Brad McEntire Brings Summer Tour of his Solo Show ROBERT’S ETERNAL GOLDFISH Back Home to Dallas
 
After touring his one-person show Robert’s Eternal Goldfish around North America the last few months, playwright/performer Brad McEntire brings his solo comedy home to Dallas for a limited engagement at the Stomping Ground Comedy Theater, 1350 Manufacturing St #109, Dallas, TX 75207. The show plays Friday, October 5, 2018 at 8 PM and Friday, October 12, 2015 at 8 PM.
 
The show concerns Mr. Robert J. Roberts, a man brimming with hate for “so many things” in the world. In particular, he really dislikes people. All people. One day he becomes the unlikely custodian of a magical goldfish and Robert’s misanthropic views are seriously challenged. Can a person be frustrated into being a better human being?
 
Over the last few months, Robert’s Eternal Goldfish was presented at the Minnesota Fringe Festival, the Nanaimo Fringe in British Columbia and the Elgin Fringe Festival in Illinois.

Brad McEntire is the founding Artistic Director of the Dallas-based Audacity Theatre Lab. He is the creator of over a dozen plays, including Dinosaur and Robot Stop a Train, I Brought Home a Chupacabra, Raspberry Fizz and most recently Que Séra, Giant Monster which was named a winner of the Texas Playwrights Festival at Wordsmyth Theatre in Houston this summer. Since 2010 he has toured his trio of solo shows Chop, Cyrano A-Go-Go and Robert’s Eternal Goldfish to venues and festivals all over North America. He is the founding producer of the Dallas Solo Fest, an annual arts event that brings together solo performers from around the United States to present their shows to the north Texas audiences.
 
ROBERT’S ETERNAL GOLDFISH plays Fridays, October 5 and October 12, 2018. Both shows at 8:00 PM. At the Stomping Ground Comedy Theater, 1350 Manufacturing St #109, Dallas, TX 75207. Tickets are $10 and available at the door or online at: http://stompinggroundcomedy.org

ATL Artistic Director is taking his weird l'il solo show Robert's Eternal Goldfish all around North America this summer. First stop is at the 25th Annual Minnesota Fringe Festival. He's playing at the University of Minnesota's Rarig Center's Xperimental Theatre.
Shows:
Aug 3 @ 5:30 pm
Aug. 4 @ 2:30 pm
Aug. 7 @ 8:30 pm
Aug. 10 @ 10 pm
Aug. 11 @ 1 pm

At the U of M Rarig Center's Xperimental Theatre,
330 21st Avenue S, Minneapolis, MN 55454

Info on tickets and more... HERE.

After that McEntire is off to the Nanaimo Fringe in Canada with the show. There he will be at the Vancouver Island Conference Centre, 80 Commercial Street (Dodd Narrows Room), Nanaimo, BC V9R 5J8 Canada

Shows
Aug 14 @ 5:45 PM
Aug 15 @ 4:15 PM
Aug 16 @ 7:45 PM
Aug 17 @ 9:15 PM
Aug 18 @ 5:00 PM

Info and tickets... HERE

Finally, he is taking the piece to the Elgin Fringe Festival in Illinois in September. There he will be at the Side Street Studio Arts' Backspace, 15 1/2 Zeigler Ct., Elgin, IL 60120

Shows
Sept. 13 @ 9:00 PM
Sept. 14 @ 10:30 PM
Sept. 15 @ 7:30 PM
Sept. 16 @ 4:30 PM

Info and tickets... coming soon

DALLAS, TX – Audacity Theatre Lab is pleased to announce the 2018 Dallas Solo Fest, June 6 -10, 2018 at the Rosewood Center for the Arts, 5938 Skillman, Dallas, Texas 75231.  The festival will feature six distinct one-person shows presented by performers from around the country. 
 
The 2018 Dallas Solo Fest line-up includes:

The Biscuiteater
Created and performed by Jim Loucks (Venice, CA). Directed by Lisa Chess
 
Jim Loucks' rollicking solo performance draws on his Southern childhood to tell the story of a small-town policeman, loosely based on his Granddaddy, haunted by his shooting of a black man in the line of duty. As he nears the end of his life, he seeks redemption through teaching his grandson to respect life and to respect himself. 
 

Drunk Lion
Created and performed by Chris Davis (Philadelphia, PA). Directed by Mary Toumanen
 
A lonely alcoholic lion spends his days drinking into oblivion in a cantina, until he meets Chris, a young foreigner learning how to speak Spanish. The unlikely pair forge an intoxicated bond over life, love, and alcohol. 

