DCT Mom, Sherry Ward, shares her thoughts and experiences with children and difference.
The book, Last Stop On Market Street, won several awards for many reasons. I loved finding a video of the book being read aloud by the author while on a city bus, and having everyone, of all ages, totally captivated.
There are so many times when we all go through the “haves and have-nots” comparison with our peers. Why do they have this, but I don’t have this…it feels unfair. But, one of the last lines of the book speaks to the perspective that Nana tries to encourage CJ to think about. “Sometimes when you’re surrounded by dirt, CJ, you’re a better witness for what’s beautiful.”
I have ridden a city bus several times because it used to be that my only way of getting around was via wheelchair, and I didn’t have a car. This gave me a unique perspective that my kids just never had. However, my kids have learned what it’s like to have a mom in a wheelchair, and this has organically passed to their friends who learned what it’s like to be comfortable around a grownup in a wheelchair.
When I saw my kids looking at me with curiosity, I always tried to make eye contact and smile at them, and usually they’d smile back. It made me happy when they didn’t turn away quickly in that way kids do when their grownups tell them not to stare. It’s that human connection that we all want to have regardless of our differences.
Please come see this beautiful production. Hopefully you and your youngster will leave with a better understanding of how to also live with your minds and hearts open. We will see you at the theater!
LAST STOP ON MARKET STREET
Winner of the 2016 Newbery Medal
By Matt de la Peña, Illustrated by Christian Robinson
Adapted by Gloria Bond Clunie
Directed by vickie washington
March 18 – April 2
Ages 4 and up
On a Sunday after church in a bustling, ethnically and culturally diverse American city, CJ and his Nana board the public bus for their weekly trip across town to help out at a soup kitchen. Along the way, CJ notices the many differences among people and asks tons of curious questions: Why don’t we have a car? How come that man can’t see? How come it’s always so dirty over there? How?…Why?…With Nana’s fearless and compassionate guidance, CJ discovers that everyone and everything has a unique rhythm and purpose; that the world’s got answers if we listen with more than our ears and see with more than our eyes. This inspiring and imaginative play is based on The New York Times bestseller that won a Newbery Medal, Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor, and a Caldecott Honor.
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As silly as it sounds, it was a controversial decision to not let the Pigeon drive in the original drafts for Don’t Let The Pigeon Drive The Bus. In 2003, when the book was published, editors weren’t sure if the Pigeon’s plight would resonate with younger audiences or frustrate them. The results speak for themselves: Don’t Let The Pigeon Drive The Bus! is one of the most popular children’s books to this day.
Mo Willems has often said that his books are meant to be “played” not read, and this is true for his stage adaptations as well. DON’T LET THE PIGEON DRIVE THE BUS! THE MUSICAL! has a slightly different story than the picture book audiences have come to love. The Pigeon is still very much himself, but the conflict is broadened a bit. The plucky bird still does not drive the bus, but this time, the show asks why? Because he can’t reach the pedals? Because he doesn’t have the training? Because the bus absolutely must reach each stop on time?
The conflict is bigger. It isn’t about simply wanting to do the impossible on impulse, but something larger: wanting to have a thing. Everyone’s got one. The Bus Driver drives buses, the Teenager loves movies, the Little Old Lady likes to throw birdseed around. Everyone has a “thing” that makes them unique, and the Pigeon is feeling insecure because he doesn’t know what his “thing” is yet.
It’s a big conflict, truly worthy of a Mo Willem’s story, and it’s told with the same simple, connective, honesty that fills all of his work.
He is most popularly known for his #1 New York Times bestselling picture books and early readers series including: Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!, The Elephant & Piggie series, Knuffle Bunny, Knuffle Bunny Too, the Unlimited Squirrels series, Leonardo the Terrible Monster, Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed, Nanette’s Baguette, and Edwina, The Dinosaur Who Didn’t Know She Was Extinct.
This 15-episode series was released at the start of the 2020 pandemic, and was a valuable resource to families struggling to navigate isolation and big feelings. Mo Willems serves as the inaugural Kennedy Center Education Artist-in-Residence. Check them out 
Mr. Warburton is a long-time friend and collaborator with Mo Willems. They’ve been working together off-and-on since Mo’s Sesame Street days. Mo tends to identify more with Elephant Gerald, and Mr. Warburton with the smiley Piggie. You might recognize some of their work, Codename: Kids Next Door.
Mr. Warburton’s animated series, Codename: Kids Next Door, featured Mo Willems as head writer for one of the award-winning episodes! The two also collaborated on several other animated series including Sheep in the Big City. Mo Willems has also featured Mr. Warburton in Don’t Let The Pigeon Finish this 
Activity Book!
