Theater Critic Picks

These are the 10 must-see shows in Dallas-Fort Worth theater for August

The national tour of "Funny Girl" comes to Dallas this month.

Photo by Evan Zimmerman

A favorite festival is back this month, along with a good mix of classic titles and new approaches. And Donny Osmond — we cannot forget Donny Osmond.

In order of start date, here are 10 local shows to watch this month:

Donny Osmond in Concert
Music Hall at Fair Park, August 2
Donny Osmond brings his award-winning Las Vegas show to Dallas, a 90-minute spectacle in which he performs his hits, shares stories of his greatest show-stopping memories, and introduces brand-new music in a fresh and completely reimagined song and dance celebration.

Long Day's Journey Into Night
Bucket List Productions & Lewisville Playhouse, through August 11
Eugene O’Neill's Pulitzer Prize-winning play is a brooding masterpiece about the pain of forgiving and the impossibility of forgetting. The Tyrone family puts the not-so-fun in "dysfunctional," as the family tell their entire life’s progression story over the course of just one long day.

Festival of Independent Theatres (FIT)
Theatre Three, through August 24
For the month of August, FIT is taking over T3 to bring the city of Dallas its biggest and most exciting festival yet. This year's lineup features an immersive Spanish-language play cycle about love, a heart-pounding rock musical starring local leading man Gregory Lush, Tilda Grace’s movement-based re-telling of a classic piece of literature, and the whirlwind, fever dream with a message, Spank Bank Time Machine from self-described trauma clown John Michael. And that's just upstairs! See a complete lineup here.

Imposter! Hypocrite! TARTUFFE!
Circle Theatre, through August 24
Wit, cunning, and hypocrisy are on full display in this punk-rock remake of Moliere’s classic farce. Circle Theatre’s artistic director Ashley H. White pens a new approach to the iconic play, a swift, unapologetic whirlwind that reintroduces the timeless tale of a man who deploys his charm and feigned piety in an attempt to disrupt a household.

Funny Girl
Broadway Dallas, August 6-18
Funny Girl is a love letter to the theater with one of the most celebrated musical scores of all time, including classic songs “Don’t Rain On My Parade,” “I’m the Greatest Star,” and “People.” The bittersweet comedy is the story of the indomitable Fanny Brice, a girl from the Lower East Side who dreamed of a life on the stage. Everyone told her she’d never be a star, but then something funny happened: She became one of the most beloved performers in history, shining brighter than the brightest lights of Broadway.

Alice By Heart
CenterStage Theatre Works, August 8-18
This imaginative and immersive production transforms a former retail space at Fairview Town Center into a vibrant theatrical venue. It marks the second consecutive year of bringing art to this unique location, demonstrating the group's commitment to innovative and non-traditional performance spaces.

Raft Project
Hip Pocket Theatre, August 9-25
Topsy-turvy upon open waters. Seeking solace from troublesome days. For want of balance and burdens unbound. Adrift upon a floating stage. Hip Pocket takes the outside inside with a newly devised work by Lake Simons and John Dyer.

Daddy's Rabbits: A Cotton Tale
Ochre House Theater, August 10-31
Closing their 16th season is the world premiere written and directed by Carla Parker. Mommy (Marti Etheridge) and Daddy (Omar Padillo) run a quaint boarding house, where eccentric boarders reside together in perfect harmony with Daddy’s hutch of Jack Rabbits. Life is “status quo” until a stranger (Meagan Harris) arrives.

Sister Act
Jubilee Theatre in partnership with Performing Arts Fort Worth, August 15-18
In the musical version of Sister Act, the original film’s locations of Reno and San Francisco have been changed to Philadelphia and the action now is set in the 1970s. When disco diva wannabe Deloris Van Cartier sees her gangster boyfriend Curtis Shank commit a murder at the grungy club where she’s performing, she reports the crime to the police and is placed in the witness protection program. Disguised as a nun named Sister Mary Clarence, she is placed in the convent of the Holy Order of the Little Sisters of Our Mother of Perpetual Faith, where she finds herself up against the rigid Mother Superior. Deloris uses her singing talent to inspire the other nuns to create a more contemporary choir, and they become the hit of the community.

The Boys in the Band
Uptown Players, August 16-25
Set in New York City, The Boys in the Band takes place in the apartment of Michael, a witty and sharp-tongued host who throws a birthday party for his friend Harold. As the evening unfolds, a group of diverse gay friends gathers and the celebrations quickly become a rollercoaster of emotions, revealing hidden desires, unresolved conflicts, and the complexities of their individual journeys.

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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.

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