Race (Nov 15 – Dec 14 at the Kitchen Dog Theatre, 3120 McKinney Ave.Dallas, TX 75204) Tickets: Opening this weekend, the polarizing writer David Mamet’s 2009 play about two attorneys—one black, one white—defending a white man accused of a crime against a black woman receives its regional premiere. The snap-crackle of Mamet’s wit, so exemplary in Glengarry Glen Ross, has lost some of its knockout punch as of late, though he’s smart as ever. Expect plenty of twists and turns.
Oswald: The Actual Interrogation (Through Nov 17 at Casa Manana, 3101 West Lancaster Ave. Fort Worth, TX 76107) Tickets: Closing this weekend, this play by Dennis Richard recreates the intense interrogation of the alleged terrorist from police notes and testimony taken from witnesses. The Casa Manana production features a strong cast, particularly Ed Dixon in the role of detective Fritz.
Moscow Ballet’s Great Russian Nutcracker 2013 (Nov 15-17 at SMU’s McFarlin Auditorium 6405 Boaz Ln., Ste. 101 Dallas, TX 75275) Tickets: Nutcracker season official kicks-off this weekend with the heavyweight touring company that is being billed as a “tinkered” version, which includes a fusion of classical ballet and “Broadway-style” choreography by British actor and director James Warwick. The production will also new costumes and multi-cultural solo dances, which may rub purists, but which promise to freshen up a familiar classic.
The Rivals (Oct 31 – Dec 1 at Stage West, 821 W. Vickery Blvd.Fort Worth, TX 76104) Tickets: Stage West knows how to pull off a comedy of manners, so it was only a matter of time before they tried their hand at Richard Sheridan’s Georgian drama The Rivals. The play pokes fun at the social norms of the late 1700s, in which the wealthy and fashionable descended on the English town of Bath for rest and relaxation. Calling all literary nerds: the genesis of the word “malapropism” is the character Mrs. Malaprop, who often transposes words that look similar for comedic affect.
The Merchant of Venice (Nov 17-18 at the Winspear Opera House – Hamon Hall, 2403 Flora St.Dallas, TX 75201) Tickets:“If you prick us, do we not bleed?” cries Shylock, the iconic character in Shakespeare’s most enthralling and unsettling comedies, The Merchant of Venice. “And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?” he continues in that same famous speech, as he, and the other inhabitants of the cities Venice and Belmont, seek life, love, justice, fortune, and mercy in one of the Bard’s major work. Shakespeare Dallas stages a reading of the play as part of its laudable, multi-year effort to stage readings of every single play by Shakespeare.
