Spring may be more than a month off, but the second half of the D-FW theater season is already in full flower with nearly all of the area鈥檚 20 or so professional companies putting on shows in February. The breadth of material might astonish those not familiar with the creative wealth of the stage scene in North Texas, where American regional theater was born almost 80 years ago when Margo Jones founded Theatre 鈥�47 in Fair Park.
鈥淚鈥檓 not surprised at all,鈥� says David Lozano, executive artistic director of Cara M铆a Theatre Company, which is reviving its classic immigration story, (through Feb. 23), a collaboration with Mexico City鈥檚 Laboratorio de la M谩scara, at a time when the issue is at the top of the news.
鈥淲hat it tells me is that the groups are creatively flourishing. They may be struggling with different things, like we are. We鈥檙e always trying to raise money and keep ourselves staffed up and everyone well-paid. But there鈥檚 nothing lacking in the impetus to create art.鈥�
Teatro Dallas, the other resident company at the city鈥檚 Latino Cultural Center, is giving three young directors a chance to develop their talents with its second (Feb. 14-March 1). Gabriel Scampini, Lauren Secrest and Gerald Taylor II selected plays they think deserve to be seen and are being mentored by veteran directors Christie Vela, Sasha Maya Ada and Lauren LeBlanc.
The busy Ada is at the helm of , winner of the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, in a co-production of , where the play about a lonely man reluctantly expanding his circle of friends wraps up its run Sunday, and (Feb. 27-March 23).
鈥淭here are a lot of opportunities here for emerging artists, young and old, more so than there ever has been in the past,鈥� says Tina Parker, co-artistic director of Kitchen Dog Theater, which has opened its 鈥淯nder Construction鈥� season with Will Eno鈥檚 existential (through Feb. 23), about a man contemplating the end of his life. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot of fostering and supporting of new work, new talent.鈥�
Founded in 1990 by a group of newly graduated Southern Methodist University students, Kitchen Dog is spending a second season on the road as it in the northern Design District. Wakey, Wakey, which is being performed in an Exposition Park studio loft, stars Christopher Carlos, the company鈥檚 other co-artistic director, in his first stage appearance in more than six years.
鈥淔ebruary is a very popular slot,鈥� says Parker, who鈥檚 directing the show. 鈥淓verybody鈥檚 finally back from their holiday breaks. You also get heavy traffic because of Valentine鈥檚 Day. Perhaps they want to impress their dates that they have some culture. ... It does show what an amazing scene we have. The thing that caught my eye was the diversity of material. There鈥檚 anything you want, from world premieres to original works. There鈥檚 quiet, loud, crazy, funny, musical. It鈥檚 very fertile ground right now.鈥�
Across the street from the unconventional, 34-seat space Kitchen Dog is using, Ochre House Theater is meeting most of Parker鈥檚 criteria under the artistic direction of Dallas theater pioneer Matthew Posey. The avant-garde troupe only puts on plays written by Posey and other members of his company. The productions star mostly the same group of regulars.
Currently, Kevin Grammer鈥檚 latest piece, (through March 1) is on stage at Ochre House鈥檚 quirky, 55-seat storefront on Exposition Avenue. Among the cast are company stalwarts Carla Parker and Brian Witkowicz. A dark musical comedy about the film industry, it鈥檚 set in the 1960s amid a troubled relationship between a movie star and her studio-executive husband.
Among this month鈥檚 offerings is Bishop Arts Theatre Center鈥檚 (Feb. 20-March 2), its fourth annual banned-books festival of six short plays by North Texas writers. This year, they鈥檙e inspired by Stamped From the Beginning, author Ibram X. Kendi鈥檚 history of racist ideas in America.
Local theater artists also have found a home in the AT&T Performing Arts Center鈥檚 Elevator Project series. Next up is from Eleven 11 Productions (Feb. 21-23). Directed by Matt Lyle, known for such comic plays as Barbecue Apocalypse and Big, Scary Animals, it鈥檚 described as a collection of Second City/Saturday Night Live-style skits satirizing the absurdity of relationships.
