Season Announcement

Curtain up on Irving theater company's 2022-23 season of big names

Stage West produced Ada and the Engine in early 2020.

Photo by Evan Michael Woods

To celebrate its 50th anniversary season, MainStage Irving-Las Colinas is saying "Curtain Up! Light the Lights!" for three plays and two musicals, and the season title is a clue about one of them.

The 2022-23 season will be produced and performed in the Dupree Theater of the Irving Arts Center.

"Our 2021-22 season was an incredible reminder of just how much live theater means to this community," says MainStage board of directors president Steven Merritt. "We are so thankful for the generosity of our patrons, donors, and the Irving Arts Board as we returned to in-person performances. We’re excited to bring you five powerful pieces of theater as part of our 2022-23 season. From classic musicals to modern comedies, there’s something that everyone will enjoy."

"Everything’s Coming Up Roses" this fall with Gypsy, the classic American musical about an ambitious stage mother fighting for her daughters' success while secretly yearning for her own. This jewel of Broadway’s Golden Age will be directed by Michael Serrecchia and run November 4-19, 2022.

MainStage’s annual holiday fundraiser, Have Yourself a Broadway Little Christmas, will take on a brand-new look this December. More details will be released in the coming months.

Running January 20-February 4, 2023 is Lauren Gunderson’s music-laced play Ada and the Engine, about young Ada Byron Lovelace and the invention of the first computer. Jane Austen meets Steve Jobs in this poignant pre-tech romance heralding the computer age, directed by Raven Lawes.

Next up is a story of self-discovery set in turn-of-the-century New York. Lynn Nottage’s Intimate Apparel centers around an African American woman named Esther who learns that only her self-reliance and certainty of her own worth will see her through life’s challenges. The production run March 10-25, 2023.

Then, audiences will be whisked away to Italy with The Light in the Piazza (May 5-20, 2023), directed by Bruce R. Coleman. Featuring a book by Craig Lucas and music and lyrics by Adam Guettel, this sweeping musical is a story about mothers and daughters, fathers and sons, and the deeply intertwined emotions of love and loss.

The season will conclude with comedian Steve Martin’s riotously funny farce The Underpants, running July 14-29, 2023, and directed by B.J. Cleveland. Will a public wardrobe malfunction cost an uptight bureaucrat his reputation, or will the bloomer faux pas bloom into an unexpected blessing?

Season tickets and flex passes range from $85-$110 and will be available for purchase on July 10 at the Irving Arts Center Box Office, online, or by calling 972-252-2787.

Single tickets to all performances on the 2022-23 season will go on sale at the Irving Arts Center Box Office on September 15.

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Season Announcement

Kitchen Dog Theater unleashes immersive 2025 season in new Dallas space

Kitchen Dog Theater presents Safe at Home

Photo by Jordan Fraker

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Seven years after announcing it had purchased a building in the Design District, Kitchen Dog Theater is finally ready to move into its new home.

The third and final production of its 2025 season — the theater company's 34th — will take place all around the new "Doghouse." The other two productions will follow the immersive format at non-traditional performance spaces that was established last season.

With three fully produced events that each run the gambit from captivating and gutsy to heartfelt and hilarious, the monthly New Works Festival Staged Readings Series returns, as does the 23rd annual PUP Fest, nurturing high school talent from all over DFW.

First up is the area premiere of Will Eno's Wakey, Wakey, directed by KDT's artistic director Tina Parker and starring KDT co-artistic director Christopher Carlos.

"Is it now? I thought I had more time." These first words in Will Eno's play are spoken by Guy, a man who knows, like all of us on some level, that he is about to die. The play questions why we are here and the journeys that everyone takes to eventually get to the same place. Performances will take place at Expo Park, 840 Exposition Avenue, and run February 7-23, 2025.

Production No. 2 is full of mystery: The title and performance location will be announced soon and run in March/April 2025.

The Happiness Gymby Ken Weitzman closes out the season in August 2025 (exact dates TBA).

This regional premiere is a joyous, experiential event based on the science of well-being. Participants take part in a curated theatrical experience meant to boost their sense of happiness, joy, and feelings of connection. This one-of-a-kind project will be the soft opening to Kitchen Dog’s new theater and will take place all over the entire facility, giving patrons unparalleled access to KDT’s new home.

From March to July 2025, the 26th annual 2025 New Works Festival will showcase four-to-five staged readings of the newest and most exciting local and regional playwrights working in contemporary theater today. Each reading will feature some of DFW's most accomplished actors and directors and will take place at different venues across DFW.

For its 23rd annual event, PUP Fest will feature six staged readings of jury-selected plays written by DFW high school students, featuring student actors directed by area professional directors. PUP Fest is the culminating event of Dallas Playwriting Arts Collective (D-PAC), a partnership with Dallas ISD and Junior Players. Performance location is TBA, but the event will happen June 7, 2025.

For more information, visit kitchendogtheater.org or call 214-953-1055.

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