Theater Critic Picks

September theater in Dallas speaks Scottish, Spanish, and soul

Shakespeare Dallas presents The Taming of the Shrew

Shakespeare Dallas' bilingual 'The Taming of the Shrew' is set in the Wild West.

Photo by Jordan Fraker

This month's productions at theaters around Dallas offer lots of things you don't often see onstage: Puppets. A black-and-white movie brought to life. The singing voice of Jasmine and Mulan. Shakespeare in Spanish. More puppets. The lineup is anything but boring!

Here are 11 top shows appearing in Dallas theaters in September, listed in order of start date:

Opera Box
Ochre House Theater, September 3-20
A poor Southern family, caught up in the addiction of the opioid crisis and the collapse of their American Dream, journeys through a Tibetan bardo seeking clues to understand their lives. The production, written in verse, will employ live music, shadow play techniques, projections, puppetry, and a wickedly hilarious cast.

Fort Worth Fringe Festival
Theatre Network of Texas, Inc., September 5-7
Thirteen acts span theater, poetry, and dance at the ninth annual festival, held this year at Stolen Shakespeare Guild.

Heartbreak House
Hip Pocket Theatre, September 5-28
First mounted 105 years ago, George Bernard Shaw's funny, sexy, prescient, timely Heartbreak House - A Fantasia In the Russian Manner on English Themes skewers a society that's deeply distracted by a range of self-interests. Societal beauties are focused on being beautiful, oligarchs are in government as unelected leaders, old men are with too-young women, and bombs are falling with no one paying attention.

The Wiz
Broadway Dallas, September 9-21
This all-new production of the groundbreaking, Tony Award-winning musical returns “home” to stages in an all-new pre-Broadway tour, the first one in 40 years. The groundbreaking twist on The Wizard of Oz changed the face of Broadway, from its iconic score packed with soul, gospel, rock, and finger-snapping '70s funk to its stirring tale of Dorothy’s journey to find her place in a contemporary world.

MacMurder!
Pegasus Theatre, September 12-21
This is the world premiere production of an original comedy-murder mystery that captures the look and feel of an old Hollywood movie from the 1930s and '40s. It stars Harry Hunsacker (an inept but endearing private detective), Nigel Grouse (Harry’s paid-by-the-hour assistant), and Lt. Foster of the real police (a regular guy who is constantly driven crazy by Harry’s hare-brained ideas). The production is part of AT&T Performing Arts Center's Elevator Project

El Rey del Pollo
Echo Theatre, September 12-27
The Esteemed Reymundo Lear is retiring from running his fried chicken empire and plans to pass on his three restaurants to daughters, Gisela, Raquel, and Cordelia ... until Cordelia falls out of favor. You'll have to wait for the rest of the delicious story to be told by the foolish narrator, Jeff. El Rey del Pollo puts a family-friendly spin on King Lear, using Elizabethan verse, Spanglish, and today’s vernacular to make an hour-long Shakespearean telenovela for the stage.

Lea Salonga: Stage, Screen & Everything In Between
AT&T Performing Arts Center, September 14
Musical theater royalty and official Disney legend Lea Salonga will sing stage and screen classics from her best-known roles in Miss Saigon, Les Misérables, Aladdin, and Mulan; new-found favorites from the critically acclaimed West End hit Old Friends; and more from her celebrated career and beyond.

The Taming of the Shrew
Shakespeare Dallas, September 17-October 19
In the beloved romantic comedy that has inspired so many other works, Lucentio loves Bianca but is unable to court her until her older sister, Katherina, marries. Hilarity ensues as the eccentric Petruccio marries the reluctant Katherina and uses a number of tactics to charm her. This production of the Shakespearian classic is set in the Wild West.

The Niceties
Theatre Three, September 18-October 12
A young Black student of history. A middle-aged white professor of history. What begins as a polite clash in perspective explodes into an urgent debate about race and power. This production is performed in the basement Theatre Too space.

Life of Pi
Broadway at the Bass, September 23-28
After a shipwreck in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, a 16-year-old boy named Pi survives on a lifeboat with four companions: a hyena, a zebra, an orangutan, and a Royal Bengal tiger. Told with jaw-dropping visuals, world-class puppetry, and exquisite stagecraft, Life of Pi is a breathtaking journey.

