The Alley Theatre announced that the power duo behind its success — artistic director Gregory Boyd and managing director Dean R. Gladden — have signed a new five-year agreement, effective through the 2015-16 fiscal year.
The theater company's board president Rob Reedy made the announcement at the annual board meeting Monday.
"Combined they have about 45 years of experience heading major resident theaters, making them two of the most experienced leaders of a resident theater company in the United States," Reedy said in a statement.
Boyd has been with the Alley since 1989; Gladden came onboard in 2006. Over the last five years, they are credited with erasing a $575,000 deficit, increasing Alley's revenue stream by 44 percent and donations by 76 percent, and creating an operating surplus of more than 1 million. In September 2010, the Alley finished its season in the black with a $300,000 surplus out of a $13.5 million budget.
The Alley Theatre is the only large arts organization in Houston that owns its own performance facilities and supports a resident company of actors.
While the sport of pickleball was invented way back in the 1960s, it has exploded in popularity in the 2020s. It was only a matter of time before someone figured out a way to make a movie about the craze, and a comedy like the new Apple TV film The Dink provides the best way to honor and make fun of the divisive sport at the same time.
Dusty Boyd (Jake Johnson), aka The Hammer, is a former tennis phenom who’s now working as an instructor at a club owned by his dad, Chuck (Ed Harris). While the two don’t always see eye-to-eye, they have a mutual hatred for pickleball, which they have begrudgingly allowed on the property by giving it the worst court.
Dusty is hoping to stop all future pickleball expansion by winning a one-on-one grudge match, but when he injures his wrist, he’s given a prescription of pickleball as a form of rehab. Older women like Candace (Mary Steenburgen) are the only people he can find to play with, and despite his disdain for the sport, he soon falls prey to its low-key charms.
Directed by Josh Greenbaum (Will & Harper) and written by Sean Clements, the film is probably the best advertisement pickleball will ever have. Dusty’s introduction to the sport serves as a lighthearted tutorial for the uninitiated while still getting in some nice digs at its expense. The other players — Candace, Gail (Cleo King), and Judy (Lynn Marie Stewart) — are equally welcoming and critical of Dusty, who initially has trouble adjusting to the game’s different rules.
The film’s approach to the story is silly but never stupid. Dusty is a blowhard, but he’s also able to admit when he’s wrong, especially when Candace introduces him to multiple things he had never considered before. A long-standing feud between Dusty and Andy Roddick provides more than just a goofy cameo for the real-life tennis star. The film also pushes right to the edge of being over-the-top before pulling back, allowing it to keep a semblance of reality to it.
Clements’ story follows a tried-and-true formula, making the film very predictable but enjoyably so. Where it earns its comedy credentials is in its finer details, like Dusty’s love for his 1999 Buick LeSabre with under 200,000 miles on it, his trunk full of old VHS tapes, or his interactions with his assistant PJ (Aaron Chen), who manages to be the comic relief in an already funny film.
Johnson, probably best known for starring in the sitcom New Girl in the 2010s, has the right amount of smarm and niceness to pull off the role, letting viewers laugh at and root for him at the same time. The film is full of comedy all-stars in small roles like Oswalt, Chris Parnell, and Ben Stiller, but Harris steals everyone’s thunder. The line readings by the four-time Oscar nominee give an extra punch to his character’s jokes, especially one that hints at the sordid history of the tennis club.
It’s a shame that The Dink is only playing on a streaming service as there’s a dearth of good comedies like this in movie theaters. With a solid joke-telling approach, a respect for its subject matter, and a cast who all play off each other well, this is a film that deserves to be seen by more than just those with an Apple TV subscription.
Gregory Boyd
Dean R. GladdenPhoto by Mike McCormick
