Undermain Theatre


The Undermain Theatre is an 80-seat regional theater, home to the professional theater company, Deep Ellum Theatre Group. It is located in Deep Ellum, Dallas, Texas. Deriving its name from the actual location of the basement space "under Main Street", this ensemble group of theatre artists performs new and experimental works throughout Dallas, New York City and Europe and has become known for producing many contemporary writers.

Undermain Theatre history

In fall 1983, Katherine Owens and Raphael Parry arrived in Dallas. Both were interested in presenting new and experimental material with an ensemble company in the Deep Ellum area. They began producing together at Stage Number One's Greenville Avenue Theater, in association with Dallas Actor's Theater, on a triple bill of Action, Killer’s Head and Icarus's Mother by Sam Shepard. In early 1984, they found the vacant basement space of the now historical Interstate Forwarding Company building on 3200 Main Street. By spring 1984, they had their first production, Excavations: Killer’s Head, Twirler, Waking Up, in the Main Street space.
Excavations was part of a Gallery Walk event and was presented in a promenade style due to the lack of seating in their basement theater space. The show was a series of one-acts that both Owens and Parry directed and performed in. By the end of their first season, they were on their way to building their ensemble. In April 1985, Bruce DuBose joined the cast of Dario Fo’s Can't Pay? Won't Pay!, beginning a longtime relationship that eventually took DuBose to the position of executive producer of Undermain Theatre.
With each season, Undermain continued to thrive and grow. By its third season, Dallas critics began to take notice and by the end of the fourth season, in spring 1987, Undermain flew in the playwright John O’Keefe to develop his play, All Night Long. In September that year, Undermain developed a relationship with Jeff Jones while producing Seventy Scenes of Halloween. This friendship proved to be advantageous, leading to Undermain's long standing relationships with the playwrights Len Jenkin, Mac Wellman and Eric Ehn and the subsequent productions of Poor Folks Pleasure, Harm’s Way, A Murder of Crows and The Red Plays, among other shows, establishing Undermain Theatre's name among the language playwrights in New York City and around the US.

Milestones

In 1995, Undermain Theatre traveled to the Republic of Macedonia to perform Goran Stefanvovski's Sarajevo in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the United Nations. Undermain also performed at the ancient Roman Theatre at Bittola and at the Ohrid Theater Festival. In 2000, the theater company traveled to New York City for the first time, producing three shows there as well as four shows in Dallas. In 2001, the company returned to the Balkans with a new work and performed at the DAH Teatar Anniversary Celebration in Belgrade, Yugoslavia.

The building

The unique building, constructed in 1913 by B.D. Milam and E.C. Connor as the first US Customs warehouse in Dallas, is a six-story, Chicago-style building billed as absolutely fireproof with an exterior that was made with red and ironspot bricks and concrete. Jim and Michelle Herling, the owners of the building in the early 1980s, were patrons of the arts, already housing an art gallery on the first floor of the building, and were willing to allow Owens and Parry to rent the entire basement floor at a very low price. From that, Owens and Parry transformed the warehouse basement into a unique performance space that became the home of Undermain Theatre. In 1989, Undermain Properties bought the building on 3200 Main Street. It was adapted for residential use in 1991 by Graham Greene & RTHL to include 28 residential units, keeping both the theatre and the art galleries in their respective places. The building became a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark in 1991 and was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2002. It is also a City of Dallas Landmark.

The chairs

The 90-seat house at Undermain Theatre is also unique. The chairs, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, were originally housed in the Kalita Humphreys Theater. Obtained by the Undermain from the Dallas Theater Center in 1989, the seating was designed by Taliesin architects, the firm that completed many of Wright's projects after his death in 1959. Its design was based on a variety of ideas promoted by Wright himself and by Paul Baker.

Critical acclaim

, Jeffrey M. Jones, John O’Keefe, Erik Ehn, Susan Lori-Parks, Lenora Champagne, Howard Baker, Caryl Churchill, Goran Stefanovski, Octavio Solis, Lynne Alvarez, David Rabe, Connor McPherson, Young Jean Lee, Len Jenkin, Dario Fo, David Ray, Sam Shepard, Samuel Beckett,

Collaborations