Whitley Penn Talks: How Theatre Shapes Community Impact

Speaker A: Fleetwood Mac is perpetually in my top five most played artists.

Speaker B: Oh, my God.

Speaker A: I'm gonna have to get off this podcast and go buy tickets before everyone else hears the podcast and goes literally. Hello, everyone. Welcome to Whitley Penn Talks, where we give you valuable insights to help you make confident, informed decisions and move your business forward. My name is Emily Landry, and today we are sitting down with Kelsey Dahlke, Director of education, and Jessica Walsh, VP of Development at Casa Manana. Together, we will discuss the meaningful ways theater, education and community programs can create lasting impact across Fort Worth. Thank you both so much for joining me today. Um, for those of you who are watching this, later on, it's St. Patrick's Day in real life. So happy from Patrick's Bay. Um, I'm so thrilled that y' all had time to join us today and that this worked out. I've long since been a fan of what you're doing, and I'm just honored that you had time for me today and excited to get into this and have some time with you.

Speaker B: Thank you for inviting us. We're very excited.

Speaker C: We.

Speaker B: We love it, so we love sharing about it too.

Speaker C: Yes. Thank you so much.

Speaker A: Of course. So I'm going to start with the first question. Your three pillars are, uh, professional theater productions, education and youth programs, and community and recognition programs. Why do you think education pairs exceptionally well with theater?

Speaker C: Um, so as the education director, um, theater and education are a natural pairing, uh, because both are rooted in storytelling, exploration, and personal growth. At Casa Manana, our professional productions bring our stories to life on stage, and our education and youth programs extend to that, um, experience by actively inviting students to participate in the art rather than just observe it. Um, at our school for musical theater, we have classes ranging acting, singing, dancing, musical theater, um, vocal classes, and we take students from 4 years old all the way to 18. Um, so kids have all the opportunities to perform in various ways throughout Casa. Um, they can perform in our showcases, they can audition to perform on our. On our stage. Um, so with that, theater builds skills that are central to education, communication, collaboration, creativity, and critical thinking. Um, and are these experiences help young people better understand literature, history, and human behavior, while also strengthening their ability to express themselves on stage. So as we are teaching these students and allowing them to, you know, perform and giving them the opportunity to perform, we want them to grow and we want them to learn basic life skills as well, to take with them not just their musical theater skills. Um, but it's very exciting to see them in our classes and then be able to perform on our main stage in one of our productions. Um, education also ensures that theater remains vibrant for future generations. Uh, by training and inspiring young performers and arts advocates. Through Casa Mignana's youth programs and classes, we cultivate the next generation of artists and audiences. Students not only learn theatrical skills, but also develop discipline, resilience, and a sense of belonging within the crew creative community. Um, so I think that theater and education pair very well together. Um, especially at Casa Manana. Um, we have over 300 in our program, so that's super exciting to have those kids. And um, hopefully, you know, we just keep growing.

Speaker B: Kelsey's doing incredible work too. The education program.

Speaker A: I love that. So Kelsey, I am curious. Well, Jessica too, did you do any performing arts when you were growing up?

Speaker C: Um, yes. So I have been in church plays and school plays since I was four. Um, that's all I did growing up. And I went to school for theater. Uh, my bachelor's is in drama. Um, and then I got my master's in educational leadership after I started teaching. Um, I've worked professionally in theater as a stage manager and as an actress. Um, so yeah, this is very rooted in my, in my life for a very long time.

Speaker A: I love it.

Speaker C: Yeah.

Speaker B: And for me, I did not grow up in theater, so I like to say that I'm kind of an outsider coming in, but have this appreciation. Like, I didn't know theater until I started working here and I've fallen in love with it. And so, um, I tell people that you didn't have to grow up in theater. Like you can have this appreciation and there's room for everyone to have something about it. And so, um, now my kiddos have done camps here and they, we have season tickets and we come to the shows and just to see like, the skills they're learning. I, um, think is just really important too.

Speaker A: Mhm.

Speaker C: We also offer summer camps throughout our summer as well. Um, from 4 to 18 years old. We just launched a high school camp last summer that was the very first year we've done that. We used to stop our camps at eighth grade. Um, and now our high school camp is sold out in March and we have a waiting list.

Speaker A: So.