I Got the Last Laugh!
Jubilee Theatre, September 26-October 19
Step into the world of Jackie “Moms” Mabley, a trailblazing comedian, fearless truth-teller, and one of the most influential voices in American entertainment. Through humor, heart, and unapologetic wit, the production celebrates her groundbreaking career, her resilience in the face of adversity, and the laughter that made her a legend.

theater musicals concerts national tour life of pi shakespeare lea salonga the wiz fringe festival

Theater News

Dallas' Kitchen Dog Theater unveils powerful 2026-2027 season lineup

Photo by Cameron Cobb

Kitchen Dog Theater in Dallas will put on three mainstage productions for their 2026-2027 season.

Kitchen Dog Theater in Dallas has revealed the lineup for the 2026-2027 season, featuring a slate of plays that boasts power players like kings, prime ministers, space force commanders, and would-be presidents.

According to a release, the theater company's 36th season — their "most powerful yet" — will consist of three mainstage productions at its new permanent home in the Design District, as well as the annual New Works Festival, featuring a readings series and the 26th annual D-PAC PUP (Playwrights Under Progress) Fest.

The season will start with The Absentee by Julia Doolittle, running September 10-October 4, 2026. The play was the winner of the 2019-2020 Woodward/Newman Drama Award.

Far out in the Milky Way, “Beacons” serve as lighthouses for warping spaceships around the galaxy. When a U.S. Space Force ship explodes in the galaxy, the Operator finds herself alone in deep space, with only her ship’s AI for companionship. That is, until a persistent canvasser calls, desperate to convince her to vote absentee in the 2088 election.

As the Operator waits for the clean up to be over, she finds she has to come to terms with her isolation, grief, and her political voice.

The season's second production comes four months later, with Equivocation by Bill Cain, running February 4-28, 2027. In 1605 England, a terrorist plots to assassinate King James I and blow Parliament to kingdom come. Shagspeare (after a contemporary spelling of the Bard's name) is commissioned by the prime minister, to write the “true historie” of the plot. And it must have witches — the king wants witches.

But as Shag and the acting company of the Globe investigate the plot, they discover that the king's version of the story might, in fact, be a coverup. Shag and his actors are confronted with the ultimate moral and artistic dilemma. Speak truth to power and perhaps lose their heads? Or take the money and lie? Is there a third option? Equivocation?

A high-stakes political thriller with contemporary resonances, Equivocation gallops from the great Globe to the Tower of London to the halls of Parliament to the heart of Judith, Shag's younger daughter, who finds herself unexpectedly at the very heart of the political, dramatic and — ultimately — human mystery.

The final mainstage production of the season comes at the 2027 New Works Festival with Black Republican by KDT Artistic Company Member Jamal Gibran Sterling, running June 3-27, 2027.

Originally featured as a Staged Reading in the 2026 New Works Festival, the ambitious first play by Sterling centers on a Black Republican candidate on the national stage who finds his campaign threatened by an activist who challenges everything he claims to stand for. Their battle exposes uncomfortable truths about race, politics, and the stories we tell ourselves.

In addition to Black Republican, the 2027 New Works Festival will showcase four staged readings of some of the newest and most exciting Texas-based playwrights. Each reading will feature accomplished Dallas-Fort Worth actors and directors to highlight the breadth of talent in the area.

The final part of the festival is D-PAC PUP (Playwrights Under Progress) Fest, featuring six staged readings of jury-selected plays written by Dallas-Fort Worth high school students and featuring student actors directed by area professionals. PUP Fest is the culmination of Dallas Playwriting Arts Collective (D-PAC), a partnership with Dallas ISD and Junior Players.

Kitchen Dog Theater offers two season subscription packages for their inaugural season in their new facility. The Kitchen Dog package includes a ticket to all three mainstage productions for any performance date for $90+ $8 fees for adults and $75 +$8 fees for students and seniors (ages 65+). The Saver Dog package includes a ticket to all three mainstage productions for Thursdays, Fridays, and Sundays only. It is $60 + $8 fees for adults and $45 + $8 fees for students and seniors.

Both packages grant full access to the Staged Reading Series and PUP Fest. Subscribers also receive premium reserved seating for in-person performances, as well as subscriber-only discounts on additional single tickets, 2026 special events, and KDT merchandise.

Subscription packages are on sale now, and single tickets for each show will go on sale on Monday, August 24, at kitchendogtheater.org.

design district kitchen dog theater new works festival performing-arts plays theater