Theatre
Prestonwood Christian Academy's award-winning and nationally-recognized theatre program strives to provide students with a Middle and Upper School theatre arts program that examines theatre as a creative and multi-disciplinary art form. In Middle School students begin to experience the multiple facets theatre training affords as well as exposure to various theatrical genres and styles. In Upper School, we offer a diverse program of study geared toward everyone from the novice thespian to the Honors Upper School Theatre student. Students are provided with opportunities for practical experience on the stage as well as classroom instruction.
Our objective is to prepare the serious theatre student to continue his or her career or educational goals in the theatre if that is their desire. Also, by creating good work habits, time management skills, poise in front of people and cooperative learning experiences, the student is better prepared to establish a career in any field of endeavor. Above all, it is our ultimate desire to train young people to glorify God through excellence in the arts whether it is through participation or appreciation. We believe that the arts are an epicenter of influence in our culture today and Christians need to be leading the way in creativity and excellence.
Performance Opportunities
Our program includes many performance opportunities including two extra-curricular Upper School main stage productions (a play in the fall and a musical in the spring), an ITS Musical Revue Show, an Eighth Grade one-act play for competition, student directed one-act plays, and numerous other opportunities for students to perform their curricular work in a public forum for family and friends. In 2008, our spring musical, Little Women: the Musical was named best musical in the state of Texas by USA Today Weekend Magazine.
Prestonwood Christian Academy also has a Middle School and Upper School theatre honor society through the International Thespian Society. Students can earn eligibility for these honor societies through participation in the PCA extra-curricular theatre program. Through our participation in the Texas Thespian State Festival and International Thespian Festival we have seen well over one hundred students qualify for the national festival in performance and technical theatre, dozens of state finalists, two state champions in Group Musical, three national champions in Group Musical and two national champions in Monologue.
Students who participate in the International Thespian Society at Prestonwood Christian Academy have also received college scholarships and recruitment from many colleges, universities, conservatories and art schools across the country such as Southern Methodist University, Ouachita Baptist University, Savannah College of Art and Design, Boston Conservatory, Baylor University, Liberty University, Texas Christian University, University of North Texas, and Belmont University.
PCA Theatre Faculty
Pamela Hurt
Ninth-Twelfth Grade
Pamela Hurt is the Upper School theatre teacher and director and has taught theatre at Prestonwood Christian Academy for the past thirteen years. Her classes include Theatre Arts I (Theatre Appreciation), Theatre Arts II (Children’s Theatre), Theatre Arts III and Honors Theatre Arts III (Directing), Theatre Practicum (Applied Theatre Training), Theatre Arts IV and Honors Theatre Arts IV (Advanced Theatre Study).
She has directed many productions in her teaching career, including The Man Who Came to Dinner, Into the Woods, Romeo + Juliet, 42nd Street, Pride and Prejudice, Little Women: the Musical (chosen by USA Today Weekend as the best high school musical in the state of Texas in 2008), The Miracle Worker, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Godspell, Bye Bye Birdie, Lily, the Felon’s Daughter, The Music Man, Fiddler on the Roof, Frankenstein, The Taming of the Shrew, The Importance of Being Earnest and You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown. Pam also enjoys writing and wrote an old west adaptation of The Taming of the Shrew in 2003 and a modern adaptation of Romeo + Juliet in 2009. She taught beginning and professional teen actors in camera acting at KD Studio Conservatory in Dallas for the past fifteen years. In September 2010, she appeared in Imaginary Ink’s production of Leaving Iowa at The Courtyard Theatre in Plano, TX.
Pam is the director of PCA’s troupe 6605 of the International Thespian Society. In International Thespian Society competition, she has had over 100 students advance from state to nationals at the International Thespian Festival at the University of Nebraska. Her students have been named National Individual Event Showcase Champions five times including Group Musical (2006), Monologue (2008), Group Musical (2009), Monologue (2009), and Group Musical (2010). At the Texas Thespian State Festival she has had two state champions in Group Musical (2009 and 2010). Also, two of her theatre students were selected to be a part of the National Cast and Crew of Thoroughly Modern Millie (2007) and Hairspray (2008).
Ms. Hurt holds an undergraduate degree in Theatre from Liberty University and a M.A. in Communications from Regent University with an emphasis in theatre and camera acting.
Meg Wilson
Seventh-Eighth Grade
Meg Parker Wilson grew up as a missionary kid in Brazil, South America with New Tribes Mission. She attended Southwest Baptist University and earned a B.A. in Speech Communications with an emphasis in Theatre. She was a member of Chi Sigma Theta and an active member of the Speech and Debate team, Pi Kappa Delta. She continued her education in Los Angeles, CA with White Wall Acting and the Los Angeles Film Studies Center where she directed her first short film Yun with professional actor Danny Woodburn. Mrs. Wilson had the privilege of working with some of the top casting directors in the country during her time at 20th Century Fox in their Feature Casting Department. She was cast in her first feature film appearance in Aliens in the Attic in 2009 and was nominated for Best Performance in a Feature Film - Young Ensemble Cast 2010. After meeting her incredible husband, Nate, she moved to McKinney, TX and was cast as the lead female in the Christian feature film Seasons of Gray by Watermark Church Productions (2011). Meg continues to work in film locally under Mary Collins Agency in Dallas.
From acting to directing, her theatrical work includes playing a variety of characters in The Triangle Factory Fire Project, Fiddler on the Roof, Last Train to Nibroc, Everyman, The Buriel at Thebes, and Little Women (for which she was awarded Best Supporting Actress for her role as Amy March).
Mrs. Wilson has been teaching, coaching and directing children’s film and theatre for over four years. She has written and directed numerous productions for The Genesis Children’s Theatre in Plano, TX including Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, Freak the Mighty, Zombie Prom, Memoirs of an Alien Thespian, Superstars: The Movie, The Grim Sisters, Night at the Museum and Little Red. Additionally, Mrs. Wilson has the privilege of teaching for the Plano area program “Think and Speak Up”, helping to foster effective communication and leadership skills in today’s youth and young adults through content, delivery, impromptu speaking, evaluations, debate and conflict resolution. Meg currently resides in Plano with her husband Nate and their son, Jack. Meg joined PCA’s theatre faculty in 2012.
