• Home
  • popular
  • Events
  • Submit New Event
  • Subscribe
  • About
  • News
  • Restaurants + Bars
  • City Life
  • Entertainment
  • Travel
  • Real Estate
  • Arts
  • Society
  • Home + Design
  • Fashion + Beauty
  • Innovation
  • Sports
  • Charity Guide
  • children
  • education
  • health
  • veterans
  • SOCIAL SERVICES
  • ARTS + CULTURE
  • animals
  • lgbtq
  • New Charity
  • Series
  • Delivery Limited
  • DTX Giveaway 2012
  • DTX Ski Magic
  • dtx woodford reserve manhattans
  • Your Home in the Sky
  • DTX Best of 2013
  • DTX Trailblazers
  • Tastemakers Dallas 2017
  • Healthy Perspectives
  • Neighborhood Eats 2015
  • The Art of Making Whiskey
  • DTX International Film Festival
  • DTX Tatum Brown
  • Tastemaker Awards 2016 Dallas
  • DTX McCurley 2014
  • DTX Cars in Lifestyle
  • DTX Beyond presents Party Perfect
  • DTX Texas Health Resources
  • DART 2018
  • Alexan Central
  • State Fair 2018
  • Formula 1 Giveaway
  • Zatar
  • CityLine
  • Vision Veritas
  • Okay to Say
  • Hearts on the Trinity
  • DFW Auto Show 2015
  • Northpark 50
  • Anteks Curated
  • Red Bull Cliff Diving
  • Maggie Louise Confections Dallas
  • Gaia
  • Red Bull Global Rally Cross
  • NorthPark Holiday 2015
  • Ethan's View Dallas
  • DTX City Centre 2013
  • Galleria Dallas
  • Briggs Freeman Sotheby's International Realty Luxury Homes in Dallas Texas
  • DTX Island Time
  • Simpson Property Group SkyHouse
  • DIFFA
  • Lotus Shop
  • Holiday Pop Up Shop Dallas
  • Clothes Circuit
  • DTX Tastemakers 2014
  • Elite Dental
  • Elan City Lights
  • Dallas Charity Guide
  • DTX Music Scene 2013
  • One Arts Party at the Plaza
  • J.R. Ewing
  • AMLI Design District Vibrant Living
  • Crest at Oak Park
  • Braun Enterprises Dallas
  • NorthPark
  • Victory Park
  • DTX Common Desk
  • DTX Osborne Advisors
  • DTX Comforts of Home 2012
  • DFW Showcase Tour of Homes
  • DTX Neighborhood Eats
  • DTX Comforts of Home 2013
  • DTX Auto Awards
  • Cottonwood Art Festival 2017
  • Nasher Store
  • Guardian of The Glenlivet
  • Zyn22
  • Dallas Rx
  • Yellow Rose Gala
  • Opendoor
  • DTX Sun and Ski
  • Crow Collection
  • DTX Tastes of the Season
  • Skye of Turtle Creek Dallas
  • Cottonwood Art Festival
  • DTX Charity Challenge
  • DTX Culture Motive
  • DTX Good Eats 2012
  • DTX_15Winks
  • St. Bernard Sports
  • Jose
  • DTX SMU 2014
  • DTX Up to Speed
  • st bernard
  • Ardan West Village
  • DTX New York Fashion Week spring 2016
  • Taste the Difference
  • Parktoberfest 2016
  • Bob's Steak and Chop House
  • DTX Smart Luxury
  • DTX Earth Day
  • DTX_Gaylord_Promoted_Series
  • IIDA Lavish
  • Huffhines Art Trails 2017
  • Red Bull Flying Bach Dallas
  • Y+A Real Estate
  • Beauty Basics
  • DTX Pet of the Week
  • Long Cove
  • Charity Challenge 2014
  • Legacy West
  • Wildflower
  • Stillwater Capital
  • Tulum
  • DTX Texas Traveler
