Dallas Theater Center presents Des Moines

In a run down house on the seedy edge of Des Moines, the city's unlikeliest assortment of people come together for an impromptu party in the kitchen. Dan and Marta, a long-married couple, play host. Jimmy, their paraplegic transgendered granddaughter, is there. Michael, the cross-dressing parish priest, drops by. And when the recently widowed Mrs. Drinkwater arrives, things get really strange. As the whiskey flows, the world cracks open and these regular Americans must come to terms with some irregular things as they struggle with the strange and unholy trinity of life, death, and sex.

"What a privilege to be able to work with Denis two years in a row," said DTC Associate Director David Kennedy. "He's that rare thing, a truly original voice whose plays are unlike any others being written, potent cocktails of elliptical human poetry, savage humor, and American dread. Writers like Denis are why we go to the theater."

Evolution of FRESH INK/Forward Motion: FRESH INK/Forward Motion began in its first phase in the 2003-04 season as FRESH INK: New Plays at Dallas Theater Center. FRESH INK featured readings of new plays in a one-night only event that was free and open to the public. FRESH INK allowed Dallas Theater Center to invite playwrights from across the country to work in residence with local directors and actors as part of the theater's ongoing mission to create developmental opportunities for innovative and emerging writers.

The staged readings were presented on select Monday evenings at Dallas Theater Center through fall 2005. Beginning in the spring of 2006, FRESH INK/Forward Motion took over where FRESH INK left off, becoming a program of both play readings and workshop productions that showcase the best of contemporary playwriting and adaptations of classics.

All readings of Des Moines will be held in Frank's Place, upstairs in DTC's Kalita Humphreys Theater, located at 3636 Turtle Creek Blvd. -- www.dallastheatercenter.org