Ochre Who?
With a wealth of compelling live theater experiences in Dallas, only one promises the Suavant-Garde.
Suavant-garde: Out-there, surrealist, experimental, but with sophistication and charm
We’re an inconspicuous little 55-seat storefront theater in a historically quirky neighborhood adjacent to the main gate of the State Fair. We’re less than a mile in distance, but light years in eccentricity, from the Music Hall at Fair Park. Drift down Exposition and you’ll see it, tucked among art galleries, local boutique food and drink establishments and shops. Hint: if you find a door with the figure of the Hindu god Shiva above it, you’re there.
Founder and Artistic Director, Matthew Posey
The Ochre House is the brainchild and love-offering of Matthew Posey, our theater’s founder and artistic director. A veteran actor, writer and director with a long theatrical resume in Texas, New York and LA, Posey’s is a mind filled with hundreds of stories waiting to be told in three, perhaps four dimensions.
If he looks vaguely familiar, you might have seen him “side-gigging” on the big screen with credits in JFK, No Country for Old Men, Mr. Brooks, Seeking Justice, and the recent remake of The Magnificent Seven to name-drop a few. Critically applauded television gigs include Lonesome Dove, Dallas, Rectify, and The Son.
Ochre House production, Smile, Smile Again
With the Ochre House, Posey has attracted a tightknit, talented and versatile troupe of actors, musicians, puppeteers, and other illusionists who double as the builders, managers, artists and conjurers who make the magic happen. Some he has mentored to take turns at creative lead in writing and directing, adding breadth to the recipes of this music-and-drama-slinging bistro.
Over the last decade and more than fifty productions, the “Suavant Guarde” have built a hip, adventuresome following whose fashion and vibe make audience-watching a bonus pageant between acts.
Onstage, performances are lively, engaging and smart. You’ll be intrigued, titillated, and tickled, stimulated, startled, and soothed, but never less than enthralled. We have the awards and notices to prove it.
Cast of the Ochre House production, The Felling.
The Ochre House is an essential check box or three on your bucket list whether you’re a live theater enthusiast, “underground Dallas” explorer, the idle bored seeking the unique, or just a lover of good yarns.
New to this? Need more convincing? The Ochre Experience…
“The nonprofit theater is home to some of Dallas’ most innovative actors, designers and artists who create original award-winning theater productions.”
— Dennis Jansen, Dallas Morning News
“Ochre House has a gift for crisp, minimal narratives. Like exquisite poetry, it captures the essence of this story, takes us to the core of its quandary.”
— Christopher Soden, Sharp Critic
“Truly creative theatre can transport us to emotional heights and depths that function as energizing counterbalance to everyday drudgery, whether it be comedy, drama or tragedy. An audience can find ample opportunity for transcendence in attending the unique, intense productions at Matthew Posey’s Ochre House Theater.”
–Alexandra Bonifield, Criticalrant.com
“This simple story, like much of the work at Ochre House, has a lot of heart.”
–Lauren Smart, Arts And Culture Texas
“…originality, no-holes-barred performances, visual and musical artistry, and theatrically sophisticated use of space.”
–Ann Saucer, The Column
“You may not always like what you see at The Ochre House, but you won’t see it anywhere else.”
–CultureMap Dallas
“…one of Dallas’ most interesting theaters, Ochre House Theater, a small storefront space in Expo Park where mastermind Matthew Posey creates and directs original work.”
— Sarah Passon, Dallas Observer
“With Ochre House Theatre, Artistic Director Matthew Posey has established a mainstay in the Dallas theatre community. For eleven years, he and his company of talented theatre makers and musicians have developed a process of storytelling that disregards and even confronts the standards of traditional storytelling.”
— Cristee Cook, Dallas Art Beat
