Off Broadway On Flora

Comedians and actors beat-box into Dallas for 2018 theater season

Some technical malfunctions in the Wyly Theatre wreaked havoc on last season's Off Broadway On Flora lineup, leading to a few postponements and one cancelation, but everything is ship-shape now and ready for the 2018 season.

This touring series from AT&T Performing Arts Center brings a diverse assortment of shows to Dallas, ranging from immersive theater to improv comedy to searing satire, and many have enjoyed sold-out success in New York, Chicago, and London.

The latest season begins with Bess Wohl's Small Mouth Sounds, a new play that follows six strangers as they embark on a silent retreat in the woods. Their vow of silence collides with their human need to connect, and forces us all to ask how we address life’s biggest questions when words fail us. It's directed by Rachel Chavkin, recently Tony nominated for leading Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812 to Broadway. The play runs at the Wyly Theatre January 31-February 4, 2018.

Next is a postponement from last season: 600 Highwaymen: The Fever. This collaborative work from Abigail Browde and Michael Silverstone relies on a willing audience to explore how people act and react when all eyes are on them. Sounds intriguing but also kind of terrifying? It plays in the sixth-floor Studio Theatre at the Wyly Theatre March 27-April 1, 2018.

A comedy that's been generating buzz for three years in New York takes audiences over to the Moody Performance Hall next for two shows only. Celebrity Autobiography has a comedic ensemble performing from the actual memoirs of celebrities, running the gamut from the “poetry” of Suzanne Somers to the shocking “romance tips” from Tommy Lee to the most famous Hollywood love triangle in history: Elizabeth Taylor, Debbie Reynolds, and Eddie Fisher. It runs May 25-26, 2018.

Chicago's famous improv troupe returns for The Second City Summer Blockbuster, a new comedy revue that's aimed at mature audiences. It plays the Wyly Theatre June 6-9, 2018.

Those four productions make up the official Off Broadway On Flora season, but there is also an additional add-on scheduled for late-2017. Gobsmacked! is a mind-blowing vocal show that features the reigning world-champion beatboxer Ball-Zee and an international cast of world-class vocalists. Through all forms of a cappella — from traditional street corner harmonies to cutting-edge, multi-track live looping — the performers tell an urban tale of love, loss, and redemption. It will be staged at the Majestic Theatre November 21-22, 2017.

“The [AT&T Performing Arts] Center is the place to be for excellent live entertainment, from original local productions to the latest Broadway smash and everything in between," says Doug Curtis, ATTPAC's president and CEO, in a release. "Off Broadway On Flora is the 'everything in between.' This is a diverse lineup of unique productions from New York, Chicago, and all over the world."

Discounted four-show season ticket packages range from $25-$75, with the option to add Gobsmacked! for $35-$75. Season ticket buyers may also purchase discounted self-parking for only $10 per show (regularly $17). Tickets are available now online at www.attpac.org/offbroadway, by telephone at 214-880-0202, or in person at the AT&T Performing Arts Center Winspear Opera House box office.

Gobsmacked! is the add-on special for AT&T Performing Arts Center's Off Broadway On Flora 2018 season.

Photo courtesy of AT&T Performing Arts Center

Gobsmacked! is the add-on special for AT&T Performing Arts Center's Off Broadway On Flora 2018 season.

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.

music music video npr radio live music concerts