  • Dallas DART
  • Soldiers' Angels
  • Alexan Riveredge
  • Ebby Halliday Realtors
  • Zephyr Gin
  • Sixty Five Hundred Scene
  • Christy Berry
  • Entertainment Destination
  • Dallas Art Fair 2015
  • St. Bernard Sports Duck Head
  • Jameson DTX
  • Alara Uptown Dallas
  • Cottonwood Art Festival fall 2017
  • DTX Tastemakers 2015
  • Cottonwood Arts Festival
  • The Taylor
  • Decks in the Park
  • Alexan Henderson
  • Gallery at Turtle Creek
  • Omni Hotel DTX
  • Red on the Runway
  • Whole Foods Dallas 2018
  • Artizone Essential Eats
  • Galleria Dallas Runway Revue
  • State Fair 2016 Promoted
  • Trigger's Toys Ultimate Cocktail Experience
  • Dean's Texas Cuisine
  • Real Weddings Dallas
  • Real Housewives of Dallas
  • Jan Barboglio
  • Wildflower Arts and Music Festival
  • Hearts for Hounds
  • Okay to Say Dallas
  • Indochino Dallas
  • Old Forester Dallas
  • Dallas Apartment Locators
  • Dallas Summer Musicals
  • PSW Real Estate Dallas
  • Paintzen
  • DTX Dave Perry-Miller
  • DTX Reliant
  • Get in the Spirit
  • Bachendorf's
  • Holiday Wonder
  • Village on the Parkway
  • City Lifestyle
  • opportunity knox villa-o restaurant
  • Nasher Summer Sale
  • Simpson Property Group
  • Holiday Gift Guide 2017 Dallas
  • Carlisle & Vine
  • DTX New Beginnings
  • Get in the Game
  • Red Bull Air Race
  • Dallas DanceFest
  • 2015 Dallas Stylemaker
  • Youth With Faces
  • Energy Ogre
  • DTX Renewable You
  • Galleria Dallas Decadence
  • Bella MD
  • Tractorbeam
  • Young Texans Against Cancer
  • Fresh Start Dallas
  • Dallas Farmers Market
  • Soldier's Angels Dallas
  • Shipt
  • Elite Dental
  • Texas Restaurant Association 2017
  • State Fair 2017
  • Scottish Rite
  • Brooklyn Brewery
  • DTX_Stylemakers
  • Alexan Crossings
  • Ascent Victory Park
  • Top Texans Under 30 Dallas
  • Discover Downtown Dallas
  • San Luis Resort Dallas
  • Greystar The Collection
  • FIG Finale
  • Greystar M Line Tower
  • Lincoln Motor Company
  • The Shelby
  • Jonathan Goldwater Events
  • Windrose Tower
  • Gift Guide 2016
  • State Fair of Texas 2016
  • Choctaw Dallas
  • TodayTix Dallas promoted
  • Whole Foods
  • Unbranded 2014
  • Frisco Square
  • Unbranded 2016
  • Circuit of the Americas 2018
  • The Katy
  • Snap Kitchen
  • Partners Card
  • Omni Hotels Dallas
  • Landmark on Lovers
  • Harwood Herd
  • Galveston.com Dallas
  • Holiday Happenings Dallas 2018
  • TenantBase
  • Cottonwood Art Festival 2018
  • Hawkins-Welwood Homes
  • The Inner Circle Dallas
  • Eating in Season Dallas
  • ATTPAC Behind the Curtain
  • TodayTix Dallas
  • The Alexan
  • Toyota Music Factory
  • Nosh Box Eatery
  • Wildflower 2018
  • Society Style Dallas 2018
  • Texas Scottish Rite Hospital 2018
  • 5 Mockingbird
  • 4110 Fairmount
  • Visit Taos
  • Allegro Addison
  • Dallas Tastemakers 2018
  • The Village apartments
  • City of Burleson Dallas

