May brings with it fresh weather and fresh theater. From world premieres to beloved classics, local debuts to touring hits, this month's dramatic offerings run the gamut.
Here are the 12 shows in order by start date:
Under the Skin
Circle Theatre, through May 21
Michael Hollinger's new play asks what it means to literally give a piece of yourself to someone else. In this case it's a kidney, which Raina must decide if she wants to give to her estranged father, Lou.
Memphis
Theatre Three, through May 22
This Tony-winning musical is notable for a few reasons, but the main one is that it wasn't based on a movie, book, or even band's song catalog. To be fair, though, Bon Jovi keyboardist Daid Bryan did write the score, but he did so in keeping with the style and sound of 1950s R&B and rock-and-roll. The story follows a white DJ who falls in love with a black singer, and how their passion for music attempts to unite their friends and family.
Broadway Our Way
Uptown Players, May 5-8
This raucous fundraiser is in its 14th year and promises to be more fabulous than ever. Big theater names from around DFW (including Janelle Lutz and David Lugo) sing songs from current and classic musicals that may not otherwise end up on their resumes. B.J. Cleveland is back to write and direct, with music arrangements from Adam C. Wright and choreography by Jeremy Dumont.
Intergalactic Nemesis
Off Broadway on Flora, May 12-14
AT&T Performing Arts Center is bringing a "live-action graphic novel" to the stage at Dallas City Performance Hall. Radio drama-style sci-fi is translated it into a pulp magazine-inspired mashup of Twilight Zone-esque plotlines, cosplay characters, and skilled foley artists.
The Last Five Years
Brick Road Theatre, May 12-22
DFW just can't get enough of Janelle Lutz, as she's back to star in this two-person exploration of what it's like to fall in and out of love. Perhaps you saw the movie with Anna Kendrick and Jeremy Jordan?
Blackberry Winter and The Thrush & The Woodpecker
Kitchen Dog Theater, May 20-June 26
Both plays by popular playwright Steve Yockey are part of KDT's New Works Festival, and they are receiving their rolling world premieres thanks to the National New Play Network. Though running concurrently at Kitchen Dog's new temporary home at Undermain Theatre, each play has its own cast. Blackberry Winter explores how one woman is handling her mother's descent into Alzheimer's, while the The Thrush & The Woodpecker promises a "modern revenge tale" when a misbehaving son turns up at his mother's doorstep after being expelled from boarding school.
Bright Half Life
WaterTower Theatre, May 21-June 12
Garret Storms directs this Discover Series play in WaterTower's studio space, featuring actors Kelsey Leigh Ervi and Kenneisha Thompson. In Pulitzer Prize nominee Tanya Barfield's romantic play, we see decades of Erica and Vicky's relationship in a "kaleidoscopic" way of storytelling.
Ragtime
Dallas Summer Musicals, May 24-June 5
This all-new, scaled-down tour of the Tony Award-winning musical looks like it will focus less on gargantuan sets and more on Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens' sweeping score. And that's a great thing. Terrence McNally's adaptation of E.L. Doctorow's iconic novel about America at the turn of the century tells many stories in many different voices, and the musical ones are stunning in their complexity.
Cabaret
AT&T Performing Arts Center, May 25-June 5
Sam Mendes' 1998 reimagining of the Kander and Ebb musical, set on the eve of the Nazi takeover of Germany, was so successful it was revived intact on Broadway two years ago. Darker, grittier, and sexier, this version literally draws you into the seedy Kit Kat Klub as American writer Cliff meets British nightclub singer Sally Bowles, and the devilish Emcee looks on.
Wait Until Dark
Stage West, May 26-June 26
You might be familiar with the film version of Frederick Knott's play, in which Audrey Hepburn plays a blind woman who's terrorized in her home by intruders. But the premise is even more chilling live.
The Colored Museum
Soul Rep Theatre Company, May 28
This one-night-only presentation honors George C. Wolfe's groundbreaking play, which premiered 30 years ago. The satirical look at race and black culture is separated into 11 "exhibits" that provide a probing look at what it was — and sometimes still is — to be black in America.
Kenneisha Thompson and Kelsey Leigh Ervi star in Bright Half Life at WaterTower Theatre.
