THE YEAR IN THEATER: On Monday, the major dailies broke down the year in music. Today, we look back at the year that was in theater. Punch Shaw’s list on dfw.com sticks pretty closely to Tarrant County, giving top honors to Jubilee Theatre’s adaptation of Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye. Lawson Taitte also singled out The Bluest Eye on his list on dallasnews.com. Topping Taitte’s list was a pair of productions at the Undermain Theatre  – The Black Monk and Port Twilight. Those two shows couldn’t have been more different – further proof that Katherine Owens is one of the area’s top directors. Besides The Bluest Eyes, the only other show to make both lists is Circle Theatre’s Incorrubtible.

MUSIC BITS: The Old 97’s are plowing through their multi-night stand at Sons of Hermann Hall. Wednesday night’s show is sold out, but there are still tickets for tonight. If you are thinking about going (or even if you just wish you could), check out this video from Sunday night’s performance, courtesy of quickdfw.com … Smile Smile has uploaded a ton of videos from the duo’s recent tour with Bowling for Soup … DC9 at Night has posted the video for Green River Ordinance’s “Come On.”

A NEW ARTS CZAR IN DENTON: Herbert Holl has spent years in arts administration in Denton, working with the Greater Denton Arts Council and the arts department at Texas Woman’s University. So it seems appropriate that he would take over leadership of UNT’s new Institute for the Advancement of the Arts. The Denton Record Chronicle caught up with Holl, who says the Institute will benefit not only UNT faculty and students, but Denton residents interested in the arts.