Holidays on the Horizon
It’s that time of year when our thoughts start turning to seasonal decorating, family gatherings, out of town guests and entertaining. If you can’t imagine any of those things happening in your current home, it might be time to see what’s out there. We’d love to show you!
FLY PAST TRAFFIC
Your family has a fast and convenient ride to the airport. DART offers service to Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport and Dallas Love Field every day of the week.
DFW AIRPORT
ORANGE LINE to DFW Airport
Terminal A Station
DALLAS LOVE FIELD
GREEN OR ORANGE LINE to Inwood/Love Field Station, and then LOVE FIELD SHUTTLE (Bus Route 5) to Dallas Love Field
PLAN YOUR TRIP AT DART.ORG/AIRPORTS
LAKE HIGHLANDS ADVOCATE VOL. 31 NO. 11
PROFILE
10 A Troop 890 Scout’s Eagle project
DINING 19 La Casita FEATURES 8 Cookie calendar
14 An inclusive playground
24 A theater’s Future 26 LHJWL BEST OF 17 Shopping
While the Dallas Children’s Theater uses plenty of old school props, technology is finding its way into shows.Read more on page 24. Photography by Lauren Allen.
Jawwad Yusuf, M.D.
LEARNING BY DOING
Pre-schoolers receive hands-on experience and education (even caring for the campus goat) at Montessori Children’s House and School in our neighborhood
Parents seeking the ideal educational environment for their children often face a bewildering array of choices. But the decision can be easier if you simply visit Montessori Children’s House and School right here in our neighborhood.
Hidden in plain sight on Abrams Road near Walnut Hill Lane, Montessori Children’s House and School (MCHS), founded in 1970, is so much more than ABCs and 123s. Educational home to youngsters ages 3 to 6 years old for nearly 55 years, the school includes options for before (7:30am) and after (6pm) school care. Recently, they launched a brand-new toddler program especially for two-year-olds.
Head of School Christa Montague says when considering a school environment for children, parents should ask themselves first “Why Montessori?” and then “Why THIS Montessori?”
“Montessori schools are renowned for their ability to nurture children’s curiosity, enhance their resilience, and build their confidence. Scientific studies have revealed that Montessori children exhibit more advanced social cognition and executive control, demonstrate a greater concern for fairness and justice, and engage in more positive interactions on the playground,” Montague says. “Our school, MCHS, is an accredited Association of Montessori Internationale (AMI) school, which means we adhere to authentic Montessori tenets. Our experienced faculty, known for their long tenures, all have advanced degrees and are certified AMI-Montessori educators.”
Visitors to MCHS are likely to see preschoolers practicing composition writing, geography, music theory, sewing, cursive penmanship, practical life skills, addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, reading skills, and the arts. And students aren’t parked at a desk all day.
The school, nestled on 3.5 acres of beautiful, wooded expanse, includes lessons, exploration, and experiences with nature each day. MCHS is a certified butterfly habitat, home to goats, chickens, fish, a bearded dragon, and a turtle. Caring for these treasured animals draws the children’s awareness to their innate ability to identify the needs of others and wisdom to respond appropriately.
“At Montessori Children’s House and School, we believe in the power of hands-on learning,” Montague says. “Our children aren’t glued to screens; they’re actively engaged in real-world experiences. From gardening and food preparation to problem-solving and social interaction, our students develop critical thinking, independence, and a deep appreciation for the natural world.”
MCHS also has a wealth of school community events to bring families together, such as the annual MCHS International Festival, where students perform songs from countries around the world, and older students serve as emcees. This beloved MCHS event also includes arts and crafts, guest cultural performers, and an international potluck buffet. “The International Festival celebrates the richness and diversity found in our school and the larger world in which we live, all while bringing us together as a community,” observes Montague.
Montague says the school currently has openings for all ages — and especially for 3- and 4-year-olds.
Learn more about Montessori education by contacting Montessori Children’s House and School today. Call 214-348-6276 or visit mchsdallas.org to schedule a visit. The campus is located at 7335 Abrams Road near Walnut Hill.
THE COOKIE CALENDAR
Mallory Cislo is putting her own spin on a Holiday classic
Story by AUSTIN WOOD | Photography by LAUREN ALLEN
Advent Calendars come filled with almost anything you can find these days. Jewelry, shooters of whiskey, and even dog treats have found their way into the dated compartments.
Neighbor Mallory Cislo of Mallory’s Cookie Jar’s sugar cookie Advent Calendar feels like a return to the simpler things. Filled with sugar cookies hand-decorated by Cislo, the calendars are available for ordering up until November 15, and come in both 12 or 24-day formats.
She ran a training business, but after a decorating class, cookies became a passion. She made her newfound hobby a business in January of 2022.
“The decorating is very relaxing,” Cislo says. “It allows me to be creative in a way I hadn’t been in a long time. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen a cookie decorating video, but the process of laying the icing down onto the cookies is very smooth and kind of a stress reliever.”
