The Hip Pocket Theatre was founded in 1976 by Johnny and Diane Simons and Douglas Balentine but its “grass roots” origins go back much earlier. Johnny and Diane both earned Masters Degrees from Texas Christian University. While at TCU, Johnny left temporarily to act in New York but returned to school and went to work at Casa Mañana writing and directing children’s plays. He then moved to Houston where Diane was prop master at the Alley Theatre and Johnny put on pantomime performances in public parks.
Douglas met Johnny when he was sixteen and Johnny was a guest director at Casa Mañana for Huckleberry Finn. Douglas went on to work as a stage manager for Casa Mañana and the National Opera Company, out of Raleigh, North Carolina. After moving back to Fort Worth, the two met again while Douglas was performing at a local piano bar called The Red Slipper. Johnny asked Douglas to perform the role of J. Frank Norris, a preacher and rock ‘n roll piano player, in a new play commissioned by the Texas Bicentennial Committee based on Fort Worth’s history - Out Where the West Begins - an early version of Cowtown! The production was to be staged at Casa Mañana for an audience of school children. This meeting brought together some of the founding ensemble members of the Hip Pocket Theatre, Jimmy Joe Steenbergen, Grover Coulson, and Gary Cunningham.
Out Where the West Begins brought together the theatrical and musical talents of the Hip Pocket Theatre ensemble and created a team led by the vision of Johnny Simons that has staged more than 200 productions, including over 150 world premieres during the past thirty years. The first season in 1977 was at a renovated motel on Highway 80 where Diane did the costuming and ran the business side of the theater. Johnny and Douglas did carpentry, roofing and electrical work in addition to their other tasks of writing, directing and composing for each of the plays.
The founding of the Hip Pocket Theatre is also associated with the first production of The Lake Worth Monster, written by Johnny for his Master of Fine Arts degree from Texas Christian University. This landmark production was staged in the Solarium at the Fort Worth Art Museum and began a career for Johnny and Diane Simons that has lasted for 31 years....so far.
At the Highway 80 location the Hip Pocket Theatre put on 21 plays including Cowtown, Tarzan of the Apes, Tommy, In Watermelon Sugar, Peter Pan, Van Gogh/Gauguin, A Christmas Carol, Tartuffe, The Veldt and others. The Hip Pocket Theatre left the Highway 80 location and moved to the Oak Acres Amphitheater in 1980. They remained at this location until 2004 when they once again moved to their current location on Silver Creek Road.
While at Oak Acres, the theater also put on plays at other locations including the Kimbell Art Museum with whom they put on plays for 5 years. These plays included The Impressario by Bernini, the Spanish Brabanter by Bredero, La Fontaine’s Fables in Mime and Song, A Christmas Carol, The Beggar’s Opera and others. The theater also performed plays at the White Elephant in the Fort Worth Stockyards, the Dallas Museum of Art, the Inwood Theater, The University of North Texas, San Antonio and the Dallas Children’s Theater. The theater was invited to perform at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe called "the Fringe" for short, in Edinburgh, Scotland and was the first company to perform in London’s Royal Festival Hall. They took three plays with them and performed in St. Cuthburt's Church Hall, one of the most popular venues in the festival. They shared the space with Deborah Warner's London company, the Kick Theatre. Located on King's Stables Road just off Princes Street Gardens, and is directly at the foot of the Edinburgh Castle, right in the heart of the city.The performances included "Elder Oaks", "Tarzan of the Oaks" and "Ely Green and the Royal Flying Corps O' Cowtown!"
The Hip Pocket Theatre has a long history of impressive Outreach Programs and has presented workshops in conjunction with the Arts Council Neighborhood Arts Program, Azle ISD, Bass Performance Hall, Bethlehem Community Center, Birdville ISD, Boys and Girls Club, Cook Children’s Medical Center, Fort Worth ISD, Imagination Celebration, John Peter Smith Hospital, Kid Code Blue Program, Kimbell Art Museum, Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Paris ISD, Poly Community Center, RetroFest, Southwest Theatre Association, Texas Boys Choir, Texas Non-Profit Theatre Association, Texas Educational Theatre Association, Wessley Community Center and others.
