Matt Posey, actor and founder of Ochre House Theater, was shot in Deep Ellum Monday night. He’s hospitalized in stable condition.
Police say Posey and another person had left the bar Cold Beer Company after 11 p.m. and were getting into their car on Main Street. A gunman opened the driver’s side door and began firing. Posey was struck twice, in the face and thigh. The shooter has not been caught, according to Dallas Police.
Friends and family gathered at the hospital Tuesday.
“Shows at the Ochre House – for this week February 1 through 4 – have been canceled and I will be contacting our patrons,” said Carla Parker, Ochre House operations manager and company member. “We really appreciate the outpouring of support and this beautiful arts community. Thank you for being considerate of Mathew’s family at this time and hold him in your thoughts.”
Posey’s Ochre House is a funky storefront theater in Exposition Park. It’s known for visceral dramas … and adult puppet shows. The theater just opened “Dr. Babaganoush.”
“Mathew’s playing the lead character, Dr. Bobaganoush – in a play he’s written and directed – and when he walked out on stage the audience erupted,” said Parker. “Clapping and laughter and enthusiasm, because everyone was so genuinely thrilled that Mathew was back on stage. He’s been on hiatus working on other projects. So it was a good night. It was a good night for him.”
(Here’s Dallas Morning News theater critic Nancy Churnin on that production.)
Posey also acts in movies and television shows. His many credits include “No Country For Old Men” and “The Magnificent 7.”
“Matt’s had a really terrific film career, ” says Katherine Owens, artistic director of Undermain Theater and a long-time friend. “He’s been in movies that have won the Academy Award. He’s been seen in a lot of film and television. He’s done a lot of voice over work. He’s made his own films.”
But he’s remained dedicated to the Ochre House. And artists around the community recognize it as a special place.
“I think Matt embodies a humor and freedom and deeply artistic instinct that is irreplaceable in Dallas,” says Owens. “The Ochre House has this feeling that it’s completely artistic. It’s completely responsive to the impulse of the writers and the performers over there. It would never be mistaken for having any sort of commercial interests.
“And the shows are sometimes wild to the point of shock and yet he pursues that. At the Ochre House you see a great group of tremendously committed artists who really feel free to do something different, wild and I would say ‘innovative,’ but it’s more interesting than that.”
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