The Five Best Places to See a Play in Dallas

Outside of Dallas, too many people think there’s no great theater happening inside of Dallas. We know better. Besides the giant venues with the name of a telecommunications giant attached to them, there are a bunch of more interesting, smaller playhouses where local actors, directors and playwrights are putting new…

Is the Amazing Johnathan Still Amazing When He’s Not in Las Vegas?

Magician/comedian The Amazing Johnathan comes from the magical land Las Vegas, where families’ college funds mysteriously disappear, and those with $10 in their pocket can consume more barbeque ribs than science allows. He got his start performing for spare change on street corners. Later, he joined the comedy clubs ranks…

Theatre Three’s Version of Sondheim’s Assassins Is Right on Target

It does feel weird to applaud after John Wilkes Booth sings about shooting President Lincoln in the opening scene of Assassins, the 1990 Stephen Sondheim/John Weidman musical now playing at Theatre Three. But damn, actor Gregory Lush is so matinee-idol handsome as Booth, and his performance of “The Ballad of…

Kitchen Dog Theater in High Gear for Dark Comedy Detroit

There’s hardly anything more enjoyable in live theater in this town than watching Kitchen Dog’s leading lady Tina Parker perform an onstage emotional meltdown. In her latest role, co-starring in Lisa D’Amour’s dark comedy Detroit, Parker is in maximum meltdown mode playing Mary, a nervous paralegal married to gangly laid-off…

The Sound of Fannie Takes Some Hard Swipes at Gooey Musicals

Two things could happen for Jeff Swearingen at his low-budget Fun House Theatre in Plano. He’ll either get one of those MacArthur “genius grants” for his innovative and boldly un-P.C. approach to children’s theater or the parents of Plano will form an angry mob wielding torches and pitchforks and run…

Austin’s Funniest Comic, Mac Blake, Performs Tonight at Texas Theatre

Austin’s comedy scene has become a big conversation. Unconventional venues have sprung up across the city, improv classes are a standard activity for young adults and events like Moontower Comedy Festival pair big names (Maria Bamford, Anthony Jeselnik, Reggie Watts, and Amy Schumer) with the best in upcoming stand-up, sketch…

Dallas Theater Center Does Right by Classic Drama A Raisin in the Sun

As a big, important American classic, Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun deserves every bit of the respect and care it’s getting in Dallas Theater Center’s latest staging (the third in the company’s history) at the Wyly Theatre. What a beautiful production, every moment crafted for maximum impact. An…

Comedy Central’s Up Next Talent Search This Sunday

Comedy Central is always on the lookout for the next big comedy star, and to speed up their search, they’re hosting a nationwide talent contest this fall. The Comedy Central Up Next Talent Search kicks off with the preliminary rounds, hosted by 26 participating certified clubs. One of those clubs…

Echo Theatre’s Matt & Ben Rewrites the Damon-Affleck Bromance

Silly and surreal, Matt & Ben says out loud what some have long suspected: that Matt Damon and Ben Affleck had help writing Good Will Hunting, the script that earned them Oscars and launched them into Hollywood superstardom. How’d that screenplay fall into the laps of the barely known young…

Jonathon Norton’s Homeschooled Gets Extra Credit for Good Acting

Prolific Dallas playwright Jonathon Norton has a new one called Homeschooled, directed by Regina Washington at African American Repertory Theatre in DeSoto. At 85 minutes, it’s the right length for the play’s extended bouts of angst among three women at odds over how to teach the most violent episodes in…

How Dull Is Profanity at Undermain? There Are No Words

Undermain Theatre is presenting the world premiere of East Coast playwright Sylvan Oswald’s Profanity, directed by Katherine Owens. The title could serve as a warning, for you will curse Undermain for choosing to produce this unremarkable drama and curse yourself if you’ve already bought tickets to it. It’s a damn…