Eventually, she stepped away from her former business, Positively Fit Lake Highlands, when Mallory’s Cookie Jar took off.
“I think people were just really supportive, as they usually are in Lake Highlands when a new business comes to town,” she says.
Cislo sells her cookies at local markets, creates specially decorated confections for custom orders and leads decorating classes regularly, often at Vector Brewing.
Along with the option to buy a 12-day calendar for $60 or a 24-day calendar for $80, Cislo sells refill packs for repeat customers. Calendar orders are available on the Mallory’s Cookie Jar Website.
This will be the second holiday season Cislo’s calendars go on sale. She buys the calendar boxes from a cookie packaging supplier, which is where she got the idea. It didn’t hurt that Cislo, like many, has fond memories of frenziedly opening compartments and early morning chocolate.
“When I was little, my grandmother always sent us an advent calendar with something special in it, and I just remember that as being a really good memory of her,” Cislo says. “So I just love the tradition.”
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SCOUTS FOR SERVICE
In her free time, Madalena RitzMeuret rides dressage, like her grandfather and her mother did as children. She says her mother was “influenced by the creatures and their calming presence.”
A Troop 890 Scout aims for Eagle with bench project
Story by ALYSSA HIGH
Photography by YUVIE STYLES
To Hockaday senior Madalena Ritz-Meuret, riding horses is more than just a hobby. It’s a way to connect with a creature that is more like us than we may think.
“It is just so amazing to be able to connect with a creature so big and to be able to practice a skill that not many people do,” Ritz-Meuret says. “Throughout the years, I have discovered how special it is to have a bond with them.”
As she prepared to enter her senior year of high school, Ritz-Meuret also got closer to another deadline: becoming an Eagle Scout.
Since the Boy Scouts of America organization began letting girls join area troops that agree to it in 2019, coed and girl’s scout troops have popped up all over the country. There are hundreds of troops in DFW, tied to neighborhood churches, schools and other local groups.
One of these is Troop 890, sponsored by Lake Highlands United Methodist Church. The troop has over 30 girls, and nearly a dozen have gone on to become Eagle Scouts. One of these is Madalena Ritz-Meuret, a rising senior at The Hockaday School.
Becoming an Eagle Scout is no small feat. It has been estimated that only 4-7% of Boy Scouts earn the Eagle Scout rank. Scouts have to be active as a Life Scout (the second highest level for scouts) for at least six months, earn a minimum of 21 merit badges, hold positions of leadership within their troop and complete a significant community service project – all before turning 18.
gage with and identify what they were feeling. Others use horse riding to foster empathy, build trust and learn to interact with the animal calmly and safely.
Ritz-Meuret recently completed her service project, which BSA describes as one of the most “distinctive and challenging aspects of becoming an Eagle Scout.” The scout has to plan, develop, lead and execute a service project that benefits their community or a nonprofit.
For Ritz-Meuret’s project, she facilitated designing and building several benches for the Heart of Texas Therapeutic Riding Center in West, Texas.
The center focuses on equine therapy, which is used to treat behavioral and relationship issues, grief, anxiety, depression, ADHD, addiction and eating disorders as well as assisting with occupational therapy and veteran reintegration.
“I wanted to pick out a center that was not publicly known to raise awareness of it and encourage clients or people interested in therapeutic riding to go there and support them,” Ritz-Meuret says.
Similar to the concept of therapy dogs, domesticated horses are thought to be attuned to human’s emotions and nonverbal cues, mirroring their rider’s emotions and allowing for the rider to en -
The Heart of Texas Therapeutic Riding Center offers therapeutic riding with social, educational and sport opportunities, aquatic therapy, massage therapy and “elite therapy,” which includes speech, physical and occupational therapy.
After discussing the needs of the riding center with its employees, Ritz-Meuret decided to build the benches for the facility so that riders can observe their peers and have a place to sit while not riding.
Together with a leader from the troop, Ritz-Meuret planned out the materials and funding requirements of the project. She set up a GoFundMe that collected $680 and gathered volunteers to help out. Ritz-Meuret was responsible for leading the project, even after the rain foiled the volunteers’ original plan of building the benches outside of Lake Highlands UMC.
Though adults did the sawing, Ritz-Meuret notes, she and her peers built the benches entirely by hand, adjusting along the way when things did not go to plan.
“We had to think creatively on how to work around challenges,” she says. “We made errors on measurements so we had some benches that varied in size, but it taught me to embrace the diversity of problem solving and making sure that everybody’s opinions are taken into consideration.”
She later transported the benches to the center, a little over an hour away, sanded them and applied a translucent paint to seal them once at the location.
“It’s really special to discover the different personalities that the horses have,” Ritz-Meuret says. “They have this very therapeutic power that, if you are calm around them and you’re patient with them, they will be able to reciprocate that.”
