallas Voice
Mark Lowry, TheaterJones.com and Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Punch Shaw, Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Dallas-Fort Worth Theater Critics Forum is an organization of professional, paid critics that recognizes outstanding theatrical contributions in North Texas. Members see 45 or more productions per season (Sept. 1-Aug. 31) and are not practicing theater artists.

Sherry Jo Ward wrote and performed one of the year's most remarkable plays, Stiff.

Photo by Thomas Ward

Sherry Jo Ward wrote and performed one of the year's most remarkable plays, Stiff.

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Museum News

2 Dallas museums partner on landmark Roy Lichtenstein acquisition

Courtesy

Roy Lichtenstein

The Dallas Museum of Art (DMA) and the Nasher Sculpture Center will present works from the joint acquisition of more than 50 artworks generously gifted by the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation in 2024, showing prints, drawings, and sculptures by the groundbreaking American artist at the two neighboring institutions in the Dallas Arts District.

According to a release, the installations will be on view from January 31 to August 16, 2026 at the Nasher and from January 1 to July 5, 2026 at the DMA.

The joint gift made by the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation to the DMA and the Nasher in Celebration of the Centennial of Roy Lichtenstein is comprised of a selection of prints, drawings, maquettes, and sculptures by Roy Lichtenstein (1923–1997), a leading figure in twentieth-century American art and a pioneer of the Pop Art movement.

The works were specifically selected by the curatorial staff of both institutions and relate to objects already in their respective collections including sculptures, works on paper, and maquettes, along with tools and study objects.

Organized by the Nasher Sculpture Center’s Senior Curator Dr. Catherine Craft, The Nancy and Tim Hanley Assistant Curator of Contemporary Art at the DMA Ade Omotosho, and The Allen and Kelli Questrom Assistant Curator of Prints and Drawings at the DMA Dr. Emily Friedman, the presentation is divided according to each institution’s strengths and will be shown in combination with objects by Lichtenstein already in their respective permanent collections.

At the Nasher, works relating to three sculptures from the Raymond and Patsy Nasher Collection—Head with Blue Shadow, Peace through Chemistry, and Double Glass—will be accompanied by a selection from the Foundation's gift of more than two dozen drawings and maquettes associated with Lichtenstein’s Brushstroke sculptures.

At the Dallas Museum of Art, the presentation features a set of Brushstroke sculptures carved from wood alongside various prints and studies that reveal the artist’s eclectic imagery.

Events
In addition to the exhibition, the DMA and the Nasher will co-host a Study Day focused on the artist on March 28, 2026, sponsored by the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation. This scholarly event will bring together a variety of curators, academics, and conservators to discuss Lichtenstein’s studio practice and the fabrication and conservation of his sculptures.

Concluding the Study Day will be a public conversation held at the DMA between Nasher Director Carlos Basualdo and artist Alex Da Corte, regarding Da Corte’s work on the forthcoming Lichtenstein retrospective at the Whitney Museum of American Art.

“In bestowing this generous gift, the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation established Dallas as a center for the study and display of Lichtenstein’s work,” Basualdo says in a statement. “This collaborative presentation of the gift and the corresponding programming is an important step in the direction of pursuing that goal, deepening the understanding of an artist who remains immensely influential to contemporary art and its relationship with mass media and today’s culture.”

Roy Lichtenstein is made possible by support from the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation and the Dallas Tourism Public Improvement District (DTPID).

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