Season Announcement

Dallas' Echo Theatre teases a very uneasy season with eerie premieres

Something eerie this way comes.

Painting by David Wm Cale

For its 26th season, Echo Theatre has on tap three premiere productions which "explore the off-putting, painful, inscrutable, and unexplainable aspects of humanity that would normally cause us to look away. This year, Echo Theatre stares them straight in the eye."

First up is Feeding the Cat, Incorrectly, Several Times Overby Shyama Nithiananda. This regional premiere is also a winner of the 2023 Texas Shout Out New Play Contest for Women+ BIPOC Authors, and will be directed by Katie Ibrahim.

Jo and Jen live parallel lives: They study medicine. They pay the rent. They fight with their partners. And they keep big secrets. When Jo's decision to keep a patient's secret backfires, she is forced to reckon with her responsibility to partners, strangers, and enemies alike.

There are content warnings for language, blood, adult themes, depictions of medical procedures, and discussions of domestic violence.

Performances at the Bath House Cultural Center run February 8-23, 2024.

Next is the world premiere of an Echo Theatre commissioned work Beyond the Yellow Wallpaperby Ann Timmons.

This new historical drama delves into the extraordinary life of feminist author and social reformer Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Known to many for her short story The Yellow Wallpaper, Charlotte’s work explores the realities of womanhood at the turn of the 20th century. From adolescence to her deathbed, we follow Charlotte’s complicated journey to professional success, and experience firsthand how her ongoing struggle with depression and an unconventional life shaped her work.

There are content warnings for depression, post-partum depression, and suicidal ideation.

Directed by Caroline Hamilton, performances are at the Bath House Cultural Center May 8-25, 2024.

The season finishes with the secret keepersby Erin Malone Turner, a regional premiere and a winner of the 2023 Texas Shout Out New Play Contest for Women+ BIPOC Authors.

Trudging through life at The Right Path Academy is a group of silly, intense, thoughtful, difficult high school seniors. During their last semester at the run-down boarding school, nightmares plague the unspoken leader of the group, shadowy figures come and go, skeletons tumble out of their closets, and one of the teens goes missing. Will they graduate with more troubles than they started with?

This Southern gothic, coming-of-age play explores taking responsibility for our relationships, the messiness of growing up, and learning to let go of the things we’ve never truly had.

There are content warnings for discussions of self harm, disordered eating, and suspenseful sequences.

The play is directed by Sasha Maya Ada, and performances are at the Bath House Cultural Center September 12-28.

Echo Reads play readings, Echo Writes playwright-led workshops, and Echo Offstage podcasts will also be returning for patrons this season. Echo Reads will return this fall (2023) featuring the finalists from the Texas Shout Out playwriting competition.

Dates for Echo Writes and Echo Offstage will be announced at a later time.

Tickets and season subscriptions are available at EchoTheatre.org.

Season Announcement

Kitchen Dog Theater unleashes immersive 2025 season in new Dallas space

Kitchen Dog Theater presents Safe at Home

Photo by Jordan Fraker

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Seven years after announcing it had purchased a building in the Design District, Kitchen Dog Theater is finally ready to move into its new home.

The third and final production of its 2025 season — the theater company's 34th — will take place all around the new "Doghouse." The other two productions will follow the immersive format at non-traditional performance spaces that was established last season.

With three fully produced events that each run the gambit from captivating and gutsy to heartfelt and hilarious, the monthly New Works Festival Staged Readings Series returns, as does the 23rd annual PUP Fest, nurturing high school talent from all over DFW.

First up is the area premiere of Will Eno's Wakey, Wakey, directed by KDT's artistic director Tina Parker and starring KDT co-artistic director Christopher Carlos.

"Is it now? I thought I had more time." These first words in Will Eno's play are spoken by Guy, a man who knows, like all of us on some level, that he is about to die. The play questions why we are here and the journeys that everyone takes to eventually get to the same place. Performances will take place at Expo Park, 840 Exposition Avenue, and run February 7-23, 2025.

Production No. 2 is full of mystery: The title and performance location will be announced soon and run in March/April 2025.

The Happiness Gymby Ken Weitzman closes out the season in August 2025 (exact dates TBA).

This regional premiere is a joyous, experiential event based on the science of well-being. Participants take part in a curated theatrical experience meant to boost their sense of happiness, joy, and feelings of connection. This one-of-a-kind project will be the soft opening to Kitchen Dog’s new theater and will take place all over the entire facility, giving patrons unparalleled access to KDT’s new home.

From March to July 2025, the 26th annual 2025 New Works Festival will showcase four-to-five staged readings of the newest and most exciting local and regional playwrights working in contemporary theater today. Each reading will feature some of DFW's most accomplished actors and directors and will take place at different venues across DFW.

For its 23rd annual event, PUP Fest will feature six staged readings of jury-selected plays written by DFW high school students, featuring student actors directed by area professional directors. PUP Fest is the culminating event of Dallas Playwriting Arts Collective (D-PAC), a partnership with Dallas ISD and Junior Players. Performance location is TBA, but the event will happen June 7, 2025.

For more information, visit kitchendogtheater.org or call 214-953-1055.

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