By: Todd Overman
Organizers of a newly formed theater company hope to raise the curtain on a performing
arts center to showcase professional productions and conduct educational workshops.
Theater Fusion, initiated by actors Todd Haberkorn and Elizabeth Van Winkle, has
discussed the possibilities of carving out a space in the ArtHouse at Keller Town Center
with Southern Land Co. and city officials.
Creating A Space
Joe Petersen, Vice President of Development and acquisitions for Southern Land Co.,
said one of his company's early goals was to incorporate a performing arts center or
children's teaching academy into the ArtHouse. Theater Fusion's proposal essentially
does both.
Company officials toured local theaters with Haberkorn and Van Winkle, who pointed out
the things they liked and disliked about the spaces. There is a working design for the
space at ArtHouse, he said.
The current proposal is for a 120 - seat theater, which Petersen says will take up a lot of
what will be expensive space. Work is being done to help create a business plan that can
support the center, he said.
"We want to do anything we can to get a performing arts theater here and one that can
be successful," he said. "We are working to make this come together. It's not a done deal
yet."
Mayor Julie Tandy said the ArtHouse project in general has created quite a buzz. "I think
it would be terrific," she said of a performing arts center. KISD schools have had active
theater programs for years, she said.
"They have put together a group of really solid people, Tandy said. "They seem to have
done their due diligence in terms of their business plan. It speaks well for them."
A City On The Move
Haberkorn said it was while he was visiting his family in northeast Keller that he realized
the city's demographics and continuing development practically cries out for more
culture.
"I think Keller is the perfect spot because the city has evolved just like other, larger
ones," he said. "But it doesn't have an arts program of any kind."
Keller has an active Public Arts Board, but its recent mission has been to put visual
art-primarily sculpture-on public display in the city. With Keller isolated from the
performing arts scenes in Dallas and Fort Worth, Van Winkle said its a matter of supply
and demand. "We're providing something where it doesn't exist," she said. "You need to
be able to experience theater and not drive thirty minutes to an hour to see it."
Building A Foundation
Theater Fusion is already beginning to put down roots in Keller. "We're here to stay and
do quality work for ourselves and everyone to see," Haberkorn said.
The group is a new member of the Keller Chamber of Commerce, and its board of
director boasts people who have direct community connections.
Board members include David Stevens, Keller ISD's director of fine arts; Jennifer Snow,
theater arts teacher at Central High School; and Barry Yandell, theater arts teacher at
Keller Middle School. Sara Schochler, theater teacher at Indian Springs Middle, is the
group's new educational director.
Haberkorn and Van Winkle are also theater teachers at middle schools in the Grand
Prairie ISD.
Education is planned to be an intrinsic component of Theater Fusion, even before the
group finds a permanent space. A youth workshop is slated for next summer and is
eventually planned to become a year-round offering.
Signs of Progress
The group's main productions will be staged by professional actors and crew. Yandell, a
Keller native, said he thought he'd never see plans for a professional theater in the city.
"But I think Keller's grown up in more ways than population," he said.
He noted signs of progress as he was growing up, including the city's first McDonald's
and the construction of Florence Elementary, KISD's second primary campus. Now, the
city seems to place more importance in the arts, he said, which could impart stem from a
greater diversity of residents.
"For there to be a professional theater directly in their community, whether they work as
actors, apprentices or regular audience members, its incredible," he said.
Falling Into Place
Theater Fusion is a project in itself still in its infancy. Haberkorn and Van Winkle had
discussed the possibility of forming a theater group, but it became a primary mission only
recently.
"I called her up in the middle of the night," Haberkorn said, recalling that he was trying to
write the group's mission statement. "She said 'yes' right away. I said, maybe you didn't
hear me."
Things had begun to fall into place quickly. They received free legal assistance from the
SMU Federal Tax Clinic in filing out complex IRS forms necessary to file as a nonprofit
organization.
They are also coming into the ArtHouse project before design details are finalized.
Having its own space would give Theater Fusion an advantage over some theater
companies, Van Winkle said. Many lack home stages and operate in nomadic limbo.
"The problem is everything seems very shiny and perfect right now," she said. "We met a
lot of the right people at the right time." Haberkorn agreed that things have gone well.
"We're very blessed to be in the position we are in now," he said. "We've gotten nothing
but support from everyone we've told."
A Big Hurtle
If there is a major obstacle to overcome, it is that of funding the fledgling group,
especially because it is nonprofit. Beside paying for the space, equipping it and hiring
actors and crew, the group must carry insurance and pay for the rights to perform some
published material.
"We need the community to embrace us, not just come to the shows," Van Winkle said.
"We're giving Keller a new facet; that's going to benefit their businesses. We're
nonprofit, so we need help."
For Haberkorn, staying in the Metroplex to have a greater impact on something special
beat out trying his acting luck in L.A. or New York City - where fierce competition can
making working to meet ends a struggle. He says he hopes that funding Theater Fusion
does not become an all-consuming endeavor. "We would love to just focus on the craft
of it," he said.
Using Technology
That craft could include more use of technology, Haberkorn and Van Winkle said, as long
as it can be used in interesting ways. Effects would be used to enhance, rather than
overwhelm, the storytelling.
The result would be meant to immerse audiences into the show similar to - but with
possibly different methods - the experience of going to a movie theater. But unlike films,
the experience of live theater offers the chance for anything to happen. Yandell, who
has much acting experience, recalled a performance in which he took an accidental
tumble off stage. "As painful as it was," he said, "the audience found it quite
entertaining."
Theater Fusion's first production, "The Turn of the Screw," is set for February at the
Stone Cottage Theater in Addison.
In the spring, the group is planning a fund - raising "Fusion On The Green" golf
tournament at Sky Creek Ranch.
