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    Music Man

    Meet the prolific, in-demand Dallas songwriter you've never heard of

    Lindsey Wilson
    Mar 31, 2014 | 8:36 am

    It's one week before the staged reading of his show A Taste of Beauty, and songwriter Adam C. Wright only has five minutes to talk.

    Tonight he is accompanying the cast as they rehearse, quietly singing out forgotten cues and gently guiding missed notes. That weekend, he'll begin playing in the band for Uptown Players' Pageant. A week earlier, he was the subject of the weekly cabaret Mama's Party in Grand Prairie, pounding the piano keys while a who's who of DFW musical theater belted out tunes written by Wright and his late partner, Jeff Kinman.

    For all he has contributed to the Dallas-Fort Worth theater scene, it's possible few outside the industry know Adam C. Wright's work.

    Five of those songs were from A Taste of Beauty, which is being presented as a staged reading March 31-April 1 at the Rose Room at Club S4. Four more hailed from Project Youth, another Wright/Kinman score (with book by Stephanie Riggs) that will be produced April 30-May 4 at Our Productions Theatre Co. in Lewisville.

    Wright also music directs at Dallas Children's Theater. With so much going on, it's kind of amazing that he even found five free minutes.

    For all he has contributed to the Dallas-Fort Worth theater scene, it's possible few outside the industry know Wright's work. Beauty and Youth have had the most robust performance histories of the four full-length musicals he's written. Youth, which takes place in a dystopian future where all children live in a bio-dome, received a production in Flower Mound in 2008. Beauty premiered at the inaugural Uptown Players Pride Festival in 2011.

    Mark E. Berry, a longtime friend of Wright's, saw that original staged reading of Beauty. He has been passionately working to give the show another life — and hopefully secure a future full production from one of the area's professional theaters.

    "I just decided it was time more people heard Adam's work," Berry says as he records the night's rehearsal on his iPhone. He's the producer this time around, working with director Jason Robert Villarreal and librettist John De Los Santos on the revised version.

    A campy, fun romp through the mod world of 1960s high fashion, Beauty follows ugly duckling Muriel le Pamble (Laura Lites) as she prepares to take over the revered House of Solange fashion empire. The glamorous designers and models cruelly sabotage her, leading to a near-fatal accident that leaves Muriel suddenly beautiful — thanks to emergency plastic surgery — but insane with revenge.

    "Jeff wanted to write a scary, funny musical," Wright says. "Even though the book has changed a lot [from the original reading], the score remained almost the same. I only wrote one new song in the second act."

    If you ask Wright if he's always wanted to be musician, he'll tell you no. His childhood dream was to be a gymnast or figure skater, until a growth spurt intervened. His father, however, is a singer and musician, and it was listening to one of his father's friends play piano that sparked the interest in Wright.

    In fifth grade, he began taking lessons with the express goal of playing Beethoven's "Sonata Pathetique." A dabbling in violin also followed — "I'm more comfortable pushing these black-and-white buttons," Wright chuckles — which Wright says is helpful nowadays when orchestrating with stringed instruments.

    "When he was about 16," Berry says, "Adam spread out alphabet cards over the piano keys and then selected the notes that corresponded to his friend's initials. M-E-B became a musical theme, which he then filled out into a fully orchestrated piece."

    As if on cue, Wright's fingers fly over the keys as he plays the aforementioned bit of music. "I haven't played this in years," he laughs.

    "You see?" exclaims Berry. "It's been, what, 20 years and he just starts playing that like it's nothing. When I played the cassette tape he made me for other people, they were like, 'This isn't something a teenager does; it's a graduate thesis.'"

    Our time is up, as the cast files back onto the stage and prepares to channel 1960s New York. For his final question, I ask Wright if he's ever considered doing anything else.

    "This is my comfort zone," Wright says, waving his hands over the keyboard. "I just sit here, and everything else works."

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    Budget Cuts

    Funding cuts force Dallas Children's Theater to trim 2025-26 season

    Lindsey Wilson
    Jun 3, 2025 | 1:38 pm
    Dallas Children's Theater presents James and the Giant Peach
    Photo courtesy of Dallas Children's Theater
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    The upcoming 2025-26 season for Dallas Children's Theater is shrinking, according to a new communication from its leadership.

    A June 2 email signed by executive director Samantha Turner, board president Leah Mora, and recently appointed artistic director Emily Ernst informs supporters that due to "the significant financial challenges of the current environment," DCT will be reducing the upcoming season from five mainstage shows to three.

    The email doesn't specifically call out the government's cuts to arts funding, but it is heavily implied, especially since other theaters have recently experienced financial difficulties due to the federal cuts.

    "We remain deeply committed to artistic excellence and to the 90,000 young people and families we serve annually," reads the email. "Though we will have fewer performances, we will continue to provide meaningful theatrical experiences that inspire children, nurture their imagination, and encourage connection with the world around them."

    The 2025-26 will retain the previously announced world premiere of The Pigeon Gets a Big Time Holiday Extravaganza! (November 22-December 21, 2025), as well as The Very Hungry Caterpillar Show (January 24-February 22, 2026) and Moon Mouse: A Space Odyssey (March 27-29, 2026), and add a new developmental workshop envisioned by Ernst.

    The Musical Adventures of Flat Stanley and Jungalbook will no longer be produced, and ticket-holders will be receiving instructions on ticket options.

    DCT Academy classes, a vital part of the theater’s work, will continue through the summer, concluding August 8. After that, Academy sessions will be temporarily paused. Families enrolled for the fall semester will receive a separate email with next steps.

    "Although our performances are well attended and our community support is strong, ticket sales cover only a small portion of the true cost of producing theater," the email explains. "At the same time, our operating costs have steadily increased while funding levels have remained flat. This financial pressure requires immediate action to keep DCT viable — not just for this season, but for the years ahead."

    Tickets for the 2025-26 season are on sale now.

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