CHOP continues in Dallas

CHOP: A Long Way Back Home

Brad McEntire's solo show Chop plays a full and proper run in Dallas... finally.

Eight years ago, Brad McEntire was living in Hong Kong and feeling very isolated and homesick. He began writing a one-person show about an isolated man looking for where he belongs. That play turned into Chop, and in it the protagonist journeys through himself to find his true sense of belonging... in an underground amputation fetish group. 

McEntire is finally bringing Chop, where he feels it belongs, too... back home to Dallas.

McEntire premiered Chop at the 2010 Out of the Loop Fringe Festival. He then took the piece around the country for the next few years, including the Phoenix Fringe Festival, the New Orleans Fringe, Houston Fringe, Portland Mini-Fringe, College of Santa Fe and San Antonio’s Overtime Theatre, the 2012 New York international Fringe Festival, Seattle Fringe and the New Orleans SoloMania Fest among others. 

With the exception of a one shot presentation in the lobby of a loft apartment building in Deep Ellum in 2010 and a two night limited engagement at the Margo Jones Theatre in July 2012, McEntire has not shown the piece in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area since the original Out of the Loop performances. 

He has been yearning to bring the show back to home turf for a good long while. 

"I have been itching to give Chop a full run here in town, but up until now the timing has never worked out," says McEntire. "There was always another project next on the roster that had to be attended to."

McEntire has since premiered several other solo shows including Cyrano A-Go-Go, an exploration of the swashbuckling 1897 play Cyrano de Bergerac and Robert's Eternal Goldfish, about an angry man haunted by an undying pet fish (that piece won a Best of Fest Award at the 2014 Out of the Loop Festival). 

His foray into solo performance culminated in last year's Dallas Solo Fest, a celebration of one-person shows featuring a variety of different kinds of shows presented by local performers as well as soloists from around the country.

"I've always been a small, indie theatre advocate, but the last several years have been very exciting. There's been an emphasis on solo shows. That all started for me with Chop. I'm delighted to bring it home again," says McEntire.

Chop opened at Margo Jones Theatre January 29, 2015. Remaining shows plays February 3 – February 7 (Tuesday thru Saturday) at 8:00 PM. Tickets $12 at the door.

Information/reservations at: (214) 888-6650 or via email at: audacitytheatrelab@yahoo.com . The Margo Jones Theatre is located at the Magnolia Lounge, Fair Park, 1121 First Ave., Dallas, TX 75210. For more information visit:www.AudacityTheatreLab.com