Welcome to the Velvet Elk

The fourth show in Hip Pocket Theatre’s amazing 50th season, Soul Notes from the Velvet Elk (A Place of Wild Surrender) opens with the entire cast physically clustered together, as if cells in a breathing blastocyst. It eventually separates into 13 brilliant cast members. Something ethereal is in the air from the start, a winding blue cloth, transported through and around the scene like a river to nourish this new life, which eventually leads to the Velvet Elk, a community tavern where the characters ponder the purpose of existence and share anecdotes sometimes through monologue, sometimes dance, and sometimes song. Yet no matter who is the storyteller in the moment, the cast is an active audience, tying one story into the next for a mesmerizing hour and 15 minutes.

The characters transform a stretched sheet into a community table symbolizing the life that tables uphold, plus deep conversations, family laughs, births, goodbyes, and the kinds of group decisions that guide us. Everything in this show is multisensory — even the music became a visual. Dazzling in and out of the spotlight, the vast cast is composed of Elizabeth Bowie, Jeff Farrell, Dakota Foster, Thad Isbell, Aja Jones, Harper Caroline Lee, Marius Pfeiffer, Sara Rashelle, JC Roggenbuck, Carlos Romero, Rebo Salazar, Dana Ashley Schultes, and Kyle Spencer.

In addition to the outstanding sound design by Fort Worth singer-songwriter Clint Niosi and lighting design by Nikki DeShea Smith, there were noteworthy anecdotes within the production. A song burst from a guitar, a connection to Blue 52, a whale that sings its own song on its own frequency alone or in envy of the other whales. As the collective soul notes continue to evolve, the cast uses panels and even brooms to construct wings to uphold and support one another.

Accompanied by Leslie Zvitt on piano and Darrin Kobetich on guitar in a little nook onstage, movements and moods felt deeper as the 13-member cast ebbed and flowed, separating into solos sharing their imagining of a soul note, then merging again with the cast, like a drop of water leaving to explore before returning to the ocean.

I happily went home with an abundance of thoughts to dive into and reflect upon — an experience that sticks to you is a good one. Coming soon, rounding up the half-century season of Hip Pocket, will be Mega Python vs. Gatoroid (the Musical), from Fri, Oct 9, thru Sun, Nov 1.

Soul Notes from the Velvet Elk (A Place of Wild Surrender) is directed by Lorca Simons, daughter of co-founders Johnny and Diane Simons. 

Soul Notes from the Velvet Elk

Thru Sun, Sep 27, at Hip Pocket Theatre, 1950 Silver Creek Rd, Fort Worth. $15-29. 817-246-9775.