Season Announcement

New 2024 season for Dallas' Second Thought Theatre comes packed with premieres

Jose Torres (technical director), Carson McCain (artistic director), Parker Gray (executive director), Sasha Maya Ada (marketing director).

Photo by Evan Michael Woods

The year 2024 is Second Thought Theatre's 20th anniversary, and it's celebrating with a brand-new playwriting initiative and three plays making their regional/national premieres. All productions will be at Bryant Hall, 3400 Blackburn St. in Dallas.

First up is Heroes of the Fourth Turning by Texas native Will Arbery, directed by Jay Duffer and assistant directed by Alejandro Saucedo.

Heroes is “intentionally selected for a Dallas audience in an election year” says executive director Parker Gray. “When four alumnus of a conservative college reunite under the stars, they find themselves confronting theology, politics, and personal responsibility,” adds artistic director Carson McCain.

Heroes of the Fourth Turning took 2020 by storm, being a finalist for the 2020 Pulitzer Prize in Drama and winner of the 2020 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Play, the New Your Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Play, and Whiting Award for Drama.

Regarding the question “why this play now?” McCain offers this:

“Growing up in rural Texas, I found myself particularly enthralled by these characters. This play is uniquely able to invoke horror and foster empathy. Rarely have I encountered characters I disagree with so wholeheartedly, and yet they want what we all do: To be heard. To make a difference. I chose this play for STT not only because of Will Arbery, but because it made me uncomfortable. And this particular discomfort, I think, can be incredibly useful.”

Heroes of the Fourth Turning runs March 27-April 13, 2024.

Following Heroes is the regional premiere of Jen Silverman’s Wink directed by Jenna Burnett and starring Garret Storms as Wink the Cat.

“Few things in this world make sense to me,” says Gray. “But four things that make absolute, perfect sense to me? The combination of a Jen Silverman play, directed by Jenna Burnett, starring Garret Storms as a cat, and all on a Second Thought stage. That’s a perfect, wacky, holy, theatrical quadrinity if you ask me."

Wink follows unhappy housewife Sofie and her breadwinning husband, Gregor, who both seek weekly counseling from an unorthodox therapist, Doctor Frans. Their current topic of disagreement: the cat, Wink. When Wink goes missing, violent desires, domestic anarchy, and feline vengeance emerge, threatening the neatly ordered reality Sophie, Gregor, and Doctor Frans have constructed.

How did a play about a vengeful cat end up in the STT lineup? McCain has some answers:

“Garret Storms brought this play to me a couple of years ago. Second Thought audiences will know Garret from Martyr and Lela & Co., but also should know him as the person whose taste I trust most in the DFW area. When he told me this was a Second Thought play, I knew it would be worthwhile. This play explores our base desires, our violent urges, our need for connection, the parts of us we do and don’t like. If you’ve ever wanted to be a fly on the wall in someone else’s therapy session, this is the play for you.”

Wink runs June 26-July 13, 2024.

Completing the season is the national premiere of British playwright debbie tucker green’s hang directed by Sasha Maya Ada. The play is quite simple: His life. In her hands. green’s hang is a shattering play about one woman’s unspeakable decision. “Is punishment justice? Or is it revenge?” asks McCain. “hang asks us to take a cold, hard look at injustice and forgiveness. It asks us to consider a legacy of pain, and how systems are complicit. But it also asks us to consider individuals as complicated and nuanced.”

Gray adds:

“This play is a punch. A punch to the head, a punch to the heart, a punch to the gut. When Carson and I read this play, we knew immediately it was a Second Thought play, and that Sasha Maya Ada needed to direct it. Admirers of Second Thought's 2022 hit production of Antoinette Nwandu’s Pass Over can expect Sasha and Second Thought to deliver a similar, but altogether singular, experience with this American premiere that will be sure to leave you talking in the parking lot afterwards."

hang runs October 16-November 2, 2024.

And get ready for the inauguration of Thought Process: A Playwriting Cohort.

This year-long, monthly meeting of local writers provides a safe, low-stakes space for playwrights to interact with their peers; share pages from old, new, or commissioned work; and most importantly, write! This cohort seeks to give each playwright the experience they want for their work in order to serve their play, without the pressures of an institution making the work “producible."

