When Francisca Muñoz takes the stage in “Miss You Like Hell”, her face will look familiar to TheatreSquared audiences—that’s because she’s already taken memorable turns in T2 shows like “American Mariachi” and “Tiny Beautiful Things”. Back for a third time, Munoz took the time out of a very busy schedule to answer a few questions for us about her path to acting and “Miss You Like Hell”.

Broadway, television and film star Santino Fontana is a really big deal—when Carol Burnett was notified she would be receiving Virginia’s Signature Theatre’s Stephen Sondheim Award on May 16, she specifically requested Fontana and Broadway legend Bernadette Peters perform during the awards ceremony. But less than a week before that, Fontana will be on stage right here in Northwest Arkansas, presenting a command performance for TheatreSquared’s Gala for Education and Access.

“This is a fun show to light,” says Alexander, whose work was last seen on the T2 stage in “The Royale”. “It’s kind of combining the techniques of a theater production and a crazy wrestling event. Sometimes, in theater, we call it ‘flash and trash’, like when you go to a rock concert, and you see all of the lights in the air moving around, sometimes, seemingly, with no intention. But of course, in our show, it has quite a bit of intention behind it.”

“This show is completely different in that it's about fun, it's about extravagance,” he says. “My imagination is just soaring with this one. I get to play, and I'm freed up to have fun, to be over the top, and getting to play with the other designers in crafting this world is great.”

This Sunday, May 1, the Sunday Night Social Theme is “The Art of Drag” and will feature performances from three of the region’s most prominent Queens: Taylor Madison Monroe, Lady Kakes Monroe, and PollyEsther Foxx.

Today, Sutterfield is the department chair for the theater and film department at Parkview Arts and Science Magnet High School in Little Rock. His work there is exemplary enough to have caught the eye of the education department at TheatreSquared. On May 12, Sutterfield will be honored as T2’s Educator of the Year at the 2022 Gala for Access and Education.

The show is called “The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity”, but when the lights come up at the top of Act 1, the professional wrestling ring on the T2 stage is lit with a simple spotlight on a single character: Macedonio Guerra. Guerra, played in T2’s production—directed by Dexter J. Singleton— by Cedric Leiba, Jr., is slight of build but fierce of soul; a wrestler gifted enough to make untalented—but more charismatic—competitors shine in the ring. As he does for Chad Deity, for example, whose savvy business sense and outsized charisma have taken him to the top of THE Wrestling organization. But where Chad is the cold, hard reality of professional wrestling, Macedonio is its promise—what it could be, in a different world.

When Shon Middlebrooks strides on stage as the titular role in T2’s production of the Pulitzer Prize finalist “The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity”, written by Kristoffer Diaz and directed by Dexter J. Singleton, it’s hard to separate the man from the character: Middlebrooks embodies Deity’s bombastic swagger so fully, you’re tempted to assume he’s just being himself on stage. But on the contrary—as it turns out, Middlebrooks is one of the kindest, most gentle human beings you’re likely to meet, his thoughtfulness and insight as far from Deity’s brash braggadocio as you can possibly imagine. We talked to Middlebrooks about how he found the core of Chad Deity and what it’s like performing in a show with such rigorous physical demands.

“I knew that TheatreSquared has been a real asset to the Northwest Arkansas community for over 15 years now, and, through my wife's work and studies as a therapist, I know that the performing arts benefits our community way beyond just entertainment,” he says. “I'm also a fan of their outreach programs—in that way, I think their mission mirrors my own to build community in Northwest Arkansas."

Kristoffer Diaz, the New York-based playwright behind the Pulitzer Prize finalist “The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity”—opening at TheatreSquared stage this week—sounds excited when he talks about the prospect of his show opening on stages outside of major urban centers.