Season Announcement

Addison's WaterTower Theatre schedules a show for each season in 2024-25

WaterTower Theatre presents The Play That Goes Wrong

The Play That Goes Wrong is returning.

Photo by Evan Michael Woods

For its 29th year, WaterTower Theatre in Addison is promising "a story for every season" and, as such, has not provided actual performance dates.

The 2024-25 season is the fifth programmed by producing artistic director Shane Peterman and associate producer Elizabeth Kensek.

Fall begins with Jane Wagner’s ever-timely and iconic one-woman show The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe.

Under the guidance of the narrator, a role originated by Lily Tomlin, the audience is treated to a mischievously clever observer of the society around her. The play, directed by Ashley Puckett Gonzales, examines American society, art, and human connectivity and explores the feminist movement.

Winter brings the return of WTT's smash hit The Play That Goes Wrong, co-produced with Stage West in Fort Worth.

The regional premiere of Henry Lewis, Henry Shields, and Jonathan Sayer's comedy had a completely sold-out run at WTT two seasons ago. Harry B. Parker returns to direct.

Welcome to opening night of The Murder at Haversham Manor, where things are quickly going from bad to utterly disastrous. With an unconscious leading lady, a corpse that can’t play dead, and actors who trip over everything (including their lines), this hilarious hybrid of Monty Python and Sherlock Holmes was a hit on Broadway.

Blanche du Bois arrives with the spring, in Tennessee Williams' American classic A Streetcar Named Desire, directed by Terry Martin.

After losing her Mississippi home to creditors, Blanche du Bois relocates to the New Orleans home of her younger sister and brother-in-law, Stella and Stanley Kowalski. Undermined by romantic illusions, Blanche is unable to cope with life's harsh realities. Though she finds a glimmer of hope while connecting with Stanley's gentlemanly friend, Mitch, Blanche cannot face the truth of her own troubled past and ultimately descends into madness.

Summer closes the season with School of Rock, based on the Paramount movie by Mike White.

The Andrew Lloyd Webber musical (yes, really) follows Dewey Finn, a failed, wannabe rock star who decides to earn a few extra bucks by posing as a substitute teacher at a prestigious prep school. There he turns a class of straight-A pupils into a guitar-shredding, bass-slapping, mind-blowing rock band. But can he get them to the Battle of the Bands without their parents and the school’s headmistress finding out?

With a book by Julian Fellowes and lyrics by Glenn Slater, WTT's production will be directed by JC Schuster with associate direction/choreography by Alli Betsill and music direction by Cody Dry.

"As we enter our 29th season at WaterTower Theatre, what may be described as our summer or 'high' season, we are humbled by the opportunity to share stories of humanity that shed light on every season of life," says Peterman. "I am pleased to bring to you another beautiful series of stories that I hope will inspire and entertain you while highlighting the beautiful professional theater makers and artists here in North Texas. Indeed, a story for every season and every person.”

Season tickets are on sale now, and prices increase beginning June 1, 2024. New or renewed season tickets are available for purchase by visiting www.watertowertheatre.org, calling 972-450-6232, or emailing boxoffice@watertowertheatre.org.

Single tickets will go on sale for non-subscribers late summer 2024.

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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.

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