Funding for the Hip Pocket Theatre has come from private donations along with organizations such as the Citigroup Charitable Foundation, the Meadows Foundation, Burlington Northern, Communities Foundation of Metropolitan Tarrant County, Cap Cities, American Express, Fifth Avenue Foundation, Star-Telegram, the Sid Richardson Foundation, the Amon G. Carter Foundation, Fund for New American Plays, Arts Council of Fort Worth and Tarrant County, Texas Commission on the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, and Imagination Celebration.
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(31st Season)
A Wisepecker Christmas
Trio Molemo!
Crazed Caged Rage
The Doggies And The Kitty
Aurora Ephemerala
(30th Season)
The Diaries of Adam And Eve
The Real True Story of Ducy the Pucy
R. Crumb Comix
How I Fixed My Engine With Rose Water
In Watermelon Sugar
(29th Season)
Mars Needs Women
Mr. Peabody And The Mermaid
Alley Oop
Ruby Ann's Rapture
The Wolfman
(28th Season - 1st season at Silver Creek Amphitheatre)
What's Inside The Egg
Return to Girdleville With Men In BVD's (A Brief Sequel)
Up in Auntie's Attic
Honky Tonk
Yeti Songs From Mount Analogue
(27th Season - last season at Oak Acres Amphitheatre)
Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur’s Court
Bad Girls In The Big City
Alice In Wonderland
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Pinky And B.B In Paradise
Mr. Weaver’s Backyard Circus Presents Hiawatha
(26th Season)
Preview For The Spacefleet Landing On Earth In 2001 A.D. By Uriel,
Cosmic Visionary
Molemo!
Paper Plane
Savage/Love
La Strada
Beyond Blue Hole
Kafka - A Hunger Artist
(25th Season)
The Pantalone Follies
Such And Such Festival 2, An Evening of Original Works
On The Road
Three Old Cucks
Lake Suite
Unc’ Billy Possum
El Tigre
(24th Season)
Pinocchio Commedia
Such And Such Festival, An Evening Of Original Works
The Rainmaker
Waiting For Godot
Tobacco Road
El Maleficio De La Mariposa
(23rd Season)
Cowtown! A Bunch O’ Wildness
Such And Such Festival, An Evening Of Original Works
Old River High
R. Crumb Comix 3
Dogman
Lilith Of The Lake
(22nd Season)
A Frog In His Throat
Rhinoceros
Fatty In Babylon
Inky Pod
In Watermellon Sugar
(21st Sesaon)
The Noses and The Toeses And The Shoulda, Coulda, Wouldas
Daughters Of Zeeack
Adventures With June And Scotty
The Mema Sextet
Old Coots Read Genesis, 1-8 King James Version
(20th Season)
Folk Mime Tales
Riders Of The Purple Sage
Every Man His Own Football! The Divine Madness Of Dada Cabaret
Lysistrata
The Skin Of Our Teeth
Eggheads
(19th Season)
The Head, Hands and Toe Show
Daughters Of The Zeeack
Mountebanks Changing Place, A Harlequinade
Treasure Island
Swank City
The Day The Earth Stood Still
A Bowl Of Red
(18th Season)
Harliquinade
The Nose Show! A One-Man Pantomime
Flying Saucers, A Modern Myth Of Things Seen In The Skies By C.G. Jung
Girls From Girdleville Greet Men In BVD’s
Lake Of The Apes
Adventures With Jesus, Luke 1-24
The Three Cuckolds
Hubcaps Afire Over Hollywood
The Big Fat Christmas Goose
(17th Season)
Huzzytown
The Tempest
St. Joan of the Stockyards
The Scarfish Vibrato
Everyman
(16th Season)
A Saga Of Billy The Kid
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Baby Doll
Nightmare Alley Starring Tyrone Power
Sleepy Hollow, A Headless Tale
(15th Season)
Cowtown!