Speaker C: That's super exciting.

Speaker A: That's awesome.

Speaker C: Yeah.

Speaker A: So you have a long legacy in Fort Worth. What's a moment you are particularly proud of?

Speaker B: I would say, truly we have something for everyone. So we have three distinct seasons. Um, one of the ones that most people know about is our children's theater. So you hear a people say, like, I remember when I used to go on field trips way when they were younger, and they haven't been back. And we're like, come back. Because we have lots of great shows. In fact, this year particularly, we have, um, Finding Nemo, Rapunzel, Shrek in A Christmas Carol. I mean, who doesn't like those shows?

Speaker C: And then we also have our Broadway series.

Speaker B: So what people don't know is that everything we do, we build in house. It's local. We build our sets in house, our costumes, um, hair design. Everything's in house. We have a lot of local actors, but then our president and executive producer, Wally Jones, he also goes to New York and will hold auditions, and he'll bring a couple of people from New York here. So just to have that combination of working with New, um, York actors and local actors, and everything's built here. So when we're done with the show, everything goes away. You start again with a blank slate. And people don't realize that. I think they think that touring to another city and it's like everything is built local, which I think is just so special for, um, Casa Manana. But another thing that is kind of exciting and what you might not know about is this, um, has become wildly popular is our reed cabaret theater. Yes, we have a cabaret theater, like in Casa Manana. It's this small, quaint room that when you walk in, you don't even think you're at Casa Manana. You think you're maybe in New York or Chicago. It just has this great feel. And so, um, in 2018, we started this cabaret, and it's. It seated about 70 people, but during that time, we expanded it. And this is just a vision that, um, Wally Jones had. And I'm just like, he's such a creative. That's like, how did he know this is going to be such a hit? So, um, what. Why I think I'm super proud of it is because I worked here from 2018 to 2023. So when I was here, I raised the funds for the expansion, which was about $2 million. And then I left for a couple of years. I recently came back. See, like, the fruits of your labor. Um, we have this, like, incredible bar area seating. And now if it's 94 people. So we have this venue here in Fort Worth, seats 94 people, and you feel like you're a part of the show. We just finished an Aretha Music of Aretha Franklin. We just did powerful, um, females of the 1960s. We're going to do a Fleetwood Mac Music of Fleetwood Mac. We Also have Sammy Davis Jr. Um, Yacht Rock. I mean, just these really nice things. Perfect for, like a date night or also a girls night out. It's just really fun. Thing is, it's hard to get tickets for there because it just sells out so quickly. But if you can, you don't. You just want to come back. And so I'm just super proud of just seeing, um, we're continuing to expand and evolve. And I think that's really important, that there's truly something for everyone here. And so I think people think of us as children's theater when they came, but there's so much more. And just seeing the impact, um, that it's making, I think is pretty incredible.

Speaker A: That's awesome. Fleetwood Mac is perpetually in my top five most played artists.

Speaker B: I'm gonna go.

Speaker A: I'm gonna have to get off this podcast and go buy tickets before everyone else hears the podcast.

Speaker B: You guys, you're gonna have to come because also, like, our next season, um, we're gonna announce it. I mean, it'll already be announced by the time this goes on, but just. I mean, we really do have different genres of music. There's literally something for everyone, which I think is just really important, um, that we want. It's very inclusive environment. We want everyone to come and experience, um, live theater. So it's fun.

Speaker A: That's awesome. I cannot wait.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: So I think that Casa Manana is such a fun name, right? House of Tomorrow. So what does it look like to be the House of tomorrow in 2026?

Speaker C: I think we're always trying to stay ahead of the curve. Um, we're always, um, looking at, you know, new ways to invite people into the theater. We want to be inclusive for everybody. Uh, currently, we just received our cultural. Cultural city certificate, which is a sensory inclusive certificate. Um, and that creates acceptance and inclusion for all. Um, if you didn't know, one in four individuals in the USA has a sensory processing need. Um, so what we offer here at Casa Manana is sensory friendly performances. And those performances are for each, um, tya show that we offer and, or our theater for youth audience. And it gives the opportunity for everybody to be able to see a show in any kind in a very inclusive environment where everyone is protective, everyone feels welcome to be there. Um, everyone feels included. Um, and we're meeting everyone's needs that walks in that door. So we want everybody to, you know, feel welcome and feel, you know, encouraged to be here and be able to watch a show without any judgment. Um, and then the. Also the other Thing with Cultural City is they promote the freedom of everyone to be included in all activities everywhere. Um, so we give them the tools that they need. We have sensory bags, um, that have different tools that they may need to watch, um, the show. They also may have, um, different opportunity, different places that they could, uh, go to relieve, um, you know, any type of situation that they may encounter. Um, and they're able to move around during the show so they feel comfortable. You know, we just want everyone to be, you know, excited, and we want everyone to, um, experience live theater.

