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:
Second Thought Theatre: Wink, opened Wednesday-July 13.
Turtle Creek Chorale, I, Too, Sing in America, today and Friday at the Meyerson.
NTPA Repertory Theater: Mary Poppins, today-July 3.
Rockwall Summer Musicals: South Pacific, Friday-July 7.
Allen Contemporary Theatre: Disaster! The Musical, Friday-July 14, pictured.
SheDFW: Dallas Debuts presents Pitbull stage reading, 5:30 p.m. Sundat at Talking Animal Books.
Onstage now:
Artisan Center Theater: Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story, through Saturday.
Family Music Theatre: Disney’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame, through Saturday at New Vida Center.
Soul Rep Theatre: Thunder Knocking on the Door, through Saturday at the Undermain Theatre.
Broadway Dallas: Hairspray, through Sunday.
Jubilee Theater: Thoughts of a Colored Man, through Sunday.
Repertory Company Theatre: Cats, through Sunday at the Courtyard Theater.
Teatro Dallas: Entre Paginas, Sunday at the Latino Cultural Center.
Circle Theatre: Hundred Days, through July 6.
Art Centre Theatre: Annie Get Your Gun, Friday-July 7.
Firehouse Theatre: Disney’s Aladdin (dual language edition), through July 7.
Hip Pocket Theatre: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, through July 7.
Lewisville Playhouse: Little Shop of Horrors, through July 7.
The Core: Poodles, Postmen and Pastrami, Friday-July 14.
Theatre Three: Pirates of Penzance, through- July 14.
Shakespeare Dallas:The Odyssey by Mary Zimmerman, through July 19 at Samuel-Grand Amphitheater.
Shakespeare Dallas: Twelfth Night, through July 21 at Samuel-Grand Amphitheater, pictured.
Actor, director talks inspiration behind the new queer play by Prism Theatre Movement
As part of the Elevator Project, Prism Theatre Movement will premiere the play La Maupin: The French Abomination. The show is based on the true story of Julie D’Aubigny, the bisexual duelist and opera singer famous for dueling men and wooing women.The show will open July 11-13 at Hamon Hall as part of the Elevator Project and at the Latino Cultural Center from July 24-Aug. 3.
From Prism:
La Maupin is a tale of love and tragedy set in 17th century France but wrapped up in a high-octane punk rock meets Vanity Fair package.
Through a beautiful mix of sword fighting and dance, the show details her journey to find happiness as a queer woman way ahead of her time. The show details her almost too incredible-to-believe exploits (like the time she burned down a nunnery to escape with her lover, or the time she fought 3 men at once- and won!)
Kelsey Milbourn wrote the show that they also star in and direct. According to Prism, the show explores intersections of gender, queer culture, historical duelling mixed with punk rock vibes. The cast underwent intense boot camp traning for the show’s sword fights.
Last week, the artist dropped a video talking about the inspiration behind the show.
Watch the video below:
Theatre Arlington to host wine tasting benefit
TA announced Thursday that it will host a different kind of production in July. On July 20, TA’s Theatre Barlington and TA’s wine representative Candice (just Candice) will host a wine tasting in the theater’s lobby. The curated wine tasting will include heavy appetizers and dessert.
Proceeds from the event all go toward the theater. Single reservations are $50 and can be purchased here.
She DFW collective announces its inaugural theater festival
SheDFW Arts has announced its selected shows for the first-ever SheDFW Theater Festival. The four selected shows are all written by women, trans and nonbinary writers, and were chosen through a months-long selection process. The Festival will run Sept. 10-15 at Lyric Stage in Dallas.
The 2024 SheDFW Theater Festival will present three new full-length plays: For Bo by Ayvaunn Penn, The Martyr by Leo Rodriguez and Under the Jello Mold by Jennie Fahn.
Included in the festival will also be the original musical, Olivia O, The Musical with book and lyrics by Jessica Carmona and Diane Currie Sam, and music and lyrics by Gil Yaron and Angela Ortiz.
“These shows are perfect for our inaugural festival in Dallas-Fort Worth, because they represent the vast diversity of talent we have here in Texas,” SheDFW Executive Producer Sarah Powell said in a press release. “We’re so excited to get these women-led productions on stage with Texas artists this summer.”
SheDFW Arts is a collaboration between SheNYC Arts, an organization that works to advance the careers of gender-marginalized playwrights and composers, and MusicalWriters.com, which will sponsor and produce the musical production in the festival.
“Olivia O is a remarkable new musical about one of the most important topics of our time, the migrant crisis, and it takes place here in Texas,” Rebecca Lowrey, CEO of MusicalWriters.com mentioned in the release. “I can’t wait to share this incredible story and stunning, uplifting score with Dallas audiences this September.”
Tickets will go on sale on July 10, with the performance schedule to be announced. Select performances will be filmed and streamed online for digital performances.
On Thursday, SheDFW posted its casting call for the festival productions.
From Facebook:
Want to be an actor in the amazing shows we’ve announced?? We are accepting audition submissions NOW! Want to know how to apply?
1. Read the show summaries and character descriptions at www.shenycarts.org/shedfw
2. Fill out our Google form and share your resume and headshot with us
3. Submit a video link via the form for Olivia O and The Martyr
4. If you want to audition for For Bo, let us know your availability on July 13-14 via the form and our director will reach out with live audition time.
Learn more about each show here.
–Rich Lopez