THE COMMUNITY BARDS: On Friday, Runway Theatre in Grapevine will open the world premiere of Always a Bridesmaid. It’s by the writing team of Jessie Jones, Nicholas Hope and Jamie Wooten. You may not have heard of them, but there’s a good chance you’ve seen their work – they’re the most prolific team writing for community theaters in the country. To date, 2,300 of their productions have been staged around the world. And their plays are so popular, theaters are willing to commit to them without even giving them a read. “When a theater is in line to do a premiere,” Wooten tells dfw.com, “and we decide they want one and they’ve earned it, and because we have to set them so far in advance, we tell them: ‘We have no idea for it and we don’t have a title, [but] we can tell you a title by this date and a description by this date and have a full script by this date, and we promise you it will be clean and won’t offend anybody, and you have to do it exactly as written.’ And they go, ‘OK.'”

BEING TOM JOAD: As Runway Theatre debuts Always a Bridesmaid, WaterTower Theatre will be opening a classic – The Grapes of Wrath. Cameron Cobb will play Tom Joad, which just adds to the plum roles he’s racked up over the last year and change. Theatre Three, Kitchen Dog and Shakespeare Dallas have all hired him during that time. And when he’s not starring on area stages, Cobb holds down a pair of day jobs. “I had a mentor who said smart directors cast actors who don’t need them, then stay out of the actors’ way,” Terry Martin, who hired Cobb for WaterTower, tells dallasnews.com. “Cameron is so humble, such a hard worker. He’s willing to do anything it takes.”

THE DYNAMIC DUO: When Steve Martin was looking for a collaborator for his new album, he turned to a voice familiar to North Texas – Oak Cliff’s Edie Brickell. Their effort, Love Has Come for You, is out April 23 on Rounder Records. The pair talk about the album – and yuk it up a little – in this video for Rolling Stone.