Speaker A: That's really cool. Yeah, I've seen that become a larger and larger theme, and I think that's such an important way that we can give back to the community in a very different way than the original mission maybe intended for it to be, but is so much more valuable to so many different people who've probably been left out of a lot of experiences throughout history. That's the end. As you know, our big theme and working with nonprofits is, uh, the impact that they have on our community and hopefully the impact that we get to have on them. And so I'm curious, what do you think impact looks like?

Speaker B: I think for us, impact is our theater is full of every show. Like, our theater is full. Impact means that our community is here experiencing live theater. And, um, like Kelsey said she grew up in, in theater. I didn't grow up in theater, but we can both have, like, appreciation for it. The fact that Fort Worth has a regional theater, the magnitude of Casa Manana, I just don't think people realize, like, what a gem this is. The people that come and support, I think is really important. And that's another thing, is that people don't see Casa Mana as a nonprofit. They see tickets are generated and that is part of revenue. But we have to have a lot of community support for Casa Manana to keep going. And I just don't think people see that that's really important. And we want everyone to experience live theater. So what we notice is that, um, our community is very title driven. If they recognize the title, then they want to support what we think Impact is that people are going to support it no matter if they know the title or not, because there's some really great shows that you might just not know about. Um, like for Hairspray, everyone hears Hairspray and it's great, but maybe there's another show that you haven't heard about that's one, you know, amazing awards. And so we think that's important. Um, for example, I'm A frog through and through. I'm going to buy season tickets no matter what, no matter who our opponent is. And that's kind of what we want, um, our subscribers to do, is we want you to support and subscribe no matter what the show is. Just because it's a fun outing with your family, with your kids, with, you know, your husband, your partner, whatever that is. But, um, to come and just experience something that you might not have known before and just appreciate it. And I think for us, that's what impact really looks like.

Speaker A: That's such a great answer. I'm a Rangers fan. I am also a horned frog, but more of a Rangers fan. And that is a, um, perpetual challenge as a Rangers fan is you have good seasons and you have bad seasons, but you have great opponents. Everyone wants to go see the Yankees. No one wants to go see the Athletics, but it's still the same Rangers on the field every game. Um, I love that analogy. Really beautiful.

Speaker C: Yeah.

Speaker A: So if someone has questions, wants to get in contact with you, wants to volunteer with y', all, like, what's the best way for them to get plugged in with you?

Speaker C: Um, go to our website, casamanana.org. we have everything there. Um, you can buy season tickets there. You can buy single tickets. Um, you can register for classes, you can register for summer camps, you can apply for a job. You literally could find everything on our website. Um, under our faculty pages, I think is everyone's email address, so you can reach out to specific departments. Um, we, you know, we. Everything's on our website, and it's pretty easy, and our phone number is on there, too. So if you want to call our box office and just ask questions about our season or any of our shows, we're here and we're ready, and we want everyone to come and experience cost manana.

Speaker B: And to Kelsey's point, um, this will be June, so we have Broadway show Come From Away. And if you don't know about Come From Away, you need to, um. Our Wally Jones is saying, like, oh, my God, this is going to be the show that everyone needs to come from. But again, you might not recognize that title, but that's something like, you need to come, um, come and see it. So we really want to.

Speaker C: It's one of my favorite shows. It's incredible. So tell everybody.

Speaker A: Plug from a theater person.

Speaker C: Yes.

Speaker A: Awesome. Well, thank you both. For those listening. If you enjoyed today's episode, be sure to subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple, or listen right on our website@whitleypenn.com podcast. Thank you again to Kelsey and Jessica so much for your time today. I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day.

Speaker C: Thank you.