Kitchen Dog Theater will close its 35th season with the 2026 New Works Festival, anchored by the National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere of VENUS by award-winning playwright Steve Yockey. Running June 4–28 at KDT’s new theater at 4774 Algiers Street, the production brings Yockey’s celestial, pitch-black comedy to Dallas as part of a multi-city premiere that underscores Kitchen Dog’s longstanding commitment to new American plays.
In VENUS, romance takes a darker orbit. The play follows two women bound by more than the usual remains of a relationship, turning the familiar ache of breakups, memory, and desire into something stranger, funnier, and more eternal. The premise moves between the recognizable and the uncanny: stargazing, literary longing, the spark of a first touch, and the more unsettling aftermath of being ghosted, or waking up in a shallow grave. For KDT, Yockey’s work continues a shared history with the company, pairing his sharp comic sensibility with a production led by artists deeply embedded in the Dallas theater community.
The cast brings together Kitchen Dog Founding Member Sally Nysteun Vahle as Nicole and KDT co-artistic director Tina Parker as Beth, marking the first time the two will act opposite one another onstage. Parker also serves as costume designer alongside KDT Artistic Company Member Christie Vela, who directs the production. The creative team includes John M. Flores on sound design, Aaron Johansen on lighting design, Abby Kraemer as carpenter, Reagan Fitzgerald as stage manager, Maggie Sproul as scenic painter, and Shatorey Watson as assistant director.
Yockey, a Los Angeles-based playwright with deep roots in Atlanta, is known for stage works including Pluto, Mercury, Wolves, Octopus, Blackberry Winter, Reykjavík, Afterlife, Very Still & Hard to See, and Sleeping Giant, among others. His work for television includes serving as co-executive producer on Supernatural and as the Emmy- and Golden Globe-nominated creator and showrunner of HBO Max’s darkly comedic thriller The Flight Attendant. He also created and served as showrunner for Netflix’s Dead Boy Detectives, adapted from the Vertigo/DC comic, and is currently adapting Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil as a limited series for Apple.
With VENUS, Kitchen Dog marks its 15th Rolling World Premiere with the National New Play Network, of which the company is a founding core member. The model brings three or more theaters together before rehearsals begin and before reviews are published, allowing a new play to develop across multiple productions and audiences. KDT’s partner theaters for VENUS are Actor’s Express in Atlanta, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company in Washington, DC, and Salt Lake Acting Company in Salt Lake City.
Now in its 27th year, Kitchen Dog Theater’s New Works Festival continues to function as one of the company’s signature platforms for developing and presenting new theatrical voices. In addition to the mainstage production of VENUS, this year’s festival will include two staged readings of new plays by KDT Artistic Company Members and the 25th anniversary of PUP Fest, a co-production with Dallas ISD and Junior Players featuring high school playwrights from across the Metroplex.
VENUS previews Thursday, June 4 at 7:30 p.m. and opens Friday, June 5 at 8 p.m., with performances continuing through Sunday, June 28 at 2 p.m. Tickets range from $20 to $35, with $15 tickets available for the June 4 preview. Through KDT’s Admit: ALL Free Ticket Program, up to 20 free tickets will be available for each performance to those who would otherwise be unable to attend, distributed in person at the box office 30 minutes before curtain on a first-come, first-served basis. The production contains adult language.