Drunk Lion is written in Spanish and English, but it's all translated for you in the action, so no one is left behind! The writer Chris Davis lived for 3 years in Mexico, and the play documents some of his over-the-top experiences and ultimately is a dedication to his second home country. Chris embodies all of the characters exploring languages, loss, alcoholism, and how universal stories can be found in every corner of the world. Even Lions get drunk in cantinas!
 

Cody Clark: A Different Way of Thinking
Created and performed by Cody Clark (Louisville, KY). Directed by Taylor Martin.
 
Magician Cody Clark has a different way of seeing the world. Whether it’s finding the magic in an everyday moment, or recreating an everyday moment with his magic, the magician’s art is never far from his mind.
 
Cody discovered his love for magic at age 11, 9 years and 9 months after his parents discovered he had autism. Through stage magic and story, sleight-of-hand and journey of mind, Cody will show you the world through his eyes. Maybe you’ll find that his way of thinking isn’t all that different from yours.
 

Meatball Séance
Created and performed by John Michael (Chicago, IL). Directed by Janet Howe.
 
John Michael returns to the Dallas Solo Fest after his sell-out show Crossing Your I's (later retitled Dementia Me) at DSF 2014. Meatball Séance is his latest offering—quite literally—to the ghosts of memory. John Michael attempts to summon the spirit of his deceased mother so she can meet/approve of his new boyfriend. And what better way to connect than through her favorite recipe for meatballs?
 

Oh, Jesus! Or… An Actor, a Cynic and a Savior Walk Into a Bar
Created and performed by John S. Davies (Dallas, TX). Directed by Matt Lyle.
 
Jesus is back (well, he says he's Jesus...) and he has daddy issues. The crucifixion/resurrection thing didn't work out so well the first time. The world is still in chaos, so he's convinced his Father to let him try again, but this time he's going to use 21st Century tech to get the word out. Unfortunately, he keeps getting interrupted by a cynic with a stick up his ass. Davies presents a strange and uproarious meta-journey into the landscape of faith and deception.
 

PerVirgin
Created and performed by Nkechi Chibueze (New Orleans, LA). Directed by Eritria Pitts.
 
​Kechi is 34 years old and has never been kissed . . . and she REALLY wants to talk about it! Join Kechi as she lays out the blueprint to becoming a super virgin, shares her cringe-worthy crushalationships with lessons in love, reveals her grandiose plans for her first kiss, and and explains how the Pussycat Dolls and Zumba are her sexy spirit animals!
 
 
The 2018 Dallas Solo Fest is a production of Audacity Theatre Lab and will play June 6-10, 2018 at the Rosewood Center for the Arts, 5938 Skillman, Dallas, Texas 75231. A full and detailed schedule will be released soon. Single tickets and Festival Passes for all shows go on sale May 1, 2018.  Festival Passes include one admission to each and every festival show and are $65.  Individual ticket prices for each show are $15. Discounts available for students, etc. Reservations will be able to be made at the Dallas Solo Fest website or by calling (214) 888-6650. Details about the shows, artists’ bios, the other festival information at: www.DallasSoloFest.com
​​​​

Brad McEntire will be performing his darkly comic solo show ROBERT'S ETERNAL GOLDFISH next month as part of an event called Seattle-->To-->Fresno, a sort of mini-fringe satellite of the Rogue Fringe Festival. He has been invited out to Fresno, California by Seattle-based Minion Productions.

"I am excited to bring ROBERT'S ETERNAL GOLDFISH to California. It is not as well-travelled as CHOP and CYRANO A-GO-GO. It is my least technical solo show as well as my shortest, regularly clocking in around 50-52 minutes. And it is fun to perform, since the protagonist, Robert, is such a grouchy curmugeon," says McEntire.

"I feel particularly fortunate to have workshopped the piece with Audacity Theatre Lab," adds McEntire. "I have had the space, time and resources to really develop the show with performances in Dallas, Houston and even Scranton, Pennsylvania." 

Here's a blurb and some details. If you find yourself in Fresno in mid-September, head out to see the show.

Robert J. Roberts has a huge problem with the world. In particular he really dislikes people. All people. One day he becomes the unlikely custodian of a magical goldfish and Mr. Roberts' misanthropic view of the world is seriously challenged. Can a person be frustrated into being a better human being?

