Pocket Theatre Inc

Season 49 opened not in the actual theater, but in the BackYard concessions area with a rough and tumble performance of Sam Shepard's The Mad Dog Blues, directed by Christina Cranshaw with original music written and performed nightly by Chris Curtis. Following, was a rousing rendition of Federico Garcia Lorca's play, The Billy Club Puppets, directed by Yvonne Duque-Guerrero with original acoustic music composed and performed by Darrin Kobetich. "The brilliance of The Billy Club Puppets lies in the way it buries so much bruising misery under verbal high jinks and physical comedy. Hip Pocket's production creates just the right balance between the silly and the darkly thought-provoking." - Manuel Mendoza, The Dallas Morning News. After this, Old Mother West Wind "came down from the purple hills to the green meadows" to share her homespun wisdom. Adapted from the Thornton Burgess short story by Johnny Simons, Lake Simons took over the directing duties this time around. Original music was written by Douglas Balentine in 1979, when this play was originally offered at the original Hwy. 80 location. For this performance, Douglas' music was transcribed and re-created by Joe Rogers and John Dyers, who shared music directorship as well as performing duties each night. Emily Scott Banks returned again in 2025 to adapt and direct George Bernard Shaw's Heartbreak House. "Director Emily Scott Banks uses the high-energy cast to great effect: conversations are full of bluster, posing, quips, digs, an declarations. But too, Banks takes care to show us the layers of the play...."- Jan Farrington, Onstage NTX. In place of the fifth and final show, Hip Pocket hosted internationally-acclaimed Bread and Puppet traveling theater for a one night only performance to great success. Although fewer performances were offered in 2025, HPT launched additional programming geared to local artists: Moonlit Readings and the Cowtown Puppet Slam, both of which offered up-and-coming artists an opportunity to present their work to the community and at the same time, allow the community to experience a new generation of local artistry, bringing new and varied audience members to Hip Pocket.