ARLINGTON, Texas—As the lights dim and curtains rise in Theatre Arlington’s main stage auditorium, little girls in bright blue princess dresses are sitting on the edge of their seats. Knights and jesters cross the stage in a flurry as the girls watch on, wide-eyed, and enter a world of music, fairy tales and lost glass slippers.
Theatre Arlington opened Cinderella, the first show of its 2026 Family Series, on Friday, drawing in an excited crowd of kids and parents that packed the front rows of the theater’s auditorium.
Engaging children with theater
Cinderella is one of Theatre Arlington’s annual Theatre for Young Audiences productions, a part of its Family Series in which adults perform a show specifically tailored for kids ages 3 and up. These performances, which occur between the theater’s standard adult programs, act as an opportunity for children to experience the theater in an age-appropriate and engaging way.
“It aligns with our mission of serving our community and meeting them where they are,” Theatre Arlington sales and marketing director Hannah Bell said. “So, it’s not just serving the adults, it’s also offering those opportunities to kids.”
In addition to Theatre for Young Audiences, Theatre Arlington’s Family Series also offers an annual Youth Theatre production in which almost the entire crew and ensemble are made up of children ages 8 to 18.
Theatre Arlington executive producer Steven D. Morris said these youth outreach and education programs make up a large part of the theater’s focus.
“You got to teach the young people if you want your art to survive,” Morris said. “So, to me, that’s the goal of it. That’s the purpose of it. To hopefully give them some skills that they can use in life however they want to use them and then help them get an appreciation for theater.”
Many of the kids involved in the youth programs gain additional practice from attending the theater’s spring break and summer camps, where they learn and perform a youth show in a matter of weeks. Kids can learn acting techniques as well as a variety of stage management skills, allowing them to experience all aspects of theater production in a guided, hands-on environment.
“I think it’s a really great experience for the kids,” Morris said. “Some of them come back multiple times during the summer. I think they have a blast. It’s a much better way of spending time than sitting around and doing nothing during the summer.”
More than theater
These camps not only work to educate youth on acting and theater production, but they also provide kids with opportunities to create friendships, build confidence and learn valuable lessons they can take beyond the stage.
“Theater is a great way for young people to learn empathy,” Morris said. “It’s a great way for them to learn critical thinking skills, because they have to analyze a play and they have to analyze characters. It teaches them teamwork and time management. And so, there’s lots of great skills that it teaches them, aside from it’s fun.”
Although many of its year-round classes are designed with younger students in mind, Theatre Arlington also provides education and outreach programs for those in their older years.
The Theatre Arlington Guild, for example, enlists adults ages 55 and up to perform at various nursing homes around the city, giving those who aren’t physically able to attend the theater a chance to still see live performances and experience them with their community.
“There’s something really magical about seeing it live in front of you and that you’re seeing it with a community,” Morris said. “To me, that’s one of the most magical things about theater. The play makes all of you, from all your different backgrounds, think and feel the same things for a few minutes, and I think the communal experience of that is something you can’t get anywhere else.”
Theatre Arlington’s Cinderella is set to close with a final performance scheduled for 2 p.m. Sunday, April 4. It’s 2026 Family Series will return with youth productions of Descendants: The Musical, scheduled to run June 17-19, and Seussical JR., scheduled to run Sept. 18-27.
Other upcoming productions include Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express, a murder-mystery comedy scheduled to run May 1-17, and The Wiz, an alternative musical take on L. Frank Baum’s The Wizard of Oz scheduled to run June 5-21.
