Dallas Theater Center
A Leader in Acting, Musical Theatre, and Filmmaking
Dallas, Texas (PRWEB) May 02, 2016
Over the years, Dallas Theater Center (DTC) established a permanent company of actors, using some local actors and importing others. KD Conservatory College of Film and Dramatic Arts (http://www.kdstudio.com), in Dallas, has a rich history with the Dallas Theater Center through its graduates. Currently, Ivan Jasso, a KD graduate is playing the lead role of Javier Mejia, in Deferred Action. Other KD grads, Kristen Smith, Ayanna Edwards and Clinton Greenspan have been cast in The Dallas Theater Center’s upcoming performance of, Dreamgirls.
A destination for Sports, Fashion, and Entertainment. Before the Dallas Cowboys, before the Apparel Mart; there was the Dallas Theater Center and the extraordinary performances starting in 1959. The greatest actors and actresses of the times had toured through Dallas as soon as there were railroad to bring them. There were “opera” houses, then real theatres with orchestra pits and production facilities for vaudeville, and community theatre. The Dallas Little Theater, founded in 1920, built its own facility, and before its final curtain in 1943, twice captured the nation’s major annual award for the Best Little Theater in the United States. Margo Jones arrived in 1946 to open her innovative theater-in-the-round, and on August 19, 1954, The Dallas Theater Center, as it later became known, was conceived.
The services of the architect, Frank Lloyd Wright, were quickly secured. He was delighted with the property and for him the project would mean the triumphant realization of a plan he had first conceived in 1915. The building, which
came to be known as the Kalita Humphreys Theatre, was a tour de force for Wright and a gem for the city. The stunning building, set in among the trees on a steep slope above Turtle Creek, was full of elegant spaces and filled with the intricate touches of Wright. Though pride and satisfaction was brought to the populace, according to the actors, it was not a particularly efficient building for theatre production (http://www.kdstudio.com). During construction, without Wright’s knowledge, they secretly installed an elevator, because the only other way to carry and deliver sets was up a winding ramp.
Down the road from Dallas is the town of Waco, and head of the drama department at Baylor University, was Paul Baker. Baker was growing a national reputation for being brilliant, stubborn and an educator to the core. In 1959, he took on the role as the Dallas Theater Center’s first Director, and brought along as his assistant, Mary Sue Jones, the widow of playwright, Preston Jones.
The Dallas Theater Center, with its roots deeply implanted in the community, continues to grow in stature as one of the most exciting regional theatres in the country today and an exciting destination for locals and visitors from around the globe.
About KD Conservatory
For more than 30 years, KD Conservatory has been dedicated to the development of acting skills and motion picture production technical skills and to the creation of avenues into the professional world of entertainment. A subsidiary of KD Studio Inc., which offers an Associate of Applied Arts (AAA) degree program in acting, KD Conservatory has been rated “Exemplary” by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. The school is accredited by the National Association of Schools of Theatre (NAST). For more information, visit http://www.kdstudio.com.
Located: 2600 N. Stemmons Fwy, Suite 117, Dallas, Texas 75207 | 214-638-0484 | KDSTUDIO.COM