One of the most exciting stages of any production happens long before the audience ever takes their seats—when the design begins to take shape through collaboration. As we begin work on Native Gardens, I’m thrilled to dive into the creative process alongside the director to develop a visual world that fully supports the story being told on stage.
Our upcoming design meetings will focus on exploring the themes embedded within the script and uncovering how they can be expressed visually. Native Gardens is rich with layered ideas—identity, ownership, legacy, and the often-unspoken tensions that exist just beneath the surface of polite society. Together, we’ll dig deeper into the text, examining character motivations, tonal shifts, and moments of contrast to inform every design choice.
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This collaborative process allows us to move beyond what’s simply written on the page and ask bigger questions:
What does this world feel like?
How can the set reflect both the order and chaos that coexist in this story?
By approaching the design as a conversation—between director, designer, and script—we’re able to challenge initial assumptions and push toward a fresh, fully realized visual interpretation. These discussions often lead to unexpected discoveries, inspiring an entirely new visualization of the space that elevates the storytelling.

I look forward to sharing more as the design evolves and Native Gardens continues to grow from the page into a vibrant, living world on stage.

Designing Native Gardens at MainStage: A Fresh Creative Journey Begins
I’m excited to share that I’ve officially begun the design process for MainStage Irving-Las Colinas’ upcoming production of Native Gardens, directed by the incredibly talented Lisa Devine. Many will remember Lisa’s beautiful work last season on Into the Breeches, where she brought a perfect blend of humor, heart, and humanity to the stage. I’m thrilled to collaborate with her again—this time on a play that mixes sharp comedy with timely themes of boundaries, identity, and the idea of what truly makes a home.

Early Design Phase: A Blank Canvas With Big Possibilities
Right now, I’m in the earliest stages of conceptualizing the world of our production. This is always my favorite part—the moment where anything is possible. Before sketches, elevations, or models, it’s all about absorbing the script, talking through ideas with Lisa, and discovering what makes this version of Native Gardens unique.

While many productions take a literal, realistic approach to the neighboring backyards central to the story, Lisa and I are fascinated by the play’s deeper themes: ownership, perspective, cultural contrast, and the idea of nature as both battleground and bridge. This has opened the door to exploring a design that leans more conceptual, symbolic, and visually expressive than you might expect for this show.

This production will look entirely different from previous stagings of Native Gardens.
We’re aiming for something bold. Something unexpected. Something that frames the humor and tension of the play in a fresh visual language—one that invites audiences to experience the story from a new angle.​

Secure Your Tickets for the Final Weekend of Noises Off!
Don't miss your chance to experience the final weekend of Noises Off, presented by MainStage at the Irving Arts Center! This production offers a fresh visual take on the classic farce, but don’t worry—it’s packed with all the tried-and-true chaos that has made this show a staple in theatre for decades.

From perfectly timed door slams to missed cues and misplaced sardines, Noises Off delivers non-stop laughter and backstage mayhem in the most delightful way. Whether you're seeing it for the first time or the fifth, this version brings a new layer of energy and style you won’t want to miss.
🎭 Get your tickets now before the curtain falls!
Click here to purchase tickets
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Final performances are this weekend—see you at the theater!

​Enjoy the video below for a special behind-the-scenes look at Noises Off, presented by Mainstage. From the controlled chaos of slamming doors to the laughter-filled rehearsals, this peek offers a glimpse into the fun and fast-paced world behind one of theater's most beloved comedies.

Noises OffBy Michael Frayn
Directed by B.J. Cleveland 
Produced by MainStage Irving-Las Colinas
Audience rating: PG-13
Running Time: 2 hours 30 minutes (1 15-minute and 1 10-minute intermission)
Accessible Seating: Available
Hearing Devices: Available
Sensory Friendly Showing: Not available
ASL Showing: Not available 
Sound Level: Comfortable
Noises or Visuals to Prepare for: slamming doors, fake blood

Reviewed by Stacey Simpson Calvert
Noises Off requires quite a commitment from everyone involved: the actors climbing (and seemingly falling down) those dratted stairs repeatedly and saying the same lines over and over while matching the text to wildly different blocking; and the audience members, who must be patient enough to sit through three acts with two intermissions to receive the full comic payoff. MainStage Irving’s production of this beloved farce is well worth the effort! Its long run time will fly by as you enjoy an evening full of laughter.

The plot of Noises Off follows the cast and crew of a fictional live theater production (a farce, naturally) on the eve of beginning a national tour. Michael Frayn’s cleverly constructed story features a farce within a farce, and the brilliant gimmick here is that the three acts of the play consist of the characters repeating the first act of the fictional British sex farce, “Nothing On,” three times: first at a final rehearsal, then a few weeks later during the tour, and finally at the final performance of the tour.  The play performance gets more disorderly with each repetition, and the laughs get more plentiful.

