Undermain Theatre - In the News

The Dallas Morning News
REVIEW: 'Greendale' will have you revved up to save the planet
By Lawson Taitte

“…Greendale is an overwhelming experience, musically and theatrically.”

“…The singing actors all have stunning moments, but the three instrumentalists are the real stars here. Kenny Withrow of New Bohemians leads from the guitar; Paul Semrad of Course of Empire plays bass; and Alan Emert of Brave Combo is on drums. The music drives this show like the rolling river mentioned in one of the songs.
They're calling this Greendale a rock opera, but it's really a fresh form of its own. The musicians are on the greatly expanded Undermain stage the whole time, sometimes stepping forward into the central spotlight. The actors, too, sit or move around, pantomiming some clarifying action when they're not singing, breaking into dance that looks spontaneous but is carefully integrated.

… this bunch will have you leaving the theater rarin' to go and determined to save the planet.”

Turtle Creek News
Review: Neil Young’s Music Rocks Undermain
By Martha Heimberg

"Undermain’s intimate boutique theater on Main Street in Deep Ellum is suddenly huge. The basement playing space reaches back to the brick walls and over to the far corners. There’s room for a woman on a bicycle to ride round the big concrete columns – and room for a big cast of singers and a stunning trio of musicians to get the whole place rocking to Neil Young’s pounding rhythms. The dense, driving sound goes right through the audience and makes for a terrific night of music and theater.

“Greendale” is a kind of pop-rock opera, smartly directed together by Katherine Owens as a rhythmic, wave-on-wave series of events. Owens brings together Neil Young’s spotty impression of the emotional life of citizens in a small, close-knit community by virtually eliminating the space between songs, and clarifying lyrics with actors silently dancing or playing out the story. It works; somehow you see a plot emerge from the series of nine songs with no narrative voice over.

The whole town is affected when young Jed (handsome, clear-voiced Jonathan Brooks) is led astray by the devilish drug dealer (a sleazy, omnipresent Newton Pittman), and ends up shooting the town’s good cop. Sun Green (fetching Kristen Campbell in blonde braids and tight jeans) is lost and angry. The policeman’s widow (touching, dark-eyed Stefanie Tovar) mourns, and the media swoops down on the local community. Soon the serious painter puts on new glasses provided by the devil, and sees that he can sell his work if he sells out.

As the title indicates, the destructive forces at work here are withering the once-green haven. The guitars are soaring solo, the drums are pounding, and the harmonica is wailing in sadness “Be the Rain,” is evocative and powerfully delivered by the whole cast. And you’re left to decide if all destruction – to lives or to the natural world – are made of the same web of deception and violence. An interesting question."

"As presented by the Undermain Theatre, Neil Young’s Greendale is a hellacious piece of rock ‘n’ roll… This baby kicks; you’re not likely to hear a livelier performance in any area theater."

Katherine Owens was chosen in 2008 as a Woman of Distinction by the Dallas branch of American Association of University Women. She was saluted at a reception on April 26, 2008.

CLICK HERE to read Lawson Taitte's (of The Dallas Morning News) story featuring Lynne Avarez, UMT and The Snow Queen

"It’s a long way from Shakespearean blank verse, but in Conor McPherson’s Shining City at Undermain... language itself becomes the primary focus.

It’s too bad this excellent play has only this weekend left in its run. If you have one play to see this month, make it this one.

Conor McPherson’s dialogue in Shining City makes David Mamet’s look a little formal by contrast. Set in the office of a former priest, now a therapist, the play is about two actions crossing each other — the struggle of a man grieving over his dead wife and his own sins, and the former priest’s continuing crisis of faith. This production is close to perfect, by far the best thing I’ve seen at Undermain since Caryl Churchill’s A Number several years ago, and easily the best drama in Dallas this year.

The Undermain’s space, always a little hard on people with claustrophobia, works beautifully for a set in which the therapist’s couch and chair facing the audience downstage create an immediate intimacy.

Bruce DuBose and Anthony Ramirez star in Conor McPherson’s Shining City at the Undermain.But it’s McPherson’s language that’s stunning. Sometimes a character goes through five or six seconds and 10 different starts just trying to find the right way to get a sentence out, but it never seems like a contrivance, and the actors under Katherine Owens’ direction are pitch perfect. In fact, Bruce DuBose as John, the man grieving for his dead wife, has a long monologue in the third scene that has you, on the one hand, completely lost in what he says, and on the other hand, marveling at the easy naturalness with which he gives this extremely difficult dialogue life. DuBose hits every emotion perfectly. If there’s better acting than this in Dallas, I haven’t seen it.

Anthony Ramirez as the priest-therapist (still a confessor, but without the power to absolve) has much less to say, but he gives his character a slightly creepy borderline identity. This is a man unsure of his own standing in sexuality (there’s one gay scene), spiritually hungry, full of guilt, cruel without meaning to be.

Shannon Kearns-Simmons as his fiancée, the mother of his child who supported him through his education as a therapist after he left the priesthood, has a pure believability. "

"...great acting as active expression or great acting as intense concentration. They're both on the Undermain stage in 'Shining City.'"

In Memoriam: Happy Yancey

Beloved Undermain ensemble member
Happy Yancey, 61, an accomplished costume designer, painter and art historian, died suddenly Friday in Dallas. Born Martha Jane Yancey in 1945 to Sherod Foster and Mary Frances Cunningham Yancey, she grew up in University Park and attended the Hockaday School. Even in infancy she was called Happy, and the name Happy Yancey was well known in the theater and arts communities from New York to California and Europe.

She began painting at an early age and later became interested in costume design. She attended the Arkansas Arts Center School of Art and Drama in Little Rock, Ark., and the University of Texas. At UT she studied with Paul Reinhardt and Lucy Barton. She also studied archetypal psychology at the Dallas Institute of Humanities and Culture. Her design credits number in the hundreds, including independent films, Arkansas Arts Center productions, and the Undermain Theater in Dallas.

She also designed costumes for the SMU opera series and shows for production in New York City and Los Angeles. Many shows she not only designed but supervised construction of the costumes.

Happy was an important part of the arts and theater community in Dallas and will be deeply missed. As one of her friends said, Happy's passing will "leave a big hole" in that community. Happy spent every summer of her life in Harpswell, Maine, where she is survived by family and many friends. Above all else, Happy will be remembered for her warmth, generosity and sense of humor. She had many friends throughout the United States and maintained lively relationships with most of them.

She is survived by her daughter, Martha Devin O'Neal of Dallas; a granddaughter, Vanya; her mother, Mary Frances Yancey of University Park; her brother, David Cunningham Yancey of Dallas; cousins Sherod Yancey of Harpswell, Maine, and Stephen Yancey of Dallasldest brother, Sherod Foster Yancey Jr., predeceased her.