DOWN TO PLAY
Inside the new indoor playground at Medallion Center
Story by AUSTIN WOOD | Photography by LAUREN ALLEN
At Joel and Kelsey Doolens new indoor playground, Down to Play, the couple have set out to create an inclusive and engaging environment for neighborhood children.
The play area — a jungle of 3,500 square feet of soft maze — features ziplines, climbing walls, slides, mirrors and more. Alongside the main play area, a separate toddler playground has a ball pit, which is cleaned once a week with what has been described as a near-industrial cleaning machine, and other soft equipment.
Somewhere in between an ASI Gymnastics, public playground and children’s event space, the venue closely mirrors the indoor play areas the Doolens have become well-acquainted with over the last few years.
Their daughter, Kendall, was born prematurely with Down syndrome in 2022. She needed extensive medical treatment and support for the first year and a half of her life. While Kendall received treatment at the hospital with her mom, Joel would
take their then 2-year-old son to indoor playgrounds to get him out of the house.
“We were just driving to Plano all the time for him,” Joel says. “She was at the hospital with our daughter, and I had our 2-year-old at the time. We visited several of these. We went on a trip to Maine and visited one that’s not totally like this, but similar, and that’s when I’m like, ‘This would work in East Dallas,’ because there’s nothing here. I could pretty much draw you a map at every restaurant or whatever it is in this area, and there’s nothing close.”
Driving to Plano constantly wasn’t going to cut it, especially for East Dallas residents who — like many of their neighbors on this side of Central — don’t like to leave the neighborhood incessantly.
So, they found a 5,200-square-foot space at Medallion Center, and decided to open Down to Play. Joel is a commercial banker at Frost Bank. He evaluated the risks of the location thoroughly, but felt confident in its location on a major thoroughfare close
to Lake Highlands, Lakewood and Highland Park.
The playground opened in July, just in time for the worst of Texas summer. Joel designed every square inch of the play area.
“I’m kind of particular about it,” he says. “I’ve been into enough of these things with my son and I know what he enjoys. Whether or not (other kids liked it) was the scariest thing about opening this thing up, right? We just spent a lot of money on a playground, and if kids don’t like it, then we’re gonna have a big problem. But it hasn’t been that way. The reaction has been awesome.”
Business has been going well since opening, they say, even with a school year dropoff.
One of the Doolens biggest goals for Down to Play was creating a place where all children, regardless of abilities, can play together.
“There are a couple nonprofits that have great places for kiddos with Down syndrome, but we don’t have that in Dallas,” Kelsey says. “And so I wanted to create something for Down syndrome. Obviously, this is for everyone. I would say 98, 99% of the kids that come here are just typical learners, but the message of Down to Play, and what my goal is to convey, is that kids with Down syndrome and autism play just like everybody else.”
Down to Play has a therapy room available for bookings at no-additional-cost, a sensory room filled with activities for sensory-sensitive customers and is fully-ADA compliant.
“I think just by knowing that a place is owned by a couple that has a child with special needs might make you feel more comfortable, because you’re going to know that we have a no bullying policy,” she says.
“We have an acceptance policy. If your kiddo has certain sensitivities and needs, some needs, some things change, I’m happy to turn down the music.”
Parental amenities have been well-received, they say. They have enough seating to rival the Applebee’s across the parking lot, free Wi-Fi, a snack bar and coffee. Two adults are included in open play admission, which comes out to $20.
The therapy room also doubles as the party room. The couple say that their birthday packages, which come at different price points with varying amounts of DIY, have been solidly booked through November.
For a owning business that’s only been open for a couple of months, the Doolens already seem to have their eyes on the horizon.
“We’d love to find areas like this one, where there’s tons of kids that are driving far away to go places,” Kelsey says. “We’d love to find areas where the same need that was needed here is needed. In the long term, the goal for me is to create a nonprofit section of Down to Play eventually. Right now, obviously, we’re focusing on this one, and then possibly a couple more locations.”
SHOPPING
BEST CHILDREN’S STORE
WINNER - CAMP, A FAMILY EXPERIENCE STORE
2ND - THE STORE IN LAKE HIGHLANDS
BEST FURNITURE STORE
WINNER - THOMESTYLE FURNITURE
BEST GARDEN STORE
WINNER - PLANT STYLE
2ND - BRUMLEYS GARDEN
BEST HOME GOODS
WINNER - FIRST FLOORS CARPET ONE FLOOR & HOME
2ND - ROOSTER HOME AND HARDWARE
BEST SPECIALTY SHOP
WINNER - DALLAS PERCUSSION
2ND - JC TIRE SHOP
BEST THRIFT /CONSIGNMENT
WINNER - ANONYMOUSLY YOURS
2ND - THRIFT GIANT
No end in sight
La Casita owner Maricsa Trejo recently opened yet another location in Half Price Books
Story by AUSTIN WOOD | Photography by HALEY HILL
LA CASITA OWNER MARICSA TREJO KNOWS WHAT IT MEANS TO BE PUSHED.
