Theater Critic Picks

These are the 8 can't-miss shows in Dallas-Fort Worth theater for November

Ochre House presents The Woman Who Knew Too Much

Ochre House is showing The Woman Who Knew Too Much, filmed in 2018.

Photo by Trent Stephenson

Dallas-Fort Worth theaters are adjusting to and even embracing the new challenges brought on by COVID-19. Audio plays, live-streamed concerts, archived productions, solo shows, and even socially distant outdoor performances are cropping up all over, giving you, the audience, plenty of entertainment choices.

Here are eight local shows to watch this month:

Cruise in a Box: Living Room Cruise Lines
Stage West, streaming through November 14
Set sail for an unforgettable, high seas staycation on the world's first ever Cruise in a Box. Your ticket doesn't just buy you passage on this not-so-nautical adventure — you'll also be mailed a special "ship"ment filled with everything you'd expect from a luxury cruise liner: plush towels you'll learn to transform into animals for your cabin, ocean-scented candles, a little umbrella to shade your favorite tropical drink, and so much more. You'll also join your Live Virtual Cruise Director for a night of world-class shipboard entertainment and variety performances as you sail across the globe, all from your own couch. Each show is $50 for the box and the Zoom event, and $35 for the event only, and tickets can be purchased here.

Endlings
Cry Havoc Theater Company, streaming on-demand through November 15
The opener to the youth theater company's seventh season was recently extended. It's an audio play recorded in true three-dimensional sound with a binaural microphone. The play weaves together first-person interviews with experts, activists, and individuals living on the front lines of climate change, along with conversations between the teens of Cry Havoc and the director on the topics of COVID-19, grief, art, and climate change.

Shakespeare and the Suffragists
Shakespeare Dallas, streaming through November 30
This new virtual performance project honors the centennial passage of the 19th Amendment, which granted many women the right to vote. It was conceived and directed by Shakespeare Dallas’ associate artistic director Jenni Stewart and co-written by Stewart along with filmmaker Julia Dyer. The unique performance examines Shakespeare’s more feminist texts and how they have been interpreted over time. Through the lens of four historical female figures, Stewart and Dyer shed new light on how Shakespeare’s works might have shaped the Suffragist movement and the ways in which his characters and monologues would have resonated in the 1920s.

The Woman Who Knew Too Much
Ochre House, currently streaming
Written and directed by Kevin Grammer, and filmed on March 3, 2018, this stylish noir musical is set in a seedy bar known as The Jade. A woman with no memory of who she is or where she comes from is the protagonist in a show that blurs the lines of reality and fantasy. Watch for free on the theater's YouTube channel.

#MATTER
Dallas Children's Theater, streaming November 6-15
To help spark important conversations about race, DCT is producing a series of plays by award-winning playwright, poet, and change-maker Idris Goodwin. These three short shows, dubbed the "Social Justice Play Series," started in September with The Water Gun Song. In this month's show, two former high school friends debate matters of life and race. There will also be an opportunity for a talkback led by Community Conversations founder on Denise Lee on November 13. Tickets are free and can be obtained here.

A Grave Is Given Supper
Teatro Dallas, November 7-8, 11-14
In its first live, in-person production since the beginning of the pandemic, Teatro Dallas partnered with Deep Vellum Publishing to turn Dallas poet Mike Soto's debut collection into an outdoor theatrical experience on the patio of the Latino Cultural Center. The immersive Narco-Acid Western is told in a series of interlinked poems, as audiences follow the converging paths of two protagonists through El Sumidero, a fictional U.S./Mexico border town ravaged by an ongoing drug war. The original script is directed and adapted by Claudia Acosta and stars New York-based actor Elena Hurst.

Erma Bombeck: At Wit's End
MainStage Irving-Las Colinas, streaming on-demand November 7-21
Ellen Locy portrays one of America's funniest moms in this one-person play by Allison Engel and Margaret Engel. The humorist championed the everyday lives of housewives with a daring truth few of her generation were willing to tell. Access codes start at $19 and are available to purchase here.