Performances on:
Saturday, Sept 9th @ 8:30 pm
Sunday,.Sept 10th @ 4:00 pm 

Performing at MIA Studio & Gallery
Fresno's Tower District
620 E Olive Ave., Fresno, CA 93728
Tickets $10... available HERE

Info about the show... HERE

Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/1435099753225763/

More info at the Minion Productions website

PHOTOS FROM THE SHOW IN FRESNO:

As Part of the 2017 Festival of Independent Theatres, Jaymes Gregory brings to the stage his innovative take on Chales Chaplin's preeminent 1940 film The Great Dictator. The Great Dictator explores the timeless themes of resistance to tyranny and the foibles of the human condition, as a meek yet principled Jewish barber crosses paths with the fascist dictator to whom he bears a striking resemblance.

Adapted and Directed by Jaymes Gregory. 
Featuring: Steph Garret, Robert Shores, Chad Cline and Leslie Patrick.
Costumes by Jamie Little Puente.

Playing at the Bath House Cultural Center, 521 E. Lawther Drive, Dallas TX 75218 
[map here]

July 21 @ 8 PM
July 22 @ 5 PM
July 27 @ 8 PM
July 29 @ 5 PM
August 4 @ 8 PM
August 5 @ 2 PM

For tickets/reservations go... HERE

The aim of the Audacity Solo Salon is to support and nurture both established and emerging solo performers in the north Texas area. It is also a way to extend the mission of the Dallas Solo Fest beyond just the annual festival itself. 

This quarterly series will be a way for solo artists to present, rehearse, experiement with and develop their work in front of supportive audiences. Come on out and see a new one-person show in progress...

This installment in what has become a semi-quarterly series from Audacity Theatre Lab will feature excerpts from solo shows-in-progress by Shelby-Allison Hibbs, Chris Sykes and Shayne Larango.

Sunday, May 7 @ 8:00 pm
[re-scheduled from the original March 26 date]
At the Margo Jones Theatre in Fair Park, Dallas TX
For directions and parking information visit... HERE

Admission is FREE, but any and all donations are welcome (donations go towards the the Dallas Solo Fest).
Also BYOB!

The Excerpts:
DemiRepubliCan't - Written and Performed by Shelby-Allison Hibbs
In the second installment of Shelby-Allison Hibbs' solo piece on politics and memory, the election results are in! Shelby-Allison has to move from juice boxes to hard liquor as she presses forward in 45's possession of her country. Maybe she'll move to Canada. Maybe she'll sell plasma. Maybe she'll continue to have a codependent relationship with her chihuahuas. Time will tell. 
​
Same Difference - Written and Performed by Chris Sykes
An experimental one-person piece about the casually extreme and nuanced contradictions that exist all around us.

Smell the Roux - Written and Performed by Shayne Larango
A legacy member of the Way to a Man’s Heart, Three Squares, and Clean Your Plate Club resists. An irreverent look at how food culture shapes our lives and our bodies.

As 2016 comes to a close, we at Audacity look back at the past year with pride. It wasn't a super-busy year, but it was filled with transformation. And we did do some good, original work.

Last January, we World Premiered Jeff Hernandez and Brad McEntire's NIGHT OF THE TARANTUBEARS at the Margo Jones Theatre in Dallas. With a  great cast and a nice positive review the year was off to a fun start.

In June we put on the 3rd Annual Dallas Solo Fest. The location in Fair Park offered some obstacles, but the festival went over pretty well. Eight solo performers from around the country converged on the DFW area for two weekends of one-person shows.

The summer was used for development. Artistic Director Brad McEntire was accpeted into both the Kathy George Indie Artists residency in Ashford, Orgeon as well as Will Power's Dallas Playwrights Workshop at Southern Methodist University.

This summer, Audacity removed itself from Partnership at the Margo Jones Partnership at the Margo Jones Theatre. Brad McEntire and Ruth Engel also removed themselves from the Board of Directors of that organization. Since 2013, when Matt Tomlanovich brought Audacity over to the Margo Jones Theatre in Fair Park, the members of ATL worked hard to help facilitate the space. While we felt we helped get the theatre into working operation after the passing of Mr. Tomlanovich in 2014, the work load became prohibative. We were spending a lot more time running another theatre and facilitating a venue rather than creating original theatre (which is, after all, our mission).

More problematic, Fair Park, while a great location on paper, presented a hundred and one logistical impracticalities for producing theatre in a serious and consistent way. It was and is hard to get audiences to the space, the events at the Margo Jones Theatre are often overshadowed by any other event in the Park, parking becomes an issue, the physical structure is in need of some real and pressing repairs and renovations, and the lines of communication of what else is happening at any given time in Fair Park are less than ideal. This was extremely apparent during the Dallas Solo Fest this year.

