Stage
Van Cliburn (1934-2013)
The tall, skinny Texan leaves an indelible mark on local culture.LEONARD EUREKA
Fort Worth took a double whammy last week with the passing of Van Cliburn, the iconic pianist for whom the Cliburn International Piano Competition is named, and major arts patroness Nancy Lee Bass, whose name, along with that o...
Cold Shakes
Stolen Shakespeare Pursues The Winter’s Tale.JIMMY FOWLER
The last eight months have been very busy for Jason and Lauren Morgan, the married co-founders and artistic directors of Stolen Shakespeare Guild. Along with producing, co-directing, and co-starring in three shows for the Guild...
Black Pearl Shines
Jubliee’s latest production skillfully handles some delicate race matters.JIMMY FOWLER
“You are an authentic doorway to the past,” Susannah (Lana K. Hoover), an Anglo song collector for the Library of Congress, tells Pearl (Liz Mikel), an African-American prisoner in a Texas jail in the 1920s. The white lady ...
Undercooked Carnage
A faulty script full of obviousness undermines a valiant effort by Circle Theatre.JIMMY FOWLER
Civilization, basically, is a set of rules to which people frequently don’t adhere. That short, rather obvious statement sums up the plot, themes, and performances of Circle Theatre’s lively but insubstantial staging of the...
Existential Excellence
Theatre Arlington’s cast shines in The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife.JIMMY FOWLER
“I have ambiguities that you have yet to fathom!” angrily shouts overeducated, understimulated Marjorie to her husband, Ira, a retired ear-nose-and-throat doctor. By all rights, many audiences should find Marjorie supremely...
Gabriel Ascends
On a Nazi-occupied island, strong women and children take wing.JIMMY FOWLER
Theatergoers tired of plays with overly introspective characters and navel-gazing actor monologues, take heart: Stage West’s production of Moira Buffini’s WWII drama Gabriel, which opens this weekend, is full of women of ac...
Black Spurs Jingle
Though critical reception has been cold, Jubliee’s latest is a statement.JIMMY FOWLER
Tre Garrett has been artistic director of Jubilee Theatre for almost two and a half years now. He replaced Ed Smith, who served briefly as the first new artistic director since much-loved founder Rudy Eastman died unexpectedly ...
Mistletoes
Texas Ballet Theater’s new Nutcracker rocks.LEONARD EUREKA
The holidays took on a warm, fuzzy glow with the opening of Texas Ballet Theater’s glorious new production of The Nutcracker in Bass Performance Hall last weekend. A gift from the now-defunct Ballet Florida of West Palm Beach...
Home Sweet Home, ‘Phibs-Style
JIMMY FOWLEREven after the mortgage meltdown that helped trigger the Great Recession, home ownership is considered an integral part of the so-called American Dream. But what kind of class divisions, character distinctions, and chance circu...
Darkness Descends
Amphibian Productions’ Julia Pastrana is solid if light.JIMMY FOWLER
Amphibian Stage Productions has just opened a sparkling new theater space on the Near Southside at Main Street and Vickery Boulevard, and what better way to show it off than with a play staged in total darkness? Leave it to the...