Several news outlets are identifying a man wounded in a shooting Monday night in the parking lot of Cold Beer Company as Matthew Posey, artistic director of the Ochre House Theater in nearby Expo Park.
Witnesses said a man shot Posey as he was getting into his pickup near the back of the parking lot. There were no words exchanged before the shooting. The suspect just fired multiple rounds, jumped into a car with other people and sped away.
Police are not sure of the motive because the suspect didn’t say anything and didn’t take anything. They are looking at the possibility that it was related to a gang initiation.
His injuries were not life threatening, and Posey is in stable condition at Baylor, according to a Facebook post from Justin Locklear, a playwright, actor, and director at Ochre House.
Posey has been involved in small local theaters in Dallas for decades. He founded the Deep Ellum Theater Garage in the 1980s before moving to work as an actor in Los Angeles. He returned to North Texas and then opened Ochre House in 2008, choosing the Expo Park storefront after he received a sign: a Buddhist figurine positioned above the door. Posey writes and directs many, if not most, of the company’s plays, which have been acclaimed as some of the most exciting, original, and unconventional productions in Dallas. He wrote, directed, and stars in Dr. Bobaganush, which opened over the weekend at Ochre House.
This is the second senseless violent attack on a member of North Texas’ theater community in the last month: Derek Whitener, of Garland’s Firehouse Theatre, was only just released from the hospital after surviving a brutal assault in the parking lot of the Cityplace Target on Haskell Avenue. Dallas police have arrested two people suspected of involvement in that incident.
Update: Posey is in stable condition and is expected to recover. The Ochre House Theater has cancelled future performances of Dr. Bobaganush.
