You can see the full lineup and read about the shows here, and below, Dallas Theater Center Artistic Director Kevin Moriarty walks us through the next season via a slick-ish video. The highlights: new plays, lots of collaborations, and King Lear:

- “Dallas Chicago Style” – “The Second City Does Dallas” opens the season with satire, songs and improv written about Dallas by the legendary Chicago improv troupe, collaborating with DTC acting company members.

- The DTC’s four-year Shakespeare cycle concludes with King ..read more

As Glenn Hunter noted on FrontBurner yesterday afternoon, after just nine months, the AT&T Performing Arts Center CEO Mark Weinstein has resigned from the arts organization’s top job, citing “family issues.”

Weinstein now becomes the second CEO in the ATTPAC’s short history to resign abruptly after a short tenure. The announcement raises questions, then, about the health and status of the organization, which manages the new Winspear Opera House and Wyly Theater. When he was brought in May 2010, Weinstein, who ..read more

It may be March, but these 80-degree days have us feeling like it’s August…August: Osage County, to be exact.

Cue today’s giveaway: two tickets to see the above-mentioned play, running March 30-April 22 at WaterTower Theatre (ice cold lemonade not included). Need more info? The SparkNote version from WaterTower’s site goes like this:

“August: Osage County is a gripping play that tells the story of the Westons, a large extended clan that comes together at their rural Oklahoma homestead when the alcoholic patriarch ..read more

The stories that make up Eric Steele’s The Midwest Trilogy are threaded together by setting and staging, the three-part tale told in film and theater in Bryant Hall on the Kalita Humphreys campus. The black box has undergone an amazing transformation from theater to soulless hotel conference room. The nondescript room, wall-to-wall carpet adorned with metal, straight-back chairs and a short, elevated stage area, underlies the Trilogy’s conceit: that good, wholesome folks from Iowa and Kansas are interesting because, at ..read more

Question: Which one of these is not like the other? Laughter, depression, Top Gun, dysfunction, a carnivorous cat.

Answer: It was a trick question, because they’re all elements of Kim Rosenstock’s quirky-charming play Tigers Be Still, which opened at the Dallas Theater Center at the beginning of this month and runs through May 13th.

Our own Liz Johnstone checked out Tigers earlier this month and described it like this: “At its strongest, Tigers is a testament to the old saying that if ..read more

Before Joey the horse was a star in an Oscar-nominated film, he was the magnificent puppet at the center of the lauded Broadway production of War Horse. That show will now travel to the Winspear Opera House this September as part of the Lexus Broadway Series’ 2012-2013 season.

The next season at the Winspear brings a number of touted-musicals to the Dallas stage, including Fela!, which took three Tony’s in 2010, and Anything Goes, the Roundabout ..read more

There is a certain dive bar hominess crusty local coffee shops possess that the big name chains cannot touch. That’s the down-and-out feel Theatre Three goes for in their poignant and powerful production of Tracy Letts’ Superior Donuts, about a donut shop in the Uptown neighborhood of Chicago and its broken down “old hippie” proprietor, Arthur Przybyszewski (Van Quattro).

The play, by the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright of  August: Osage County, opens — and remains – in said shop (beautifully appointed and rendered ..read more

“How could such things happen to a God-loving man?” asks the main character in Jonathan Kravetz’s psycho-religious drama, Prayer. It’s a question that becomes the heart of Nouveau 47 Theatre’s gray, yet striking take on sci-fi persecution.

The play is set 100 years in the future, and Jacob Bergson (Randy Pearlman) is a meek stationary shop owner in District 58. The theocratic government is accusing him of being Dr. Frederick Hawks, the author of the provocative “Believer’s Diary.” They throw Bergson into ..read more

Remember last month when I sang the creative praises of composer/lyricist Lin-Manuel Miranda and choreographer Andy Blankenbuehler for Bring It On: The Musical? Long before they sent cheerleaders flying across the country, the two men teamed up for a scrappy, hip-hop-infused musical about Manhattan’s colorful Washington Heights neighborhood. The result, In The Heights, won a boatload of awards in 2008 and was even nominated for a Pulitzer in 2009. Now its lyrically tongue-twisting score and sizzling dance numbers are in ..read more

Not horribly long after I’d graduated from an expensive private university and despaired of ever finding a job or being a real adult, I interned at the Roundabout Theatre Company. While I was there, the company produced a new play by a young writer named Kim Rosenstock called Tigers Be Still, in their underground space. I saw it twice.

