Double Feature: Two Plays Walk Into a Bar pairs two one-acts by Tulsa playwrights, each riffing on the classic “bar play” in their signature style, for an evening of original theatre sure to leave you buzzed. Quinn Blakely’s side-splitting noir Jack Dicky and the Swarthy Gentleman follows the World Premiere of mystical romantic drama Intoxication from Shadia Dahlal.

Quinn Blakely wrote Jack Dicky and the Swarthy Gentleman one scene at a time for the debut season of Second Sunday Serials in 2017-18. This absurdist detective story was an immediate hit and the audience voted to see more every single month; at the end of the season, a full 75-minute play was complete. They don’t get much more hard-boiled than him: down-on-his-luck private eye Jack Dicky is looking for a criminal mastermind, the love of his life, and a heavy pour–and he may find all three tonight in this six-story bar. Can he save the day and get the girl? And what's taking so long on his drink? Director Alyssa Brown: “It's an honor to be back alongside Heller Theatre Company. My first Tulsa theatre role was with Heller Theatre in 2018. Getting to return in 2022 as a director is such a (good) gut punch.”

Playwright-in-Residence Shadia Dahlal (Las Niñas de la Tierra, “The Moon is My Neighbor”) employs her trademark magical realism to tell this love story between a woman and alcohol. Intoxication tells the elegiac story of Elena, a Greek-American woman drowning in spirits. Her husband is convinced alcohol has gripped her life and now threatens to take everything with it. Haunted by unresolved trauma, Elena has conversations with her departed Greek grandmother--but is she a hallucination or something more? And what of this handsome stranger at the bar who appears to see her too? TATE-winner Angela McLaughlin (The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, Circle Mirror Transformation) directs this World Premiere production.

Heller Theatre Company entertains, educates, and empowers the Tulsa community by producing compelling theatre through the creation of original works by playwrights and theatre artists. HTC’s dedication to nurturing new local and regional voices and producing original, socially relevant theatre makes it Tulsa’s Home for New Works. Producing everything from short plays to sprawling epics, HTC empowers artists to create provocative, compelling, and original works throughout the year. Regular programming such as Heller Shorts, Second Sunday Serials, Playwrights’ Lab of Tulsa (PLOT), and 25 Hour Play Festival offers playwrights, theatre artists, and audiences in Tulsa (and around the world via streaming) to create together, risk together, and grow together. HTC was founded in 1981, re-organized in 2014, and is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization.