Stage Notes: Review of TCTP's 'Virginia Woolf;' Meow Wolf reveals a new theater experience

Meow Wolf Grapevine will debut Phenomenomaly, a first-of-its-kind, full-scale performance series running Fridays-Sundays from Nov. 15 to Jan. 4 inside The Real Unreal. The event transforms exhibition into a living, breathing world of music, theater, dance and art in motion. Guests will explore while live actors, dancers, musicians, and giant puppets bring the story to life through spontaneous, interactive performances inspired by the mysterious migration of the Flickerwerm: a Meow Wolf creature whose arrival has set extraordinary events in motion across the worlds of The Real Unreal.

Performers move through the exhibition in real time, inviting guests to interact and join in active scenes. Each show repeats across the afternoon, so all ages can step into the story from anywhere in the exhibition.

“Phenomenomaly invites our guests to become part of a story as it unfolds live,” Jamie Weaver-Garia, General Manager of Meow Wolf Grapevine, said in the press release. “You explore, you play, and you meet a cast of strange and friendly characters who bring this place to life. It’s a new chapter for The Real Unreal and an unforgettable way to experience Meow Wolf during the holidays.”

Access is included with exhibition admission to The Real Unreal.

Each weekend will feature performances from local artists and ensembles, offering guests a fresh lineup of talent every visit. Among those scheduled to perform include the Fort Worth Opera, House of Garcon- Gulf Coast Chapter and Prism Movement Theater.

Tickets and schedule information are available at MeowWolf.com/Phenomenomaly.

North Texas Performing Arts launches NTPA Musical Theatre Orchestra

Earlier this week, North Texas Performing Arts (NTPA) announced the creation of the NTPA Musical Theatre Orchestra which expands the organization’s performance opportunities for youth and adults across the region.

Under the leadership of Senior Music Director and new Artistic Director, Preston Page, this program will give student and professional musicians the opportunity to perform side-by-side in live musical theater productions.

“Learning to perform alongside live musicians remains an essential part of a comprehensive artistic education in musical theatre,” Page said in the announcement. “Our audition-based program is perfect for capable musicians interested in gaining the unique experience of performing in a musical theatre pit, networking with professionals, and expanding their artistic abilities.”

The NTPA Musical Theatre Orchestra will debut in NTPA Repertory Theatre’s production of The Rocky Horror Show, which opens Oct. 24 and runs through Nov. 2 at the Rodenbaugh Theatre, Willow Bend Center of the Arts.

Interested musicians can apply to join the NTPA Musical Theatre Orchestra by completing this audition form.

Review: TCTP’s ‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf’ mixes the heavy drama with some unexpected whimsy

Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? will always be an unsettling exploration of marriage, judgment and the games people play simply out of spite or revenge. Even today, despite its vintage setting, Albee’s masterpiece hasn’t faded or aged in its efficacy and its fury. The Classics Theatre Project brought the show’s volatile dynamics between older and younger; male and female to life in its current production now running. Somehow though, under T.J. Walsh’s direction, this cast pumped up the show’s understated humor that added levity and balance.

The show opened Oct. 3 and on its second night, the cast felt fully attuned to the dialogue and characterizations of Albee’s work. The story relies on relentless sparring and wit where this cast of four stuck their landings on their characters defense mechanisms and their gradual unraveling.

Virginia Woolf centers on two couples, the elder George and Martha who return from a party with harmless bickering. But at 2 a.m. they have company coming. George’s university colleague and younger professor Nick with his wallflower wife Honey. Soaked in whiskey and gin, truths, epiphanies and emotions come out with a vengeance.

Nick and Honey were clearly catalysts to the drama (if not the liquor) but also mirrors to their elders. Perhaps seeing what they could become, actors John Cameron Potts and Devon Rose shifted from polite guests to potent and destructive. Nick was perpetually being tested and Potts’ tension was felt throughout his posture and face. In contrast, Devon Rose’s Honey was drowned in brandy and Rose’s drunken performance was equally dizzying through her slurred words and slacked body. Potts’ passion and Rose’s passivity served their roles to full effect as Nick and Honey’s fresh naivete was no match for their hosts.

As George and Martha, Terry Martin and Diane Box-Worman superbly conveyed the twisted affection that’s bound the two for decades. Their ability to shift from cutting sarcasm to poignant vulnerability felt innate and natural – which was also slightly scary.

What I loved about these two though was their injection of humor into the material, mostly in the first of its three acts. The mood and story were certainly lighter, but their deliveries garnered many deserved laughs which gave a refreshing sheen to the usually weighty show.

No lie, the lengthy and relentless savagery by the four characters became exhaustive even in clever dialogue and performances, but that’s also what to expect from this show. Just a fair warning as you enter the third act.

The show never achieved to note the passage of time as the drama unfolded from late night to dawn save for a mention in the script. Although the setting was entirely in George and Martha’s disheveled, book heavy home, lighting was consistent which took away from reflecting both the late, desolate hour and the unsettling vibes. The direction felt organic in service to the material but I found myself perplexed by the amount of action that took place on the floor which leaned toward the melodramatic and often hid actors’ faces.

But TCTP’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? did Albee a solid on its first Saturday night. Straightforward and respectable, Walsh and his cast brought – or perhaps reminded – these characters to the stage with powerful clarity and conviction and potentially cirrhosis with the amount of liquor going down these characters.

The show runs through Oct. 24 at the Stone Cottage.

–Rich Lopez

Stage Notes: Review of TCTP’s ‘Virginia Woolf;’ Meow Wolf reveals a new theater experience

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