Season Announcement

Big names and bold premieres buoy Bishop Arts Theatre Center's 30th season

Fannie: The Music and Life of Fannie Lou Hamer at the Goodman Theatre

"Fannie: The Music and Life of Fannie Lou Hamer" is making its regional premiere.

Photo by Liz Lauren

Five productions are on tap for Bishop Arts Theatre Center's 2023-24 season, including an exciting collab with Dallas Theater Center.

“Our 2023-24 season marks our 30th anniversary season and we couldn’t be more excited about the partnerships and collaborations that will be manifested during our theater series,” says Teresa Coleman Wash, executive artistic director and founder.

The season will open in October 2023 with an adaptation of Othello by BATC’s playwright-in-residence, Franky D. Gonzalez, and starring the talented Denise Lee as Othello.

The play follows the tragedies surrounding Imani Othello, a passionate football fan on the coaching staff of the nation’s most beloved team, whose life is irrevocably changed when she is named head coach. It runs October 19-November 5, 2023.

Black Nativity, inspired by Langston Hughes' 1960 Broadway production, then returns for its 19th year.

The show will be once again re-imagined and co-directed by BATC’s associate artistic producer, Albert Wash II, and Zetra Goodlow. The dynamic duo directed this popular favorite two years ago to packed houses during the pandemic. It runs November 30-December 17, 2023.

Beginning in February 2024, BATC will continue its third-annual banned books festival based on Heather McGhee’s The Sum of Us.

The theater will produce a collection of short plays by six local playwrights, all inspired by McGhee's brilliant analysis and exploring the far-reaching costs of racism and the path to healing as a community. This performance is made possible in part by Dallas Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation. It runs February 29-March 17, 2024.

Liz Mikel, a Brierley Resident Acting Company member at Dallas Theater Center, returns to Dallas after a year performing in 1776 on Broadway to play the legendary 1960s civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer in this regional premiere, co-produced with DTC.

Fannie: The Music and Life of Fannie Lou Hamer by Cheryl West celebrates the woman whose courage, humor, and grit remind us that there’s courage in the face of fire, hope in tomorrow, and that we all have a stake in our country.

From her humble origins as the daughter of a Mississippi sharecropper to co-founding the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party and demanding recognition at the National Democratic Convention, hers is a story of justice that will not be denied.

The final performance of the season is Amy Evans' groundbreaking new play Jet Fuel.

Inspired by the extraordinary tale of Olympic sprinter Caster Semenya, this captivating production casts a brilliant spotlight on the intricate intersections of gender, race identity, and the quest for fairness in the realm of athletics.

More than just a play, Jet Fuel serves as a catalyst for conversations that matter. It brings together people from all walks of life to celebrate diversity and inclusion while pondering the true essence of fairness in the world of elite athletes.

All performances during BATC's 30^th anniversary season run for three consecutive weekends at the Bishop Arts Theatre Center at 215 S. Tyler St.

Tickets can be purchased online at www.bishopartstheatre.org or by calling the box office at 214-948-0716. Prices range from $18-$55, and seats are general admission. Discounts are available for seniors, students, and groups of 15 or more.

theater

Turning the Page

Indie bookstore to open in Grapevine with coffee and wine

Talking Animals

Talking Animals Books and cozy velvet chair.

A new independent bookstore is opening in Grapevine from a familiar name: Talking Animals Books, which which owners Valerie Walizadeh and Katy Lemieux opened in 2023 at 103 W. Worth St., is spinning off a second, bigger, more ambitious location this fall.

The offshoot will be at 909 S. Main St. in historic downtown Grapevine, in the “The 925” mixed-use development — taking over the space that was previously OG Cellars Winery on Main, which closed in June 2025.

The new location, which is about 2,800 square feet, will not only sell books but will also house a full-service coffee bar, wine tasting room, and event space. The original shop will remain open.

“We’ve grown alongside our readers,” Walizadeh says. “This new location is more than just a bookstore; it’s a place to gather, explore ideas, and now we can enjoy coffee and wine while surrounded by stories."

The coffee bar will serve espresso, teas, and pastries. The wine tasting offering will continue the legacy left by the previous tenant, Lemieux says.

"It'll include a mix of Texas wines, domestic cabernet, red blends, Oregon and Washington pinot noir, my favorite," Lemieux says. "Of course, a banger Prosecco and Pinot Grigio. I'm lucky that my brother-in-law is an elite wine distributor and can help us pull together a great mix of wines, by the glass and bottle, you may not find everywhere."

Lemieux says they will be serving wine, coffee, and other caffeinated drinks, like recharger iced energy drinks.

"Valerie went to the Texas Coffee School's 3 day seminar this weekend and got hardcore into the specifics of opening a coffee shop, so we are hitting the ground running," Lemieux says.

The larger space will allow for increased seating for author talks, book clubs, live music, and community gatherings. And there will be all the fiction, nonfiction, children’s books, and titles by local authors that TAB fans have been enjoying for the past two years.

The original TAB went from the page to real life thanks to a Kickstarter campaign in 2022, where more than 350 donors raised $54,000 in less than two months.

They're once again taking that same approach, shooting for $100,000 through another Kickstarter campaign.

"We’re inviting our community once again to help us write the next chapter," Walizadeh says. "We are growing thanks to them!”

They're hoping to do a soft opening in October, with owners hinting at a ticketed event and movie screening for the 20th anniversary of the 2008 film Twilight.

grapevine talking animals books indie bookstore bookstores