Rosenstock’s play is quirky without descending into shtick, and the character of Sherry Wickman, with her too-bright smile and the darkness threatening to close ..read more

Washington Heights: a piece of Manhattan where the coffee is sweet, the windows stay open, and everything is set to the rhythms of salsa and hip-hop. That’s where we’re taking you this spring break. Or at least that’s where our tickets are taking you if you enter today’s giveaway by 3:00 pm. We’ve got two to give away to Tony Award winning musical In the Heights, opening tonight at Winspear Opera House.

The show runs through March 25th, and tells the story ..read more

The TITAS Gala, La Fete du Ballet has always been one of the greatest evenings of ballet in Dallas each year, and so it remained tonight after the endless flow of pre-performance speeches were tactfully stretched out allowing the tardy arrivals of well-groomed dance patrons to proceed to their seats in the Winspear. Eventually, the almost full house was settled and the curtain went up, heralding an evening of great classical and stunning contemporary ballet pas de deuxs.

Megan Fairchild and ..read more

It was near the end of act two in Diana Sheehan’s cabaret performance at Out Of The Loop Festival this past Sunday, when I noticed something startlingly familiar about a particular torch song. During her rendition of the 1936 standard, “These Foolish Things,” I realized that the melody was a bit too similar to another love-scarred ballad that came a couple of decades later, entitled “Confidential,” which was written by Dorinda Morgan in 1956.

“Confidential” was first made a hit by Sonny ..read more

“My mom would looooooove this show!” crooned my seatmate. I see her point: My parents are huge fans of Jersey Boys, Mamma Mia!, and Buddy—The Buddy Holly Story. Truth be told, so am I. As far as jukebox musicals go, these are the golden standard: shows that cull from a catalogue of hits designed to evoke feelings of nostalgia yet still possessive of storylines that are coherent, entertaining, and at least mildly intriguing. Million Dollar Quartet, a fictionalized retelling of ..read more

Young Frankenstein is coming to life at Bass Hall on March 14th at 7:30 pm. Thanks to us, you’ll be there when he does.

The production is based on the Oscar-nominated 1974 film by the same name, and tells the tale of an esteemed New York brain surgeon named Frederick Frankenstein who inherits a castle and creepy old laboratory in Transylvania from his deranged grandfather. With a musical score that includes a number titled “He Vas My Boyfriend,” we’re sure the ..read more

Diana Sheehan’s cabaret act, performed in the small space of the Stone Cottage Theatre (with just a few cabaret tables at the front for atmosphere, which is a tad underwhelming), is a near-perfect selection of songs that illustrate the double-edged sword of a midlife crisis. Animated and emotive, Sheehan plays the part of a woman on the verge well. The first act is all about discovery; the second, a reflection on regrets and things that have been lost along the road ..read more

Somewhere in the second act of Canadian writer Guillermo Verdecchia’s autobiographical one-man show, there’s a line about how “el teatro” is full of gringos. It’s true—at this particular performance, almost every face in the Stone Cottage, where Fronteras Americanas will run through next week, was white. We’d been hyperaware of that fact since the second David Wilson-Brown strutted out and started speaking to us in heavily accented English peppered with crude, untranslated border Spanish (the second language worked especially well ..read more

You may have missed the opening day of Rent at Casa Mañana on March 3rd. Luckily, we’ve got a pair of tickets up for grabs that are good for tomorrow’s 7:30 pm show.

If you’re familiar with the Tony Award winning musical, you’re probably singing “Seasons of Love” right now. If you’re not, here’s the Spark Note edition: the artsy people of New York City’s East Village struggle; learn to survive; fall in love; find their voices; and sing, sing, sing. No ..read more

Over the weekend, the Out of the Loop Fringe Festival kicked off at Addison’s WaterTower Theatre. FrontRow’s Lance Lusk and Liz Johnstone have reviews of many of the offerings. The festival continues through this coming weekend. Check out the reviews below to find out which productions you should hit.

Image: From QLive!’s ‘Sweet Eros’

REVIEWS:

Audacity Theatre Lab: Raspberry Fizz (Repeats Mar 6 & 7, 7:30 p.m., Mar 9, 8 p.m.)

