Ten Years of Tales: BooTown Celebrates 100 Grown-up Storytimes
The first time I experienced Houston’s BooTown and their now-famous Grown-up Storytime was in the spring of 2008.
Theater
Primed for Growth: Is Dallas the Country’s Next Hub for New Plays?
What is theater that doesn’t reflect contemporary realities? What kind of life can theatrical storytelling have if it doesn’t exist within the world it’s born into?
My Mañana Comes: Responding to Times of Crisis
As the nation’s fourth largest city, Houston is home to more than 2.1 million people (over 5 million in the metro area). The city’s Latina/o residents comprise roughly 41 percent of the population. As I have detailed before (See: “Excluding Latina/o Stories in Tejas”), Houston’s arts scene has seen a major boom in capital projects, funding, and national exposure.
Acting in Texas: James Belcher
I've had the great privilege to see James Belcher on many a Houston stage. Right now, he's entrancing audiences in August Strindberg's The Ghost Sonata, through Feb. 26 at Classical Theatre, where he is a member of the resident company.
Houston’s Landing Company finds a home at the Docks
Like its hometown, the Landing Theatre was born on the banks of Buffalo Bayou and its meandering, ebbing and flowing evolution has turned the company into an eclectic, yet distinctly American theatrical entity.
Austin’s Zach Theatre continues the LBJ Saga with The Great Society
When Dave Steakley, producing artistic director of The Zach in Austin, decided to stage the first of two Robert Schenkkan plays about the presidency of Lyndon Baines Johnson, he thought it might have special meaning to Texans. After all, Johnson was a Texan from the day he was born till the day he died, and he made sure the entire world knew it.
Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time electrifies on stage
A large dead dog lies motionless on stage, a garden fork skewered into it’s side. That’s the sight theatergoers see immediately upon taking their seats to witness the first national tour of the wonderfully strange and heartfelt The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, now playing at the AT&T Performing Arts Center in Dallas—through Jan 22—before moving south to Houston's Hobby Center Jan. 24-29.
Dangerous Journey Through Childhood: National Theatre of Scotland’s Let The Right One In Comes to Texas
Depicting the everyday wonders and occasional psychological horrors of childhood and adolescence on stage and screen is something of a specialty for British writer Jack Thorne. In fact, his latest theatrical exploration of those painful growing years is the obscure little play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.
Highs and Lows: Gloria at DTC
Satomi Blair and Drew Wall in Gloria. Photo by Karen Almond. In keeping with the law of averages,...
Housing the Drama: An Update on Dallas Theater Spaces
Experimental plays and intimate dramas set in homes typically belong in black box theaters. The nuance and detail of these productions cannot be captured in larger theaters.
Meditation on Murder: Murder For Two at Stage West
Murder for Two, a not-so-usual murder mystery musical comedy at Stage West Theatre in Fort Worth through Dec. 18 asks a lot of its actors.
Theater in the Raw: Mara Richards Bim at Cry Havoc Theater Company
When Mara Richards Bim landed back in Texas, she wanted to offer young people something she felt her adolescence had lacked: Edgy, raw theater making. And thus, Cry Havoc Theater Company was born.