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    Best Onstage

    The 7 most memorable onstage moments in Dallas-Fort Worth theater 2016

    Lindsey Wilson
    Dec 26, 2016 | 2:30 pm

    The Dallas-Fort Worth Theater Critics Forum (of which I'm a member) already honored its favorites from the August 2015-September 2016 season, but there are a few onstage moments from this calendar year that I personally can't shake.

    Rather than declare an overall best shows list, here are seven of those moments within the play or musical that made it especially clear that we were experiencing live, raw, human theater.

    The stagnant cigarette smoke, 'Night, Mother at Echo Theatre
    When Jessie tells her mother that before the night is over she will kill herself, she's sitting at the kitchen table calmly folding tea towels and smoking a cigarette. After Jessie drops her bombshell, she forbids her housebound mother, Thelma, to call friends or family to stop her and then heads off to find her father's old gun.

    Marsha Norman's Pulitzer Prize-winning play is a struggle of power and emotion between these two women, who were embodied fiercely by Jessica Cavanagh and Amber Devlin in Echo Theatre's production. As we watched Devlin cycle through panic, fear, desperation, and sadness, a cloud of Cavanagh's cigarette smoke hung, in a barely moving cloud, above the table as a reminder of Jessie's presence.

    I can't say for certain if this happened at every show, or if the one I attended just happened to avoid the air conditioner at just the right moment, but it was a haunting, almost menacing, addition to the scene.

    Mary Tyrone's morphine haze, Long Day's Journey Into Night at Undermain Theatre
    ​Joanna Schellenberg's fragile performance was only one part of Undermain's excellent production, but anyone who's familiar with Eugene O'Neill's intense family drama knows that there's a difficult scene that can make or break an actor's portrayal of Mary Tyrone. Near the end of the three-hour play, the Tyrone matriarch finally succumbs fully to her morphine addiction and appears in her wedding gown, disoriented and glassy eyed and finally beyond the reach of her family.

    It's easy to go heavy handed here, making Mary into a cartoonish ghost, but Schellenberg and director Katherine Owens made sure to retain recognizable bits of the Mary we saw earlier. With the eerie fog rolling at her feet, Schellenberg dipped in and out of reality with just the right touch of otherworldliness.

    The twist in The Nether at Stage West
    I'm still not going to ruin this techno-thriller's surprise, because it was so satisfying to hear all the gasps and exhales when the audience figured out the truth. In a mere 70 minutes, director Garret Storms and his cast created an immensely detailed and superbly creepy dystopian world wherein people could assume an online identity, enter a "realm," and commit gruesome acts that have no real consequences (think Westworld but with avatars instead of robots).

    You could feel the audience shifting uncomfortably in their seats each time a character leapt into this online world, and hear a murmur of concern for each dreadful emotional and physical act, but when playwright Jennifer Haley's big reveal happened the reaction was priceless.

    Audience participation at Ghost Quartet presented by Flora Off Broadway
    AT&T Performing Arts Center's experimental season of smaller, quirkier shows expanded all the way into Deep Ellum for the tour of Ghost Quartet, which was unlike anything DFW audiences had seen or heard before. Composer Dave Malloy currently has a hit on Broadway with his Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812, but he was here in the spring with two Natasha cast members and a fourth musician to perform this circuitous meditation on death.

    It was a weird show for sure, with music that wasn't always pleasant to the ear, but it also defied audiences' preconceived notions about theater. The performers would interact with the spectators, some of whom were seated on cushions right beside them, by passing off instruments for them to play and at one point doling out a few bottles of whiskey. Watching the confusion, then disbelief, and finally delight on people's faces as they poured themselves a stiff drink was a fitting reaction for this show.

    Familial generations in The Big Meal at WaterTower Theatre
    ​Dan LeFranc's 90-minute play had a complicated structure that flowed effortlessly thanks to Emily Scott Banks' precise direction. In short bursts we saw Nikki and Sam meet, fall in love, break up, get back together, marry, reproduce, receive grandchildren, and live out their lives together. Not a particularly unusual story, but the emotions — and there were a lot of them — came from the unique way it was told through the eight-person cast.

    The six adult actors each took a turn at playing the couple at different points in their lives, but when Lois Sonnier Hart as the elderly Nikki glanced around at the family she had created, something about the wonder in her realization softened this mean critic's heart and brought on the waterworks.

    Preacher with a secret, Bootycandy at Stage West
    Each of the vignettes in Robert O'Hara's scathingly funny play about race, sexuality, and class had at least one laugh-out-loud moment and several truth bombs. But Djoré Nance truly grabbed the audience early on as an impassioned preacher delivering a sermon about the "questionable" behavior of some of the choir boys. He says that he received a letter signed "by the folks who pay your salary" that expresses concern that these boys may be homosexual or engaging in improper behavior.

    You think you know where this speech is going, but director Akín Babatundé conceals the preacher's true message until the last possible moment. Nance steps out from behind the pulpit to reveal he's wearing high heels (and a fabulous gown, when he sheds his robes), then basically tells the congregation they can shove their judgmental concerns where the sun don't shine. Commitment doesn't even begin to describe Nance's performance in that scene.

    Mother Holly in Wild, Wicked, Wyrd: Fairytale Time by The Drama Club
    The latest original work from this collective of DFW theater artists was uneven, with three of the four short plays failing to gather much steam. But Mother Holly, penned by Michael Federico, wove a dark tale about a kind-hearted girl who's desperate to save her family and the forest witch who grants her wish. Jeffrey Schmidt's simple set — three large W's that could illuminate when needed — and Amanda West's lighting started the creep factor before Korey Kent's costume for the witch, played with terrifying physicality by Nicole Berastequi, truly began to inspire nightmares.

    When Berastequi finally revealed her face, a twisted mask with glowing red eyes, and climbed onto the middle W like a creature stalking its prey, it was a chilling visual that lasted long past Halloween.

    Lois Sonnier Hart and Alex Duva in The Big Meal at WaterTower Theatre.

    Lois Sonnier Hart and Alex Duva in The Big Meal at WaterTower Theatre
      
    Photo by Karen Almond
    Lois Sonnier Hart and Alex Duva in The Big Meal at WaterTower Theatre.
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    Season Announcement

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

    Lindsey Wilson
    Apr 2, 2025 | 5:31 pm
    Ragtime at City Center Encores
    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.

    dallas theater centernoises offfat hamragtimesmusexton institute for musical theatrea christmas carolfort worth symphonytheater
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