Theater News

Tony winners and a Neiman Marcus meltdown highlight Theatre Three's new season

UPDATE: Theatre Three has revised its upcoming season. Inherit the Wind is out, The Glass Menagerie is in and a few of the shows have switched spots. The most recent lineup is reflected below.

---

Theatre Three's 54th season has a theme: yay USA! From 1950s Midwesterners chasing romance to a dysfunctional Houston oil family to a Tennessee Williams classic, the lineup highlights the American experience.

It's also bringing back the perennial favorite I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change to the basement Theatre Too space beginning on New Year's Eve. (Additional T2 programming will be announced later.)

Tennessee Williams' "dream play" The Glass Menagerie opens the season from July 30-August 23. The delicate work has its narrator reflecting back on his controlling mother and disabled sister, and what finally drove him away from his family. Cheerful stuff.

The 95-minute comedy Fix Me, Jesus, by Helen Sneed, is set in a dressing room of NorthPark's Neiman Marcus, where a woman experiences a meltdown while shopping for a dress to wear to her sister's wedding. It plays September 17 through October 11.

William Inge's Pulitzer Prize-winning Picnic is next, from November 5-22. Paul Newman made his Broadway debut in this lusty, longing tale of a charming drifter who stirs up the feelings of the town's women.

End the year 2015 with an old favorite — the world's longest-running musical, to be exact. The Fantasticks premiered in 1960 and has been playing more or less continuously Off Broadway ever since. (It was recently set to shutter, but anonymous donors contributed enough to keep it open indefinitely.) It's at Theatre Three from December 3 to 27. Written by University of Texas grads Harvey Schmidt and Tom Jones (perhaps you've heard of him?), the boy-meets-girl trope gets a sweet twist courtesy of the couple's scheming fathers.

A new play by Raelle Tucker and Neil Tucker focusing on the outrageous matriarch of a 1980s Houston oil clan kicks off 2016. Running from January 21 through February 14, Oil is "the story of a family, and a country, so desperate to hold on to what they have that they are willing to sacrifice what matters most: each other."

Peek behind the velvet curtain with Moss Hart's Light Up the Sky, a backstage comedy from 1948 that showcases the drama that occurs immediately before and after the opening of a Broadway-bound show. This is exactly the kind of flashy, gossip-filled, show-biz ode that Theatre Three typically excels at, but we'll have to wait until March 10 through April 3 to see if the company can muster its usual magic.

The theater in the Quadrangle ends its season April 28 through May 22 with Memphis, the Tony-winning musical about a white DJ and a black club singer who shake up Beale Street and the airwaves with their with their love. It also features a rock, blues and 1950s-pop score by Bon Jovi's David Bryan.

Season subscriptions and individual tickets are available by calling Theatre Three's box office at 214-871-3300.

unspecified

Ballet news

Texas Ballet Theater executive director leaving for new gig in Northeast

Photo courtesy of Texas Ballet Theater

Vanessa Logan joined Texas Ballet Theater in 2016.

Vanessa Logan, who has served as Texas Ballet Theater executive director since 2016, is leaving TBT for a new role in the Northeast, the company says. Her final day with TBT will be June 30, 2025.

The move will allow Logan to be closer to her family, the organization says. Her new position has not yet been announced.

"While we will greatly miss Vanessa and her leadership at TBT, we support her decision to do what is best for her and her family and wish her well in her new pursuit," says TBT board of governors chair Anne T. Bass in a May 19 release. "Throughout her tenure at TBT, Vanessa has demonstrated the highest level of professionalism. It has been a delight to have worked closely with Vanessa over the last nine years, and I am most grateful for her unstinting efforts that have advanced TBT in so many respects."

Logan joined North Texas' largest ballet company before the 2016-17 season; she previously had worked at the American Repertory Ballet in New Jersey and Boston Ballet.

"Being part of TBT has been an immensely enriching and transformative experience. Partnering with Artistic Director Tim O’Keefe, working alongside such talented artists, and collaborating with a dedicated administrative and school staff has been a true privilege," Logan says in the release. "I am also deeply grateful for the unwavering support of our committed Board Chair and the Board of Governors, whose vision and leadership have been instrumental. Contributing to productions that bring beauty and artistry to our audiences and nurturing ballet education for countless children in Dallas-Fort Worth has been incredibly rewarding."

During her tenure with TBT, Logan helped the company navigate through the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 followed by a catastrophic winter storm of 2021; she helped smooth the transition of artistic director from Ben Stevenson to Tim O'Keefe in 2023; and she oversaw new school facilities in Richardson and Dallas. TBT has also begun a 65,000-square-foot renovation of its Fort Worth facility to support future growth.

"Vanessa’s support and partnership during the transition was phenomenal. I cannot imagine another leader better equipped to guide TBT seamlessly through such a transformational change," O’Keefe says. "Her steadfastness instilled confidence and built trust with staff, students and subscribers as she ensured that we held true to TBT’s mission of honoring classical ballet while embracing a new chapter of artistic evolution."

TBT’s Board of Governors will immediately start searching for Logan’s successor and will quickly name an interim executive director to oversee operations until a permanent leader is in place, they say.

Texas Ballet Theater, which is a resident company of both Winspear Opera House in Dallas and Bass Performance Hall in Fort Worth, just closed its 2024-25 season with O'Keefe's all-new staging of the beloved ballet Giselle.

ballet dance leaving logan texas ballet theater vanessa vanessa logan