Says Gray:

“Opportunities for theater artists in DFW are growing, and when Carson and I looked around the community for ways to continue serving and cultivating the incredible talent we have in the Metroplex, one group stood out to us: playwrights. There are so many incredible writers we know here in DFW, and many, I’m sure, we have not been introduced to yet. However, opportunities for local writers to develop and experiment with their work are few and far between. Enter Thought Process. In DFW, reading festivals exist, full productions exist, but a space for the hard work before a reading? Or the middle ground where a script is between drafts? That’s what we want to offer: A safe, supportive, and enticing space for local writers to “write around and find out."

Submissions for Thought Process are live and can be found here. The deadline to submit to this inaugural, one-of-a-kind program is January 5, 2024, at 8 pm.

Running:
Previews: March 27th and 28th
Opening Night: March 29th
Pay What You Can Mondays: April 1st and April 8th

Wink by Jen Silverman
A Regional Premiere
Directed by Jenna Burnett
Starring Garret Storms as Wink the Cat Running: June 26th - July 13th 2024 Previews: June 26th and 27th

Opening Night: June 28th
Pay What You Can Mondays: July 1st and July 8th

hang by debbie tucker green
An American Premiere
Directed by Sasha Maya Ada
Running: October 16th - November 2nd 2024 Previews: October 16th and 17th

Opening Night: October 18th
Pay What You Can Mondays: October 21st and October 28th

theater

Drama kings

Dallas theater lures new leaders away from Hollywood and Broadway

Photo courtesy of Lyric Stage

Malcolm Goodwin is an actor, director, and producer familiar for roles in Reacher, iZombie, and The Fall of the House of Usher.

Dallas theater company Lyric Stage has looked to Hollywood and Broadway for new leadership, hiring film and television actor and director Malcolm Goodwin and Broadway veteran Victor Hawks as the theater company's new co-artistic directors.

The appointments mark a new chapter for the company, which was founded in 1993 by Steven Jones, executive director Catherine Carpenter Cox says in a November 2 announcement.

Goodwin and Hawks are the co-founders of Team Vision Entertainment, a production company developing and producing film, television, and theater projects.

Their longstanding creative partnership will now extend to Lyric Stage, where they will work alongside Cox to develop programming, support new works, and strengthen the organization's connections to the broader entertainment industry, a press release says.

Goodwin is an actor, director, and producer best known for roles in Amazon Prime Video's Reacher and The CW's iZombie. Other credits include The Fall of the House of Usher, American Gangster, and Spike Lee's Miracle at St. Anna.

His new role at Lyric Stage brings him back to the art form that first inspired his career.

"Theater is where I first learned how to tell stories and where I discovered that I loved every part of the creative process, not just performing," Goodwin says in the release. "I was building theaters, working with lighting and sound, and learning how everything comes together to create something special for an audience. Being able to return to that world and help create opportunities for other artists is incredibly meaningful to me."

Hawks brings an extensive Broadway background to his new position, having appeared in the original Broadway company of Urinetown the Musical, the 2006 Broadway revival of Les Misérables, South Pacific at Lincoln Center, and The Producers national tour.

Victor Hawks, Lyric Stage Victor Hawks.Photo courtesy of Lyric Stage

"Musical theater changed the direction of my life," Hawks says in a statement. "I know firsthand what happens when someone gives a young performer an opportunity to learn, grow and be part of something bigger than themselves. That's what makes this next chapter so exciting. Lyric Stage already has an incredible history, and we want to build on that by creating great theater and opening doors for artists who are just beginning their journeys."

Over the past three decades, Lyric Stage has earned a reputation for its professional productions, world premieres, and restoration of classic Broadway works, with a big focus on musicals.

For Cox, the appointments are about bringing together artists who understand the importance of theater while offering the experience and relationships to help the organization grow.

"Steven Jones built something truly special with Lyric Stage, and we have a responsibility to honor what he created while continuing to move the organization forward," Cox says. "Malcolm and Victor have built remarkable careers in entertainment, but what I love most is that theatre is where both of their journeys began. They understand what the stage can mean to an artist, and they share my passion for creating opportunities for the next generation."

Cox also recently moved into a new role as director, making her directorial debut with Lyric Stage's production of the musical Godspell, which finished its run on October 25.

Upcoming Lyric Stage productions include A Very Lyric Christmas, A Chorus Line, Newsies, and Once.

Future planned endeavors for the company include Lyric Stage Academy, an educational program designed to introduce young people to the performing arts, as well as Children's Theatre, Summer Stock, professional training opportunities, a New Works Lab, and master classes.

lyric stage performing-arts theater