Season Announcement

Funky Fort Worth theater company optimistically releases 44th season

Cross your fingers for a 2020 season.

Photo by Sarah Sampson

Hip Pocket Theatre, the "professional illegitimate theater" that performs its works outdoors, is tentatively announcing its 44th season. Originally planned to begin at the start of June, the season has currently shifted to (hopefully) July.

"This is the season of performances we were hoping to produce before the coronavirus pandemic," says Hip Pocket director and co-founder Johnny Simons. "These dates are subject to change depending on the circumstances posed by the coronavirus pandemic. Whether we get to do any of these plays is, like the weather, out of our hands."

Hip Pocket's shows run every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday evening starting at 9 pm, with an 8:15 pm start time in October.

Written and directed by Johnny Simons, The Curmudgeon Boogie is first on the docket with 12 performances, running July 10-August 2, 2020. As defined in Webster's Dictionary, a "curmudgeon" is a crusty, ill-tempered old man. What happens when the crustiest, most ill-tempered, most hateful and un-empathetic curmudgeon of them all meets up with the jubilant Boogie Boys and their Woogie Women? Will the power of music and dance melt such a hardened heart? Can unrestrained joy crack the old man's shell and allow him to experience unbridled happiness for the first time in his entire existence?

I Go Pogo is next with nine performances, August 14-30, 2020. An adaptation by JoAnn Gracey of Walt Kelly's beloved characters, this show follows Pogo Possum's unwilling run for President.

Written and directed by Grainger Esch, The Slam Bang Story of Icky Twerp is a DFW blast from the past. To those who grew up here in the 1960s and early '70s, the mere mention of the name "Icky Twerp" brings a smile of fond remembrance. As the host of Slam Bang Theater on Fort Worth's independent, local, non-network-affiliated channel 11, he delighted youngsters with his slapstick shenanigans in live broadcasts five days a week.

But Bill Camfield, the man who created and portrayed Icky Twerp (along with many other memorable characters), was much more than a TV kiddie show host. He was a man of many talents, tremendous character, and extraordinary creativity. The Slam Bang Story is the tale of a man who rose from hardscrabble beginnings and endured great personal tragedies to achieve a fondly remembered legacy of joy and laughter. Nine performances run September 11-26, 2020.

The final show is Mega Python vs. Gatoroid, adapted and directed by Johnny Simons from the screenplay by Naomi Selfman. It's a battle of the beasts when two titanic terrors face off with '80s pop icons Tiffany and Debbie Gibson. This mammoth spectacle of teen queens and man-eating monsters in a gargantuan dual to the death has 11 performances, October 9-31, 2020.

One show was originally included in this lineup, but has been postponed to next season. Pixie Posy, written by Lake Simons and John Dyer, with music by Dyer and puppetry and choreography by Simons, is an abstract gathering of fairies, pixies, and angels in image, sound, and movement that's inspired by the true story of what may well have been staged photos as well as a selection of paintings and drawings from the 19th and 20th centuries.

The theater also notes that: "this season, should we have one, we'd like to recognize all of those heroes that are putting themselves at risk every day to keep us all safe from the virus, or take care of us should we become ill. To all doctors, nurses, paramedics, police and firefighters, military and reservists, please be our guest this season at no charge to you.

"We'd also like to acknowledge all of those who now struggle to get by due to loss of their jobs as a result of the measures that have left many businesses closed. To all of you, we ask that you be our guest this season. To everyone else, the ticket price for any performance will be whatever you can afford to donate; there will be no set ticket prices."

To reserve tickets and for more information, visit HipPocket.org.

theater

Ancient Sculpture News

Fort Worth museum one of only 3 in U.S. to get rare sculpture exhibit

Lorenzo di Masi/Torlonia Collection

The Torlonia Nile

A major exhibition of ancient Roman masterworks is coming to the U.S. for the first time to be viewed at only three museums — including the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth.

Called Myth and Marble: Ancient Roman Sculpture from the Torlonia Collection, it's an assemblage of works stewarded by the Torlonia Family beginning in the early-19th century, and will be installed at the Kimbell from September 14, 2025 – January 25, 2026.

As part of the Foundation’s mission to showcase these historical works to the public, the exhibition will premiere at the Art Institute of Chicago on March 15 through June 29, before traveling to the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth. Its third stop will be at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, from March 14 - July 19, 2026.

The Torlonia Collection was established during the course of the 19th century by the Franco-Italian banker Prince Giovanni Torlonia and his son Alessandro, then handed down over generations, eventually growing into the largest private collection of ancient Roman sculptures.

Today, the Torlonia Foundation represents the culmination of the Family’s continued passion for art. Created at the behest of Prince Alessandro Torlonia (1925–2017), the Foundation’s mission is to preserve and promote the Torlonia Collection and Villa Albani Torlonia.

In 1876, Prince Alessandro Torlonia (1800-1886) created a museum to house and exhibit the Family’s holdings, which was open to small groups until its closure at the onset of World War II. The sculptures remained unseen by the public from that time until the Foundation’s first exhibition at the Musei Capitolini in Rome in 2020. That was followed by a stint at the Louvre, the first presentation of the collection outside of Rome, where it has drawn more than 600,000 visitors to date, an unprecedented feat.

The exhibit
The curators of Myth & Marble: Ancient Roman Sculpture from the Torlonia Collection are Lisa Ayla Çakmak and Katharine A. Raff of the Art Institute of Chicago. The exhibition is co-organized by the Art Institute of Chicago and the Torlonia Foundation, in collaboration with the Kimbell Art Museum, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, and The Museum Box. All of the sculptures in the exhibition have been restored by the Foundation with the support of Bvlgari.

The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue co-published by the Art Institute of Chicago and the Torlonia Foundation, edited by Lisa Ayla Çakmak and Katharine A. Raff, with essays by Silvia Beltrametti and Salvatore Settis.

The North American presentation will feature 58 highlights from the Torlonia Collection, including 24 newly restored works that have not been on view in nearly a century. The sculptures date from approximately the 5th century BCE to the early 4th century CE, with the majority of the works dating to the High Imperial period (1st–2nd centuries CE). Highlights include examples of the most emblematic genres of ancient marble sculpture, acquired by the Torlonia Family from the most prominent collections of Rome’s patrician families, as well as from excavations made on the Family’s own estates throughout Italy.

“The Foundation is excited to be sharing the Torlonia Collection with audiences in North America for the first time. This exceptional group of ancient sculptures is a testament to the enduring cultural legacy of ancient Rome, as well as the vision and passion of multiple generations of the Torlonia Family,” said Alessandro Poma Murialdo, President of the Torlonia Foundation.

The presentation is organized thematically in six sections, featuring sculptures found on the Torlonia Family’s properties in Rome and the surrounding suburbs and their estate in Porto, Portugal, as well as a number of exceptional sarcophagi (stone coffins), among the largest sculpted works in marble to survive from ancient Rome.

The tour reinforces the work of the Foundation to advance the appreciation and understanding of this unparalleled collection and the rich cultural heritage it represents. The Foundation’s mission is carried out through a continuous joint effort between the public and private sectors, including with the cooperation of the Italian Ministry of Culture. The Foundation is supported by a longstanding collaboration with Bvlgari as the principal sponsor of the restoration project since its inception in Rome and throughout the global tour, and Chiomenti, who has lent invaluable support to the Foundation’s core activities.

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