Theater Critic Picks
These are the 8 can't-miss shows in Dallas-Fort Worth theater for March
March is a bit of a shuffle, with one show finally debuting after being canceled for weather in February and another making a grand return after selling out in January. There are also two world premieres, some puppets, and a walking true crime show that lets you be the sleuth.
Here are eight local shows to watch this month:
The Cube: An Interactive Experience For The Socially Distanced Era
Latino Cultural Center, March 3-20
After selling out its January run, The Cube is back. 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. It's a collaboration among 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.
Last Ship to Proxima Centauri
Kitchen Dog Theater, streaming March 5-21
This production was postponed due to weather from its original premiere in February. In Greg Lam's dark science-fiction comedy (a world premiere!), the earth has become uninhabitable. The last escape ship arrives at its new home centuries after all the others. The passengers are not prepared for what they find there: A planet full of unimpressed people of color who are not happy to see them. Tickets are $15 and can be purchased here or by calling 214-953-1055.
Dixie's Happy Hour
Performing Arts Fort Worth, streaming March 9-28
Everyone's favorite Alabama redhead, Dixie Longate, has returned with an all-new streaming show for these unpredictable times. She'll be mixing drinks with the four basic food groups: rum, gin, vodka, and tequila while sharing new stories that prove happiness is not only found at the bottom of a margarita glass. Tickets start at $35, with a limited number of VIP tickets for $75, and can be purchased here.
Ghosts in the Kitchen: The Key to a Dark Lonely Night
Ochre House Theatre, streaming March 11-21
The avant garde Deep Ellum troupe has created a new series of storytelling through virtual theater, as written and told by core company members Carla Parker, Justin Locklear, Kevin Grammer, and Matthew Posey, filmed and directed by Josh Jordan, and with music by Locklear and Sarah Rubio-Rogerson. Next up is The Key to the Dark Lonely Night, written and performed by Grammer. During a storm, a scared, desperate man barricades himself in his kitchen, reminiscing about his past while unnerved by the current state of the world. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased here or by calling 214-826-6273.
Packrat
Amphibian Stage, streaming March 12-13
Set deep in the Sagebrush Desert, this visually stunning play from Concrete Temple Theatre contemplates humanity's relationship with the natural world through puppetry, projections, and an original score. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased here.
Lives of the Saints: A Collection of Six Short Plays
MainStage Irving-Las Colinas, streaming March 19-27
A collection of six short plays by David Ives explores everything from a woman who returns from the dead to a man who falls in love with a washing machine. Tickets are $12 and can be purchased here or by calling 817-923-3012.
Animal Crackers
Vena Cava Productions, livestreaming March 20
This new play takes place one month after the 2016 presidential election as De'Von Roberts, a Black teenager, returns home from school for winter break ready to relax with his white adoptive family. After a racial slur is spray-painted on the front of De'Von's family's home, tensions rise within the family and De'Von comes to realize that his mother and siblings will do anything to show him that they are "woke." The 7 pm livestream is free and can be accessed here.
Art Heist
AT&T Performing Arts Center, March 30-April 18
This true crime walking show has socially distanced groups gather clues while interacting with a wild group of wily career criminals, slimy con men, rumpled art recovery specialists, a possible inside man, a gentle psychopath, and the larger-than-life but definitely real self-proclaimed Greatest Art Thief of All Time. The story is based on the biggest art heist in history at Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, where robbers stole half a billion dollars worth of art. Tickets can be purchased here.