Less than a year after announcing that co-founder Robyn Flatt was stepping down as executive director, Dallas Children's Theater has named her replacement.

Samantha Turner, who formerly led Ballet Arizona for six years, has assumed the position, effective June 12, 2023.

“I am honored to be a part of this storied and nationally recognized organization of artists that has been providing the highest levels of professional theater to children, families, and students for four decades,” Turner states in a press release. “What Robyn has built here is an integral part of the Dallas arts and education landscape, and I am excited to get to know this thriving community of theater enthusiasts and to build on the success that is so evident at DCT.”

During Turner's tenure in Arizona, the professional ballet company achieved its greatest levels of financial health and creative expression. Before being appointed executive director there, she served three years as Ballet Arizona’s director of marketing, achieving record earned revenue for several productions.

Prior to joining Ballet Arizona, Turner held leadership roles in both nonprofit and Fortune 500 companies. She served as head of business operations and finance for CAP21, a New York-based musical theater conservatory and company. Turner moved into that role after a year-long sabbatical immersed in acting, singing, and dance training that allowed her to gain a deep understanding of the arts and artists.

Turner’s for-profit career includes high-level marketing and business management roles at Aflac, Assurant, and other organizations of national and regional scope. In addition to her professional experience, she holds MBAs in marketing and international business/ecommerce, and an undergraduate degree in broadcast journalism.

Turner made Dallas her home earlier this year, and begins her new role as DCT is serving thousands of students in its popular summer camps, and will be a part of the continued planning for DCT’s 40th season.

“The search committee was highly impressed with Samantha’s business acumen as well as her understanding of the dynamics associated with a performing arts organization," says DCT board of trustees president Jim Markus. "After a very thorough nine-month process, we are pleased to have such a strong leader inherit the leadership responsibility from our founder, Robyn Flatt.”

Flatt applauds her successor, as well: “Samantha’s 20 years of business leadership experience and her dedication to understanding the arts in an immersive way led Ballet Arizona through the COVID-19 pandemic and on to record growth during her tenure. It is clear she is exactly the right choice to lead DCT into this next chapter. We are profoundly fortunate Samantha has come our way.”

Flatt, who co-founded and led DCT for 40 years, plans to continue to direct specific projects of national significance, write arts-based curriculum, and will take on special projects for Dallas Children’s Theater.

She intends to devote much of her creative energy to a book and film about her father, Paul Baker, through the nationally oriented Baker Idea Institute, a DCT incubator initiative for creative thinking and imagination in ways that benefit business, education, and individuals in general.

In 2023, Flatt received the Jac Alder Award, recognizing effective and inclusive arts advocacy. Further in 2023, she was honored at the Dallas Theater Center’s 2023 gala with the Linda and Bill Custard Award, in recognition of her many years of transformational artistry at DTC and at Dallas Children's Theater.

Founded in 1984, Dallas Children’s Theater features professional actors performing for an annual audience of 150,000 young people and their families through mainstage productions and an arts-in-education program.

As the only major organization in Dallas focusing solely on youth and family theater, DCT builds bridges of understanding between generations and cultures, instilling an early appreciation of literature, art, and the performing arts in tomorrow’s artists and patrons.