Category: Critique

Gloria, written by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, is a drama concerning the death of compassion in American culture, and how we talk each other out of caring. It is actually quite subtle, considering the shocking act of violence that ends the first act. Afterwards, my friend suggested that there will always be schmucks, which is certainly true. But I believe that Jacobs-Jenkins has hit upon a current, pervasive attitude (perhaps the seeds were planted during the “Me-Decade”) that it’s easier to dismiss the deeply troubled than reach out to them. In the second act Kendra remarks that all the attention being heaped on Gloria is perversely rewarding her for terrible behavior. This may be so, but just as in the case of Columbine and the catastrophes that followed, red flags were ignored before the tipping point. Why not take refuge in cliques and label those in pain as “freaks”?

Set in the editorial office of an erudite, very literate magazine, Gloria focuses on the behavior of certain key characters: Ani, Miles, Dean, Lorin, Kendra and Gloria. Miles is the pleasant intern assigned to Dean, who works with Ani and Kendra. Lorin is a fact checker and Gloria an editor. Ani is very sweet and friendly, but most of the action focuses of the feud between Dean and Kendra. Dean tries to be savvy in playing the game of office politics, but Kendra has mastered it. Dean gets drunk and lost in life’s disappointments, and Kendra takes gleeful pleasure in heaping abuse and misery on him. The problem isn’t so much the back and forth between Dean and Kendra, but Kendra’s flouncy, arrogant attitude. Rather than owning her bad behavior, she completely justifies it, essentially declaring that “losers” bring adversity on themselves. We can imagine her spitting on Job. It’s not that Dean is without flaw, but when he retaliates and gets the better of her, Kendra isn’t just miffed. She’s furious. And there are so many Kendras in the world.

What makes Gloria a profoundly poignant and relevant play is not the overwhelming violence, but how Jacobs-Jenkins uses it. How those involved react long after the tragic incident has occurred. How much have they changed, after a presumably life-altering event? When Dean and Kendra meet again (at a Starbucks) you’d think they could reconcile. At the outset, that appears to be what’s happening. When Dean crosses paths with another editor from the office (a pregnant woman) you would certainly guess that she’d respond graciously to his staggering sense of despair. She does however, ask her friend if maybe she’d been harsh, after Dean is thrown out.

Branden Jacobs-Jenkins is rather sly and Dallas Theater Center’s production of Gloria laden with thematic rhyming. Several characters swoon over her intensely emotional songs when a young, intoxicating siren dies, but have no use for the messy side of their own humanity. What we might normally ascribe to double or triple-casting, gradually reveals the suggestion that our fate is wished upon us, rather than due to lack of character. Sound Designer John Flores and Scenic Designer Dahlia Al-Habieli have erected pristine, secular temples of civilization, complete with disembodied choral fanfare, and persistent, salient red accents. In my numerous years of theatre-going I have to say, Gloria is one of the most powerful plays I have ever seen. We’re already 17 years into the 21^st Century, but still believe the affectation of spiritual enlightenment is good enough.

The Dallas Theater Center Presents Gloria, playing December 7^th-January 22^nd, 2017. Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre (Studio Theatre) AT&T Performing Arts Center. 2400 Flora Street, Dallas, Texas 75201. 214-880-0202. www.DallasTheaterCenter.org

Three years ago I attended my first panto, because a friend was in the cast. Like many, I had only a vague notion of what the sublime, long-standing, British tradition of the Christmas Panto was all about. The Christmas Panto is based on a fairy tale (perhaps nursery rhymes?) and amounts to a spoof. It does not involve Christmas per se, but enlists adults and children alike, in its goofy, giddy, marvelously ridiculous merriment, utterly consistent with the spontaneity and warmth of the season. Even the villain is embraced in the end. The audience is encouraged to talk back, engage in a singing contest (“boys” against the “girls”) boo the bad guys and alert characters when they miss something. “Look out behind you.” Some of the subtler pleasures include jokes that are obviously aimed at the grown-ups (“You told them to shove it where?” “Why, in the recycling bin.”) seeing the young folk thoroughly consumed in the narrative, and the gender defiance of “The Dame” and “Principal Boy”. The dame is a lusty, busty flirtatious gal who loves to come on to a guy in the front row. She is also a man in drag. By the same turn, principal boy is a young, essentially prepubescent actress. Mind you, pantos go back many, many years.

