Stage Notes is a weekly aggregate post about theater, classical music, dance, comedy and stage news, events, reviews and other pertinent information.
Stage Notes Calendar
Opening this week:
Broadway at the Bass: The Wiz, opened Tuesday through Sunday at Bass Hall.
Improv Addison: Kevin James Thornton, 7:30 p.m. today.
Buzzed!, today-July 27 at T3’s Theatre Too.
Theatre Arlington: Club Cabaret: Lon Barrera, 8 p.m. Friday.
Garland Summer Musicals: Catch Me If You Can, Friday-July 27.
Mesquite Arts Theatre: Grease, Friday-July 27.
MainStage ILC: Noises Off, Friday-Aug. 2, pictured.
Uptown Players: Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, Saturday-Aug. 3.
Repertory Company Theatre: Something Rotten, Friday-Aug. 3.
Theatre Arlington: Club Cabaret: Mixtape, 8 p.m. Saturday.
Lyric Stage: Lyric Under the Stars concert series, 8:30 p.m. Sunday at Lyric Stage Studio.
Theatre Arlington: Club Cabaret: Eddie Watkins Jr. 3 p.m. Sunday.
Onstage now:
Art Centre Theatre: Girls Weekend, through Saturday.
Artstillery: LUX: a solo show, through Sunday at 723 A Community Space.
The Core Theatre: Southlake, through Sunday.
Shakespeare Dallas: Othello, through Sunday at Samuell-Grand Amphitheater, pictured.
Stolen Shakespeare Guild: Hairspray, Friday-July 27.
Theatre Denton: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Friday-July 27.
Shakespeare Dallas: The Importance of Being Earnest, through July 26 at Samuell-Grand Amphitheater.
Second Thought Theatre: Your Wife’s Dead Body, through July 29.
Pocket Sandwich Theatre: Star Trip: A Tale of Two Captains, through Aug. 23.
Undermain names new artistic associate
Last week, Undermain Theatre announced that DFW director, teacher and actor Christina Cranshaw will join the company as Artistic Associate. Along with working closely with Undermain Producing Artistic Director Bruce DuBose on curating plays for upcoming seasons, she will also direct selected productions for the 2025-2026 season.
Cranshaw first worked with Undermain as an actor in Undermain’s co-production with Bishop Arts Theatre Center of Fairview and also appeared in the 2023 production of Bondage and 2024’s production of Athena. Cranshaw has been professionally working as both an actor and director in the DFW metroplex for over a decade with local companies such as Ochre House, Hip Pocket, Casa Manana, Dallas Children’s Theater, Cara Mia, Urban Arts Center, WaterTower and Stage West.
She will direct Action by Sam Shepard, the first production of Undermain’s new season.
The Elevator Project released its new season of shows
Hee Yun Kim’s ‘Strings Attached Across the Pacific’ was an Elevator Project production in its 2024/25 season. (Photo courtesy ATTPAC)
On Monday, TEP announced nine productions for its 2025/26 season. This season includes six first-timers along with three returning companies. The eclectic selection of productions will showcase a variety of styles including dance, theater and music.
Venues have not yet been announced but TEP is based in the Dallas Arts District with previous productions held at the Winspear’s Hamon Hall and the Wyly’s Sixth Floor Studio.
The Elevator Project is presented by The McDermott Foundation.
The season includes:
Sept. 5-7: Shades of Women in Love by Shakti Collective. This production explores the emotional states of women in love. Understand how these archetypes connect to modern-day experiences, highlighting themes of love, longing, and empowerment.
Sept. 12-21: MacMurder! by Pegasus Theatre. This world premiere production of an original comedy-murder mystery captures the look and feel of an old Hollywood movie from the 1930s and 1940s. Three crime-fighting characters encounter a host of eccentric characters and are soon faced with a “whodunnit.”
Jan. 9-11: Selfie Conscious by Mr. PIXIE. The immersive show’s host guides the audience in creating an avatar for his new social network platform Selfie Conscious by taking pictures of four different volunteers and compiling those into a monster collage.
Jan. 22-25: Lungs by Mac Welch. Director Mac Welch said of Duncan Macmillan’s play, “Lungs made me realize that the scary part is… lacking awareness. I have more impact on the world surrounding me than I realize. And why can’t there be beauty in the immense impact we have on individuals, not just the impact we have on the world.”