Listen up, I tell you! Junie B. Jones is back, and she’s got some advice to give…eventually. It was her brilliant idea to put together a survival guide for next year’s students, but now she’s at a total loss for what to add to it! It doesn’t help that all her friends are full of cool ideas and dance numbers. How’s a girl supposed to deal with all this competition? Hilariously, of course! In this musical extravaganza great for back-to-school time, Junie B. Jones learns some important lessons about school, patience, and personal growth. This play is perfect for fans of Junie B. and newcomers alike!
In communicating her decision to the Board of Trustees, Robyn Flatt paid homage to her father, Paul Baker, the founding director of Dallas Theater Center and Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts when she said, “As you all know, thanks to my father, theater will forever be a part of the fabric of my life. It is what inspired me to take on what some said was the impossible mission of starting Dallas Children’s Theater in the early ‘80s. I am very proud that both he and I have been able to make significant contributions to the North Texas cultural landscape; contributions that I expect to continue for decades to come.”
Flatt co-founded DCT in 1984 with start-up funds of $500. Over the years, the theater presented shows and officed out of the old Withers Elementary building, El Centro Community College, and The Crescent Center when it was owned by Caroline Rose Hunt. Ms. Hunt, along with her daughter, Laurie Sands Harrison, were two of DCT’s earliest and most longstanding supporters. In the early 2000s, with the help of a strong board of community leaders, Flatt and the DCT team raised more than $14 million dollars to purchase and renovate the old Don Carter Bowling Alley on Northwest Highway and Skillman. Thanks to the generosity of loyal patrons, the 58,000 square foot facility is now owned mortgage-free. From its modest financial beginnings of $500, DCT has grown to a pre‑COVID annual budget of more than $4 million. The theater has twenty-seven (27) fulltime staff members, seventy-five (75) part-time employees and currently thirty‑nine (39) seasonal employees. DCT has served more than five (5) million children and families through a critically‑lauded annual season of plays and an arts-in-education school for children ages three-and-one-half (3.5) to eighteen (18). Pre-COVID, DCT also produced a sought-after national tour that traveled to thirty-one (31) cities and twenty-six (26) states each year. DCT is considered one of the leading professional family theaters in the nation.
Under Flatt’s leadership, DCT has always had a deliberate and visible commitment to diverse casting, culturally-specific plays, and using the power of theater to spark important conversations. Flatt’s own projects of note include YANA WANA’S LEGEND OF THE BLUEBONNET, a DCT‑commissioned play that provides a glimpse into the heritage of the indigenous, First People of Texas; John Steptoe’s MUFARO’S BEAUTIFUL DAUGHTERS, an African-American Cinderella tale; AND THEN THEY CAME FOR ME featuring the story of Eva Schloss and recounting scenes from the lives of Holocaust survivors during World War II; and 10 SECONDS, a play that demonstrates what can happen when young people and members of law enforcement take the time to consider their interactions with each other. Flatt’s signature work was Harper Lee’s classic TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD which she produced several times, and an innovative and collaborative production entitled TREASURE ISLAND Reimagined! that combined puppetry, circus arts, and movement.
In November of 2020, DCT initiated an important first step in its succession plan when Nancy Schaeffer was elevated to the role of Artistic Director. Schaeffer’s association with DCT dates to its beginning days in 1984 when she was not only a leading actress in many productions, but also took on the administration of its fledgling school of theater classes. With her energy and expertise, DCT’s school has grown to become a highly sought-after Academy serving up to 4,000 students a year, and now includes a vibrant musical theater conservatory as well as the Blue Pegasus Players classes for children with sensory sensitivities.
Flatt plans to continue directing plays and will take on special projects as needed for Dallas Children’s Theater. She intends to devote much of her creative energy to a book and film about her father through the Baker Idea Institute, an incubator initiative for creative thinking and imagination in ways that benefit business, education, and individuals in general.
Flatt is a member of the College of Fellows of American Theatre. She was nominated by The Dallas Morning News arts staff for the Texan of the Year Award in both 2010 and 2015, and was honored in 2016 with the Orlin Corey Award for Artistic Excellence from the American Alliance for Theater and Education.
She and Junie B. often find themselves competing for attention in class. And outside of class. And, well, pretty much whenever they see each other. Junie B. struggles with her temper whenever May is around, and May only seems to get louder in response. Will these two girls ever be able to see past their differences? Find out in JUNIE B.’s ESSENTIAL SURVIVAL GUIDE TO SCHOOL!
Listen up, I tell you! Junie B. Jones is back, and she’s got some advice to give…eventually. It was her brilliant idea to put together a survival guide for next year’s students, but now she’s at a total loss for what to add to it! It doesn’t help that all her friends are full of cool ideas and dance numbers. How’s a girl supposed to deal with all this competition? Hilariously, of course! In this musical extravaganza great for back-to-school time, Junie B. Jones learns some important lessons about school, patience, and personal growth. This play is perfect for fans of Junie B. and newcomers alike!