As the play begins, creative director Lloyd (Robert San Juan) grits his teeth and questions his life choices as he tries to guide his quirky cast and crew through a very bad final dress/technical rehearsal. Dotty (Stephanie Felton) can’t remember her lines, her blocking, or her props. Garry (Maximilian Swenson) can’t finish a sentence, Brooke (Cory Carter) can’t act her way out of a paper bag (or find her contact lens), and Freddy (Jake Shanahan) is questioning his character’s motivation. Belinda (Stephanie Faris Sanders) spends her time gossiping amid encouraging the other actors to keep calm and carry on, and the unreliable Selsdon (Clayton Cunningham) is nowhere to be found. Most alarmingly for a farce involving a lot of slamming doors, the doors aren’t working properly, which further stresses out the harried crew members Poppy (Ashley Hawkins) and Tim (John Marshall). 

If you find yourself wondering a few minutes into Act I when all the belly laughs will commence, have faith: the exposition in Act I features more gentle humor but gets us familiar with the characters and their personalities, quirks, and inter-relationships, as well as their lines and blocking in “Nothing On.” All of this is necessary for the audience to appreciate and enjoy all the ways these things come into play later on. While the characters are learning and rehearsing their stage directions, lines, and entrances and exits, the audience is also learning the way things are supposed to happen in “Nothing On,” making it that much funnier when they don’t go that way at all. By Act III, all of the messy rehearsals, relationship dramas, and missed cues culminate in a wild final performance when pretty much everything goes wrong. The “real” audience was laughing uproariously throughout Act III as we watched the characters struggle to put the play back on track while staying in character.

Scenic Designer Joseph Cummings and Master Carpenter Ellie Wyatt have pulled off a triumph with the huge, rotating, two-sided set that takes full advantage of the deep stage. At the first intermission, this giant set piece is rotated to show us “backstage” so that we can see the wackiness happening behind the scenes while “Nothing On” is being performed during Act II.  Later it’s turned around again so we can see the final performance of the “play within a play.”

Director B.J. Cleveland has put together a stellar cast who absolutely gave their all to the physical comedy as well as adopting precise and identifiable vocal affectations and mannerisms, helping to create sharply-drawn characters. San Juan plays Lloyd as the quintessential stereotype of a vain, condescending theatrical director who believes he was meant for better things, while behaving worse than anyone. The cast in the “Nothing On” play is a collection of the worst actor archetypes: they are selfish, grandstanding, fickle, unprepared, jealous, silly, and overly emotional. Felton gives Dotty a world-weary air of a seasoned actress who’s phoning it in and is well aware of it. Swenson as Garry says a lot of words while saying nothing and gamely throws himself wholeheartedly into the slapstick aspects of the play’s humor. (I hope he’s wearing knee and elbow pads!) 

Carter as Brooke gives us an attractive, somewhat dim young actress who clearly wasn’t cast for her thespian skills but who has nonetheless obviously worked hard on her awkward line phrasing and wooden gestures, to delightfully comic effect. The always excellent Jake Shanahan brings Freddy to life with the perfect mix of neurotic, falsely self-deprecating, and annoying traits, and his physical humor as he deals with glue, sardines, blood, and wardrobe malfunctions is top-notch. At one point all he did was grimace through the doorway and sent the audience into gales of laughter. Sanders is terrific in the role of Belinda, which could be a bit of a thankless role in a play full of larger-than-life character types. She infuses Belinda with a twinkling humor and sweetness, even while gossiping, and makes you see her as the glue that holds everything together (no pun intended). And Cunningham is convincingly vague as Selsdon, who has no idea what’s going on!

Hawkins and Miller as Stage managers Poppy and Tim are hilariously frenetic as they move heaven and earth to keep the show moving while dealing behind the scenes with romantic entanglements among the cast as well as unwelcome complications from Lloyd, who turns up unexpectedly during the tour. The contrast between their actions backstage, as they race around to find actors, hide booze, stop fistfights, call lines, and go on as understudies, compared to their smooth, dulcet tones as they announce curtain times to the audience over the P.A., was so funny but also a tribute to all the unsung, unflappable backstage crew members working in live theater to make the show go on.

Costumes by Michael A. Robinson/Dallas Costume Shoppe were colorful, well-fitted, and character-specific, with a special shout-out to the perfectly chosen green dress and lingerie worn by ingenue Brook (Carter). The talented creative team included Rustin Rolen as Stage Manager, Hank Baldree as Lighting Designer, Rich Frohlich as Sound Designer, and Tiffany Bergh as Property Designer, with James West as Technical Advisor, along with production team Evelyn G. Hall, Tom Ortiz, and Ellis Sergeant.
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By the end of the third act, I sat amazed at the hysterically funny, over-the-top physicality and sheer chaos of the show. Big kudos to the cast but also to director Cleveland - it takes a lot of the right kind of preparation to pull off such spectacular disorder with such perfect comic timing. Treat yourself to a wonderful production of what’s known as one of the funniest plays ever written! Runs through August 2 at the Dupree Theater.
On with the show,


Stacey Simpson Calvert