Pinnochio Commedia
Picnic
The Butterfly’s Evil Spell
The Bride Of Frankenstein
(14th Season)
R. Crumb Comix
Shazam!
Kuru
A Covey of Ones (Evening of One-Acts)
Molemo!
Blob
Tom Sawyer (A Banjo Commedia)
(13th Season)
The Scarecrow
Adventures Of The Shadow Starring Lamont Cranston and Margo Lane
Dreams, Schemes, And Imaginings
Young Dowds
Attack Of The B-Girls
Lake Worth Monster
Even If You Can Stop The Yellow Claw, My Deadly Tidal Wave Will Still Destroy New York! III
La Fontaine’s Fables In Mime And Song
(12th Season)
The Lady Vanishes
Live From Ft. Worth, It’s Saturday Night!
Wild Man Of The Navidad
Tarzan Of The Apes
Widows
A Lil’ Green Fall
Mad Dog Blues
Old Coots Read Genesis 1 Through 8
Petrushka
(11th Season)
Lucy And Desi Vs. The Killer Shrews
Nova’s Shady Grove
The Real True Story Of Ducy The Pucy
Our Town
Women In Slips
Van Gogh/Gauguin
A Bowl Of Red
Puppetmaster
(10th Season)
The Mandrake
The Meema Sextet
Freaks
Riders of the Purple Sage
Peter Pan
On Beast Beach
Old Tarzan
In Watermelon Sugar
(9th Season)
The Three Cuckolds
Adventures With June and Scotty
Kerouac: A Remembrance
Riders Of The Purple Sage
The Head, Hands And Toe Show
A Date With Judy
R. Crumb Comix
When Worlds Collide
The Second Shepherd’s Play
(8th Season)
The Beggar’s Opera
Barbeque Joints, Chili Dogs, and Brazen Hussies
Cowboy Mouth and Cowboys 2
Mind Mimes
The Head, Hands, and Toe Show
The Maltese Falcon
Underneath The Top Down (A Cowtown Brigadoon)
Mirandolina (Mistress Of The Inn)
Abbott And Costello Meet Frankenstein
Tales Of The Arabian Nights
(7th Season)
Spanish Brabanter, Part II
La Fontaine’s Fables In Mime And Song
Elder Oaks
Tarzan Of The Oaks
Ely Green And The Royal Flying Corps O’ Cowtown!
Worksong
Even If You Can’t Stop The Yellow Claw, My Deadly Tidal Wave Will Still Destroy New York! II
A Christmas Carol
(6th Season)
The Impressario
Raggedy Farm
Clown Alley, Circus Days
Sex Kittens Go To College
Cowtown!
Spanish Brabanter, Part I
(5th Season)
Return of the Creature
Pinocchio Commedia
The Butterfly’s Evil Spell
Hearts Of The City
King Kong
A Saga Of Billy The Kid
(4th Season)
Raggedy Farm
Captive Wild Women
Charlie Chan In The House Of Tomorrow
War Of The Worlds
(3rd Season)
The Club
Tartuffe
The Veldt
Prince Reynard
Antamoso And The Bear
The Frogs
The Billy Club Puppets
(2nd Season)
Even If You Can Stop The Yellow Claw, My Deadly Tidal Wave Will Still Destroy New York!
The Love Of Don Perlimplin And Belisa In The Garden
Old Mother West Wind
Peter Pan
The Return Of Tarzan
Van Gogh/Gauguin
A Christmas Carol
(1st Season - Highway 80)
Cowtown
Mad Dog Blues
A Funny Thing Happened On The Way to the Forum
Tarzan Of The Apes
Tommy
In Watermelon Sugar
Nova’s Shady Grove
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