This year was Jackie Mellor-Guin’s The Sleeping Beauty. Emelda the Evil Fairy is angry when she is unwittingly snubbed at a posh affair, thrown in honor of the new Princess. She hexes the Princess, sending her into a deep sleep for a 100 years, till the smooch of a Handsome Young Prince, breaks the spell. Stealing the focus of this beloved story are Mrs. Broom (The Dame) and her son, Sleepy Pete, prone to nod off at random moments. Mrs. Broom loves to dither and gush, and keeps her son’s identity secret, to maintain her illusion of youth. That is to say: ingenues do not have grown children. Adding to the chaos and distraction are three rapping fairies: Fairy Nuff, Fairy Mary and Fairy Ethel. Kudoes to costume designer Tory Padden for the witty and fresh threads she has brought to this production.

Theatre Britain has staged a playful, bouncy, quirky celebration of fancy and nonsense, romance and retaliation, magic and shenanigans. There is something irresistible about the spirited recreation we are invited to for the length of the play, to lose ourselves in giddy absurdity and careless gusto. It only took one dose of this elixir to make me a believer. Perhaps it will work for you too.

Theatre Britain presents The Sleeping Beauty, playing November 26^th-December 30^th, 2016. Cox Playhouse: 1517 H Avenue, Plano, Texas 75074. 972-490-4202. www.theatre-britain.com

Watching Sister’s Christmas Catechism one is reminded somewhat of Christopher Durang’s satire: Sister Mary Ignatius Explains it All For You. But while Catechism is ultimately light-hearted, Durang’s spoof takes more vitriolic aim at some of the dubious aspects of Roman Catholic theology. Both emerge from the same premise: We, the audience, are in Catholic parochial school, and Sister addresses us as her pupils. Comparing Catechism to a cringingly cute comedy such as Nunsense or Sister Act, it is a relief to discover it leans more towards the cranky and stern, in the hilarious mode of Brother Theodore. Hmmmmm. Perhaps a new genre, Monastic Comedy is emerging?

When “class” begins, it is the day of the Christmas party, there is an advent calendar on the wall, some appropriate decorations, and a very kitschy, plastic depiction of Joseph, Mary and Baby Jesus that feature the cherubic faces precious children. The incongruity of this is not lost on Sister, whose grim, wry air of resignation manages to be funny without being bitter. Nonie Newton Riley strikes an impressive balance between cynicism and the leavening of mischievous digs. She may single out particular students (audience members) to get a laugh at their expense, but it never feels cruel or petty. We never wonder if “Sister” goes home every night and seethes over politics and gin. In the same way that bilious, curmudgeonly Brother Theodore (or Don Rickles) gets a lather up, she never crosses over into the toxic or vindictive. She points out when someone’s behavior, or dress, might be inconsistent with Catholic Doctrine, but for some reason it seems intuitive and genuinely comical.

Sister just loves the current television trend towards cop dramas by way of Forensic Science, which explains the show’s subtitle: The Mystery of the Magi’s Gold. By enlisting our help, she attempts to solve the quandary of what exactly happened to the gold, after it was gifted to sweet little Baby Jesus. It is often the critic’s dilemma, it seems to do justice to a show without spoiling any (or at least too many) surprises. It seems pretty clear that casting in any one-woman performance would be crucial, and Ms. Riley is thoroughly delightful as she shares her annoyance on any number of topics. I think it’s also germane to mention what a revelation it is to discover Sister’s Christmas Catechism, in light of the woeful lack of freshness, intrigue, and gusto when it comes to live entertainment at Christmas time. I have no problem with A Christmas Carol (I understand DTC’s is first-rate) but even Tiny Tim deserves some R & R, don’t you think?

WaterTower Theatre presents: Sister’s Christmas Catechism: The Mystery of the Magi’s Gold, playing December 2^nd-23rd, 2016. 15650 Addison Road, Addison, Texas 75001. (972) 450-6232. www.watertowertheatre.org

The year is 1947. Bob Bennett, Manager at Radio Station KXMS, happens to catch the phone at an inopportune moment. The cast and orchestra for a Christmas Eve broadcast of A Christmas Carol is snowed in, so it falls to Bob to take on this gargantuan task. Twenty-one characters with sound effects. Even if Bennett has some experience with such performances, he is the only one at the studio, so me must be alert, focused and poised. He barely has time to gather his wits before the show is scheduled.

