DTC Launches DTC Book Club with OEDIPUS EL REY Today

Dallas Theater Center announced today a new program for the 2013-14 season, DTC Book Club hosted by DTC Artistic Director Kevin Moriarty. DTC Book Club events are scheduled to take place with productions of Oedipus el Rey, The Fortress of Solitude, Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure and LES MISERABLES. DTC Book Club registration is open now on www.dallastheatercenter.org/bookclub.php.

DTC Book Club is designed for everybody who enjoys big ideas and is interested in exploring great literature with people from around North Texas. Book Club participants will read four literary masterpieces that serve as inspiration for plays in DTC's current season. Each Book Club meeting will focus on one of the books and its stimulating ideas. Then, after seeing the play, Book Club members will reconvene to participate in a follow-up discussion about how the production impacted their previous understanding of the book. Members will enjoy a glass of wine and a scintillating conversation with friends, moderated by DTC Artistic Director Kevin Moriarty.

"The Book Club will be a fun and intellectually stimulating way for DTC audience members to join together in a series of conversations about great literature and great theater, while enjoying a glass of wine and the engaging company of interesting people," said Moriarty.

The Book Club will read: Oedipus the King by Sophocles, translated by David Greene; The Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan Lethem; "A Scandal in Bohemia" from The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle; and LES MISERABLES by Victor Hugo, translated by Norman Denny.

Registration for DTC Book Club is open now on www.dallastheatercenter.org/bookclub.php. Participation is $250 and members must be present at all 8 Tuesday sessions. DTC Book Club registration fee includes books and wine. Tickets to performances are not included. Complete details about the program are available online.

ABOUT Dallas Theater Center: One of the leading regional theaters in the country, Dallas Theater Center (DTC) performs to an audience of more than 120,000 North Texas residents annually. Founded in 1959, DTC is now a resident company of the AT&T Performing Arts Center and presents its Mainstage season at the Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre, designed by REX/OMA, Joshua Prince-Ramus and Rem Koolhaas and at its original home, the Kalita Humphreys Theater, the only freestanding theater designed and built by Frank Lloyd Wright. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Kevin Moriarty and Managing Director Heather M. Kitchen, DTC produces a seven-play subscription series of classics, musicals and new plays and an annual production of A Christmas Carol; extensive education programs, including Project Discovery, SummerStage and partnerships with Southern Methodist University's Meadows School of the Arts and Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts; and community outreach efforts including leading the DFW Foote Festival and recent collaborations with the Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas Public Library, Dallas Holocaust Museum, North Texas Food Bank, Dallas Opera, and Dallas Black Dance Theater. Throughout its history, DTC has produced many new works, including The Texas Trilogy by Preston Jones in 1978, Robert Penn Warren's All the King's Men, adapted by Adrian Hall, in 1986, and recent premieres of FLY by Rajiv Joseph, Bill Sherman and Kirstin Childs; Fly by Night by Kim Rosenstock, Michael Mitnick and Will Connolly; Giant by Michael John LaChiusa and Sybille Pearson; The Trinity River Plays by ReGina Taylor; the revised It's a Bird... It's a Plane... It's Superman by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, Charles Strouse and Lee Adams; Give It Up! (now titled Lysistrata Jones and recently on Broadway) by Douglas Carter Beane and Lewis Flinn; Sarah, Plain and Tall by Julia Jordan, Laurence O'Keefe and Nell Benjamin; and The Good Negro by Tracey Scott Wilson.

At a Glance: DTC Book Club

Oedipus el Rey, TODAY, January 16-March 2, 2014

Rhythms pound. Violence escalates. A Chicano delinquent fights his way to the pinnacle of gangland power. But not even he can win the ultimate battle against fate. Sizzling, sexy, and startlingly contemporary, playwright Luis Alfaro's adaptation tears Sophocles' timeless Greek tragedy out of its mythic past and catapults it into the vivid, vicious reality of today's L.A. barrios. Contains adult themes, violence, language and nudity.

Oedipus the King by Sophocles, translated by David Greene, The University of Chicago Press

· Tuesday, January 7, 7:00-8:30 p.m. (Session A: Book Discussion)

· Tuesday, February 11, 7:00-8:30 p.m. (Session B: Post-Production Discussion)

The Fortress of Solitude March 7-April 6, 2014

A story of 1970s Brooklyn and beyond - of black and white, soul and rap, block parties and blackouts, friendship and betrayal, comic books and 45s. And the story of what would happen if two teenagers obsessed with superheroes believed that maybe, just maybe, they could fly ...

The Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan Lethem, Vintage Books

· Tuesday, March 4, 7:00-8:30 p.m. (Session A: Book Discussion)

· Tuesday, April 1, 7:00-8:30 p.m. (Session B: Post-Production Discussion)

Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure April 25-May 25, 2014

The ageless appeal of the world's greatest detective comes thrillingly to life in regional premiere of a witty play filled with intrigue, humor and surprise. With stalwart sidekick Doctor Watson by his side, Holmes pursues a blackmail case that leads him straight into the lair of his arch-adversary, Professor Moriarty. Follow the clues with the clever duo on their mysterious adventure, told in true Holmes-Watson fashion.

"A Scandal in Bohemia" from The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Dover Publications

· Tuesday, April 15, 7:00-8:30 p.m. (Session A: Book Discussion)

· Tuesday, May 20, 7:00-8:30 p.m. (Session B: Post-Production Discussion)

LES MISERABLES June 27-August 10, 2014

"Do you hear the people sing?" The most popular musical in the world takes over the Wyly Theatre with its glorious music and heartfelt story. In this thrilling new DTC production you will be immersed in this beloved story in a way you've never experienced it before: surrounded by the passion of the French revolution; engulfed by the romantic music; and overwhelmed by the experience of hope, redemption and forgiveness. Recommended for ages 10 and above.

LES MISERABLES by Victor Hugo, translated by Norman Denny, Penguin Books

· Tuesday, June 24, 7:00-8:30 p.m. (Session A: Book Discussion)

· Tuesday, July 29, 7:00-8:30 p.m. (Session B: Post-Production Discussion)

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