Live From the West Side: Women of Broadway
Dallas Summer Musicals, live-streaming November 14
Tony Award-winner and TV star Laura Benanti is this month's diva, performing a virtual concert transmitted live in HD from The Shubert Virtual Studios on Manhattan’s West Side, with professional sound mixing. The concert will feature a mix of Broadway show tunes, pop songs and personal stories from Benanti's life, as well as give at-home audience members the chance to email in questions to be answered during the livestream. Single tickets are $30 and can be purchased here.

dance theater

Drama kings

Dallas theater lures new leaders away from Hollywood and Broadway

Photo courtesy of Lyric Stage

Malcolm Goodwin is an actor, director, and producer familiar for roles in Reacher, iZombie, and The Fall of the House of Usher.

Dallas theater company Lyric Stage has looked to Hollywood and Broadway for new leadership, hiring film and television actor and director Malcolm Goodwin and Broadway veteran Victor Hawks as the theater company's new co-artistic directors.

The appointments mark a new chapter for the company, which was founded in 1993 by Steven Jones, executive director Catherine Carpenter Cox says in a November 2 announcement.

Goodwin and Hawks are the co-founders of Team Vision Entertainment, a production company developing and producing film, television, and theater projects.

Their longstanding creative partnership will now extend to Lyric Stage, where they will work alongside Cox to develop programming, support new works, and strengthen the organization's connections to the broader entertainment industry, a press release says.

Goodwin is an actor, director, and producer best known for roles in Amazon Prime Video's Reacher and The CW's iZombie. Other credits include The Fall of the House of Usher, American Gangster, and Spike Lee's Miracle at St. Anna.

His new role at Lyric Stage brings him back to the art form that first inspired his career.

"Theater is where I first learned how to tell stories and where I discovered that I loved every part of the creative process, not just performing," Goodwin says in the release. "I was building theaters, working with lighting and sound, and learning how everything comes together to create something special for an audience. Being able to return to that world and help create opportunities for other artists is incredibly meaningful to me."

Hawks brings an extensive Broadway background to his new position, having appeared in the original Broadway company of Urinetown the Musical, the 2006 Broadway revival of Les Misérables, South Pacific at Lincoln Center, and The Producers national tour.

Victor Hawks, Lyric Stage Victor Hawks.Photo courtesy of Lyric Stage

"Musical theater changed the direction of my life," Hawks says in a statement. "I know firsthand what happens when someone gives a young performer an opportunity to learn, grow and be part of something bigger than themselves. That's what makes this next chapter so exciting. Lyric Stage already has an incredible history, and we want to build on that by creating great theater and opening doors for artists who are just beginning their journeys."

Over the past three decades, Lyric Stage has earned a reputation for its professional productions, world premieres, and restoration of classic Broadway works, with a big focus on musicals.

For Cox, the appointments are about bringing together artists who understand the importance of theater while offering the experience and relationships to help the organization grow.

"Steven Jones built something truly special with Lyric Stage, and we have a responsibility to honor what he created while continuing to move the organization forward," Cox says. "Malcolm and Victor have built remarkable careers in entertainment, but what I love most is that theatre is where both of their journeys began. They understand what the stage can mean to an artist, and they share my passion for creating opportunities for the next generation."

Cox also recently moved into a new role as director, making her directorial debut with Lyric Stage's production of the musical Godspell, which finished its run on October 25.

Upcoming Lyric Stage productions include A Very Lyric Christmas, A Chorus Line, Newsies, and Once.

Future planned endeavors for the company include Lyric Stage Academy, an educational program designed to introduce young people to the performing arts, as well as Children's Theatre, Summer Stock, professional training opportunities, a New Works Lab, and master classes.

lyric stage performing-arts theater

Theater Critic Picks

These are the 8 can't-miss shows in Dallas-Fort Worth theater for November

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Drama kings

Dallas theater lures new leaders away from Hollywood and Broadway