Her career began in El Centro College’s class kitchens. The path has taken her to fine dining establishments in New York and bakeries in Oregon. She’s gotten there and back by being pushed by her family, colleagues, mentors, fiery chefs and, of course, herself.
Trejo is a highly-skilled pastry chef, business owner and James Beard award finalist. La Casita’s name frequently pops up in local publications’ “Best Of” lists. She recently opened a second La Casita Coffee location in the Lake Highlands area, and plans to debut a third later this month in Uptown. After months of wrangling with code compliance, vendors and contractors, it would be understandable for her to take a break and catch her breath.
But oddly enough, she’s still talking about expansion.
She’s still pushing.
PANCAKES
Trejo was born in Mesquite as the daughter of immigrants from Mexico. Her mother arrived in her early 20s, and hadn’t received much formal education. Even though she had trouble reading herself, she still would take Trejo and her siblings to the library on Saturdays.
Her father, Alfredo, worked six days a week.
“I’d miss him,” Trejo says. “So sometimes I’d go with him on Saturdays, when he worked, I’d do my homework. He’s a plumber, so he does all the houses that aren’t built yet, he does all the plumbing for those, so he would be out in the heat. And I was like, if my dad can do it, I can go out there and do my homework.”
She says she tends to keep those long days in the Texas heat in the back of her mind when she’s pushing herself to finish laminating in the back of her air-conditioned bakery.
Alfredo may have worked constantly, but the seventh day was a special occasion. On Sunday mornings, he got the time off from work some would use to rest on a reclining chair and watch TV. Instead, he saw it as an opportunity to share a meal with his family.
“(My parents) didn’t grow up eating pancakes as kids, my dad learned how to make pancakes on his own,” Trejo says. “He would make pancakes and fried eggs and bacon and all these things for us on Sundays because he wanted to be part of us.”
She knows the sacrifices her parents made in coming to the U.S. paved the way for her career, and says she respects their resilience “so much” in a “country that has very little love for people coming over here.”
“I’m doing it for myself and my husband, because we started this business together, but I’m also doing it for them. Because ‘ (when) I just became a cook, I’m like, ‘I promise I’m gonna do something big with it.’”
THE PASTRY HATER
Food has been a fascination from an early age, although her first interests were in art and music. She grew up surrounded by Mexican cuisine, but her “super authentic” experiences at her Argentine godmother’s house helped her realize she was interested in cooking, not flute playing.
“My mom would get jealous, because I’d be like ‘(She) is so good at cooking, and she does this and that.’” she says. “But my interest became, basically going from art and music, to, for some reason, cooking.”
She went on to enroll at El Centro College. Trejo didn’t want to commit to full-time culinary school before testing the waters, so she took basic cooking classes alongside the core curriculum.
Her least favorite class may come as a surprise.
“I hated pastry really,” she says. “I went to school and, my first pastry class, I don’t know if it was my teacher. She was a good teacher. You could just tell she just did not want to be there.”
The art of pastry was lost on her. Trejo liked cooking. She relished the flash of the pan, and the ability to improvise on the fly to rectify mistakes. With pastry, instead of seeing beautiful manifestations of hours of labor, she saw tediously time-consuming fragile eggshells that presented 100 opportunities for miscalculation and ruin.
But as she progressed through her training, pastry started to make more and more sense.
“When I got into pastry, I realized I had all these weird ideas for pastries,” she says. “And like cooking, I guess you could say I never had an original idea. And I was like, ‘What am I?’”
The pastry hater slowly turned into a pastry chef. Trejo left El Centro in favor of the college of hard knocks. She found a job at the Omni Hotel, and progressed from the banquet kitchen to the Texas Spice garde manger. Wanting to learn “as much as possible,” she volunteered to help prep for pastry in her spare time.
“I met one of my best friends there,” she says. “Her name is Lucia. She has a pastry place. She has a patisserie in Puerto Rico — I actually visited her two weeks ago — She was like ‘If you want to do this, dude, if you’re getting pressure to do this, don’t do it.’ But I was like, ‘No, I actually really like this.’ So I fell in love with pastry.”
“NO ONE IS EVER GOING TO HIRE YOU”
After leaving the Omni, she took a job in Oak Lawn working for an unnamed chef. The environment was not what she’d hoped.
“There’s no reason to treat anybody in any industry anywhere without respect, whether you’re male or female,” Trejo says. “And I was like, this is just not where I want to be anymore.”
She quit mid-shift after a particularly nasty interaction with the chef. On her way out, with announced
plans to go to the Big Apple, the chef told her that “no one is ever going to hire you in New York.”
She got hired — in New York — to work at restaurant legend Tom Colicchio’s Colicchio and Sons.
“He actually went there one of the nights and hung out and cooked with us,” she says. “And I was like ‘oh my god, I can’t believe I’m in the presence of Tom Colicchio.’ It was so cool.”
