Rich@DallasVoice.com<\/a><\/p>\nPut a one-man comedy and a family drama together on the same spectrum, and they are polar opposites. But Uptown Players brings those two opposites together for a big season finale.<\/p>\n
And to keep it interesting, the company is presenting both shows concurrently, just on different stages.<\/p>\n
Yeah, Uptown is keeping audiences on their toes.<\/p>\n
Onstage now is Application Pending, which opened Thursday, Aug. 20, in Theatre Three\u2019s basement space, Theatre Too.<\/p>\n
Written by Greg Edwards and Andy Sandberg, this one-actor production stars BJ Cleveland portraying a number of characters in a comedy centered on an unnamed Manhattan elite private school admissions process.<\/p>\n
Cleveland runs the gamut of roles, from an inexperienced admissions director to anxious parents, demanding faculty members and more. Director Linda Leonard feels that everyone will relate to the show\u2019s madcap story.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe comedy is hilarious because it is rooted in recognizable human behavior,\u201d she first said in the show\u2019s announcement. \u201cBJ\u2019s ability to create dozens of memorable characters makes every performance an exhilarating ride.\u201d<\/p>\n
This shouldn\u2019t be a surprise. Cleveland\u2019s been here before: This isn\u2019t the actor\u2019s first time in this show for Uptown Players.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m excited to get an opportunity to come back and do this show with a live audience,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Application Pending was originally presented by Uptown Players as a streaming production during the pandemic in its 2020\/21 season. The show now receives its first full live theatrical engagement, giving audiences the chance to watch Cleveland serve up multiple personalities.<\/p>\n
\u201cLearning it and filming it once with no audience during COVID was anticlimactic,\u201d Cleveland said. \u201cThe audience is always the extra character in a show \u2014 and I\u2019m doing 44 of them.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s challenging but fun. My mind is warped and ready, [so] get out of the heat and come have a big laugh,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Uptown Players Executive Producer Craig Lynch has full confidence that Cleveland will leave an impression.<\/p>\n
\u201cBJ Cleveland is one of North Texas\u2019 finest comic actors, and Application Pending is the perfect showcase for his extraordinary versatility,\u201d Lynch said. \u201cIt is the kind of performance audiences will be talking about long after the final curtain.\u201d<\/p>\n
Application Pending runs through Aug. 30.<\/p>\n
On Friday, Aug. 21, all the drama can be found on Theatre Three\u2019s Norma Jones mainstage when Uptown Players opens a play by Pulitzer Prize-winner Paula Vogel that was inspired by her own family.<\/p>\n
Directed by Cheryl Denson, Mother Play: A Play in Five Evictions follows Phyllis and her children, Martha and Carl, from 1962 to the present, carrying the audience through a lifetime of resilience, laughter, heartbreak and unconditional love.<\/p>\n
The play stars Cara Statham Serber as struggling single mother Phyllis, Leslie Marie Collins as oft-overlooked daughter Martha and Ryan Michael Friedman as flamboyant favorite son Carl.<\/p>\n
\u201cPaula Vogel has written a play that is deeply personal yet universally recognizable,\u201d Lynch said. \u201cIt is a fitting conclusion to our season because it reminds us that family, in all its complexity, remains one of the most powerful stories we can tell.\u201d<\/p>\n
The production debuted on Broadway in 2024. Today\u2019s opening with Uptown Players marks the play\u2019s regional premiere.<\/p>\n
And just like that, Uptown Players winds up its season with a double header.<\/p>\n
Mother Play opens today and runs through Aug. 30.
For tickets to both, visit UptownPlayers.org.<\/p>\n
\n\tRelated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Mother Play, opening Aug. 21 at Uptown Players, tells the story of a single mother and her…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":413450,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[102,104,103,38737],"class_list":["post-413449","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-headlines","tag-dallas-news","tag-featured-this-week"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413449","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=413449"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413449\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/413450"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=413449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=413449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=413449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}