One hesitates when considering such shows, which tend to lend themselves to the frantic and the cloying. We imagine some overworked, underpaid guy, struggling to make his cues, and strategically, feverishly delivering twenty-one distinct voices, while doing justice to the familiar yarn. Perhaps too familiar. While the premise certainly provides ample opportunity for zany physical comedy and shameless appeals to our most tender feelings of nostalgia and yearning for Christmas redemption, somehow star, B.J. Cleveland and playwright David Alberts find a legitimate path to exploring Dickens’ ultimately sympathetic portrait of hapless, miserable, cantankerous Ebenezer Scrooge.

It’s a given that in a one-man show of this sort casting is crucial. Not just because the actor must be resourceful enough to carry the piece for ninety minutes straight, but the ingenuity to bring just the touch and balance to take us through the story without merely pushing our buttons. Without crossing the line from pathos into maudlin melodrama. Boiled in their own pudding? Die and decrease the surplus population? Egads! What kind of monster is this Scrooge bastard, anyway?

Lucky for us, director Gene Ray Price and Cleveland refused to take the easy way out, bringing fresh energy and imaginative interpretation to content most of us could repeat in our sleep. Cleveland brings his stirring, emotionally rich texture to this show, earning genuine ticklish hilarity, somber grief, and aching for the man who had no family to share Christmas as a boy and lost his fiancee on a Christmas Eve. Cleveland knows how to invite us into his personal journey, never settling for derivative or easy response. In a season where theatres grope for something different yet true to the spirit of joy and generosity, Cleveland uses his mastery to include us in a lovely, profoundly moving experience.

Theatre Too presents: A Christmas Carol: The Radio Show, playing November 25^th-December 11^th, 2016. 2800 Routh Street, Suite 168, Dallas, TX 75201-1417. theatre3dallas.com. 214-871-3300.

Reflecting upon Kitchen Dog’s current black comedy, Charise Castro Smith’s Feathers and Teeth, I was struck by the subtlety of the title. In nature, you never see both in the same creature. If it has teeth it doesn’t have feathers. If it has feathers it doesn’t have teeth. But the villain of Feathers and Teeth does. Like Mack the Knife, she’s very good at hiding her grisly side. Set in 1978, and recalling the trashy sci-fi of the 60’s, Feathers and Teeth mixes a strange and unlikely blend of genres: dark satire, absurdism, horror and drama. And (this is the truly bizarre part) they blend perfectly, like a collage, or a quadriptych. When we see Arthur jumping Carol’s bones on the kitchen table it’s ridiculous, funny and sad, all at once.

Chris, an angry teenage girl, has lost her mother to cancer, and her dad, Arthur (while well-meaning) has not left much time to grieve before taking up with his deceased wife’s nurse caretaker, Carol. Arthur has just hit some small, unidentifiable animal with his car, far beyond a veterinarian’s help. For some inexplicable reason, he drops it in a perfectly good stockpot, and Carol subsequently “euthanizes” it with a butcher knife. She’s not exactly, uh, gentle. Later, when Chris and her German Boy Scout friend Hugo, check in the pot, they discover that not only is the creature not dead, but it’s reproducing And has a thirst for carnage. It’s amazing and amusing, what you can pull off, simply by letting the blood fly.

Here I must give all kinds of mad props to Charise Castro Smith, Director Lee Trull, and cast members: Matt Lyle, Morgan Laure’, Dakota Ratliff and Parker Gray. This is difficult material to pull off. Beyond evincing a successful show, there’s something about this play that transcends narrative on its face. It stays in your memory, though it’s not easy to understand why. Smith has laced this piece with vivid, indirect metaphor. Like other intoxicating shows, it rewards closer inspection. Kitchen Dog has a gift for staging plays that sink into your skin. As it were. Feathers and Teeth is subversive, and tender in odd ways. It takes a deranged sense of irony to stage this during the holidays, but it’s something you shouldn’t miss. If you love visionary, risky theatre.

Kitchen Dog Theater presents: Feathers and Teeth, playing November 18^th-December 17^th, 2016. Trinity River Arts Center, located at 2600 N. Stemmons Fwy, Ste, 180, Dallas, TX 75207. 214-953-1055. kitchendogtheatre.org.

