Dallas Theater Center's 2012-13 Season Will Include New Works from Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, Peter Pan Musical FLY and More

Dallas Theater Center Artistic Director Kevin Moriarty announced today the theater's 2012-13 season, which will take place at the Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre at the AT&T Performing Arts Center and the historic Kalita Humphreys Theater.

DTC's 54th season will include three world premieres; two new musicals; the culmination of DTC's four-year Shakespeare cycle; and several nationally acclaimed plays making their North Texas debut.

"With great plays and musicals, sensational performers and headline-worthy collaborators, the 2012-13 season truly has something to offer everyone," says Moriarty. "From Dracula to Peter Pan, from Mark Rothko to King Lear, the season is filled with unforgettable characters in plays and productions that are new, fresh and exciting. Our unique Wyly and Kalita Humphreys stages will be transformed into a wrestling ring, an artist's studio, a magical island filled with awe-inspiring flying, and a castle in Transylvania in which good and evil face off in a thrilling battle."

"The 2012-13 season showcases DTC's commitment to producing vibrant new work by some of the most exciting playwrights currently working in the American theater," says Moriarty. Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (DTC's It's a Bird… It's a Plane… It's Superman) returns to Dallas with the world premiere of The DRACULA Cycle, a fresh take on Bram Stoker's vampire classic. Kim Rosenstock (Tigers Be Still) brings her new musical, Fly By Night, to DTC, written with Michael Mitnick and Will Connolly. Award-winning playwright Rajiv Joseph and composer Bill Sherman create a contemporary new musical version of the Peter Pan story, Fly. The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity will introduce Dallas audiences to the work of acclaimed playwright Kristoffer Diaz, who has also been commissioned by DTC to write two new plays for future seasons.

"We are also continuing our emphasis on collaboration," says Moriarty. New initiatives include a partnership with the Dallas Museum of Art centered around Red, the Tony Award®-winning play about legendary artist Mark Rothko, and collaborations with The Second City in Chicago and Trinity Repertory Company in Providence. "This season, members of DTC's Brierley Resident Acting Company will collaborate with their nationally recognized peer actors from across the country, allowing Dallas audiences to experience the artistry of new actors on our stage and introducing some of Dallas' finest actors to new collaborators."

Additionally, as part of its audience outreach initiatives, DTC is expanding one of its most popular programs, Stay Late, which invites audience members to stay after the play and discuss the production with members of the cast. "This season we will launch a complementary new program, Come Early, that will invite audiences to learn about the play before it begins," says Moriarty.

Also new this season, DTC is offering supporters an affordable membership program, for those interested in receiving access to unique, behind-the-scenes opportunities and special benefits.

The season will be presented as follows: In the Potter Rose Performance Hall at the Wyly Theatre – The Second City Does Dallas (Aug. 29 – Oct. 6); The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity (Oct. 19 – Nov. 25); and King Lear (Jan. 18 – Feb. 17). In the Kalita Humphreys Theater – Red (Feb. 8 – March 10). In the Potter Rose Performance Hall at the Wyly Theatre – The DRACULA Cycle (March 15 – April 18). In the Kalita Humphreys Theater – Fly By Night (April 26 – May 26). In the Potter Rose Performance Hall at the Wyly Theatre – Fly (July 2 – Aug. 18). DTC will also produce Dallas' favorite holiday tradition – A Christmas Carol (Nov. 20 – Dec. 23) - its final year at the Kalita Humphreys Theater before moving to the Wyly in 2013.

In the 2012-13 season, DTC will collaborate with legendary improv comedy troupe The Second City for The Second City Does Dallas - a comedy revue about Dallas that "will touch on everything from politics to class to big Texas hair." Two members of our own Brierley Resident Acting Company will team up with four Second City members to create an evening of comedy and cocktails with the Dallas skyline as the backdrop.

The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity will put patrons ring-side, as the spectacle (and politics) of the wrestling world unfolds before them. Chad Deity was a finalist for the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and will introduce North Texans to the voice of playwright Kristoffer Diaz, from whom DTC has also commissioned two new plays. Texas native and Texas Christian University graduate Jaime Castañeda will return to North Texas to direct this one-of-a-kind theatrical experience.

Completing DTC's four-year Shakespeare cycle is King Lear, directed by Kevin Moriarty. In a major collaboration with the Tony Award®-winning Trinity Repertory Company in Providence, RI, members of the two theaters' acting companies will come together to create a bold new production of Shakespeare's greatest tragedy.

Red, which won six honors at the 2010 Tony Awards®, will invite patrons into the studio and the mind of abstract expressionist Mark Rothko. DTC Associate Artist Joel Ferrell will direct this startling snapshot of a brilliant artist at the height of his fame. DTC and the Dallas Museum of Art will invite audiences to learn more about Rothko's life, work and the historical context of the play through a series of auxiliary experiences at the DMA, the Kalita and online.

The work of playwright Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (DTC's It's a Bird… It's a Plane… It's Superman; HBO's Big Love and FOX TV's Glee) will return to the Wyly stage with The DRACULA Cycle. Based on the novel by Bram Stoker and directed by Kevin Moriarty, The DRACULA Cycle will take audience members on a chilling journey from Transylvania to London as they witness what happens when the forces of good make their final stand against the forces of evil.

Conceived by Kim Rosenstock, the playwright of Tigers Be Still, and written by Rosenstock, Will Connolly and Michael Mitnick, Fly by Night is a charming and comic rock musical that takes place during New York's 1965 blackout. This acclaimed new show that the San Francisco Chronicle calls "breathtakingly good" will be directed by Bill Fennelly.

Making his directorial debut is three-time Tony Award®-winner (Rent, Avenue Q, In the Heights) Jeffrey Seller with the hip, new musical Fly. Written by Rajiv Joseph, the acclaimed playwright of the hit Broadway play Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, and Bill Sherman, the orchestrator of In the Heights, this musical is "filled with breathtaking flying, action, longing and remorse, and offers a unique spin on the classic Peter Pan tale."

Full season subscriptions are on sale now for as little as $105; or design your own theater-going experience for as little as $45. Subscriptions can be purchased online at DallasTheaterCenter.org or by phone at (214) 252-3927.

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