Barry Kooda of The Nervebreakers

THE KESSLER COMETH: Fort Worth music writer Ken Shimamoto shares the above video of ex-Nervebreakers guitarist Barry Kooda playing a tune at the once-and-future Kessler Theater in Oak Cliff. The theater, which was built in the 1940s but hasn’t been used for anything in the past 30 years, is currently undergoing a major renovation into a 300-seat performance space. On Friday night, Shimamoto was one of a few guests who got a sneak peek at the work in progress. He writes more about the night on his Stash Dauber blog. You can read more about the theater’s history here. UPDATE: Unfair Park also shares some details from Friday night’s event.

GRETCHEN DYER MEMORIAL: Video Association of Dallas honcho Bart Weiss passes along news of a screening of Late Bloomers in honor of its writer, Gretchen Dyer. The Dallas playwright and screenwriter died on June 11. Late Bloomers was a collaboration between Gretchen and her sister Julia, who directed. It was released in 1996 and was one nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. You can read the New York Times review of it here. The film will play Tuesday night at 7 at the Angelika Film Center in Dallas.

THEATER BITS: Lawson Taitte says Shakespeare in the Park’s experiment of setting The Taming of the Shrew in the Old West works … Meanwhile, he and Alexandra Bonifield both dig the Hunter S. Thompson-centered 14 Death Defying Acts at Ochre House. … Mark Lowry has the details on a Texas Hold ’em tournament on July 19 that will benefit Upstart Productions. Upstart just announced that its new season will feature two plays by Eric Bogosian: Talk Radio and subUrbia.