Thursday, April 5, 2007

Theater Spotlight of the Week: Tina Parker

By Shawn Parikh

I chose Tina Parker this week because she is starring in Kitchen Dog Theater's show, Mr. Marmalade, which opens this Friday. But not only that, she is one of Kitchen Dog's Artistic Directors, which I believe is one of the best theater companies in town because they offer something different. I got a chance to talk to her for a few minutes about her start with the company, why she thinks that their "edginess" has helped them to succeed, and what she thinks about the Dallas theater scene. She shares some of my strong views about how people in the Dallas community do not recognize the diverse theater scene that is offered.

Mr. Marmalade is called a "savage black comedy" because it has a provoking message, but is done comically. Tina Parker is playing a four year old girl who has an abusive invisible friend. She talks about the significance of this work and how she got ready to play a four year old. She also stresses how much labor and rehearsal was put into this production, and she is excited for the audience to experience it. She offers some good reasons to see it too: she wears a tutu and kid pajamas.

This will be the Southwest premiere of the play, written by hot-on-the-scene playwright, Noah Haidle. The play opens this Friday, but she mentions that on Sundays, the cast and director have a talkback session with the audience after the show that anyone can attend even if they did not see the show that day. Another deal is that on Wednesday and Thursday, the first 25 patrons are able to pay whatever they can for the show.

The Theater Spotlight will feature a theater artist every week that has an ongoing or approaching show at that time. To suggest someone for an interview, contact Shawn.

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