Public Works Dallas Announces New Summer Showcase

Dallas Theater Center announces Public Works Dallas first theatrical film A Little Less Lonely! It will be presented starting in August.

For the first time, the community got to vote on the title for the production. Five title choices were presented on social media and fans were asked to pick their favorite. After a week of voting, A Little Less Lonely came out on top.

"We are so excited about this opportunity for our community. When we made the difficult decision to not proceed with our large-scale pageant production this summer, due to health and safety protocols, we still wanted to find a way to engage with our community. This filmed theatrical experience will be a beautiful offering to our Dallas Theater Center patrons and broader communities and the Public Works Dallas community will have so much ownership over the work. We are so grateful to the talented artists, our partners and participants who are joining us in this very new journey," said Stephanie Cleghorn Jasso, Associate Director of Public Works Dallas, Dallas Theater Center. She along with Kevin Moriarty (Enloe/Rose Artistic Director), Brandi Giles, (A Little Less Lonely Producer), María Calderón (Public Works Dallas Coordinator) and Asher Ross (Public Works Dallas Community Liaison) will be leading the showcase efforts.

"I'm so proud of how Public Works Dallas has bloomed during this challenging time. This is another example of their resilience and innovation," said Kevin Moriarty, Enloe/Rose Artistic Director, Dallas Theater Center. "This production will use elements from different people in different locations using different mediums to create a beautiful tapestry. This is a wonderful way to celebrate our differences while sharing common experience."

Instead of their annual summer pageant production, Dallas Theater Center and their Public Works Dallas partners, Bachman Lake Together, City of Dallas Park and Recreation Department, and Jubilee Park & Community Center, will be producing a filmed theatrical experience. In addition to asking the community to vote on the title and highlighting 3 of the 5 Public Works Dallas community partner sites, the production will use acting talent from the community, and the story was based on inspirations from these communities.

Tatyana-Marie Carlo will direct the new production. She will direct primarily from her home in Rhode Island, although she will be in Dallas for filming and technical rehearsal. The production will incorporate filmed Zoom elements in addition to segments filmed in person. Carlo also hopes to make the show bilingual, incorporating both English and Spanish, throughout. She hopes audiences will watch it and see themselves.

"I want this show to be accessible to as many people as possible. We're working with people from a variety of cultural backgrounds, ages, and gender identities with so many different stories. We want the production to really reflect the Dallas community," said Tatyana-Marie Carlo, Director of Public Works Dallas summer showcase.

Public Works Dallas will also continue their partnership with SMU Meadows School of the Arts and Ignite/Arts Dallas which allows Dallas Theater Center to hire student fellows to work on this production. Although the Public Works Dallas Artists aren't directly involved in the showcase, Brandi Giles, Ivan Jasso, and Tiffany Solano worked tirelessly with community members to build the foundation and skills for the showcase. To learn more about the contest or Public Works Dallas go to https://www.dallastheatercenter.org/public-works-dallas/.

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