After New York, she took a job in Oregon working as an overnight bread baker for Grand Central Bakery. She says she traveled there, alongside her now-husband, Alex, to become more well-rounded as a baker, which she figured would benefit her when she opened her own shop one day.
The chain operates similar to La Casita, with an array of locations selling housemade pastries and baked goods.
“I learned how to work with those big machines and I learned what it takes to have a big company like that … they’re huge in Oregon. They provide a ton of places with bread, and we do that now too.”
After a year in Oregon, Trejo and Alex returned home. She missed her family. She’d traveled across the country for two years, first in New York, then in Oregon, gaining valuable experience along the way.
Sitting on a stool in her Richardson bakeshop, Trejo remembers the Oak Lawn chef’s words a little more gently than she probably did at the time.
“He made me realize that, funny enough, I’ve always felt what he said to me about myself,” she says. “And then I went to New York, and I proved him and myself wrong.”
BURGER BUNS
Alex is an accomplished chef in his own right, so he and Trejo consulted for Small Brewpub in Oak Cliff upon their return. The pair helped craft a new, elevated menu, which Trejo says was soon supplanted by burgers and fries.
The urge to create her own business started to take hold. She hounded Alex with thoughts about a potential bakeshop until he’d had enough.
“He was like ‘I love you, Maricsa, but you either have to stop talking about this dream or do it. You can’t do both,’” she says. “I can’t spend the rest of my life just hearing my wife be like, ‘I should have been. I should have done it,’ he said, ‘Just do it. Just try it.’ And he pushed me. And I have never been pushed that hard before. And I was like, ‘How rude. He’s so rude. How dare he say this shit?’ And I was like, ‘You know what? He’s right though,’”
While she left Small Brewpub’s employ, she didn’t leave its kitchen. She registered La Casita Bakeshop — named in honor of her Hispanic heritage — and began selling her pastries to a few coffee shops around town. Small Brewpub’s kitchen was rented as a baking venue in exchange for burger buns.
But, working mostly by herself, the hours were long, and she needed help.
Luckily, Alex was getting tired of bar food. So he left the pub and joined Trejo in the endeavor. La Casita was officially launched soon after in 2017. The pair opened the doors of the first Richardson Bakeshop in 2020.
Trejo says she plans to convert the coffeeshop into a tiki bar with dinner service at night in the future.
HALF PRICE BOOKS
Four years later, the La Casita brand employs close to 100 people across five locations. La Casita Bakeshop, the brand’s flagship store in Richardson, serves artisanal cruffins alongside a full brunch menu. Trejo’s event venue, La Casita Garden, is open for rentals with a lengthy catering menu available.
There are two coffee shops, one in Rowlett and another on Northwest Highway, where she recently opened up a second La Casita Coffee location in Half Price Books. A self-described “book nerd,” she says the location is perfect.
“I used to go to the library with my mom,” Trejo says. “And even in Rowlett, we’re near a library, and now we’re inside Half Price Books, and I’m like, what other library places can I go into?”
The Half Price Books location, which opened in August, sells pastries baked at the flagship bakeshop and coffee from a program developed by La Casita’s third partner, Brianna Short. Sandwiches such as the Tikka Marsala, a fried chicken breast covered in house-made Tikka Masala sauce and served with a cucumber raita, pickled red onion and fresh cilantro, all come served on La Casita’s house-baked bread.
A full brunch menu is on its way, and Trejo says she plans to eventually transform the space into a tiki bar with dinner service at night. An old colleague from Small Brewpub has been brought on to develop a cocktail list, and an eclectic dinner menu has been planned.
“It’s gonna be like a mix of Pacific Island food,” Trejo says. “Asian food, Vietnamese, Korean and Mexican food.”
COMMUNITY
One of Trejo’s points of emphasis is taking care of her employees, she says. She uses the word community to describe the culture she’s tried to create.
“It’s so cool to have a community … we’re here at work all the time, so for me and my husband and our employees, it’s important to care about each other,” Trejo says. “They don’t have to love each other. But just caring about when someone leaves here, where are they going home to, or who are they going home to. That matters a lot to us.”
La Casita offers health insurance to full-time employees, although that may have to do less with community and more about keeping her workforce healthy, she admits.
Trejo says that her “community” is one of the biggest contributors to La Casita’s recent success, and that she’s created a collaborative atmosphere where employees are welcome to have thoughts on the menu.
“Weirdly enough, my employees push me,” Trejo says. “I can see in their eyes. They’re like, ‘I want to do these new things.’”
PUSHING FORWARD
La Casita Coffee is expected to open another location in Uptown this month, bringing the total of La Casita locations to six across Dallas, Richardson, Rowlett and Frisco. She says that she will continue to look for “smart” expansion opportunities, and that she does not want growth to compromise quality.
It doesn’t seem like she plans on stopping anytime soon.
“My dream for us as a bakery is to be everybody’s neighborhood bakery. And it’s hard to do that when you’re just in one neighborhood.”
