Family smackdown, with a SMAC grant

It may seem like it’s a bit early to worry about next fall’s lineup, but we hear that KOLT Run Creations (home of last winter’s fantastic adaptation of Crime & Punishment) has plans to mount a run of Canadian playwright George F. Walker’s Escape From Happiness. Mind you, it’s not what you’d call a light comedy; instead, it’s part of Walker’s “East End Trilogy,” in which the unhappy Dawson family tries but fails to put the “fun” in dysfunctional. Given the intellectual humor we’ve seen previously from this troupe—most notably in its production of Lips—we should get to see all darkness in Walker’s dark humor. Even better, KOLT Run Creations has gotten a microgrant from the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission to cover the set build. Escape From Happiness will open November 20, and runs through December 19, at the Ooley Theater, and that’s something to plan on.