Greyman Theatre Company ‘Waking Up’ (Repeats Mar 6 & 8, 7:30 p.m.; Mar 10 ..read more

Comedy is not all funny jokes and sitcom deals. The vast bulk of working, on the road comedians lead unstable, often bitter, and sometimes utterly depressing lives. Haven Productions explores this dark underbelly of the profession in their blazing good production of Thomas Ward’s International Falls at Water Tower Theatre’s Out of the Loop Fringe Festival.

Bradley Jones directs this engrossing two-actor peek into the lives of a “burned-out standup comedian and a hotel desk clerk.” Tim (Ward) and Dee (Sherry ..read more

Take two of the best actors in North Texas, put them in a fresh play by a local playwright, and give them a director (Andy Baldwin) who knows how to craft and elicit amazing performances, and you got something. It seems like a simple formula, but it is one too often overlooked in a lot of plays. Audacity Theatre Lab provides that straightforward prescription in their delightful and rousing production of Brad McEntire’s Raspberry Fizz at Water Tower Theatre’s Out of ..read more

With whom we share our beds says a lot about us. Although, it is not usually a drama we put on display with large audiences, but it makes for an interesting thought exercise to explore the dynamics of what happens “before and after we sleep.” Greyman Theatre Company presents an earnest yet uneven world premiere of Kelsey Ervi’s Waking Up at Water Tower Theatre’s Out of the Loop Fringe Festival.

Emily Christine Smith directs a four actor cast portraying eleven different ..read more

“There comes a day when what’s right is what you want to do,” intones The Young Man in Terrence McNally’s short and disturbing play, Sweet Eros. QLive! maintains the dubious (some might say disgusting) darkness of the original in their intense-as-Hell production at Water Tower Theatre’s Out of the Loop Fringe Festival.

The play opens on a sparse Stone Cottage stage that is quite dim save some lighted candles and a subdued spot on a bound, blindfolded, and gagged young woman ..read more

One can learn a lot trapped in the front seat of a car with another person.  At least that is the nifty conceit in Neil LaBute’s passel of short plays, Autobahn.  Heavenly Muse Players presents a smart, studied take on these interior explorations at Water Tower Theatre’s Out of the Loop Fringe Festival.

A polarizing film director (In the Company of Men), screenwriter, and playwright (The Shape of Things), LaBute (modern visionary vs. misanthropic misogynist) looks at five different relationships taking ..read more

If you’re not already a fan of the books, or the movies, you won’t have a clue what’s going on in Charlie Ross’ One-Man Lord of the Rings act. Based on the films, he moves speedily through over 11 hours of footage. But it’s a fast, fun trip for anyone nostalgic for the days when these movies meant everything.

For me, they did. I’d loved J.R.R. Tolkien’s books since I read them all for the first time in the third grade. My best friend, who I had drifted apart from by the time Peter Jackson was making the movies, loved the books too. Obsessing over the films, waiting for them to come out, and analyzing every little detail filled me with a purpose I badly needed. The Lord of the Rings was my constant companion. I wanted to live in that world, where honor and valor meant everything and friendship meant staying, no matter what. And okay, yes, I also wanted to live in a world where every guy looked like Orlando Bloom. Sue me.

During Thursday’s opening performance, Ross had a few bits of mic trouble that broke up his rhythm, but I’m assuming that’s all worked out. He’s an engaging, physical performer, alone on the stage in a dark jumpsuit and those hideous frog shoes, armed with nothing except a near-perfect recall and a talent for vocal impersonation (his Gollum is great, almost like Andy Serkis was there).

When all this started in 2004, Ross, for all intents and purposes, was just a dork with a dream. His kindness shows in the gentle ribbing he inserts within the context of the story, observational jokes that will feel sound familiar because you’ve probably made or read some variation of them over the years (“How can this be? Artistic license. That’s why we have all Liv Tyler and no Tom Bombadil,” he says at one point, addressing a major complaint). It’s a hybrid of straight storytelling and parody born of deep caring.

This show made me happy, and I can’t say that about most of the things I see. Don’t go, if you already don’t love the source material. But if you do, or if you ever did, One-Man is a wonderful reminder of how good we had it, right up until the final false ending.