Theater Critics' Picks

DFW Theater Critics Forum bestows honors for 2012-13 season

Every year, the Dallas-Fort Worth Theater Critics Forum dishes out awards for best new play, best actor, best direction and myriad other theater categories. The group does not crown a winner in each category, nor does it declare a show of the year. Rather, the group gathers for a conversation about work that deserves special recognition.

On Saturday, September 7, the forum gathered to reflect on the 2012-13 season. This year, there were some clear favorites. On the Eve, the brand-new post-modern musical extravaganza, with songs and lyrics by the local band Home by Hovercraft, earned accolades for its writing, cast, music and director. (Theatre Three will remount this show in January 2014).

Kitchen Dog Theater had a standout season, with nearly every show receiving nominations for a design element or performance. There was also a unanimous desire to recognize the late Jerry Russell for his lifetime contributions to local theater and praise Fun House Theatre and Film for emerging as a stomping ground for young actors. In fact, Kennedy Waterman, an 11-year-old actress from Fun House, gave one of the best performances of the year for her role in Daffodil Girls.

During the lunch meeting, critics dug through playbills to double check spellings and debated the merit of an actor's performance in one show versus another to nominate shows or performers in each category. They pared down several hundred shows into lists of up to 10. Here are this year's picks:

New Play or Musical

On the Eve by Michael Federico and Shawn and Seth Magill
Dreams of Slaughtered Sheep by Matthew Posey
Daffodil Girls, inspired by David Mamet's Glengarry Glen Ross by Jeff Swearingen
Fly by Night by Kim Rosenstock, Bill Connolly and Michael Mitnick

Direction

Jeffrey Schmidt, On the Eve (Nouveau 47 Theatre) and Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo (Theatre Three) and Enron (Theatre Three)
Regan Adair, In a Forest, Dark and Deep (Second Thought Theatre)
Tim Johnson, The Chairs (Kitchen Dog Theater)
Cheryl Denson, The Most Happy Fella (Lyric Stage)
T.J. Walsh, The Taming of the Shrew (Trinity Shakespeare Festival)
Jim Covault, The Taming of the Shrew (Stage West)
Susan Sargeant, Children of a Lesser God (Contemporary Theatre of Dallas) and Lydie Marland in the Afterlife (Wingspan Theater Co)
Jeff Swearingen, Daffodil Girls, inspired by David Mamet’s Glengarry Glen Ross (Fun House Theatre and Film)
Matthew Posey, Dreams of Slaughtered Sheep (Ochre House Theater)
Joel Ferrell, Gruesome Playground Injuries (Second Thought Theatre)
Jonathan Fielding, The True Story of the Tragic Life and Triumphant Death of Julia Pastrana, the Ugliest Woman in the World (Amphibian Stage Productions)

Actor

Bruce DuBose, An Iliad (Undermain Theatre)
Raphael Parry, The Chairs (Kitchen Dog Theater)
Gregory Lush, On the Eve (Nouveau 47 Theatre) and Penelope (Undermain Theatre)
David Coffee, Fly by Night (Dallas Theater Center)
Jac Alder, Freud’s Last Session (Theatre Three)
Chris Hury, The Taming of the Shrew (Stage West)
Montgomery Sutton, Gruesome Playground Injuries (Second Thought Theatre)
Max Hartman, RX (Kitchen Dog Theater)
Ashley Wood, Children of a Lesser God(Contemporary Theatre of Dallas)
Alex Organ, The Most Happy Fella (Lyric Stage)

Actress

Tina Parker, RX (Kitchen Dog Theater)
Jenny Ledel, Becky Shaw (Kitchen Dog Theater) and On the Eve (Nouveau 47 Theatre)
Martha Harms, On the Eve (Nouveau 47 Theatre), RX (Kitchen Dog Theater), The Lucky Chance; or, The Alderman’s Bargain (Echo Theatre)
Marianne Galloway, Children of a Lesser God (Contemporary Theatre of Dallas)
Amber Nicole Guest, The Most Happy Fella (Lyric Stage)
Barbara Wood, Knock Me a Kiss (Jubillee Theatre)
Allison Pistorius, The Taming of the Shrew (Stage West)
Kennedy Waterman, Daffodil Girls (FunHouse Theatre and Film)

Ensemble

On the Eve (Nouveau 47 Theatre)
The Taming of the Shrew (Trinity Shakespeare Festival)
Jailbait (Dallas Actor’s Lab)

Creative Contribution

Score, Home by Hovercraft, On the Eve (Nouveau 47 Theatre)
Music and sound design, Bruce DuBose and Paul Semrad, An Iliad (Undermain Theatre)
Sound design, John Flores, Gruesome Playground Injuries (Second Thought Theatre)
Set design, Timothy R. Mackabee, The Odd Couple (Dallas Theater Center)
Set design, Bob Lavallee, The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife (Theatre Arlington) and Gruesome Playground Injuries (Second Thought Theatre)
Design team, The Taming of the Shrew and Julius Caesar (Trinity Shakespeare Festival)
Design team, Dreams of Slaughtered Sheep (Ochre House Theater)
Costume design, Ryan Matthieu Smith, The Lucky Chance; or, the Alderman’s Bargain (Echo Theatre)