Jan. 30-Feb. 1: Macho Flamenco: Boys Don’t Dance by The Flame Foundation. This dance production brings forth the blend of flamenco styles from traditional expected male and female dances to contemporary styles that have paved a way so that Flamenco as an art form breaks tabooed overarching perimeters.
Feb. 6-8: Remember Me by Sam Cormier. This immersive soundscape performance blends original music, photography and theater performance from queer, Dallas artists. The performance will explore the experiences of three queer artists, exploring relationships with family and personal experience growing queer in Texas.
June 11-13: NEXT by Over the Bridge Arts. In a world that was constantly moving, blinking, beeping, talking and droning, the noises came to a stop. It was 2020, and the human race was facing a global pandemic with outcomes unknown. Five years later, what has changed?
June 20: Summer Heats and Afrobeats by Baba Kuboye. This is a journey through Afrobeat from its inception to the present day with music by Fela Kuti, the founder of Afrobeat and covers of top 40 Afrobeat hits as well as original music from Kuboye.
July 24-26: Wakati Wa Mavuno by Bandan Koro African Drum and Dance Ensemble. This signature, interactive experience explores one’s cultural identity guided by the music and dance of Sub-Saharan Africa.
Ticket sales for each will be announced at a later date but tickets are available now for the first production.
TACA announces four mid-size nonprofits selected for its Arts Accelerator cohort
FILE: Bruce Wood Dance Dallas performs Lar Lubovitch’s ‘Concerto Six Twenty-two.’ (Photo by Sharon Bradford)
TACA announced on Thursday that four arts groups have been selected for the organization’s third cohort of the Arts Accelerator, a learning opportunity newly-reimagined specifically for mid-size arts nonprofits in Dallas County.
The Arts Accelerator provides an opportunity to level up organization’s arts management toolkit, while also creating a space for participants to build community with other leaders taking their organizations from growth into maturity stages.
“TACA is excited to invest in a different corner of the local arts community and work with mid-size organizations that are on the precipice of significant transformation that will have ripple effects throughout Dallas,” Maura Sheffler, Donna Wilhelm Family President &
Executive Director said in Thursday’s press release. “As the Arts Accelerator matures, we look to a future where we can support a wide range of arts organizations as they chart their path forward.”
The third cohort includes the following organizations:
Bruce Wood Dance Dallas
Greater Dallas Youth Orchestra
Shakespeare Dallas
Texas Winds Musical Outreach.
Read more about the selected organizations on TACA’s site.
Review: LUX is a short, charming, original piece of joy
In Lux: a solo show, actor Meagan Harris takes the stage for just shy of an hour which was a perfect amount of time for this lovely piece. She’s frenetic as Sally deLux who takes the audience on a journey that was unexpected, a bit confounding and ultimately joyous. Using her entire body along with both Spanish and English languages and a bit of audience help, Harris’ original show was a pure delight of originality.
Directed by Carlos Garcia Estevez, Lux: a solo show, premiered last weekend at the Artstillery space in West Dallas. The title character is hard to pin down. Her red nose would say she’s a clown, but her comfy colorful clothing would convey an everyday gal. She’s certainly quirky and gives the audience a glimpse into her daily life from making coffee with brilliant miming and sound effects by Harris to her trouble with answering her phone that veered the show into a darker tone, all as her little friend, a tiny rubber duck, looks on.
Harris was charming and dynamic as Sally, a character who moved almost nonstop throughout the small stage. This performance was a masterclass in physical theatre, blending commedia, clowning, pantomime, and dance. Harris’ unwavering commitment to both the physicality and the essence of Sally’s character was consistently remarkable to watch at every movement and turn.
Admittedly, I was unsure of exactly the show’s premise in the beginning. Once I let go of trying hard to connect any narrative dots, the joy of LUX shined brightly. Harris tapped into a fount of comedic energy that was refreshing.
This was helped by Armano Monsivas’ guitar accompaniment (as well as his own sound effects). Harris floated across his lovely and delicate playing that was minimal with huge impact. He also served as the show’s composer and producer.
LUX: a solo show closes Sunday at Artstillery.
–Rich Lopez
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