Mary Whitfill
Features Editor

Students Maddie Hulcey and Kyle Whitening perform during the <em>If You Give a Mouse a Cookie</em> performance at the Texas Creative Arts Academy of Coppell. Photo by Rowan Khazendar.

The Texas Creative Arts Academy (TCAA) is gearing up for its fall productions and preparing to wrap up one its biggest youth productions of the year. The non-profit teaching academy for students interested in the arts, is currently showing If You Give a Mouse a Cookie and is putting the finishing touches on School House Rock: Live.

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie is shown as part of the Children’s Theater Spotlight, a set of productions focusing on performing for younger audiences.

“Our children’s theater spotlight is relatively new,” TCAA executive director Donna Park said. “We did our first productions last year and we are going to start sprinkling in about four children’s spotlight productions each year.”

The show goes as far as to make sure that even the performers can relate to the young spectators; no actors are over the age of eight.

“If You Give a Mouse a Cookie is unique in that it is a more contemporary story based on a new classic children story as opposed to an older one like Charlotte’s Web,” TCAA artistic director B.J. Cleveland said. “The props are huge and cartoonish, it is geared towards the youngest theatre goers – more of the preschool age.”

School House Rock: Live is part of the All-Youth/All-Teen production group, a group that performs shows appealing to all audiences, not just the youngest audience members.

“School House Rock: Live is that Saturday morning cartoon coming to life in an on stage musical,” Park said. “We have children ages 6 to 12 in the production, and it is really just capturing that iconic show.”

TCAA student Maddie Hulcey gets her makeup done before her performance by TCAA artistic director B.J. Cleveland for production If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. Photo by Rowan Khazendar.

Operating out of two North Texas studios, one in Coppell and one in Southlake, TCAA has made it its mission to bring young people together who have an interest in either dancing, singing or acting. The academy serves children ages 4 to 18 with classes and workshops in the industry of their choice.

“TCAA has provided me with many opportunities to grow as an actor and as a person,” TCAA and Booker T. Washington student Madeline Purches, a Coppell resident, said.  “They have given me many productions to work in that have challenged both my voice and my acting abilities and have really helped me to push my limits. They are more focused on helping the individual actor grow than creating a fantastic production, which is an amazing thing to see.”

The academy at Coppell currently offers seven stage-acting classes and eight musical theater classes.

“We expose a wide range of people to the arts. It beings people to the area and spurs the creativity of students,” Cleveland said. “These are the writers, architects and directors of the future and we nurture that. TCAA is the only local school run by industry professions in the North Dallas area that gives students a chance to participate in the performing arts outside of school. Healthy arts are needed to keep a community thriving.”

This year’s children’s theater is set to perform Cinderella, Cinderella, Little Red and The Hoods, How I Became and Pirate, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Three Little Pigs. The All-Youth/All-Teen Coppell Production Lineup is set to include Seussical Jr., Zombie Prom, The Secret Life of Girls, A Broadway Christmas Carol, You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, Once Upon a Mattress and Dear Edwina Jr.

Tickets and schedules are available at texascreativeartsacademy.com