The 2009 Festival of Independent Theatres as Dallas' Bath House Cultural Center opened this past weekend. ATL's entry was ARSENIC & ROSES by Artistic Director Brad McEntire.

Early press from Lawson Taitte at the Dallas Morning News:

Festival of Independent Theatres Gets Off to a Strong Start
Monday July 20, 2009
By Lawson Taitte / Dallas Morning News

The first two weekends of this year's Festival of Indepependent Theatres share a similiar lineup of openings: One of the two founding companies still participating anchors with a show by a famous woman playwright, while three newer companies contibute a new play, most world premieres.

The first week's entires, reviewed Sunday, all looked strong.

. . .

The two completely original scripts both deal with odd couples. The more successful, Audacity Theatre Lab's Arsenic and Roses is a trifle, but a pleasant one. Jeff Hernandez directed Brad McEntire's comedy about a man down on his luck who (Jeff Swearingen) who seeks refuge in a bar where the sole waitress is a girl he snubbed in high school (Teresa Valenza). Swearingen's knack for leavening hilarious schtick with deadeye emotional accuracy works its usual wonders, and Valenza builds sympathy for a character who in the wrong hands would simply be annoying.