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.

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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.

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History on Display

Landmark Nelson Mandela exhibition to kick off in Dallas during World Cup

Photo courtesy of Lawrence Jenkins

Mandela: The Official Exhibition will open at The African American Museum, Dallas on June 13.

The African American Museum in Dallas will capitalize on an expected influx of global tourists by hosting Mandela: The Official Exhibition, opening on June 13 to coincide with the start of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

The exhibition will offer an attraction in Fair Park, which will also host a Fan Festival for the World Cup.

The World Cup will take place June 11-July 19 in locations throughout North America. Nine World Cup games will be played at AT&T Stadium in Arlington between June 14 and July 14.

Making its debut in Texas, Mandela: The Official Exhibition explores the life of late South African president Nelson Mandela, one of the world’s most recognizable champions of freedom and justice.

Mandela also had strong ties to soccer, embracing the sport as a tool for unity and hope in post-apartheid South Africa. From organizing matches while imprisoned to championing the 2010 FIFA World Cup, Mandela demonstrated how soccer could bridge deep divisions.

His appearance at the tournament’s closing match, when he donned South Africa’s national team jersey, became an enduring symbol of sport’s power to unite a nation and inspire the world. Mandela died in December 2013.

“Nelson Mandela devoted his life to justice and to the fight against apartheid, enduring 27 years in prison before becoming South Africa’s first democratically elected president,” said Lisa Brown Ross, president and CEO of the African American Museum, Dallas, in a statement. “This exhibition tells the full arc of his life and affirms the Museum’s role as a vital cultural destination for North Texas and for visitors from around the world.”

According to the release, the exhibition will span all four galleries and unfold through multisensory experiences, tracing Mandela’s extraordinary journey from his rural childhood in the Eastern Cape to his decades of resistance against apartheid and his election as South Africa’s first democratically elected president.

His journey to becoming the “Father of South Africa” and a globally revered figure is presented in personal and revealing ways. Through his own reflections and stories shared by his family and those who knew him best, visitors will see Mandela - respectfully called Madiba - in a new light. Madiba is his Thembu clan name and is used as a sign of respect and affection.

One gallery will be transformed into a fully immersive, multimedia environment that places visitors within defining chapters of Mandela’s life. Guests will encounter rarely seen films, photographs and personal artifacts on loan from the Mandela family, as well as museums and archives worldwide, illuminating the people, places and pivotal experiences that shaped one of the 20th century’s most remarkable leaders.

The exhibition will remain on display through November 1. Admission to the museum is free, and it is open Tuesdays through Fridays from 11 am-5 pm and Saturdays from 10 am-5 pm, with special summer hours to be announced. Free self-parking is available in nearby lots.

exhibitions-visual-arts galleries history museums nelson mandela soccer sports world cup