A new year warrants fresh entertainment, and Dallas-area artists are more than happy to supply it. This month, three of the four productions are online. The one that's in-person is meant to be experienced by, well, only your person, as there are no live performers or other audience members.
Here are four local shows to watch this month:
Do No Harm
Soul Rep Theatre Co., streaming January 11-31
The company's 25th season continues with a world premiere (and co-production with SMU's Perkins School of Theology) by Anyika McMillan-Herod, Soul Rep's co-founder and executive director. Inspired by three enslaved women — Anarcha, Betsey, and Lucy — who served as "guinea pigs" for the 19th-century physician Dr. James Marion Sims, the play will be used as a teaching tool at SMU for a series of lectures and new curriculum exploring ethics in medicine. Dr. Sims performed numerous procedures and surgeries on the three women with no anesthesia, under the racist notion that Black people did not feel pain. Tickets start at $14 and can be purchased here.
Application Pending
Uptown Players, streaming January 29-February 7
B.J. Cleveland stars as Chris Evans, a kindergarten assistant at Edgely Prep, an elite Manhattan private school with an acceptance rate that puts Harvard's to shame. On the day applications are due, Edgely's Head of Admissions is ousted in a scandal, and Chris is unexpectedly thrust into the job. With phones ringing off the hook, Chris must balance beleaguered applicants, venal administrators, and an army of parents who will stop at nothing to get their kids into this exclusive school. Cleveland plays all 44 characters in this production, directed by Linda Leonard and written by Greg Edwards and Andy Sanberg. Tickets are $20-$30 and can be purchased online here or by calling 214-219-2718.
The Cube: An Interactive Experience For The Socially Distanced Era
Latino Cultural Center, January 13-30
Through projections, audio, and lights, this immersive experience asks audiences to redefine what community and loneliness mean to them. Masked audience members reserve a 30-minute time slot, then experience the show alone or with up to two guests — meaning you're never around anyone but your own party. The project is a recipient of a Culture of Value micro-grant from the City of Dallas and is co-funded by the Latino Cultural Center. It's a collaboration between artists Emily Bernet, Ruben Carrazana, Aaron Johansen, Jeffery Bryant Moffitt, and Nigel Newton, based on a concept by Carrazana and Moffitt. Tickets are $20 and can be purchased online (in advance only) here.
Things Missing/Missed
Undermain Theatre & Danielle Georgiou Dance Group, streaming January 13-February 7
Through fascinating visual storytelling and surreal stagecraft, this new work by Justin Locklear, Melissa Flower, and Philip Hays reveals how quickly missing/forgetting/evading becomes our human response to the emptiness in our lives. The show explores the relationship of a couple dealing with gaps appearing in their memories, their domestic environment, and their relationship. Tickets are $15 and can be purchased here.
B.J. Cleveland plays all 44 roles in Application Pending at Uptown Players.
