Dallas Theater Center Announces Collaboration with Dallas Museum of Art for RED

Dallas Theater Center announced today its first production-specific collaboration with the Dallas Museum of Art in conjunction with the Tony Award®-winning play Red, which runs February 7-March 24 at the Dee and Charles Wyly Theater, 9th Floor. This unique effort will invite patrons and visitors of both organizations to learn about the world of artist Mark Rothko by seeing the play at DTC, viewing original works of art by Rothko and his contemporaries at the DMA and engaging in a special events about the work at both DTC and at the DMA.

“Dallas Theater Center is committed to creating meaningful collaborations with our peer organizations in the Arts District,” says DTC artistic director Kevin Moriarty. “This collaboration with the Dallas Museum of Art will invite our audience to engage in a dialogue that will extend beyond the play itself. We hope that throughout the run of Red audiences are inspired to visit the DMA and expand their understanding of art.”

The collaboration includes public events and pre and post show learning opportunities beginning with an Arts & Letters Live program on January 17. The DMA will host Rothko specialist Carol Mancusi-Ungaro and a panel of experts moderated by Maxwell L. Anderson, the Eugene McDermott Director of the Dallas Museum of Art. This conversation will focus on the life and work of abstract expressionist Rothko and provide audience members with an in-depth look at the man at the center of Red. It will also include a brief sneak-peek performance excerpt.

“We’re so pleased to work with DTC to give context to Mark Rothko’s achievements, through his paintings in the DMA’s collection and through the acute observations of talented experts, including Carol Mancusi-Ungaro, who knows his work as well as anyone,” said Anderson.

A highlight of the collaboration will be Red In-Depth, a four-hour afternoon seminar on Saturday, February 23, which will take place at both the Wyly Theatre and the DMA. Seminar participants will start the afternoon at the Wyly, where they will engage in a pre-show lecture and a performance of Red. After seeing the play, the audience will join the cast in walking to the DMA for a personalized tour of paintings that reflect on the ideas in the play, as well as participating in opportunities for hands-on art experiences and a discussion with the actors and DMA staff members.

Other public engagement opportunities include Come Early, DTC’s free, 30-minute pre-show lecture that will be offered one hour before every performance of the play at the Wyly, and Stay Late, a free, post-show conversation with cast members after each performance. The DMA will provide content to be shared in these settings, as well as collaborating to create Study Guides for teachers and students, on-line content available to anyone, and information published in the play’s program.

In addition to public offerings, the DMA is providing director Joel Ferrell, set designer Bob Lavallee, and the cast of Red access to artistic and historical resources to support their creative work on the production. The institutions are also working together to develop a creativity workshop for DTC and DMA employees to learn more about Rothko and the production in cross-institutional settings, including opportunities for the entire DTC staff to visit the DMA and for the DMA staff to attend a free, private performance of Red.

A schedule of programming and events follows. For complete details about currently scheduled items and those in the development process, how to participate and how to purchase tickets, please visit www.DallasTheaterCenter.org.

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