La Casita , 5801 E Northwest Highway, 469-899-0969, lacasita.coffee.com
RESTAURANT GUIDE
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ENVISIONING THE
The DCT just wrapped up its showing of Grace for President.
FUTURE
THE DALLAS CHILDREN’S THEATER RECENTLY CELEBRATED 40 YEARS OF PERFORMING
Story by AUSTIN WOOD | Photography by LAUREN ALLEN
The Dallas Children’s Theater celebrated its 40th season last year, a milestone for one of the largest family theaters in the U.S.
It also marked the first season under the leadership of Executive Director Samantha Turner. With an early career background in Fortune 500 marketing and recent experience leading Ballet Arizona, Turner brings a versatile, savvy approach to an institution navigating the harsh realities of the post-COVID performing arts environment.
“These are challenging times for performing arts organizations,” she says. “So, how do we continue to survive and thrive in what has now become a world that’s more expensive — with all sorts of other entertainment options — with changes in what and how people experience the world and entertainment?”
According to a 2023 Southern Methodist University DataArts study, based on data from 233 arts organizations around the U.S., large arts organizations — a category that the DCT falls under due to its 3.5 million dollar operating budget — have seen an average 26% decline in attendance since 2019.
“Ten, 15 years ago, people didn’t stay home and watch Netflix as an option, or didn’t feel that was as good of an option as something else,” Turner says. “So [we’re] thinking about what our place is in the future of this community. And this summer, we went through a visioning process to think about what it is that we want to be in? You know, we’ve called it Vision 2030.”
A vision for the future will be critical for the DCT as it enters a period of change and evolution. Artistic director Artie Olaisen, a fixture of the theater’s productions for over 30 years, will retire this season. Olaisen joins DCT co-founder, Robyn Flatt, in retirement. Flatt retired at the end of the 2022-23 season after close to four decades at the helm, leaving Turner to carry on her legacy.
$500
Flatt comes from an artistic pedigree. Her father, local arts legend Paul Baker, founded The Dallas Theater Center and was the first Director of Booker T. Washington School for the Performing and Visual Arts. She studied fine arts at Baylor University and returned to Dallas as a resident company member at the Theater Center, where she remained for 20 years.
After leaving in the early ’80s, she went on the road with a troupe of actors from the Center and staged free performances at public parks around Dallas.
The audiences were diverse and multi-generational, and the performances were well-received, she says. Flatt began thinking about starting a fully-fledged theater company with performances geared towards children. Shortly after, she launched the Dallas Children’s Theater with $500 scraped together from the donations to the troupe.
“It was insane. What was I thinking?,” she says. “I wouldn’t let my own daughter be a major employee. I mean, she worked some for us, and she was great, but I was terrified that we couldn’t make it, and then my daughter would be starving too. I thought, well, it’s enough for one of us to starve. But it was insane. I didn’t have any money.”
She’d been surrounded by professional acting for much of her life, and the product she set out to create wasn’t going to be junior-level, even if her audience was.
“The kids need quality,” Flatt says. “They need something that’s really challenging and inspiring to them.”
The theater’s earliest activities, performances at El Centro College and academy classes for local youth, were funded by timely donations by the Meadows and Clark Foundations.
The DCT originally performed at Withers Elementary School along with El Centro. As the company grew, performances were moved to the Crescent Theater, although occasional performances were staged at the community college well into the 2000s.
The company moved into its current home, the 58,000-square-feet Rosewood Center, in 2003. The space boasts two theaters with a combined capacity of 650, four classrooms, offices, production space and a reception area.
Throughout Flatt’s tenure, the DCT put on classic family productions like James and the Giant Peach, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, and A Charlie Brown Christmas. But some of the performances she’s most proud of are the ones that tackled difficult issues, like To Kill a Mockingbird. Notable topics have included bullying, divorce and self-harm.
“Where in the world are they going to talk about them if we don’t bring those topics up and expose them in a way that is safe,” Flatt says.
She originally planned to step down before COVID, but when the
pandemic hit, she felt she could not leave during such an uncertain time. In 2022, she announced that she would retire following the conclusion of the 2023 season. She says she has every confidence in Turner.
TODAY
The Dallas Children’s Theater annually performs for an audience of 150,000 North Texas children and their families through five annual productions and in-school residencies.
Many people can be understandably confused by the name, Turner says.
“We are a professional theater company, so it’s professionals and adults on the stage,” she says. “Many people think it’s kids on the stage.”
Shows at the theater are geared towards various age levels and interests. Performances like this year’s production of Pete the Cat recreate toddler storytime favorites on the big stage, while shows like Grace for President tackle timely issues for a 6-year-old and above audience.
Accessibility has become a fixture of DCT shows in recent years. Productions typically include one sensory-friendly performance with lights dimmed and sound effects softened. The theater also provides 10,000 free or reduced cost tickets to families each year.
“The kids will come in and you hear them say, ‘Wow, this place is really cool.’ They’ve never been anywhere like it,” Turner says. “And what’s even more astounding is, when they walk out, their eyes are so big.”
