DCT believes in the power of working together! Collaborating for the greater good of us all is one of our core values. As evidence of this, the 2011-2012 season had a record number of great partnerships with other area arts and culture organizations.
Renowned author Judy Blume (left) and DCT Education Director Nancy Schaeffer (right) had a nice chat this past spring during the DMA’s Arts and Letters Live.
First, the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy and the West Dallas Community School (WDCS) came by when Amanda and George P. Bush announced WDCS essay contest winners who had been inspired to write about DCT’s Alexander & the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.
Soon after that, in an effort to help kids get excited about opera and provide DCT audiences with a broader experience of the performing arts, the Dallas Opera brought their UNT and SMU student production of Doctor Miracle to Rosewood Center for multiple performances throughout the season.
DCT’s holiday opening night introduced audiences to The Dallas Symphony’s Christmas Celebration Children’s Choir, who sang glorious carols in our lobby right before curtain time. And DCT’s love affair with the circus continued as the Lone Star Circus brought much revelry and fun to our facility at New Years, and to our production of If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.
The audience got to see some reptiles & other furry friends and ask Dallas Zoo staff questions about them during the opening night of “Diary of a Worm, a Spider & a Fly”.
Several Dallas Zoo four-legged furry friends partied with us opening night of Diary of a Worm, a Spider & a Fly, and Kumaasi African Ensemble had us up on our feet when their dancers and drummers struck a beat in celebration of the return of DCT’s National Tour in Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters.
Executive Artistic Director Robyn Flatt served as producer and artistic advisor when DCT friend and UT-Austin professor Roxanne Schroeder-Arce work-shopped a charming new script (working title: Mariachi Girl) with Cara Mia Theatre here at DCT. And finally, as we have done for many, many years, thousands of readers visited us with the free tickets they earned through the Mayor’s Summer Reading Program in collaboration with the Dallas Public Libraries and the Office of the Mayor. Whew – what a list!
But wait, we’re not finished yet…
Education Director Nancy Schaeffer stayed very busy this year sharing her time and talents with others around town. She got to meet the amazing and enduringly popular Judy Blume when she moderated a discussion for the DMA’s Arts & Letters Live. She directed John Davies’ operatic version of a children’s opera Jack and the Beanstalk for CampTDO at The Dallas Opera, which will have public performances on October 27 and January 26 (Tickets go on sale in September!).
“Jack & the Beanstalk”, in partnership with The Dallas Opera and directed by DCT’s Nancy Schaeffer, entertained young audiences by presenting a familiar childhood story in a different way, as an opera!
Nancy and resident playwright Linda Daugherty created an amazing museum theater piece with the Sixth Floor Museum called Shared Stories to mark the 50th anniversary of the assassination of JFK. Everyone agreed that it was a vivid and impactful way to share history with the younger generations.
And we certainly couldn’t forget that we launched our National Tour in association with the AT&T Performing Arts Center last September in the beautiful Downtown Dallas Arts District! We are proud to say that this relationship with AT&T Performing Arts Center will continue when our 2012-2013 National Touring production of The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs! opens at the Winspear at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. on September 8, 2012!
As we look ahead to 2012-2013, we are happy to report that many of these collaborations will continue, and new alliances are in motion as you read this. We look forward to the opening of The City Performance Hall on September 15, and Klyde Warren Park, opening in October, where we’ll be providing creative dramatics on many Saturdays throughout the year.
It’s a great time to be in Dallas with so much activity and so many wonderful alliances. Thanks to all our friends for enhancing our work and therefore, our lives. We couldn’t do what we do without you. We look forward to continuing to build deeper and more meaningful relationships with all of you.