Theater Critic Picks

These are the 5 can't-miss shows in Dallas-Fort Worth theater for July

UPDATE: MainStage Irving-Las Colinas' production of An Act of God has moved to an online streaming production. Tickets now start at $19 and you have 48 hours to watch the recorded production.

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Following phase III of Texas' reopening plan, "fine arts performance halls" are allowed to welcome back audiences at 50 percent capacity. And some theaters are on board, opening their doors to live performances for the first time since March.

Others are all for the live performances, but only outside and still with reduced crowd and cast sizes. There are also a few that are keeping their productions virtual, thanks to different ways of recording.

Here are five local shows to watch this month:

The Zoo Story
Arts Council of Fort Worth, July 10-25
Performing in the Fort Worth Community Arts Center's outdoor Courtyard Gallery, Jason Leyva and a troupe of Texas actors will introduce audiences to Edward Albee's absurdist, one-act play that examines isolation and the never-ending struggle to communicate and connect (timely, huh?). Tickets are limited to 30 guests per performance, and the audience will enjoy pre-show live music and shaded seating on the covered veranda. Tickets are $15 and available here.

Lone Star
The Classics Theatre Project, July 11-12 and July 16-19
In the backyard of a small-town Texas bar, one-time local high-school hero Roy and his little brother Ray work their way through a case of beer. Roy is back in town after a tour in Vietnam and is regaling Ray with tales of his love life and military exploits. With the arrival of Cletis, son of the local hardware store owner, Roy's world begins to collapse as truths come out about what happened during his time away. Director Joey Folsom is staging James McLure's one-act outside the Margo Jones Theater in Fair Park, to audiences of 35 and with all proper safety measures in place (masks, temperature checks, social distancing). Tickets are $10-25 and available here.

The True History of the Tragic Life & Triumphant Death of Julia Pastrana, the Ugliest Woman in the World
Amphibian Stage Productions, streaming July 16-30
Debuted by Amphibian in 2003 and then staged — in total darkness — in 2012, Shaun Prendergast's real-life tale is the perfect vehicle for an auditory-only production. Using only a 3-D soundscape engineered with the cinematic Dolby Atmos surround sound, the immersive listening encounter introduced audiences to Julia, a Mexican woman who was born with two genetic conditions now known as hypertrichosis terminalis and gingival hyperplasia, which caused her to grow excessive hair all over her body and enlarged her facial features. Often and unkindly referred to as the "Ape-woman," Julia was dragged across oceans by her husband and manager, performing in traveling circuses and sideshows and always searching for the love and beauty she believed life had in store for her. Tickets are $13 and available here.

I Am My Own Wife
WaterTower Theatre, streaming July 16-August 2
Originally scheduled to run in April, Doug Wright's Pulitzer Prize-winning play was already in pre-production, the set half-built and abandoned when theaters were ordered to close in March. But because this is a one-person show, where a single actor (Bob Hess) plays more than 30 characters, WTT and director Ashley Puckett Gonzales found a creative and safe way to film the production for online streaming. The play is based on the true story of Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, an elegant and eccentric 65-year-old German transgender woman who, against all odds, managed to survive both the Nazi onslaught of WWII and the repressive East German Communist regime occupations of her home. Tickets are $38 and can be purchased here or by calling 972-450-6232.

An Act of God
MainStage Irving-Las Colinas, July 23-August 1
Instead of presenting the large-scale musical Disaster!, MainStage is going with David Javerbaum's divine comedy about the Almighty (Sherry Etzel) and two devoted angels (Eric Criner and Alex Swanson). Seating in the Dupree Theatre will be very limited — about 60 of the 230 available seats — and the company says that all ticket buyers will be provided with safety protocols and measures no less than one week before their performance. Tickets are $29 and available here or by calling 972-252-2787.

Joey Folsom directs Lone Star for The Classics Theatre Project.

Photo courtesy of The Classics Theatre Project

Joey Folsom directs Lone Star for The Classics Theatre Project.

theater

All Eyes on Them

Dallas alt hip-hop group wins prestigious Tiny Desk Contest by NPR

Cure for Paranoia/Facebook

As winners of the Tiny Desk Contest, Cure for Paranoia will record their own Tiny Desk concert and go on tour.

Few live recording studios or musical web series have the cultural sway of NPR's Tiny Desk, and a Dallas band is poised to make an impactful debut: Cure For Paranoia, an alternative hip-hop project by rapper Cameron McCloud and producers Tomahawk Jonez and Jay Analo, has won the high-stakes annual Tiny Desk Contest for 2026.

They'll record their official Tiny Desk show "soon," the announcement by NPR says.

Winning the concert also means Cure for Paranoia is going on tour. The only Texas stop will be at Emo's Austin on June 24.

Tiny Desk is known for platforming both niche and majorly successful artists — NPR posted a new Foo Fighters set on YouTube on May 13 — for stripped-down sets that are literally played behind former All Things Considered director Bob Boilen's old desk. (Fun fact for Texans: Tiny Desk was created because folk artist Laura Gibson was disappointed with the sound at her South by Southwest show in Austin in 2008, and she wanted a redo.)

Most artists who appear on Tiny Desk more than 15 years later are already well-known, at least in their specific circles. But the Tiny Desk Contest, which launched in 2015, helps a growing group of newer, unsigned artists get their foot in the door. Contestants record one video of them performing a single song behind a desk, and a jury of radio staff and musicians chooses their favorite.

In their audition video, Cure for Paranoia gathered 11 musicians around a truly tiny desk and in front of downtown Dallas' iconic gigantic eyeball sculpture. They played the song "No Brainer," a frenetic track that starts with clever boasts and becomes a criticism of racism in the United States.

McCloud, a pre-school teacher, is known independently of Cure for Paranoia for rapping to his social media following about politics and current events. Some of those lyrics made it into "No Brainer." He says he started the group because he found that music was more helpful than medication for coping with bipolar depression and paranoid schizophrenia.

Alex Marrero, host of the Austin-based KUTX show Horizontes, was one of the judges this year. He was impressed with the visuals in Cure for Paranoia's audition.

“When this popped up, I immediately felt something different," he wrote in a blurb for the announcement. "It just jumped out. The visuals were super cool and creative, BUT I could still totally envision them bringing the heat behind the Desk.”

Madison McFerrin, jazz vocalist and daughter of the famous singer Bobby McFerrin, was one of the musical judges.

"Cure For Paranoia’s energy is infectious, fresh and distinctly theirs — exactly what you want in a Contest winner!" she wrote.

McCloud's post on Instagram announcing the group's win has only been up for three hours at the time of this article's publication, and it already has more than 8,000 likes. The YouTube audition has garnered 74,000 views.

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