Touring Production

Anything Goes (Lexus Broadway Series)
The Book of Mormon (Lexus Broadways Series)
Traces (Lexus Broadway Series)
Underneath the Lentil (Patrick O’Brien at the Out of the Loop Fringe Festival)

Special citations

The late Jerry Russell, founder of Stage West, for his lifetime contributions to the North Texas theater community as an actor, director, producer and advocate
Jeff Swearingen and Bren Rapp with Fun House Theater and Film, for their innovative youth theater and dedication to the future of the craft

Participating critics

CultureMap Dallas: Lauren Smart
Dallas Morning News: Lawson Taitte
D Magazine: Lindsey Wilson, Liz Johnstone, M. Lance Lusk
Dallas Observer: Elaine Liner
TheaterJones.com: Mark Lowry, Kris Noteboom
Dallas Voice: Arnold Wayne Jones
Turtle Creek News: Martha Heimberg
CriticalRant.com: Alexandra Bonifield
Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Punch Shaw

On the Eve emerged as a favorite of the 2012-13 season.

The musical "On the Eve" played sold-out shows last year in Dallas.

Photo by Jeffrey Schmidt

On the Eve emerged as a favorite of the 2012-13 season.

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Season Announcement

Echo Theatre introduces Dallas audiences to a season of strangers in 2026

Photo by Julieta Cervantes

'The Roommate' was recently on Broadway.

It's a "Season of Strangers" for Echo Theatre this year, as the Southwest's premier company for promoting dramatic works by women+ focuses on how someone different than you can change your life.

The 28th season begins with the new musical Silhouettes by Jordan Ealey and Ari Afsar. This score-in-hand workshop was developed in the aftermath of the fall of Roe v. Wade, and examines a pivotal moment in American history through the intersecting lives of two women navigating the decision to have an abortion. Echo's managing and artistic director Kateri Cale directs, with Vonda K. Bowling as musical director.

In a joint statement, Ealey and Afsar say that Silhouettes was born from their need to process the emotional and political aftermath of Roe’s fall. “We continue to see that history is cyclical and equity is fleeting,” they say. “But when policy fails, art has the opportunity to step in. Silhouettes is a musical about choice, sisterhood, and intergenerational courage.”

They add that presenting the work in Dallas reflects their commitment to community-building in states like Texas, where bans and restrictions have made women and gender minorities particularly vulnerable. “We want this musical to be a safe and brave haven amid attempts to create a culture of fear and a reminder that people are not alone.”

It runs January 16-17, 2026, and admission is free, though a $20 donation is suggested.

The world premiere of You Must Wear A Hat by C. Meaker is next, and plugged-in Dallas theater fans might recognize the play from its reading at Kitchen Dog Theater in 2019.

Tuesday and Weeks make hats on the Great Barrier Reef, waiting for the world to end. It's described as "A play for two. And a rabbit."

C. “Meaks” Meaker (they/them) is a playwright, essayist, and teacher whose work often explores queerness, monstrosity, and the end of the world. Their plays have been performed and developed across the United States, including the Kennedy Center, Seattle Repertory Theatre, San Francisco Playhouse, Annex Theatre (Seattle), Hub Theater (D.C.), Fat Theater Project (Chicago), and About Face (Chicago). They’re a two-year finalist for the Dramatist Guild National Fellows program and a recent finalist for the Jerome Hill Theater Arts Fellow.

You Must Wear a Hat runs February 27-March 14, 2026.

The season closes with The Roommate by Jen Silverman. The play was on Broadway in 2024 starring marquee names Mia Farrow and Patti LuPone.

In it, a divorced Midwesterner takes a roommate from The Bronx. A relationship evolves and secrets unfold into a darkly comedic exploration of life choices. It runs June 19-July 4, 2026.

All shows this season will be performed at the Bath House Cultural Center, 521 E. Lawther Dr., in White Rock Lake Park.

Tickets range from Pay-What-You-Can to $40, with discounts available for students and seniors.

Additional events this season include Cake by the Lake on April 21, Echo's free birthday party fundraiser that also launches its reading series, Echo Reads.

Echo Reads runs April through September, presenting six plays in six month. All plays will be performed on Tuesdays at 7:30 pm, and then read the next day at different venues around the city.

Echo Offstage Podcasts is going monthly. The free podcast series interviews women+ who are making art and making a difference.

And Echo is already teasing its 29th season, which will begin in the fall of 2026 and run the more traditional September through August instead of the calendar year.

The season 29 opener is a co-production, the company mysteriously hints, involving three Dallas theaters, two shows, and an internationally known writer. We'll all just have to wait and see what this intriguing production might be.

echo theatre podcasts world premieres echo reads the roommate play theater