Some years back, Liz Mikel was halfway through a performance as the Ghost of Christmas Present when a string of twinkling lights nearly set her wig on fire.

LARA SOLT/DMN

‘I held out hope that, maybe in the rubble, I’d find something.’ Liz Mikel said upon her return to the site where her rented condo once stood. But little survived last week’s fire. Mikel has long been a fixture in Dallas’ entertainment community, which has been holding benefits and fundraisers for the actress, best-known for her role on Friday Night Lights .

As the audience stared, Mikel fled the stage of the downtown Dallas theater just in time to hurl the smoldering hairpiece from her head – a mortifying experience for the veteran entertainer.

But when she finished the show and took her bow, sans wig, the crowd applauded wildly.

Mikel was overwhelmed by the kindness her fans showed that night – which was nothing compared to what they did when her home burned down last week.

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Six-foot-one and a self-described “woman of substance,” the 46-year-old entertainer was once likened by a Dallas theater critic to a mountain range – “if a mountain range could belt a bawdy song.”

She has been a Dallas fixture for decades, renowned as much for her effusive warmth as her countless stage and club performances.

Perhaps she is best known for her former role as Corrina Williams, the hard-luck mama of a high school running back on the TV drama Friday Night Lights.

As it happens, a blackened DVD of that show was among the few possessions Mikel recovered from the soaking ashes of her rented condo in northeast Dallas.

To read the rest of this article click the source below.

SOURCE: DallasNews.com

A Dallas theater company is stepping up to help an actress who lost her home and all of her belongings in a condo fire last week.

Liz Mikel, a familiar face on the Dallas stage and on NBC’s “Friday Night Lights,” watched her condo and belongings go up in flames on a miserably cold January morning. Her daughter woke her up that morning with the news that the building was on fire.

Mikel is a featured performer in the company’s newest production, “Give It Up,” which makes its world premiere at the Wyly Theatre on Jan. 15 and runs through Feb. 14.

Tickets for the opening night show is “pay what you can” for the public, and all sales will benefit Mikel.

“This play is a world premiere, and it’ll have never been seen by anyone before,” Mikel said. “And to know that my daughter and I are going to be on the receiving end of love and people coming out to support this, it means so much to us.”

To read the rest of this article, and see performance times click the source below.

SOURCE: NBCDFW.com

UPDATE: This is the best website for all the information on how to support Liz and her daughter: HELP LIZ MIKEL

Yesterday I tweeted from our @FNL_Fan account that I really missed Liz Mikel, who played the beautiful & heartwarming mother of Smash for three seasons on Friday Night Lights. I was curious as to where she was in the acting world, and sincerely wished her the best. I think it’s best to quote my tweet: “Liz Mikel who played Smash’s mom on #FridayNightLights is a goddess. Why is she not on any other show right now?! I miss her.”

The power of twitter connected me with someone from the Dallas Theater Company who let me know that Liz has been very active within their company and community, and that this morning her house burned down. This is obviously an awful set back, and the Dallas Theater Company is collecting Target gift cards at 2400 Flora Street Dallas, TX 75201 in order to help her out.

We send our best wishes to Liz Mikel.