Margo Jones Theatre

The Margo Jones Theatre / Magnolia Lounge is such a gem of a Performing Arts Theater, tucked away across the street from the Old Mill Inn at Fair Park on the State Fair of Texas Fairgrounds!This beautiful little Art Deco Theatre is comfortably small and intimate.Hubby & I attended the critically acclaimed production of, "Hedwig and The Angry Inch" Friday night, 03/07/15, to see my daughters boyfriend, who is playing in "The Angry Inch" Rock Band. WOW......the band / music is amazing! Robert Rain, as Hedwig, and Jenine Galante, as Yitzhak, both give captivating performances! The story is sad, yet some parts are unexpectedly funny, as told by Hedwig Schmidt. The theatre was Rockin', the audience was singing and really involved in this play. Again, I really like this venue and hope to see more plays / productions here! The Margo Jones / Magnolia Lounge is truly a Dallas Icon, as was Margo Jones, herself!Per Wikipedia:***Margo Jones (December 12, 1911 - July 24, 1955) , was an influential American stage director and producer best known for launching the American regional theater movement and for introducing the theater-in-the-round concept in Dallas, Texas. In 1947, she established the first regional professional company when she opened Theatre '47 in Dallas. Of the 85 plays Jones staged during her Dallas career, 57 were new, and one-third of those new plays had a continued life on stage, television and radio. Her theater-in-the-round concept requires no stage curtain, little scenery and allows the audience to sit on three sides of the stage. That concept was used by directors in later years for such well-known shows as the original stage production of Man of La Mancha, and all plays staged at the ANTA Washington Square Theatre (demolished in the late 1960s), including Arthur Miller's autobiographical play After the Fall (1964). ~Information provided by: Wikipedia.orghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margo_Jones*** Death of Margo Jones:On July 17th 1955, Jones invited friends over to a party. However, during the party an artist spilled red paint on the carpet, so she later brought professional cleaners to deal with it. They used carbon tetrachloride, a strong solvent commonly used in dry-cleaning processes at the time. Jones, satisfied with the cleaning, fell asleep into the night. Unfortunately, some carbon tetrachloride had been absorbed into the carpet and later evaporated, filling her home with toxic fumes. So she woke up dizzy; it was later discovered the gas had caused kidney failure. She was then found unconscious on the couch resting and she was rushed to hospital, but died 9 days later. According to her friends, she briefly regained consciousness and found out she was going to die, and made elaborate preparations for her burial, including asking her friends to dress her properly and grooming her for her funeral. She died July 26, 1955 at the age of 43, never realizing what killed her. In 1959, her theater was closed.**Information provided by : Wikipedia.org.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margo_Jones

I LOVE this little community theatre. It's a versatile space for performances that's on the fairgrounds. Even though it's small, it's equipped like a larger space, with lighting and rigging. They even offer free parking! The space generally features performances from local artists.

This theatre is a small venue with many smaller theater groups performing. I love seeing things here. It's usual affordable, very creative, and a fun night with a live performance.