Anne Washburn’s 10 out of 12, an ensemble piece, reveals how cast and crew (stagehands, lights, sound, designers, director, assistant director…) function as a team, during the grueling process of tech rehearsal. All cues and blocking, all light and sound and any hiccups are smoothed over before the show opens. It’s like childbirth. It might be interesting to reflect on, but you’re grateful to be spared the experience. Washburn makes us privy to this universe in small We are actually handed headsets so we can hear backstage chatter between crew members. It’s impressive to consider that we get just enough information from each character, to get a sense of their personality and contribution.

Perhaps few audience members have a grasp of how a show functions before it’s up on its feet, or after opening night. 10 out of 12 is a demonstration of the mishaps, foibles, confrontations, quirky and grotesque exchanges that occur, in the incredibly stressful context of pulling all the components together, while maintaining the sense of playfulness vital to making it work. As with all the artistic disciplines, actors and the creative team must strike a shaky balance between being relaxed and yet alert and focused. They pass through each cycle of rehearsal, preparation, changes as opening night looms ever closer and emotions run hot.

There is a key turn in the second act in which one of the actors has a meltdown, loudly proclaiming that the very welfare of his soul is at stake. Up until this outburst he keeps trying to dissuade the director from his interpretation of the script. Usually these issues are resolved before tech rehearsals, and it’s to Washburn’s credit that a single event adds such clarity and complication to the story. When the actor goes off the deep end, we’re incredulous. It’s not that the others don’t care, but if he takes it so much to heart, why did he wait this long? The way the rest of the company responds immediately and in the following days, tells us much about the warmth and care they have for each other. We may not believe his spiritual welfare is in peril, but his colleagues do. Even if they disagree, they respect his devotion to the craft.

Undermain Theater presents the Dallas Premiere of 10 out of 12, playing November 9^th-december 3^rd, 2016. 3200 Main Street, Dallas, Texas 75226. 214-747-5515. www.undermain.org.

In my never humble opinion, you really don’t have to be Scrooge or The Grinch to be weary of the usual Christmas fare, that makes the usual theatrical rounds, every year in December. Even the most tender among us might yearn or even ache for a slant on Christmas that would make it fresh, meaningful, and relevant to lives suffused with skepticism and disappointment. And rightfully so. Of course, I reach for my hanky when Tiny Tim buys the farm or the spindly Christmas tree is resuscitated or George Bailey, haggard and despondent, gazes into the abyss of that cold black river. Who wouldn’t?

But is it so wrong, so cynical, so vile to want some way to appreciate Christmas without crawling through the same wasteland of stories we could recite backwards? Of course not. But what can we, as individuals do? Where the FFF can we look? I’m so glad you asked.

For the past three years, Nouveau 47 (champion of the dodgy, edgy, spooky and poetic) has produced a holiday show that explores Christmas, coming at it from many intriguing angles. By turns irreverent, funny, ridiculous, obtuse, scary, somber and yes, gentle. These are short pieces, some work better than others, some feel fierce, some sketchy, some strange. Past plays have included a woman trying to get her family to accept her lesbian partner, two brothers remembering their deceased mother, a comedy in which Santa defeats the cynicism of two cocky suits, and a drunk father on Christmas Eve. Drama is balanced by humor and the cumulative experience is a mixture of reflection, introspection, warmth and elation. Nouveau 47 never settles for the merely different. They always look for originality, strong writing and quality.

Now in its fourth year, the short-play festival tips more in favor of the satirical and amusing. A displaced snow-globe family, soldiers fighting extraterrestrials on Christmas Eve, wealthy relatives squabbling over gifts and a harried doctor searching for the last robot toy for his 4-year old boy. There is a satisfying blend of the dark, comical, somber and absurd. So if you need a break from the customary confection, dripping thickly with scrumptious honey, chock full of mawkish, manipulative, cringe-worthy suffering. Treat yourself to some grown-up, sophisticated takes on a world filled with chaos, candy canes, redemption and the raw power of dogged love.

Nouveau 47 presents A Very Nouveau Holiday 2016, playing December 9^th-23rd, 2016. Playwrights include: Justin Locklear, Jim Kuenzer, Erin Burdette, James Burnside, Bill Otstott, Brad McEntire, Greg Silva, Christopher Soden and Chris-James Cognetta. In the historic Margo Jones Theater in the Magnolia Lounge at Fair Park (1121 1st Ave. Dallas, TX). Performances are at 8:15pm on Fridays, 5:00 on Saturdays, 6:30pm on Sunday with pay-what-you-can performances on Mondays at 8:15pm. Tickets are $20 Fri.-Sat. and $15 on Sundays. More details can be found at Facebook.com/N47Theatre.

