50 years of magic in the moonlight!
Three artistic visionaries with a common goal: To create theatre their own way and on their own terms. A homemade artful theatre that embraced unconventional ways of sharing stories on stage by using movement, dance, mask, music, image, mime, spoken word, and puppetry. Hip Pocket was born! And its birth ignited imaginations and fulfilled a desire to create in ways that were not accessible at that time. Hip Pocket offered something new and different to audiences and to the artists that came out to play by taking theatre to another level of expression and energizing the imagination and encouraging us to play outside the lines. This is Hip Pocket Theatre at its heart.
When Johnny, Diane, and Douglas founded Hip Pocket Theatre in 1976 they fostered a community, a theatre family dedicated to theatre that integrated playfulness, artful expression and creative experimentation. That dedication to the theatre community is something we hold up to the light and cherish deep within our hearts and souls as we take the big steps into our 50th year of sharing theatre that explores storytelling, excites audience, honors legacy, while continuing to strengthen and deepen our ties with our community.
The 50th season consists of plays that get back to the roots of Hip Pocket and take us to the precipice of what’s to come! We kick things off with a big bunch o’ commedia dell'arte wildness, The Three Cuckolds. It was the first play presented at Hip Pocket in 1976 at George’s Backdoor on highway 80! We then welcome back to Fort Worth, international puppetry guru, Basil Twist. A Twisty Intergalactic Spectacle lands back on our prairie to spread tidings of love and togetherness. The third show in our season is all about honoring our founders and two of Hip Pocket's legends, Johnny Simons and Douglas Balentine. Raggedy Farm written by Simons and Balentine, is a poignant story of love told through music and movement. First done in 1980 and again in 1982 at the Oak Acres location. The 4th show of the season brings Lorca Simons back home to her Texas roots as the creator behind this devised new work, Soul Notes From The Velvet Elk. Our 5th and final production of the season is sure to make us squirm and scream with delight, our very own Johnny Simons will direct a stage adaptation, Mega Python vs Gatoroid (The Musical). We end the season with our 4th Annual Twilight Soiree. An occasion to honor loved ones who have passed and gather together in our community to make art, perform ritual, and show respect to the land where Hip Pocket resides and the animals and spirits that freely roam there. If you haven’t participated before, we highly encourage you to do so.
And that is our 50th season! There is so much to celebrate and be grateful for. Theatre and community are front and center. Let’s come together as patrons, artists, art lovers, friends, and family.
-Lake and Lorca Simons, Co-Artistic Directors
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The mission of Hip Pocket Theatre is to inspire, educate, and challenge our community through experimental, interdisciplinary theatre.
We seek to redefine the possibilities of theater and enrich every life we touch through artistic expression.
Hip Pocket Theatre has been a vital part of the performing arts in Texas since 1976, when founders Johnny Simons, Diane Simons, and Douglas Balentine first staged their interdisciplinary plays under the stars in Fort Worth. Since its founding, the theater has grown its global reach and capacity for genre-defying programming, while staying true to the bold, playful, and magical.
Hip Pocket incorporates dance, mime, music, masks, and puppetry to create a universal language that can tell stories at once childlike and urgent. The scripts, the stage, and the performers at Hip Pocket build on a lexicon unique to its pioneering roots, and each performance is an homage to what it means to create a space for theater.
Hip Pocket honors the new vision of each artistic generation as an unfolding of time. Johnny and Diane’s daughters, Lorca and Lake, now carry the theater’s vision forward with their new directorship. They embody Hip Pocket's evolving vocabulary of storytelling and movement, and as veteran creators for its stage, look to expand its legacy of original, boundary-bending works. As Lorca and Lake bring with them lifelong careers and experience in the arts, they conscientiously seek to prioritize the theater's accessibility, inclusivity, and international reach.
Hip Pocket Theatre, as both experimental playhouse and environmental visual installation, has a long-standing outreach program comprising community based events and enriching healing arts programming. It is dedicated now, as always, to bringing guest artists from around the globe and throughout Fort Worth to collaborate on projects each season.Hip Pocket Theatre acknowledges first that the land on which our theatre resides once belonged to native American tribes - Tonkawa, Hassinai Caddo, Wichita, Comanche-affiliated Kiowas - and we thank the First Nations for their teachings about and stewardship of the land. Hip Pocket Theatre is and always has been committed to giving a voice to artists of all races, ethnicities, and creeds. Because of this, we are committed to ensuring that we provide opportunities for everyone to learn, create, express themselves, and tell their stories. Hip Pocket Theatre strives to provide a place where all are welcomed, included, and provided equitable opportunities to experiment with their own artistic style and vision.
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Lake Simons, Co- Artistic Director
Lorca Simons, Co- Artistic Director
Johnny Simons, Consulting Artistic Director
Gianina Lambert, Managing Director
Peggy Bott Kirby, Director of Finance and Development
Ryan Riley, Grounds Manager
Lauren Riley, Social Media Manager
Board of Directors:
Holly Nelson Ellman, President
Tracy Stearns Bush, Vice President
Jesse Borries, Secretary
Jequari Moore, Treasurer
Aaron Butler
Lauren Ivy Chiong
Betsy Cummings
Debbie Dacus
Nikki Deshea Smith
Marian Eastman
Yvonne Duque- Guerrero
Paul Hamilton
Thad Isbell
John Key
John Leach
Quentin McGown
Barbara Wooten Meece
Brian Pierce
Maria Solano
Leslie Zvitt
Artistic Advisory Board:
Bruce Balentine
Barbara Busackino
Andy Corren
Alex Cowan
Ellen Mahoney Crouse
Tom Crouse
Scott Ferree
Peter Fodera
Deborah Freed
Loli Kantor
Dr. John P. Murphy
Basil Twist
Greg Vore
Joe Waller
Ms. Linda Whittington
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We love our volunteers! Come out and join in! Be part of the action and lend a hand! For more info on how you can volunteer and lend a hand call us or email us.
817-246-9775
Throughout our season we welcome volunteers! If you have experience with box office, as an usher, or would like to help us in any way- we can likely use your help! Contact us at the above number or email us.
GET INVOLVED! BE HIP!
Hip Pocket Theatre would not be here today, nor be what it is today without her vision, guidance, brilliance, kindness, dedication, and creativity.
The scripts, the stage, and the performers at Hip Pocket build on a lexicon unique to its pioneering roots, and each performance is an homage to what it means to create a space for theater.
Come on out & experience an unforgettable night!
Donate & make us Strong & Hip!
There are many ways to keep us STRONG & HIP. Opportunities include setting up a monthly donation, giving us a one-time donation, buying a Hip Pass (our season pass) and attending all of the productions this season - you don't have to pick just one! Whatever ways you decide is right for you…keep coming back!
Please Donate
We wish to acknowledge the generous support we have received from these foundations, organizations, local businesses, and theaters.
Hip Pocket Theatre is proud to be a member of the Live Theatre League of Tarrant County.
