Stage Notes is a weekly aggregate post about theater, classical music and stage news, events, reviews and other pertinent information. Season announcements came in hot and heavy this week.
Stage Notes Calendar
Opening this week:
Stage West: The Importance of Being Earnest, today-Sept. 22.
Undermain Theatre: Athena, today-Sept. 29.
Fort Worth Fringe Fest 2024, Friday-Sunday at Arts Fort Worth.
Repertory Company Theatre: The Hound of the Baskervilles, Friday-Sept. 15.
Theatre off the Square: Cabaret, Friday-Sept. 22.
Hip Pocket Theatre: Big Love, Friday-Sept. 29, pictured.
Ballet Papillon: Breathless, 2:30 p.m. Saturday at the Latino Cultural Center.
Rover Dramawerks: One Day Only 30, Saturday at the Cox Playhouse.
Tres Artes: The Painter and the Poet, 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Latino Cultural Center.
Tim Murray: Witches, 7 p.m. Saturday, Dallas Comedy Club.
Casa Manana: Million Dollar Quartet, Saturday-Sept. 15.
Lamplight Theater Company: Beowulf: A Staged Reading, Sunday at Harvest House.
She DFW Arts Summer Theater Festival: For Bo, Tuesday, Sept. 13 and 15 at Lyric Stage Studios.
She DFW Arts Summer Theater Festival: The Martyr, Wednesday and Sept. 14 at Lyric Stage Studios.
Shakespeare Dallas: Julius Caesar, Wednesday-Oct. 13 at Samuel-Grand Amphitheater.
Onstage now:
NTPA Collegiate Pursuits: The Mystery of Edwin Drood, through Saturday at the Courtyard Theatre.
The Core: 12 Angry Jurors, through Sunday.
Richardson Theatre Centre: Nobody’s Perfect, through Sept. 15.
Upright Theatre: Sister Act, through Sept. 23.
Pocket Sandwich Theatre: Spider’s Web, through Sept. 28, pictured.
Sounds like major but not-great changes are ahead for WaterTower
In an email Friday, WaterTower Theatre wrote that changes are coming to The Addison Conference and Theatre Centre and inherently the theater itself. A recent study by the city proposed a plan that will slash WaterTower’s initiatives.
From WaterTower:
On May 28th, the Town of Addison received proposed plan from a firm in New England to increase programming at the theatre center. The changes in this plan carry a structural shift that severely cuts funding to WTT (40 percent less than previous seasons) along with directing WTT to completely vacate the offices, box office, props, costume, scene shop and other areas of the building starting October 1st of this year.
The hit to the theater came a week ago when the theater laid off its associate producer Elizabeth Kensek. The email went on to say that the Addison Conference Center and Theatre Center is still home to WaterTower. But the question is: at what cost?
Lindsey Wilson at CultureMap Dallas linked to the study with more on WaterTower’s status update.
Flamenco Fever launches the first ever Texas Flamenco Festival
Just in time for Hispanic Heritage Month, Oak Cliff nonprofit Flamenco Fever will present the Texas Flamenco Festival that will feature events through in October including three concerts and four workshops with artists christening the newly opened La Cantera Arts Conservatory. The new brick-and-mortar headquarters for Flamenco Fever is a 4,600-square-foot storefront that was transformed this summer into a dance studio and event space designed specifically for flamenco and other performing arts.
The mission of Flamenco Fever is to create and sustain a flamenco community in Dallas through educational activities and public performances, so residents of North Texas can learn, participate and enjoy the Latinx art and culture. Flamenco Fever brings the art form out of the theater and makes it accessible to diverse audiences, with almost 100 shows a year and subsidized classes and workshops. Learn more at FlamencoFever.org.
Festival events will happen throughout October but launch this Saturday, Sept. 7 with The Painter an the Poet by Tres Artes at the Latino Culture Center. Combining poetry, music, history and dance, telling the love story between Salvador Dali and Federico Garcia Lorca.
For a full schedule of events, click here.
Theatre Frisco reveals its 2025 season
A couple weeks ago, Theatre Frisco dropped its new season of shows for next year. The season will feature four shows with two musicals and two plays. TF kicks off its season right on Valentine’s Day. The company will close this year with Noises Off opening Nov. 8-24.
Here is the schedule:
Feb. 14-March 2: They’re Playing Our Song. Directed and choreographed by Andi Allen. Music direction by M. Shane Hurst.
May 2-18: The 39 Steps. Directed by Ashley Puckett Gonzales.
July 25-Aug. 10: Disaster! the Musical. Directed by Neale Whitmore. Music direction by Joey O’Reilly. Choreoraphy by Amy Cave.
Oct. 17-Nov. 2: Around the World in 80 Days. Directed by Mikey Abrams.
Tickets are available here.
Texas Ballet Theater opens its new season with its own rendition of Cinderella
Texas Ballet Theater (TBT) will launch its 2024-25 season with Cinderella, choreographed by its acclaimed Artistic Director Laureate, Ben Stevenson, O.B.E. This fairy-tale ballet will open at the Winspear on Sept. 13-15, and then at the Bass Performance Hall from Sept. 20-22.
Stevenson’s adaptation includes the essential elements of the fairytale alongside high-level ballet technique. Set to the score by Sergey Prokofiev, this ballet features intricate dance sequences, opulent costumes and sets that transport to a realm where fairy godmothers and glass slippers reign supreme.
“Watching Ben work with and coach the dancers in the studio is a true pleasure. His sense of comedic timing is priceless and adds so much to the story of Cinderella,” Artistic Director Tim O’Keefe said in a press release.
Cinderella is suitable for all audiences. Tickets are available here.
–Rich Lopez