Encore, Encore

Proposed new arts center would bring Broadway touring shows to Frisco

"Les Miserables" was part of Broadway Dallas' 2023-24 season at Fair Park.

Photo by Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade

Far North Dallas residents might soon not have to drive all the way to Fair Park to see touring Broadway shows — that is, if a newly introduced proposal goes through.

The City of Frisco has announced plans to partner with the Prosper Independent School District (PISD) on a proposed Frisco Center for the Arts (FCFA) and collaborate with Broadway Across America/Broadway Dallas to create a "Broadway Frisco" series to reside in the facility.

The vision for the FCFA includes a 2,800-seat performance hall that's capable of accommodating Broadway and large touring and community productions, as well as a 300 to 400-seat community hall to be used primarily by Prosper ISD while also providing access to community organizations and events.

The proposed facility also includes support spaces, rehearsal areas, and visual arts creative spaces.

“The City of Frisco has envisioned a performing arts hall for two decades,” says Mayor Jeff Cheney in a release. “Last year, we discovered an opportunity to partner with the Prosper Independent School District on such a facility. We’re really excited about the possibilities. Ultimately, the decision to participate will be up to Frisco voters if the proposed project is placed on a ballot by the City Council in 2025.”

Ultimately, Frisco voters will decide whether to fund the project.

School spirit
On October 21, PISD Board of Trustees were provided a report about the proposed partnership.

“We are excited about the possibility of partnering with the City of Frisco to provide a world-class educational opportunity for our students," says Dr. Holly Ferguson, Prosper ISD Superintendent of Schools, in the same release. "This collaboration would allow our teachers and students to produce campus and district concerts, musicals, and theatrical productions while also participating in Broadway-level productions with outside partners."

The City of Frisco has finalized a Letter of Intent (LOI) with Broadway Across America/Broadway Dallas, which would be the presenter of touring Broadway shows at the new facility as an annual "Broadway Frisco" series. (See Broadway Dallas' current season here.)

“Reflecting the population growth and interest in arts and culture across North Texas, we look forward to creating a new Broadway Frisco series for the community while we continue to present Broadway Dallas at the Music Hall at Fair Park and the AT&T Performing Arts Center,” says Broadway Dallas president Ken Novice.

More than seven square miles of Prosper ISD is located within the City of Frisco. More than 2,900 PISD students currently live in the City of Frisco. A location for the proposed facility has not been determined; however, it will be built within overlapping boundaries.

The timeline
The City of Frisco has been studying the possibility of a new center for the arts for more than six years and has completed several studies and assessments to support the future planning of the project.

On September 17, 2024, Theatre Projects and Keen Independent Research presented the findings of Phase 1 to City Council.

City of Frisco City Council has authorized a 10-month continued project planning process (Phase 2), led by Theatre Projects in collaboration with Turner & Townsend Heery.

A Community Engagement Session will take place November 2024, with the City Council presentation scheduled for January 2025 and a final presentation set for July 2025.

The FCFA, as proposed, has a total maximum project budget of $340 million. Prosper ISD intends to contribute $100 million from its 2023 Performing Arts Center bond funds. The City of Frisco is considering private and philanthropic funding sources, which would not increase property taxes, should voters approve the proposed facility.

More information about the project status is available here.

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Season Announcement

'Come find your people' in Echo Theatre Dallas' 2025 season

Photo by Joan Marcus

A scene from the Off-Broadway production of Catch As Catch Can.

The theme for Echo Theatre's 2025 season is family, with the tagline "Come find your people." Echo, if you need a reminder, is the Dallas-based company that solely produces plays written by women-plus.

"We recognize the limiting nature of the binary use of the word 'woman,'" the company explains on its website. "We use the term 'women-plus' to include an expansive and diverse array of people, including those born female, those who identify as women, and those who are gender non-conforming."

“This season, my thoughts have turned to family in all its forms,” says artistic director Kateri Cale. “Every person experiences generations of family expectations, judgements, competitions, celebrations, and disappointments, over and over again. If we're lucky, we experience the fierce love of family too.”

First up is the regional premiere of Catch as Catch Can by Mia Chung.

Double-cast across gender, generation, and race and set in a blue-collar New England town, the drama follows two families — the Irish-American Phelans and the Italian-American Lavecchias — as the prodigal son returns home for a holiday gathering. Two off-stage characters, who are Korean and Korean-American, impact the families as they face the weight of generational expectations.

“With Catch as Catch Can, I wanted the audience’s experience of what they’re watching to mirror that felt by the characters; the character doubling articulates and enhances the propulsion of the play," says Chung in a release about the play's Off-Broadway debut in 2022. "I believe in performance, I believe in the actor’s capacity to inhabit a character to the extent that an audience may stop seeing that the actor is a man, or is Asian, or is 30 years younger than the role they’re playing. The cognitive dissonance is by design.”

It runs February 3-March 8, 2025, at the Bath House Cultural Center.

Next is OPEN by Crystal Skillman, a queer love story told by an amateur magician, presented during Pride Month.

A woman called the Magician presents myriad tricks for our entertainment, yet her performance seems to be attempting the impossible: to save the life of her partner, Jenny. But is our faith in her illusions enough to rewrite the past? The clock is ticking, the show must go on, and, as impossible as it may seem, this Magician’s act may be our last hope against a world filled with intolerance and hate.

It runs June 6-21, 2025, at the Bath House Cultural Center.

Last is El Rey del Pollo, a world-premiere "nuevo comedy" by Anna Skidis Vargas that the playwright describes as "a Shakespearean telenovela that’s loosely based on King Lear, but it’s a lot shorter and a lot sillier."

Reymundo Lear is about to retire from his fried chicken empire, and he is leaving everything to his three daughters. But things aren’t as easy as they seem. Cordelia gets disinherited, and Gisela and Raquel hike the prices. El Rey del Pollo features a hungry old man, essential oils, a giant chicken suit, and all the family drama you can eat.

It runs September 11-27, 2025, at the Bath House Cultural Center.

The Echo Reads free play readings will continue next year, and are scheduled for the months of March, April, May and September, October, November.

Season tickets are on sale now at echotheatre.org. Single tickets will be available at a later date.

A fun fact about Echo Theatre productions: Up to 10 free tickets are set aside for every performance and given out on a first-come, first-served basis. Patrons must email the box office directly at reservations@echotheatre.org to participate.

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