The emphasis of inclusivity extends to the theater’s academy classes. The Blue Pegasus Players classes, of which Turner says she is very proud of, are
The DCT moved into the 58,000 square foot Rosewood Center in 2003.
specially designed for children with autism, Down syndrome and other disabilities.
“We just give them a little bit more support, more people in the room to help them.” she says. “And those are students who have anything from a sensory issue, or we’ve had students who have some physical challenges, students who have visual or auditory issues, and we just have to make sure we have people in the room who can help them have the theater experience too.”
Turner says the theater hosts over 2,000 children a year for its academy classes, which range from basic acting to more advanced disciplines. The theater also boasts a musical conservatory for the training of actors in musical theater.
The children in academy classes don’t perform for audiences, only their families. That’s okay, Turner says, they’ve got simpler goals in mind.
“Our academy is not about creating actors who are going to star on Broadway,” she says. “It is about instilling in children the benefits of what happens with the theater experience, collaboration, confidence, understanding others and empathy.”
Turner also said she’s proud to be one of the two largest employers of actors in the Dallas area, along with the Theater Center.
Despite its often competitive relationship with the theater, technology has been used to elevate DCT performances. Its production department has begun incorporating digital lighting, visual effects and 3D-printed masks into shows, creating a more immersive experience for the audience.
“I want to see us making sure that we continue to use technology to its fullest so that it allows people to have the best possible experience,” Turner says.
The Dallas Children’s Theater’s next scheduled show is A Charlie Brown Christmas , premiering later this month.
STAGE LIGHT VS. BLUE LIGHT
COVID may have contributed to the fall in performance attendances around the country, but Turner knows what the real enemy is: screens.
“We have really come to realize that our job is to de-emphasize the blue light and emphasize the stage light in kids’ minds, because there’s so much evidence now of the the the disservice we’ve done kids in allowing them to have a childhood that’s based on a phone instead of based on interacting with others and experiencing the world,” she says.
Turner says that theater gives children an opportunity to have a visceral experience which ignites creativity and imagination.
“I think we are going to play a more and more important role in helping kids get back to being kids and having childhoods that are play oriented and experimentation oriented, and helping them move away from that phone,” she says.
While she didn’t reveal specifics about the theater’s Vision 2030 plan, it’s clear Turner sees a place for the Dallas Children’s Theater in the future of the Dallas arts community.
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‘WE MAKE A BIG CITY FEEL SMALL’
LHJWL celebrates 20 years of service
The Lake Highlands Junior Women’s League is celebrating their 20th anniversary and marking 20 years helping young women establish relationships in the neighborhood while making a positive impact on the people and places around them. The group was founded in 2004 by six Lake Highlands High School graduates whose families had long been pillars of the community. Most early
joiners had mothers or mothers-in-laws who had served for decades in the Lake Highlands Women’s League, raising funds and volunteering their talents to boost neighborhood schools and nonprofits.
Jump ahead two decades and the “junior” moniker hardly fits. The impact of LHJWL volunteers is felt in every corner of our community while the league stands proudly — and boldly
Story by CAROL TOLER
— on its own 250 feet. Current members now total 125, and the group has given back more than $1 million to fund projects including the all-inclusive playground at Flag Pole Hill Park, a children’s area at the Audelia Road Library, boulevard banners to advertise community events, amenities at the Lake Highlands North Recreation Center including colorful tile murals and the Wildcat Fun Zone, and improvements to the
park outside the rec center including a one-mile trail loop, Splash Pad, pond restoration, play art sculptures and a playground at Fieldcrest Park. They also host an annual back-to-school supply drive and a Holiday Angel Tree to provide for students in need.
Sarah Gross Graham, Sarah Walne Hefton, Lynn Strawn Davenport, Amy Strawn Moore, Cary Baggett Woodall and Meredith Floyd Mosley made up the six founding members. As the group’s first president, Mosley says she quickly realized they were building something special.
“We started LHJWL to create a way for all young women who love LH — whether you just moved in or have lived your entire life here — to get involved, make connections with other women and focus on beautification of the neighborhood. One of my favorite memories is the excitement at the meeting which the founders had with (LHWL past-president and former Dallas Park Board president) Joan Walne, as we shared our dreams and vision for the organization and gained her wisdom on how LHJWL could be a vital part of the community.”
Hefton says it’s the community’s rich history of service and long-lasting relationships that make Lake Highlands unique. Besides her mom, Joan, her late grandmother, Frances Walne, was an active member of LHWL. Alan and Robert Walne, her father and brother, have both been leaders in the Exchange Club.
“It takes all of our community groups — Exchange Club, LHWL, PTAs — to help continue to make Lake Highlands the best place to live, work and educate our children. Our community groups work wonderfully together — each serving in their own unique ways. My takeaway is what a special place Lake Highlands is, and how important it is to give back to my community in every stage of life.”
