From Broadway to Texas

Dallas and Fort Worth get kinky with upcoming Broadway seasons

With world-class theater venues at their disposal, it makes sense that Dallas Summer Musicals and Performing Arts Fort Worth would team up to bring bigger and better shows to the area. Their respective 2014-2015 seasons do just that, while each maintaining their own identities.

The two organizations will each stage the first national tours of four different shows — Kinky Boots, Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella, Dirty Dancing and Pippin — with all but Kinky Boots transferring directly from Music Hall at Fair Park to Bass Performance Hall.

Each group will start its season with a little holiday flair, with Performing Arts FW hosting the Dallas-Fort Worth premiere of Elf the Musical November 18-23, 2014, while DSM's season will kick off with the musical adaptation of everybody's favorite holiday film, A Christmas Story,running December 2-14, 2014.

DSM's late winter show will be Kinky Boots, which will make its way to Fort Worth in October.

Performing Arts FW will put on a couple of productions before DSM gets started again in 2015. Disney's Beauty and the Beast, which played at Winspear Opera House in April, will be a special add-on show, running January 14-18.

They've also nabbed Once, the 2012 Tony winner for Best Musical, running February 18-22, about two months after it plays at the Winspear as part of the AT&T Performing Arts Center 2014-2015 Broadway season.

DSM's late winter show will be Kinky Boots, which won the 2013 Tony for Best Musical. It will play February 24-March 8 in Dallas, travel elsewhere for almost eight months and finally make its way back to Fort Worth October 27-November 1.

DSM's next show, Rodgers & Hammerstein's The King and I, running March 20-April 5, will be unique in that DSM is producing its own version of the show, just as they did with The Little Mermaid earlier in 2014. In so doing, they will be able to take more ownership of the show.

Performing Arts FW will stage a brief production of Chicago on April 3-4 as another non-season show, while DSM will move directly from The King and I to The Illusionists, running April 7-19, a magic show that features seven of the best illusionists the world has to offer.

Summer 2015 will be the season of sharing: Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella comes to DSM June 9-21 before going to Performing Arts FW June 23-28; Dirty Dancing stays in Dallas June 23-July 5 before moving to Fort Worth July 7-12; and Pippin, which won the 2013 Tony for Best Musical Revival, runs July 7-19 at the Music Hall and July 21-26 at the Bass.

Performing Arts FW will also stage two add-on shows in the smaller McDavid Studio at Bass Performance Hall: the return of Dixie's Tupperware Party, running April 8-19, 2015; and Robert Dubac's The Male Intellect: An Oxymoron?, May 27-31.

Season tickets for both Dallas Summer Musicals, which run $140-$775, and Performing Arts Fort Worth, which start at $226.60, are now on sale through their respective websites. Individual tickets will go on sale at to-be-determined future dates closer to each show.

Kinky Boots will be staged by both Dallas Summer Musicals and Performing Arts Fort Worth during their respective 2014-2015 seasons.

Photo by Matthew Murphy

Kinky Boots will be staged by both Dallas Summer Musicals and Performing Arts Fort Worth during their respective 2014-2015 seasons.

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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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