Dallas Children's Theater > About DCT

History

DCT PRODUCTION HISTORY - click here!

Dallas Children's Theater was founded in 1984 by Robyn Flatt and Dennis Vincent, in response to the growing need for professional family theater. A 501(c) 3 non-profit organization, DCT is a forum for artistic collaboration, a vital educational resource for metropolitan schools, and a vehicle of enrichment for the greater Dallas community. With a multi-million-dollar budget and a national audience, DCT is the largest professional family theater in the Southwest. We offer a season of eleven productions in our newly renovated Rosewood Center for Family Arts, as well as a national touring company, theater academy, and “arts-in-education” programs for local schools.

DCT is an outstanding venue for collaboration with local artists, designers, playwrights, and educators. Our directors and administrators are proud to contribute to the growing body of theater for youth with the commission and development of new plays. Familiar stories, literary works, histories, and biographies are also a part of our programming. Each season is thoughtfully chosen to produce plays that are engaging, enriching, and educational. Our productions promote social values, moral integrity, and reflect the cultural diversity of our community through casting and themes.

DCT’s pioneering efforts to develop innovative “arts-in-education” programs have equipped Dallas-area schools with a powerful resource. The Student Matinee Performance Series offers excellent materials for teachers and students. To supplement the performance, we offer study guides and other educational materials through our website, drama workshops in the theater, and backstage tours. Curtains Up on Reading brings artists and educators together in the classroom, integrating drama, dance, music, and art into grade-level curriculum. Our Angel Fund, After School Drama Clubs have been developed on twenty campuses. And DCT enjoys close collaboration with the Dallas Public Libraries, providing local performances and tickets in conjunction with the Mayor’s Summer Reading Program. To date, forty percent of the theater’s operating budget is dedicated exclusively to this kind of educational programming and outreach. DCT offers schools in low-income neighborhoods over 1,000 free or reduced tickets every year.

DCT serves a metropolitan area rich in cultural diversity. In producing arts and education for a varied population, our theater is a burgeoning asset to the community. Families from every socio-economic and cultural background are now afforded access to the arts. Because our programming is quite extensive, DCT brings theater to surrounding communities in more rural areas with limited resources. This excellence in community outreach and theater arts has earned Dallas Children’s Theater national acclaim. Both American Theater magazine andTIME magazine recognize DCT as one of the leading professional family theaters in the United States. And our unparalleled leadership and vision have garnered the endorsement and support of National Endowment for the Arts, Texas Commission on the Arts, the Hearst Foundation, and the Kresge Foundation.

DCT believes that theater provides a unique learning opportunity, which allows children exposure to ideas and imagery that reflect their own experiences and challenge their own understanding of the world in which they live. To this end, Dallas Children’s Theater aims to engage and inspire children, to produce theater that reaches beyond the stage.