Kitchen Dog Theater lifts curtain on new Dallas home for 2026 season

In a satisfying act of symmetry, Kitchen Dog Theater is christening its new, permanent performance space with a popular original musical the company created in 2018.

The return of this critically acclaimed work is part of the Dogs' 35th season, which will be its first in its newly constructed theater at 4774 Algiers St. in the Design District.

For the past 10 years, KDT has been a nomadic company, staging works at venues such as the Trinity River Arts Center, Expo Park, and even in and around Riders Field (home of the Frisco RoughRiders) and D-Town CrossFit. Before that, it performed mainly at the now-demolished McKinney Avenue Contemporary in Uptown (the site is now home to San Martin Bakery; The MAC lives on as an art gallery in the Cedars).

KDT's 2026 season is slightly truncated due to construction delays, but nevertheless encompasses three fully produced mainstage works; a Texas-focused New Works Festival staged readings series; and the landmark 25th-annual PUP Fest, which nurtures high school talent from all over DFW.

It begins in February with a remounting of Pompeii!!, directed by KDT co-artistic directors Tina Parker and Christopher Carlos.

Written by KDT Artistic Company members Cameron Cobb, Michael Federico, and Max Hartman, Pompeii!! is a (sadly still) timely musical satire of nationalistic hubris and narcissistic excess. Under the shadow of a volcano, the citizens of Pompeii sing, dance, and tell jokes in this zany vaudeville show that combines togas and tap shoes, centurions and sing-alongs.

This was KDT's first company-created musical, and it was the recipient of a prestigious Writers Alliance Grant from the Dramatists Guild Foundation and played to sold-out houses during its original run. This current production also marks the first-ever revisit to a past show title in the company’s 35-year history, and it will feature some of the original 2018 cast reprising their roles. It runs February 5-March 1, 2026.

Next is Dream Hou$e by Eliana Pipes, which was originally featured as a staged reading in KDT’s 2020 New Works Festival.

Two Latina sisters are appearing on an HGTV-style reality show to sell their family home, hoping to capitalize on the gentrification in their “changing neighborhood.” As they perform for the camera, the show starts to slip into the surreal: one sister grapples with turmoil in the family’s ancestral past and the other learns how much she’s willing to sacrifice for the family’s future.

Dream Hou$e earned both the Kendeda Award and Steinberg Playwriting Award in 2021. It runs April 9-May 3, 2026.

The mainstage production for this year's New Works Festival is Venus by Steve Yockey, which was a staged reading in last year's festival. If Yockey's name sounds at all familiar otherwise, it might be because he was a co-producer on Supernatural and creator/showrunner of the HBO Max thriller The Flight Attendant.

In this celestial, pitch-black comedy, two women learn that true love isn’t the only thing that bonds two people together…forever. Breakups are never fun. It’s easy to romanticize all of the good times: stargazing, waxing poetic about literature, that instant spark the first time your hands brushed. It’s even easier to forget about all of the bad times, like when they ghosted you after the perfect first date, or that one time you woke up in a shallow grave. It runs June 5-28, 2026.

Happening June 6, 2026, is the D-PAC PUP Fest. The Playwrights Under Progress Fest will present 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.

The Texas Edition of the 2026 New Works Festival Staged Reading Series runs concurrently: Saturday, June 13, and Saturday, June 27.

Now in its 27th year, KDT's Staged Reading Series will showcase four titles, including two new plays written by KDT Artistic Company members: Black Republican by Jamal Sterling and Sound by Jenny Ledel.

There are two season subscription packages available now for this inaugural season in KDT’s new facility. Single tickets will go on sale at a later date. For more information, visit kitchendogtheater.org or call 214-953-1055.