Dallas Theater Center Announces Successful Completion of the 'Bringing the Wyly Theatre to Life' Advancement Campaign

Dallas Theater Center Board of Trustees Chair Rebecca Fletcher and Managing Director Heather Kitchen are thrilled to announce the successful completion of DTC's "Bringing the Wyly Theatre to Life" Advancement Campaign. The campaign was designed to support a bold vision for DTC's future, which began with the Theater's move to the Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre in the AT&T Performing Arts Center in 2009.

Fletcher, who served as Campaign Chair, led the charge to raise $13.2 million over a five year period. A significant donation from Diane and Hal Brierley led to the creation of DTC's Brierley Resident Acting Company. Deedie and Rusty Rose's contribution named the John William Potter Production Studio, which houses DTC's scenic and prop departments. Other major donations were received from The William A. Custard Family, Pioneer Natural Resources, Helen and Frank Risch, TurningPoint Foundation, Kimberley and Scott Sheffield, Donna M. Wilhelm, and Dee and Charles Wyly. Gifts to the campaign ranged in amount from $100 to over $2 million.

"Closing this advancement campaign well above the original $12 million goal is a great accomplishment for Dallas Theater Center," said Kitchen. "We are fortunate to have so many generous people from the community who believe in the Theater's mission. Without them, and the leadership of Rebecca Fletcher and the entire Board, this moment would not have been possible."

The advancement campaign was developed to support a new strategic plan for the theater, which focused on building new and diverse audiences; engaging the North Texas community in outstanding artistic, educational and outreach programming; raising the organization's profile; and ensuring the institution's long-term financial strength and stability. In addition to the Resident Acting Company, campaign funds also support producing new works and large-scale musicals, including The Good Negro; Giant; It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's Superman; FLY; the launch of the Kimberley and Scott Sheffield Musical Theater Series; developing education and community partnerships, including the Ted and Shannon Skokos Learning Lab at Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts; launching the audience engagement programs Come Early and Stay Late; and ensuring that DTC is accessible to all North Texas through the Pay-What-You-Can ticket program.

"I am truly impressed by the commitment shown by all contributors to this campaign," said Fletcher. "They play a large role in the success of Dallas Theater Center and its ability to provide a meaningful theater-going experience to a diverse audience across North Texas."

ABOUT Dallas Theater Center:

One of the leading regional theaters in the country, Dallas Theater Center (DTC) performs to an audience of more than 120,000 North Texas residents annually. Founded in 1959, DTC is now a resident company of the AT&T Performing Arts Center and presents its Mainstage season at the Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre, designed by REX/OMA, Joshua Prince-Ramus and Rem Koolhaas and at its original home, the Kalita Humphreys Theater, the only freestanding theater designed and built by Frank Lloyd Wright. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Kevin Moriarty and Managing Director Heather M. Kitchen, DTC produces a seven-play subscription series of classics, musicals and new plays and an annual production of A Christmas Carol; extensive education programs, including Project Discovery, SummerStage and partnerships with Southern Methodist University's Meadows School of the Arts and Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts; and community outreach efforts including leading the DFW Foote Festival and recent collaborations with the Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas Public Library, Dallas Holocaust Museum, North Texas Food Bank, Dallas Opera, and Dallas Black Dance Theater. Throughout its history, DTC has produced many new works, including The Texas Trilogy by Preston Jones in 1978, Robert Penn Warren's All the King's Men, adapted by Adrian Hall, in 1986, and recent premieres of FLY by Rajiv Joseph, Bill Sherman and Kirstin Childs; Fly by Night by Kim Rosenstock, Michael Mitnick and Will Connolly; Giant by Michael John LaChiusa and Sybille Pearson; The Trinity River Plays by ReGina Taylor; the revised It's a Bird... It's a Plane... It's Superman by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, Charles Strouse and Lee Adams; Give It Up!(now titled Lysistrata Jones and recently on Broadway) by Douglas Carter Beane and Lewis Flinn; Sarah, Plain and Tall by Julia Jordan, Laurence O'Keefe and Nell Benjamin; and The Good Negro by Tracey Scott Wilson.

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