Fort Worth’s theater scene grows even more vibrant with the regional debuts of two plays that open this week after enjoying their world premieres just last year.
Circle Theatre is running Dex and Julie Sittin’ in a Tree, a comedy about college sweethearts who reunite 25 years later. Bruce Graham’s two-char
acter piece received mixed reviews when it bowed in Philadelphia in February 2007, especially in regards to widowed Julie seeking revenge on the guy who walked out on her 25 years earlier. However, the critics also admired the acting and the snappiness of the writing – celebrity defense lawyer Dex proudly notes that he placed No. 9 on a list of the 10 most-hated New Yorkers. (“Beat Al Sharpton,” Dex brags.) Included in the show’s run is a staged reading on Sunday of Graham’s next planned stage work, Something Intangible.
A somewhat weightier piece is Carlos Murillo’s dark play or stories for boys, which Amphibian Productions is putting on. It’s about a precocious 14-year-old boy who impersonates a girl over the internet and manages to get a straight 16-year-old boy to fall in love with “her.” Critics in L.A., where the play had its first performances last October, were unsettled and even frightened by the complexity and cruelty of the story’s prank that goes way further than originally intended, as well as the ruthless plot that builds without intermission to a violent end.
Dex and Julie Sittin’ in a Tree runs Sep 18-Oct 18 at Circle Theatre, 230 W 4th St, FW. Tickets are $10-30. Call 817-877-3040.
