WEATHERING THE STORM: Fort Worth Opera General Director Darren K. Woods lays out his vision for the organization in a profile in this month’s Opera News. After a lead concerning cowboys in Fort Worth (natch), Woods discusses how his decision to cut the 2009 season back by one production ultimately kept the opera on solid financial footing by saving $400,000. Also illuminating: he says he spends 95 percent of his time fund raising. Or, as he puts it: “It sounds hokey, but we call it ‘friend-raising.’ Because right now, I will meet a person that I think will potentially bear fruit for the opera in four years.”

REPRESENTING THE 214: As I was wading through stories for Monday’s roundup, I somehow overlooked this feature on Eliseo Garcia. The Dallas sculptor is Texas’ three-dimensional artist for 2009 (see the other appointments in our round-up here). You can see his work everywhere from the Frisco Athletic Center to the Westmoreland DART station, his big break in the world of public art. As he tells The Dallas Morning News – somewhat metaphorically – about his first public commission: “I just kept hammering away. I felt I needed to take responsibility and work, and maybe one day I’ll get my break.”

A LEFT TURN: The reviews are in for Contemporary Theatre of Dallas’ Chapter Two. Neil Simon’s play follows a widower and a divorcee, each reluctant to re-enter the dating game. His brother and her friend manage to set the stage for romance between the two singles. According to both Marky Lowry and Alexandra Bonifield, the four actors are universally solid. It’s the play itself that has some flaws, most notably a bit of unexpected violence between the main characters in the second act that feels way out of place. As Lawson Taitte says in his review: “If you buy a ticket and leave at intermission you’ll have a great time. No guarantees, though, if you stay through the end.”