Season Announcement
Dallas' Theatre Three is killin' it with 2023-24 season of bloodthirsty, hilarious shows
Get spooky with "Misery" in Theatre Too.
Theatre Three's 2023-24 season is out, and it includes three musicals, three classic and award-winning plays, one hilarious play with music, and the world premiere of an adaption by a local playwright.
It's also the first time since 2019 that Theatre Three will produce a full season upstairs on the Norma Young Arena Stage and downstairs in Theatre Too.
“We're back!” says associate artistic director Christie Vela. “I mean, we've been back, but now we're fully back with a full season of shows running upstairs and down. I feel so lucky to be a part of Theatre Three's history in this moment. This season in particular feels like a triumph; classics as well as new pieces all seen through a different lens or led by fresh new Dallas theater voices. This coming year is sure to be filled with thrills, cheer, and lots of fun.”
Opening the season is punk-rock musical Lizzie: The Musical by Steven Cheslik-deMeyer, Tim Maner, and Alan Stevens Hewitt.
Lizzie Borden was accused of murdering her father and stepmother with an axe in the late summer of 1892. Lizzie: The Musical explores the mind of Lizzie Borden and speculates on the motivations she may have had: overwhelming oppression, abuse, and madness. By her side is her older sister Emma, maid Bridget, and neighbor Alice. Together, the four women tell the story of why the legend of Lizzie Borden was born with an electric punk rock score. It runs September 28-October 29, 2023.
Scrooge in Rouge is next, downstairs in Theatre Too, with book and lyrics by Ricky Graham, additional material by Jeffery Roberson, "other interesting bits" by Yvette Hargis, and original music composed by Jefferson Turner.
After a widespread case of food poisoning wipes out the majority of The Royal Music Hall Twenty-Member Variety Players, three surviving members of the company soldier on through a performance of A Christmas Carol that abounds in bad puns, naughty double-entendres, and witty songs. It runs November 16-December 17, 2023.
Next up is Ira Levin’s groundbreaking comedy thriller Deathtrap, which will feature artistic director Jeffrey Schmidt and associate artistic director Christie Vela.
Without a success to his credit for some years, Sidney Bruhl receives a new potential hit script called Deathtrap that was written by his student. Sidney plots with his reluctant wife Myra about how best to plagiarize the play and the evening takes a hilarious and dangerous turn. Holding the record for the longest running comedy thriller on Broadway, this skillfully constructed play offers the perfect blend of two priceless theatrical ingredients: gasp-inducing thrills and spontaneous laughter. It runs December 7-31, 2023.
I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change! returns to Theatre Too to celebrate (or help to endure) Valentine’s season.
Presented as a series of vignettes, Joe DiPietro and Jimmy Roberts' show is a touching musical comedy about all of love’s greatest challenges: dating, sex, marriage, and family. It runs January 18–February 25, 2024.
God of Carnage, written by Yasmina Reza and translated by Christopher Hampton, is next upstairs on the Norma Young Arena Stage.
Two sets of Brooklyn parents meet to deal with a playground altercation between eleven-year-old boys, and a calm and rational debate between grown-ups transforms into a hysterical night of name-calling, tantrums, and tears. Winning the Tony Award for Best Play in 2009, this hilarious, emotionally charged production asks the question, “How many parents standing up for their children become infantile themselves?” It runs February 1-March 3, 2024.
The world premiere of Blake Hackler’s adaption of The Seagull, originally written by Anton Chekhov, follows.
In an isolated home in the countryside, an ensemble of family, artists, and unsatisfied people gather to experience Konstantin’s new play on an outdoor stage. Known famously as one of Chekhov’s greatest plays, The Seagull reveals the truth in devastation of living somewhere between the person you are and the life you dreamed for yourself. It runs April 4-28, 2024.
Closing the season downstairs in Theatre Too is Misery, written by William Goldman and based on the novel by Stephen King.
Romance novelist Paul Sheldon is rescued from a car crash by his “number one fan,” Annie Wilkes, and wakes up captive in her secluded home. While being forced to re-write his latest book at the favor of his captor, Paul realizes that he’s writing as if his life depends on it… and it does. It runs May 2–June 2, 2024.
Closing the 61st season in the NYAS is the whimsical Gilbert and Sullivan operetta Pirates of Penzance.
The hilarious, hopeful musical follows young lovestruck Frederic, who has mistakenly been apprenticed to a raucous band of pirates. A smash hit on Broadway in the 1980s, this comical operetta is a colorful, playful romp about love, honor, and cleverness. It runs June 13-July 14, 2024.
The Monday Night Playwright series will continue, offering an affordable and accessible venue for new works by local writers.
Theatre Three also plans to continue the T3 Translates initiative, where a commissioned writer will translate a foreign-language play, ending with a staged reading with the potential for a full production.
Lastly, Theatre Three will continue a partnership with Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. The students in Bradley Atuba’s Advanced Acting course will have access to all of Theatre Three’s programming in the coming season.
"Regardless of what's on stage, sharing the experience with friends, family, and strangers is what makes live performance incredibly valuable,” says artistic director Jeffrey Schmidt. “The last few years have denied many of us the simple pleasure of laughing together. Returning to a full season with both performance spaces up and running, patrons are guaranteed to always have a good time when they visit. Don't forget: Our bar is stocked and the drinks are flowing!"
Current subscribers can renew their subscription through May 19, when new subscriptions for the 23/24 season will become available.
For more information about Theatre Three, visit www.Theatre3Dallas.com or call the Theatre Three box office at 214-871-3300.