    Always a Classic

    Driving Miss Daisy continues Dallas Theater Center's run of excellence

    Alex Bentley
    Oct 27, 2014 | 1:22 pm

    Some theater productions require myriad bells and whistles to be successful, but some need only simple stage decorations and a few great actors to achieve greatness. Dallas Theater Center’s latest, Driving Miss Daisy — playing at Kalita Humphreys Theater through November 16 — falls firmly in the latter category.

    But if you look closely at DTC’s version of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play, you’ll see that the proceedings are deceptively simple. This play is as highly choreographed as a great musical, with intricate entrances and exits that are as crucial to its success as any other part of the production.

    The acting makes Driving Miss Daisy as memorable as any DTC production in recent memory. The interplay between the three actors is a pleasure to watch from beginning to end.

    The story is well-known, thanks to the Oscar-winning film version starring Jessica Tandy and Morgan Freeman. Annalee Jeffries, subbing beautifully for an unavailable June Squibb, plays the aging Daisy Werthan, who is forced to give up driving by her son, Boolie (James Crawford), after one too many close calls. Against Daisy’s wishes, Boolie hires an African-American chauffeur, Hoke Coleburn (Hassan El-Amin), who slowly but surely worms his way into Daisy’s heart.

    Using a basic, two-story rotating set featuring a couple of staircases, a small structure with two doors and not much else, director Joel Ferrell and his team manage to conjure a variety of different settings, including Daisy’s home, Boolie’s home, the car Hoke uses to drive Miss Daisy and more. It’s a master class in set design by Peter Hicks, as it gives the audience just enough information to let their imaginations run wild.

    What might be surprising for anyone who hasn’t seen the play or movie in a while is playwright Alfred Uhry’s subtlety when addressing racial relations and tensions. Although much of it is right there on the surface, nothing is ever shoved down the audience’s throats. A big reason Daisy, who is Jewish, and Hoke bond is because of differing degrees of otherness in mid-century Atlanta. Their evolving relationship touches on many elements of racism in the South, and not one bit of it feels false.

    Without the right actors to make the most of the material and the set, the play might not work. Jefferies, El-Amin and Crawford are as nimble as cats as they come and go from the stage. Transitions from scene to scene are accompanied by the stage rotating, often multiple times, and any little stumble might ruin the feelings that play engenders; thankfully, that never happens.

    But it’s first and foremost the acting that makes Driving Miss Daisy as memorable as any DTC production in recent memory. The play is set over 25 years, and not only do the actors convincingly age their respective characters – with help from makeup and costumes, of course – but they do so with aplomb.

    The interplay between the three actors is a pleasure to watch from beginning to end, and each gets to shine individually. El-Amin, so good in A Raisin in the Sun, Clybourne Park and Les Miserables, burnishes his growing local status here. He makes Hoke into a wise, funny and eminently relatable character.

    Jefferies is his equal in every way, as her Daisy stands toe-to-toe with Hoke and Boolie. Without the right kind of performance, Daisy’s personality transition over the course of the play could seem forced or cheesy. But Jefferies has both an ease and strength about her that lends truth to every line.

    The role of Boolie is just as important to the play as Daisy or Hoke, as he often serves as a bridge between the other two. Crawford intuitively understands how hard to push in each of his scenes, and his performance helps the play maintain its emotional intensity throughout.

    As I’ve said before, for a theater company to be equally skilled at staging the over-the-top blast that was The Rocky Horror Show and the quiet brilliance of a play like this is nothing short of amazing — and a gift for Dallas. Whether you’ve experienced this story many times before or are coming to it for the first time, you’ll never forget DTC’s version of Driving Miss Daisy.

    Annalee Jefferies and Hassan El-Amin in Dallas Theater Center's Driving Miss Daisy.

    Annalee Jefferies and Hassan El-Amin in Dallas Theater Center's Driving Miss Daisy
      
    Photo by Karen Almond
    Annalee Jefferies and Hassan El-Amin in Dallas Theater Center's Driving Miss Daisy.
    unspecified
    news/arts

    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
    undefined

    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.

    childrenfamiliesdallas childrens theaterchildrens theaterarts fundingtheater
    news/arts
    Loading...