Lyle鈥檚 role in the D-FW theater scene is indicative of its hyperlocal focus. Before the pandemic, he led a playwrights training program at Theatre Three that continues to bear fruit. Among his students in 2019 was Parker Gray, now the executive director of Second Thought Theatre and one of the busiest actors in town. Gray鈥檚 play Incarnate premieres at Second Thought in the fall to close its three-show 2025 season of works by local writers.
In the summer, the company premieres Your Wife鈥檚 Dead Body by Jenny Ledel, who trained in a playwrights workshop led by Will Power when he was the artist in residence at Dallas Theater Center. The season opens in April with SMU theater chair and head of acting Blake Hackler鈥檚 new play Healed.
Second Thought also has started a playwrights鈥� training program. The 2025 class includes Straton Rushing, who designed the projections for Kitchen Dog鈥檚 Wakey, Wakey, and has a short play in the festival at Bishop Arts Theatre Center.
Like Kitchen Dog, Second Thought was launched by a cohort of theater majors, in their case Baylor University in Waco. The local theater scene has been sustained in part by such programs at SMU, Texas Christian University in Fort Worth and the University of Texas at Arlington.
At Theatre Three alone, students and graduates from those schools have turned up in major roles this season in productions of Carrie: The Musical and Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812. A more recently formed troupe of SMU graduates, Fair Assembly, is now on stage with its latest Shakespeare production, (Feb. 13-23). Shakespeare is also on tap in the Classics Theatre Project鈥檚 (Feb. 12-March 8), set against the backdrop of the Woodstock music festival.
鈥淵ou鈥檙e seeing companies invest in artists locally, which is how you build an ecosystem,鈥� Lozano says. 鈥淲e have an abundance of support that a lot of cities across Texas don鈥檛 have. Clearly, the DEI movement of the past 10 years has transformed and diversified and spread the wealth to more groups. You鈥檙e seeing a much greater diversity of stories being told, a greater diversity of actors and directors, and more productions from groups of all sizes.鈥�
The contribution of Undermain Theatre, torchbearer of cutting-edge productions in North Texas for four decades, is the Katherine Owens Fund for New Work, aimed at fostering plays by writers from all over the country. Chicago-based Jarrett King, recipient of the $10,000 grant in 2023, is bringing his play to Undermain (Feb. 27-March 23). It tells the true story of Henry Box Brown, an enslaved man who mailed himself to freedom and went on to become an abolitionist lecturer and world-famous magician.
Parker and Lozano warn that while the D-FW theater scene is thriving artistically, financial challenges remain, especially with the aimed at underserved groups and communities and a to review guidelines.
The NEA also gives directly to local groups and through third-party grant makers like the city of Dallas Office of Arts and Culture, and the Texas Commission of the Arts.
鈥淚f we want to become a Minneapolis- or Chicago-level scene, corporations and individuals have to step up to support it,鈥� Parker says. 鈥淥therwise, that young talent is not going to stay.鈥�
Other productions in February include:
- Echo Theatre鈥檚 multigenerational family drama (Feb. 14-March 1)
- Over the Bridge Arts鈥� Valentine鈥檚 Day-themed spoken-word show (Feb. 21-22)
- Circle Theatre鈥檚 one-person play , about an art restorer working on Michelangelo鈥檚 famous statue (through Feb. 22)
- Uptown Players鈥� exploration of familial relationships in (through Feb. 23)
- Broadway Dallas鈥� presentation of the touring Greek-myth musical (Feb. 25-March 2)
- Jubilee Theatre鈥檚 , an a cappella musical set in 1963 among the children of the Civil Rights Movement (through March 2).
Closing Sunday are productions at Fort Worth鈥檚 Amphibian Stage () and Dallas Theater Center ().
鈥淲hen I look at the list of plays this month, what I鈥檓 thinking is we鈥檙e expanding the views of thousands of people,鈥� Lozano says.
鈥淲e鈥檙e looking at a plethora of stories about different life experiences, so we can actually understand that the United States and this state and city are not made up of one culture,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e are made up of an infinite number of cultures with an infinite number of expressions that carry their own ideas, not to mention people鈥檚 individual perspectives. Dallas benefits from this proliferation.鈥�
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