North Texas Performing Arts (Willow Bend Center of the Arts) — Attraction in Plano

Here is your response to someone who complained about favoritism being shown by some directors:

“We take casting decisions very seriously and follow a transparent and rigorous process that prioritizes educational value, character development, and artistic growth. Our casting philosophy — publicly available on our website — outlines a structured approach designed to ensure fairness, objectivity, and integrity in every show. Donations, volunteer involvement, or external influence are never factors in our casting decisions, and our directors are expressly prohibited from accepting or acting on any such influence.”

Gaslighting is wrong and won’t change anyone’s mind. While most of your directors are not like this, you DO have directors that recruit after deadlines, promise good roles to people in order to get them to join the cast then provide tit for tat perks. You’ve been made aware of this practice and moved certain directors to different programs where they continue their unethical practices.

You have some great directors, so keeping those who behave unethically makes the whole organization look bad. Directors and actors need to be held to equal standards. If the rule is that actors must be in attendance to rehearsals, ensure that no one is being given roles and being allowed to miss most rehearsals while others are being asked to sign contracts stating they will attend regularly.

If you are overseeing directors who have had complaints, you wouldn’t have to get on here and state things that are not true for a few bad eggs.

I’ll change my review when I see you start to address these concerns instead of denying someone’s experience. I’ve seen what the poster from 6 days ago has shared more than once from the same director. If you want to uphold certain character traits, then show good LEADERSHIP by having the INTEGRITY to RESPECT people who share opinions and being RESPONSIBLE enough to address concerns instead of denying that the...

My daughter really wanted to try acting/theater, so she was very excited when she auditioned for a production at NTPA. However, she got a role that was got pretty much no stage time in the production. She was in one dancing scene that the whole cast was in, and for two other scenes she stood on the side and did nothing. Besides that, she was off stage the whole time. When she initially got casted, I reached out to the director and they said she would be in a lot more dance scenes though she didn’t have a lead/supporting role. However, she and some other members were only put in the scenes mentioned above (she was in another dance scene but they were pulled a week before the performance). I also believe there was favoritism involved in the casting as the director had worked with a lot of cast members before and knew their parents. The worst part is that I had paid at the very beginning ($400 is charged for a production) so we couldn’t even back out, while most people in the cast didn’t pay until the very end or didn’t pay at all. The director and assistant directors were also very strict and rude to her and would schedule practices with very short notice, often with long hours (10-12 hours) and would often do this randomly. My daughter was expected to attend despite having pretty much no stage time. This experience really affected my daughters confidence and happiness as she dedicated so much time to something that she barely even got to be a part of. I also had to pay so much just for my daughter to sit...

With all-youth shows, Plano Children's Theater gives kids an opportunity to shine as they rehearse and perform Broadway shows and plays. My son started performing on stage with PCT as a young elementary student. Since 2011, he's had amazing opportunities to be in shows like Les Miserables, Seussical, Beauty & the Beast and at least a dozen more. These are first-rate licensed productions that young children cannot experience at school. Through this experience, he developed a great love for music, acting and performing and is now also acting professionally in film, television and commercials, as well as singing and playing guitar. My daughter is now getting into the act and loves the experience and the theatre. Programming is tailored to the interests of the students and there's something for everyone. The experience empowers them to create and perform in top-notch productions while promoting teamwork, learning from skilled and caring directors, and providing all of the benefits of arts education....