We at ATL actually communicated quite extensively with staff at Fair Park, but that did not prevent major disruptions occurring that threatened to envelope and ruin the DSF (from fireworks and noise pollution from Taste of Dallas to live bands literally in front of the theatre for Fair Park's 80th Celebration). In order to grow and mature as a company of artists, we at ATL felt it was time to move on from the Margo Jones.

ATL parted amicably with the rest of the MJP board and we will probably use the space in the future for small projects like readings, salons and workshops. It is just not a place for really ambitious work. Here's the blurb we had on the Margo Jones Theatre website (for posterity)...

Audacity Theatre Lab is a small, nimble theatre collective based in Dallas, Texas. Originally operating as Audacity Productions from 1999-2006, then setting up under the banner of Audacity Theatre Lab since 2008, ATL is interested in the individual artist as the center of theatre creation. Each artist at ATL is an instigator, developing and helming his or her own individual projects. The single artist  sees this personal project through from the first germinating ideas to the final finished production. The artist is encouraged to take the project to other cities and other venues to expose the work to wider audiences. The traditional lines between actor,  director, writer, producer and designer blur here. The usual hierarchies are cast aside. There is no “house style” or unifying company aesthetic. Instead, several unique and individual voices each make his or her own kind of theatre. Audacity acts as an umbrella of sorts, or a joint-studio,  a laboratory for idiosyncratic theatrical expression.

Although ATL produces a considerable amount of its projects at venues and festivals around the country, Audacity is pleased to have made the Margo Jones Theatre its Dallas homebase since 2013. ATL is especially pleased to share the Margo Jones Theatre with other small, forward-thinking groups who are intent on creating new, exciting theatre.
Visit:     facebook.com/audacity.theatrelab       www.audacitytheatrelab.com

In November we held our 2016 Autumn Solo Salon. Mikey Abrams, Stefany Cambra and Isaac Young all presented solo pieces in progress.

The year has not been as action packed as some in the past, but it has been filled with change. And change is a good thing in the theatre.

The aim of the Audacity Solo Salon is to support and nurture both established and emerging solo performers in the north Texas area. It is also a way to extend the mission of the annual Dallas Solo Fest beyond just the festival itself. 

This quarterly series will be a way for solo artists to rehearse, experiement and develop their work in front of supportive audiences. Come on out and see a new one-person show in progress...

This installment in what has become a semi-quarterly series from Audacity Theatre Lab will feature excerpts from solo pieces in development by Mikey Abrams, Stefany Cambra and Isaac Young.

Sunday, November 20 @ 7:30 pm
At the Margo Jones Theatre in Fair Park, Dallas TX
For directions and parking information visit... HERE

Admission is P-W-Y-C (donations go towards the the Dallas Solo Fest).
Also BYOB!

The Excerpts:
The Joy of Publik Skool - Written and Performed by Mikey Abrams
After years of teaching drama in the inner city near Dallas, a gay Jewish high school teacher, exhausted and frustrated, swears this year will be his last in the classroom. He will finally get to live his dream of acting in a lead role. Or will he? In his one-man comedy, writer-performer Mikey Abrams doesn’t filter the reality.  Just makes it funnier. 

Big Enough: The Adventures and Musings of a Bumblefuck - Written and Performed by Stefany Cambra
A one-person show that focuses on interactions of love and blending in until being ready to stand out.

BLINK - Written and Performed by Isaac Young
A one-man play about the angel Gabriel, who has returned to earth with a crisis of faith.

From the twisted minds of writers Brad McEntire and Jeff Hernandez comes a comedy horror World Premiere...
NIGHT OF THE TARANTUBEARS
Directed by Brad McEntire

A genetic experiment surfaces as a seemingly harmless viral internet sensation. Part bear, part spider hybrids are the latest trend. But what happens when our passing fascinations grow and things begin to go horribly horribly wrong. Five survivors hole up in an abandoned theatre, while the city is over-run by genetic monstrosities. Who will survive the night?

Featuring Miller Pyke, Dani Martin, Whitney Holotik, Brain Witkowicz and Kasey Tackett

Playing January 21-31, 2016

at the Margo Jones Theatre in historic Fair Park
1121 First Ave., Dallas, TX 75210  [map here]

Online tickets... HERE
For reservations and other information visit... HERE