From KERA News:
Kevin Jackson Jr. weighed less than two pounds when he was born four months early.
Twenty-nine years later, his mother Darvetra Parker still calls him a miracle.
“He is totally blind,” Parker said. He also has autism. “He is a miracle, and that is even more reason why I’m so proud of him, because he’s very tenacious and he has a very strong will.”
But it’s a challenge to find activities for him now that he’s an adult.
A new nonprofit is working to fill that gap. Big Heart Theater works with adults who have intellectual and developmental disabilities to create original musical theater productions. Some of the actors don’t speak, some can’t move. They are all welcome.
Kevin Jackson Jr. plays the piano and sings at a rehearsal for Big Heart Theater at Pleasant Grove Branch Library in Dallas, on Tuesday, March 11, 2025.
Liz Rymarev / The Dallas Morning News
Theater veteran Lisa Lee Schmidt launched the group last June.
The actors might not relate to the roles in an existing play, so instead the cast brainstorms ideas, characters and a theme together.
In this case, the group wanted to create a mystery, with rhythm-and-blues music and a theme of standing up for what’s right.
In the latest, Rhythm & Clues & Courage, Jackson plays Victor Kingsley, a musician and co-owner of the Blue Groove Supper Club.
The hardest part of preparing for the play is memorizing all of his lines, Jackson said.
“I’ll be honest. I can get kind of nervous,” he said. “[But] I like that I get to play music in front of people.”
Creating options
There are many options for children with intellectual and developmental disabilities, Schmidt said.
“They’re going to occupational therapy. They’re going to physical therapy. They’re riding horses. They’re doing all sorts of stuff, but it all falls off when you become an adult.”
Lisa Lee Schmidt, founder and executive director, does a check-in with each actor at a rehearsal for Big Heart Theater at Pleasant Grove Branch Library in Dallas, on Tuesday, March 11, 2025.
Liz Rymarev / The Dallas Morning News
Schmidt has worked with a similar program, called Spotlight, at Highland Park United Methodist Church for the past 15 years.
“Sue Ringle came up with the idea. She’s now passed, and it was really her brainchild,” Schmidt said. “I owe a lot to her [and] I also owe a lot to a lady named Cheryl Vandiver …. she’s the one who started that disability ministry there, and that church was incredibly open-minded about everything.”
The Highland Park program was featured in a documentary called Into the Spotlight. In addition to musical theater, the ministry expanded to include band and short film programs. Altogether, the three programs can serve up to 60 people per year, according to Stephanie Newland, who runs the disability ministry at the church.
But Schmidt recognized that there were still unmet needs in the community.
“I’m watching this waiting list building up, and I’m also noticing that the cast is not racially diverse and we aren’t reaching out into neighborhoods and parts of Dallas that are underserved,” she said. “So I was like, well, I need to start my own theater.”
Crazy things happen
To serve more neighborhoods, Big Heart travels to different community centers, libraries and theaters around town. This show will be staged at the Pleasant Grove Branch Library. The next production will be in OutLoud Dallas’ new theater space.
Performances don’t always go as planned, Schmidt said.
“People forget costumes or dance steps or lines or somebody just walks off the stage just because they decided they wanted a Coke. I mean, crazy things happen, but the audience is completely forgiving of that.”
Regardless, Schmidt said there’s a lot the audience can learn from her actors.
“My cast, they’re wise. They’re compassionate. They’re incredibly creative and imaginative and have so many things to share about their views of the world,” she continued. “We should be listening to that.”
Performances took place April 12 at Pleasant Grove Branch Library.
