Re-Designing Women. When Jamie Morris writes a spoof, he doesn’t hold back. Even before the actors come onstage for the first scene of Re-Designing Women, Morris’ send-up of the ’80s-era sitcom Designing Women, we’re treated to an “opening credits” video to remind us of the tone and characters. Of course, once the show begins (which is does at the Rose Room most Fridays and Saturdays for the next month-and-a-half), we simply revert, like muscle memory, to knowing who we’re seeing.
It’s the present day, and Sugarbakers Designs is going strong … well, not so strong. They’ve fallen on hard times. Finances are so bad, Suzanne (Ashton Shawver) has tricked the others into appearing on a Bravo reality show, Sugar Walls. They’re all mortified, until the show becomes a hit and Mary Jo (Chad Peterson) and Charlene (Michael B. Moore, whose vocal impersonation borders on the uncanny) become rivals while Bernice (Mikey Abrams) becomes the break-out star.
Morris, who also plays the stentorian Julia, has a knack for capturing the essence of a show while simultaneously updating it. Thus, there are tacky (but hilarious) jokes about “Sarah Palin’s half-wit baby” and the contemporary exacerbations that rankle Julia, including the cross-eyed Bravo producer Andy Cohen (Kevin Moore). (If you follow the ModernSeinfeld Twitter feed, you get the idea.) And while Morris never hesitates to push the line a bit too far (fart jokes!), this play — following Mommie Queerest, The Facts of Life: The Lost Episode and The Silence of the Clams — is probably his best writing: The characters are sharply drawn and even better performed. And when Morris recites one of Julia’s famous speeches from the TV days (her “Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia” riff), fully half the folks in the Rose Room seemed to recite along. That’s called knowing your audience.
It’s not as well covered at the Oscars, but days after Hollywood hands out its treasures, The Column Awards — honoring North Texas theater — dished out its awards.
Now that January is behind us, and it seems we don’t have to expect icy weather any time soon (though in Texas, ya never know), a lot of events are springing up for your entertainment calendar.
The memorial service for Jeff Kinman — the actor, singer and voice teacher who died last week after a long illness — has been set by his partner, Adam C. Wright. The event will take place on Saturday, Jan. 12 at 11 a.m. at the Kalita Humphreys Theater, 3636 Turtle Creek Blvd., where Kinman last appeared in Uptown Players’ Broadway Our Way fundraiser last spring.
Members of the North Texas theater community will all know Jeff Kinman. He’s been a staple on Metroplex stages for more than 10 years, and his appearance in a show guaranteed one thing: Beautiful singing. His clarion tenor, high as the clouds and clear as rainwater, never failed to draw tears and cheers.
First off, if you’re not already wearing purple today, go back home and put some on. Oct. 19 is Spirit Day, sponsored by 
Uptown Players presents its second annual Dallas Pride Performing Arts Festival just in time for Pride, starting tonight with the one-night-only staging of Dustin Lance Black’s 8, but there are seven more shows scheduled — all with a gay twist of some sort, and all getting multiple performances.
With the Labor Day holiday upon us, there’s lots of stuff you can do (especially if you’re skipping Southern Decadence this weekend — lots of flooded streets, curfews and canceled flights). If you stick around Dallas, you can check out a pool party during the day … and maybe and 
