K8 Expectations

Multifarious artist K8 Hardy returns to Texas with legendary show at DallasContemporary

Artist K8 Hardy at the opening of her show (along with Inez and Vindooh: PrettyMuch Everything) at the Dallas Contemporary.

Photo by Jerry McClure
Legends is a one-night-only fundraiser for the Dallas Contemporary on October 4.
September Issues (through December 30), is Hardy's take on those five-poundglossies bursting with ads that arrive in mailboxes every August.
September Issues installation at the Contemporary.

Photo by Kevin Todora
September Issues installation at the Contemporary.

Photo by Kevin Todora
September Issues installation at the Contemporary.

Photo by Kevin Todora

Even among the relatively eclectic crowd at BarBelmont, artist K8 Hardy stands out. Her two-tone hair, signature blue glasses and ACT UP “HIV Positive” T-shirt signify more than just a style statement.

“I don’t give a fuck about fashion,” says the New York-based artist, although her upcoming Legendary — a fundraising performance for the Dallas Contemporary — is ostensibly a runway show. “I use fashion as an inspiration because we’re so oversaturated with images that fuel our consumption and our commercialism. That’s more interesting to me.”

Hardy’s September Issues installation at the Contemporary, which runs through December 30, illustrates her take on those five-pound glossies bursting with ads that arrive in mailboxes each August. Posing awkwardly in a too-tight pencil skirt or clutching a mash-up of the latest “it” bag with pastel-painted talons, the awkwardness of her body language and ridiculousness of the costumes recall an overly ambitious style blogger attending her first season of runway shows.

Her participation in Legendary is more as the director — rather than the star — but Hardy brings a big piece of herself into what is a largely an improvisational performance.

Both Legendary and September Issues could be seen as an outgrowth of Hardy’s successful Untitled Runway Show, 2012 performance earlier this year at the Whitney Museum’s 76th Biennial, which — according to The New York Times — was reminiscent of avant-garde designers such as Miguel Adrover, Susan Cianciolo and Bernadette Corporation.

A former stylist for Fischerspooner and co-founder of the queer feminist artist collective LTTR, Hardy was raised in Fort Worth and spent her teen years sneaking out to punk clubs on Greenville Avenue and creating ‘zines. Adopting her moniker from a play on classic Sk8r terminology, she was exploring a feminist voice in her music and writing, yet not defining what she did as “art.”

“I had gone to the Kimbell [Art Museum], but I couldn’t paint, so it never occurred to me I was an artist,” she says.

Hardy majored in women’s studies at Smith College in Massachusetts, and she found video production the perfect way to explore the topics of identity and gender power. Her professor, established artist and filmmaker Elisabeth Subrin, encouraged her, showing contemporary video arts and experimental film that, as Hardy says, “blew my mind.”

Hardy started making and selling a “cinezine” of her films and played videos at shows of the conceptual art band Tracy + the Plastics. An internship with artist Miranda July led to a tour down the West Coast, with stops everywhere from Ladyfest to television access shows. As she expanded her work into live performance and photography, Hardy continued to use herself as the subject to avoid objectification and play with the fluidity of identity.

Her participation in Legendary is more as the director — rather than the star — but Hardy brings a big piece of herself into what is a largely an improvisational performance. For her, the most important thing is that Legendary is a “call and response” with the viewer, opening a dialogue that will continue long after the show is over.

“I don’t need to prove myself in my work,” she says. “I just let that be open to how the audience wants to receive it. Probably in a different life I was a politician because I like talking and I like listening. I feel my work is about agency — it’s an active, not a passive, way of living.”

Legendary by K8 Hardy takes place Thursday, October 4, 8:45 pm, at the Dallas Contemporary. All proceeds benefit Dallas Contemporary exhibitions and learning programs. September Issues runs through December 30.

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Theater News

Dallas' Kitchen Dog Theater unveils powerful 2026-2027 season lineup

Photo by Cameron Cobb

Kitchen Dog Theater in Dallas will put on three mainstage productions for their 2026-2027 season.