Unlike my previous theatre columns, this is a piece encouraging you to attend A Very Nouveau Holiday 2016. You should bear in mind that one of the eight plays included was written by your very own loopy-yet-articulate lunatic. Me. So I can’t (and shouldn’t) critique the show.

Tony Kushner’s Angels In America, a two-part series (both parts standing as independent pieces) is puzzling yet satisfying, epic yet personal, enigmatic, yet funny and cogent. Key characters are Mormon, yet it’s not immediately apparent why the Mormon church is vital to content. When Angels premiered they weren’t the only church condemning same-gender sexuality, but somehow the (shall we say?) more fanciful details of their theology seems consistent with the deadpan strangeness of the tone. The characters are not heroic but they seem swept up in the forces of history or zeitgeist or perhaps something greater? The one character who seems aware of his place in the politics and cultural evolution of America is Roy Cohn, a powerful, intelligent, reprehensible attorney who believes in contextual morality.

Louis and Prior are lovers. They are not apparently activists but neither are they in the closet. Prior has just discovered he has sarcoma lesions: the first stages of full blown AIDS. As we all know, such was a terminal diagnosis in the early 1990’s. Joe and Harper are a married Mormon couple. Harper suffers from Clinical Depression (if not other emotional diseases) and has vivid, interactive hallucinations. Joe is a rising attorney and protege to Cohn. Cohn is and Joe is in denial. The two couples (perhaps three?) are shown in parallel to one another, often using a split stage. There are serious problems between Prior and Louis, Harper and Joe, and Roy and Joe, bubbling beneath the surface. As Fate would have it, in each case, AIDS precipitates issues that already exist. And the Angels. There are voices, literal angels, drug-induced apparitions, prophesies and revelations. And Kushner mixes them all in the same cauldron, distinct and yet somehow, similar.

When Angels opened transgender cast doubling was an original way to add depth and complexity to a story. The idea that the inexplicable, mysterious gender we are is the one we just happened to wind up with. In 2016, maybe not so much. Kushner’s cunning is in his ability to personalize the impact of AIDS, as a barometer of an ethically pathological America. Not in the sense that some men were making love to each other, or frantically copulating, but that our hysterically heterocenterist society forced them into hiding. Villified them. Instead of addressing AIDS solely as metaphor or politics, he pulls us into attachments that emotionally involve us too, and walks us through the consequences. By weaving in gobs of often wry humor, he avoids pity, maybe even tragedy. Absurd, comical scenes have somber subtext. Poor Prior isn’t thrilled when a glorious angel appears. He’s terrified. His wrenching pain is treated as a stepping stone to his role in some kind of profound watershed for America’s future. But we won’t find out till part two.

Cheryl Denson has directed a sublime, crisp, infinitely intriguing and enjoyable show. The cast is skillful, agile and resonant with genuine emotion. They have captured a very difficult tone, flippant and grave. Sorrowful and resigned but nonchalant. The stony, monolothic, minimal sets by H. Bart McGeehon are appropriate and powerfully nuanced. Special kudos to Emily Scott Banks who handles her descent with poise and (forgive me) grace.

Uptown Players presents: Angels in America: Part One: Millenium Approaches, playing November 4^th-20^th, 2016. Kalita Humpreys Theater 3636 Turtle Creek Blvd, Dallas, Texas 75219.214-214-2718. uptownplayers.org

John Kander and Fred Ebb have a penchant for humor based on the deterioration of character and morality. Otherwise well-meaning folks gradually complied with Nazi occupation in Cabaret and women who kill unfaithful husbands become the hot celebrity commodity in Chicago. Like Cabaret, Chicago reflects certain cultural truths and captures the allure of transgression almost effectively as an opium den. Roxie Hart murders a paramour before he can leave her, and immediately Velma Kelly launches into “All That Jazz” a celebration of booze, broads and brawling. The ensemble boys and girls, dressed in provocative black, are not at all shy about teasing, touching, caressing and striking tawdry poses for our delectation. Kander and Ebb have a knack for striking a balance between coy naughtiness (ugh!) and full-on degeneracy.

