WHAT WE WERE

Presented by Circle Theatre
Runs through 10/19/2019

Circle Theatre’s production of What We Were presents a riveting and intense dysfunctional family tragedy. Set mostly in East Texas, and spanning an over thirty-year time period, the play examines life-defining betrayal, pernicious denial, wounds that cannot heal, and the ripple effects of grotesque injustice.

The play opens playfully enough, with a Dynasty-inspired game of dress-up by three sisters: six-year old Tessa (Jenny Ledel), eleven-year old Nell (Jessica D. Turner), and thirteen-year old Carlin (Lydia Mackay). Nell and Carlin wear hilarious makeshift ball gowns adorned with garish oversized bows, as they furiously debate which one is Alexis. Ledel adroitly displays the nimble physicality of a six-year old.

These girls are stamped with childish femininity. The pink room is described as “it looks like a Bubblelicious wrapper in here.” The set is perfectly, ...

TWO BY BECKETT - FOOTFALLS & NOT I

Presented by WingSpan Theatre
Runs through 10/19/2019

At the beginning of the Two By Beckett theater experience—and it is quite an experience--the audience is enveloped in greyish and subdued lighting and dramatic, eerie string music. In the intimate Bath House Cultural Center space, the mood is appropriately set.

Pitch darkness descends. We hear a church bell, and May (Jennifer Kuenzer), perhaps also Amy, enters. She is hugging herself, as if in constant need of self-protection. The position of her arms also might suggest a straight jacket, or even being laid to rest. Symbolically, she performs the entirety of Footfalls in this position, pacing back and forth, forward and back, at times.

May’s costume is perfectly in sync with the set, lighting, and subject matter. Kuenzer is adorned with tattered greyish layers—a ratty shawl over a long dress, with the ...

IN THE HEIGHTS

Presented by Dallas Theater Center
Runs through 10/20/2019

Place: One block of Washington Heights, Manhattan. Time: July 3rd through 5th.

Within the confines of that one block and that time frame is an explosion of sass, love, loss, and dreams provided to us by the Dallas Theater Center’s Production of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s joyous musical “In the Heights.” I can’t remember the last time I left a theater feeling so happy and hopeful. And it is a testament to the cast and crew of the play that those feelings are still with me. It is a powerful production.

Scenic Designer Dahlia Al-Habieli takes us to our block in Washington Heights with stunning detail. It is a wonderful multi-level set with real-looking, time-worn apartment buildings and businesses, and in the middle of it all is the bodega run by Usnavi (Xavier Cano). ...

CHEMICAL IMBALANCE

Presented by Rover Dramawerks
Runs through 10/26/2019

If you are looking to get into the spooky spirit this season with a classic dark tale, while at the same time enjoy a satisfying sinister comedy, dash on over to Rover Dramawerks for their production of Chemical Imbalance.

Chemical Imbalance is a dark comedic adaptation of Robert Louis Stephenson’s gothic classic, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. It is quite refreshing that a story first published in 1886, initially taken as a serious frightening story, has been seamlessly transformed into a clever comedy.

This being my first visit to Rover Dramawerks, I was surprised, yet delighted to enter the theater and see a non-traditional stage. The playing space was intimate, and the seating was that of an L shape. With an open seating policy, I suggest arriving early to ...

A LOVE OFFERING

Presented by Kitchen Dog Theater
Runs through 10/27/2019

Kitchen Dog Theatre launched its 29th season with this world premiere of Jonathan Norton’s play. Kitchen Dog has a wonderful performance space, and their productions can be counted upon to be challenging, thought-provoking pieces that are well-staged and acted. The playwright has a storied set of accolades to his name, and is currently playwright-in-residence for Dallas Theatre Center.

“a love offering” takes place in an assisted living facility, and from the moment one walks into the theatre, you believe you are in that space. The set design by Clare Floyd DeVries is exceptional in both its utility and evocation of nursing home living. The prop design by Cyndy Ernst Godinez was the perfect complement, hitting all the right notes, from a sanitizing gel dispenser on the wall to the adult diapers ...

DRACULA

Presented by Theatre Three
Runs through 10/27/2019

Dracula was published by Bram Stoker in 1897, yet it excites the imagination still. Story versions are many, yet the novel is still listed as the best of gothic horror stories.

There’s a ream of research about how this story originated and what it meant, but Stoker himself left no clues. At its most basic, it's a story of good versus evil with multinational chases and swashbuckling action in dark castles and an asylum. And, of course, blood. But the basic questions persist.

What drove the Count to madness? How did he come to be a vampire? What were the complications that created him? In a more modern genre, are people born evil or is evil thrust upon them?

These questions are also addressed in Dracula, a new version by Michael Federico, in collaboration ...

THE WILD PARTY

Presented by Bishop Arts Theatre Center
Runs through 10/27/2019

THE WILD PARTY by Andrew Lippa appeared off-Broadway, coincidentally, at the same time as another production with the same name and source material and which starred Mandy Patinkin and Eartha Kitt.. Both shows are loosely based on a 1928 narrative poem by Joseph Moncure March by the same title . March was best known for this sexually charged Jazz Age poem, along with another, THE SETUP. He later went on to Hollywood where he worked as a screenwriter until 1940. Lippa’s musical version had originally opened at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center in 1997 as a workshop, and with Kristin Chenoweth in the role of Mae. It hen had an off-Broadway run, opening February 24, 2000 at the Manhattan Theatre in New York, where it ...

WEST SIDE STORY

Presented by Stolen Shakespeare Guild
Runs through 10/27/2019

West Side Story is a classic tale of star-crossed lovers in fair New York City where we lay our scene. The time period is mid 1950’s and New York is in the midst of a migration of Puerto Rican Immigrants. Two rival gangs have formed amongst them; the white American’s “Jets” and the Puerto Rican “Sharks”. The show begins with a turf war between the two.

When I first arrived at the Fort Worth Community Arts Center, I was a little frazzled. I was 20 minutes early to the venue, but the parking lot was packed as there were 2 events going on that day. After I followed the cars to a parking garage and paid for parking, I began walking toward the theatre and ended up entering the backstage area. ...