Kitchen Dog Theater in Dallas has revealed the lineup for the 2026-2027 season, featuring a slate of plays that boasts power players like kings, prime ministers, space force commanders, and would-be presidents.

According to a release, the theater company's 36th season — their "most powerful yet" — will consist of three mainstage productions at its new permanent home in the Design District, as well as the annual New Works Festival, featuring a readings series and the 26th annual D-PAC PUP (Playwrights Under Progress) Fest.

The season will start with The Absentee by Julia Doolittle, running September 10-October 4, 2026. The play was the winner of the 2019-2020 Woodward/Newman Drama Award.

Far out in the Milky Way, “Beacons” serve as lighthouses for warping spaceships around the galaxy. When a U.S. Space Force ship explodes in the galaxy, the Operator finds herself alone in deep space, with only her ship’s AI for companionship. That is, until a persistent canvasser calls, desperate to convince her to vote absentee in the 2088 election.

As the Operator waits for the clean up to be over, she finds she has to come to terms with her isolation, grief, and her political voice.

The season's second production comes four months later, with Equivocation by Bill Cain, running February 4-28, 2027. In 1605 England, a terrorist plots to assassinate King James I and blow Parliament to kingdom come. Shagspeare (after a contemporary spelling of the Bard's name) is commissioned by the prime minister, to write the “true historie” of the plot. And it must have witches — the king wants witches.

But as Shag and the acting company of the Globe investigate the plot, they discover that the king's version of the story might, in fact, be a coverup. Shag and his actors are confronted with the ultimate moral and artistic dilemma. Speak truth to power and perhaps lose their heads? Or take the money and lie? Is there a third option? Equivocation?

A high-stakes political thriller with contemporary resonances, Equivocation gallops from the great Globe to the Tower of London to the halls of Parliament to the heart of Judith, Shag's younger daughter, who finds herself unexpectedly at the very heart of the political, dramatic and — ultimately — human mystery.

The final mainstage production of the season comes at the 2027 New Works Festival with Black Republican by KDT Artistic Company Member Jamal Gibran Sterling, running June 3-27, 2027.

Originally featured as a Staged Reading in the 2026 New Works Festival, the ambitious first play by Sterling centers on a Black Republican candidate on the national stage who finds his campaign threatened by an activist who challenges everything he claims to stand for. Their battle exposes uncomfortable truths about race, politics, and the stories we tell ourselves.

In addition to Black Republican, the 2027 New Works Festival will showcase four staged readings of some of the newest and most exciting Texas-based playwrights. Each reading will feature accomplished Dallas-Fort Worth actors and directors to highlight the breadth of talent in the area.

The final part of the festival is D-PAC PUP (Playwrights Under Progress) Fest, featuring six staged readings of jury-selected plays written by Dallas-Fort Worth high school students and featuring student actors directed by area professionals. PUP Fest is the culmination of Dallas Playwriting Arts Collective (D-PAC), a partnership with Dallas ISD and Junior Players.

Kitchen Dog Theater offers two season subscription packages for their inaugural season in their new facility. The Kitchen Dog package includes a ticket to all three mainstage productions for any performance date for $90+ $8 fees for adults and $75 +$8 fees for students and seniors (ages 65+). The Saver Dog package includes a ticket to all three mainstage productions for Thursdays, Fridays, and Sundays only. It is $60 + $8 fees for adults and $45 + $8 fees for students and seniors.

Both packages grant full access to the Staged Reading Series and PUP Fest. Subscribers also receive premium reserved seating for in-person performances, as well as subscriber-only discounts on additional single tickets, 2026 special events, and KDT merchandise.

Subscription packages are on sale now, and single tickets for each show will go on sale on Monday, August 24, at kitchendogtheater.org.

design district kitchen dog theater new works festival performing-arts plays theater

K8 Expectations

Multifarious artist K8 Hardy returns to Texas with legendary show at DallasContemporary

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