Of course, the sting and punch of any effective satire comes from the touchstones it establishes with the actual, recognizable world. Perhaps real life is an overrated paradigm, but it doesn’t hurt to see the parallels between Velma and Roxie, and say, Michael Jackson and O.J. Simpson. Whether or not Simpson and Jackson were innocent, public sympathy helped them enormously. The difference in Chicago being, that Roxie and Velma are popular because of their crimes, not in spite of. You can’t accuse Kander and Ebb of stacking the deck. Roxie’s cuckolded husband may be a schlub, and justice an abstraction eclipsed by corruption and arbitrary fate, but nobody comes off well in this grim immorality tale.

The splendid sleight of hand that Fred Ebb and John Kander achieve (despite pervasive, dark undercurrents) is composing a genuinely entertaining, sardonic, witty piece of theatre that rewards our attention with audacious spectacle and sharp comedy. The musical numbers are imaginative, intelligent, grown-up and snappy. Director B.J. Cleveland has met the considerable challenges of the script with confidence, extravagance, and flawless timing. In every stage production I have been privileged to critique, Mr. Cleveland has overwhelmed me with his style, precision and peerless eclat, whether he was performing or orchestrating a demanding show. His seasoned experience and brimming pleasure is manifest in every gesture, cue, inflection, aside and grimace. He can tickle you senseless or bring implacable grief without missing a beat. Don’t miss this remarkable theatrical triumph. Succumb to the siren song of Chicago.

MainStage Irving – Las Colinas presents Chicago, playing November 4^th-19^th, 2016. Irving Arts Center (Dupree Theatre) 3333 N MacArthur Blvd, Irving, TX 75062. (972) 594-6104. www.irvingtheatre.org

Ruth (Monique Abry) visits a séance held at a bookstore by the once-renowned magician, Avi Leiter. She is able to see past the illusions that fool the general public. She has reason for seeking Avi’s attention. Her husband Michael (Kyle Montgomery) injured in a train wreck, has been in a prolonged coma. On the strength of his past reputation, she hopes he might have the skills to reach her husband. Ruth’s earnest and heart-breaking plea triggers many painful memories for Avi (Michael A. Robinson). Soon Ruth (along with Billy) becomes an assistant in Avi’s ongoing “performance” as he weighs this precipitous decision. We cut to Avi when he was a young man (Wyn Delano) struggling for recognition. A young, beautiful, resourceful woman named Josephine applies to help Avi and Billy and add some glamor to the act. It seems Avi has managed to secure a rare book of sorcery that includes a spell to raise the dead. Then one evening after the show, the three of them are robbed. Written by Patrick Emile and Olivia de Guzman Emile, As We Lie Still is a deceptively simple musical.

It doesn’t use an orchestra or band. Upon reflection, the plot isn’t complicated. And yet, it’s enigmatic and haunting. The music strikes a deep nerve, blending a sense of the miraculous with pervasive yearning. We hear the songs and an undeniable sense of loss overcomes us. But also, a flickering chill of hope. As We Lie Still begs the comparison between the stage illusionist and those who can really tap the supernatural. Like any neophyte, Avi hungers for recognition. But his dabbling in cosmic forces for the sake of vanity, can’t lead him anywhere good. What begins as devotion to Josephine (Olivia de Guzman Emile) turns into something nearly perverse. And devastating.

As We Lie Still reflects upon fine distinctions: between spiritualism and enchantment, dedication and obsession, resignation and acceptance. And certainly, the nature of genuine love in the midst of deeply flawed humanity. A master stroke, I think, is the presence of Billy (Jovane Camaano) a somewhat “slow” and utterly loyal helper to Avi, whose unabashed sense of awe mirrors our own, as Avi reveals wonders to the audience. There is something about this show’s strange mixture of chicanery and the metaphysical, the guileless and the cunning, that seems to strike a nearly perfect balance. Like a chart of the planets in their concentric orbits. It sneaks up and gets under your skin, until you feel that little catch in your throat, and that rush of buried feelings.

Contemporary Theatre of Dallas presents As We Lie Still, playing October 28^th-November 20^th, 2016. 5601 Sears Street, Dallas, Texas 75206. 214-828-0094. www.ContemporaryTheatreofDallas.com