Stephani Walne, daughter-in-law to Joan and daughter of the late Eileen Smith, another LHWL member, served as president in 2012-13. She says she jumped at the chance to join the group and “give back to the community that raised” her.
“LHJWL is where you first jump in to be a part of the LH community as an adult. Those new friendships throughout my 20s still bring a smile to my face, and I’m so thankful they are still women I can call with anything.”
Sarah Matthiesen’s husband, Kyle, is an LHHS grad with lots of friends still in the community, but she began looking for a way to form her own ties after moving to Dallas from Louisiana. She was at the helm when COVID-19 hit and says she’s proud of the way her team rose to the challenge.
“We all know that year is when everything changed for all of us. We were able to raise over $80,000 to partner with Imagine Dallas and Café Momentum to help feed food insecure families in Lake Highlands on the weekends during the pandemic. The way the league and the community rallied around this pivot was truly touching.”
Aron Northington McDonald has lived in Lake Highlands since the fifth grade and knew she wanted to be part of LHJWL, but taking on the role of president felt outside her comfort zone. She appreciates the way the group equips young women to lead with confidence.
“I was encouraged by the president before me that it was a safe space of like-minded women and urged to give leading a try,” she recalls. “I remember going down the directory calling people to serve with me, including some I didn’t know at all. Once we got started, I leaned heavily on our board and their talents and had such a grateful heart that they signed up to help.”
Over the past 20 years, LHJWL volunteers have created signature community events, such as their Run for the Highlands fundraiser in April and Light Up the Highlands, held the first Sunday in December. Both gatherings draw hundreds of families — not just to raise money, but to spend time together as a community. The women say taking time for fellowship is all part of the plan.
As she thinks back on her years in LHJWL, Shannon McCracken alternates between focused and funny. She’s proud of the impact the women have had on projects and people, but she also remembers lots of laughing.
“Some of my favorite memories include learning to play mahjong, making lifelong friends and, of course, the time the Christmas tree didn’t light up at Light Up the Highlands,” jokes McCracken, who grew up visiting the horse stables in White Rock Valley.
She led LHJWL in 2022-23 when the wheelchair swing was installed on the all-accessible playground at Flag Pole Hill.
“I’m the type of person who says yes and asks questions later,” she says. “The weight of the role really sank in when I saw board and league members dedicating their time, money and talents to our community. Our relationships with local organizations and community members have been nurtured over 20 years, creating a strong foundation of advocacy and trust that extends far beyond our individual projects.”
McCracken appreciates the wide range of knowledge and skills brought by each individual member. There’s no greater reward than witnessing the impact of their collective efforts, she says.
“Our group uniquely manages every project’s life cycle from start to finish, ensuring attention to detail along the way. Originating from the Women’s League, we’ve thrived under their guidance, fostering rich connections and smooth transitions between projects. I’ve gained a deeper understanding of the challenges our neighborhood faces and how important it is to work together to create positive change. I’ve also developed lasting friendships and a sense of purpose, which I’ll carry forward as I continue to serve and advocate for our community.”
Jacy and Brian Russell married in 2009 and purchased their Lake Highlands home the week of their wedding knowing only one other couple in the neighborhood. Before long, she was rolling up her sleeves at various league events and recognizing faces — and friends — all over town.
“I have always loved being part of different groups that give back and make a difference, and I loved what the LHJWL was about,” says Russell, who led the group when Light Up the Highlands was founded 10 years ago. “I walked away from my time as member and president of LHJWL with friends in the community I would have never met otherwise, as well as an appreciation for our amazing community and women who are dedicated to making a lasting impact on Lake Highlands and leaving a legacy for generations to come.”
LHJWL is designed with busy young women in mind, she says, and “the idea is to have a large impact with a minimal time commitment so that it fits the needs of women who have careers, young children and are a part of other groups and organizations.”
“If you’ve been thinking of joining LHJWL, do it,” urges Kathleen Kurzejeski, last year’s president. “I am so grateful when I walk into my children’s middle school and know so many women from other neighborhoods. We make a big city feel small.”
Light Up the Highlands will celebrate its tenth anniversary Sunday, December 1 from 4 to 6 p.m. at 7100 Wildcat Way in the Lake Highlands Town Center. All events are family-friendly, and children of all ages are welcome. Activities, which are stroller and wheelchair accessible, include Photos with Santa, ice skating, snow luge, bounce house, hot chocolate station, Christmas market, face painting and balloon artists. Cane Rosso’s food truck will offer pizzas for $13, and the Reverse Food Truck, an outreach of NorthPark Presbyterian Church, will collect donations. Admission is free.
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WATER DAMAGE
cleanup & restoration: A small amount of water can lead to major damage and mold growth in your home. Our trusted professionals do complete repairs to protect your family and your home's value! Call 24/7: 1-888-872-2809
TUTOR/LESSONS
WANTED: OBOE TEACHER needed for 14 year old student. Call 214–235-7429
A Next-Level Real Estate Experience
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