https://www.broadwayandmain.com/media/com_jbusinessdirectory/pictures/companies/103/l160226070425-1488301892.jpg

Casa Manana, Inc.

3101 W Lancaster Ave, Fort Worth 76107, Texas, United States

Gallery

Business Details

1936: THE TEXAS CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION

After Dallas was selected to be the site of the official Texas Centennial Celebration in 1936, Amon G. Carter began making plans for a celebration in Fort Worth. Several acres of a nearby cow pasture were to become a midway of exhibits, sideshows, a Wild West show and a musical circus. At the center of the complex was to be a large outdoor amphitheatre and restaurant called Casa Mañana, “The House Of Tomorrow.”

Carter hired Broadway producer Billy Rose to produce the “Show of Shows” for Fort Worth. In just a few weeks, the cow pasture was transformed into Casa Mañana, housing the world’s largest revolving stage and accommodating 4,000 guests. A large moat surrounded the stage and fountains projected a wall of water, which doubled as the stage curtain.

For the first time, Broadway magic graced Fort Worth. The show was so successful that plans were made to bring it back each summer for four consecutive years. Rising costs and the threat of World War II, however, derailed the scheme and eventually the entire complex was dismantled and recycled for the war effort.

1958: CASA MAÑANA RETURNS

The dream of Casa Mañana was reborn in the fall of 1957 by the Fort Worth Opera Association’s president, James H. Snowden, Jr., and manager, Melvin O. Dacus. At their request, the city of Fort Worth created a non-profit corporation to build and operate a theatre complex, primarily focused on the production of Broadway musicals. With a budget of $500,000, the project was approved by the city council on January 14, 1958.

Construction began on March 13th and a record-breaking 114 days later, Casa Mañana Theatre was completed as a fully-enclosed, air-conditioned, aluminum-domed theatre. The theatre’s black-tie opening with a production of Can-Can on July 5, 1958, introduced audiences to the 1,805-seat house and to theatre-in-the-round, a stage configuration featuring a stage surrounded by the audience. With no backstage area, the actors and stagehands would use the surrounding concourse and aisles to move set pieces, props and other materials on and off stage. With the back row only 36 feet from the stage, audiences fell in love with the unique, intimate setting of Casa Mañana Theatre.

CASA MAÑANA THROUGH THE YEARS

Casa Mañana Musicals, Inc., the non-profit organization that managed the theatre, was run by a volunteer Board of Directors and General Manager Melvin O. Dacus. In 1962, programming was expanded with the introduction of the Children’s Playhouse, a professional theatre series geared toward North Texas children. Each year since, nearly 150,000 parents, children, teachers and students have attended these popular shows.

Soon after the Children’s Playhouse was established, Casa Mañana’s Theatre School opened to train children in the performing arts. Today, classes for children ages four and older are taught by theatre professionals year-round in acting, musical theatre, dance and voice. After more than 45 years in operation, Casa Mañana’s Theatre School has become one of the largest children’s acting schools in the nation.

With the opening of the Nancy Lee & Perry R. Bass Performance Hall in 1998, Casa Mañana Musicals, Inc. began presenting Broadway national tours year round at the new facility, in addition to staging their own elaborate productions, often featuring stunning local talent. Since then, Casa Mañana Musicals, Inc. has experienced tremendous growth, with historic highs in attendance and record budgets for productions. New programs have been added to Casa’s Education & Outreach programs, including The Betty Lynn Buckley Awards, honoring excellence in high school musical theatre, a summer theatre school program called Camp Casa, and an outreach performance troupe, The Casa Playaz to complement Casa Kids in bringing the magic of live theatre to the community.

After a decade of planning and fundraising, Casa Mañana Theatre was renovated in 2003 into a state-of-the-art performance venue. The renovation also added space for the expansion of Casa’s nationally-recognized educational programs and for the accommodation of a broad variety of community meetings, performances and other events.

In 2004, recognizing that the title “Musicals” did not accurately reflect the broad contributions the organization was making to the North Texas community, the Board of Directors voted to officially change the company’s name to Casa Mañana, Inc.

 

Since its creation in 1958, Casa Mañana has grown into the largest performing arts organization in Tarrant County. In more than 50 years, five visionary men have led this organization, Melvin O. Dacus, Clarence “Bud” Franks, Van Kaplan, Denton Yockey and Wally Jones. Twenty-three men and women have led Casa’s Board of Directors with hundreds of dedicated and generous volunteers have given their time and energy to serving beneath them. As Casa heads into its next 50 years, the commitment has never been stronger to present the highest quality live theatre and live up to its namesake, “The House of Tomorrow.”

Type:
Equity Theater
Keywords:

Map Location

Hosted events

  •  Fort Worth, Texas
    26 March 2024 - 5 April 2024
    Type: Theater - Live
    Trailblazing singer-songwriters Jim Croce and Harry Chapin embodied the folk and soft-rock era of the 1970s. Their music captured the complexity of the human experience, communicating life’s joys and sorrows through rich characters and narrative
  •  Fort Worth, Texas
    20 April 2024 - 12 May 2024
    Type: Musicals
    Your favorite practically perfect nanny takes center stage in this Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious adventure based on the award-winning Broadway musical and classic Disney film.
  •  Fort Worth, Texas
    1 June 2024 - 9 June 2024
    Type: Musicals
    Everyone’s favorite rock-and-roll musical is back! Put on your dancing shoes and hand-jive to the electrifying hits “You’re the One that I Want,” “Summer Nights,” “Greased Lightnin’” and more!
  •  Fort Worth, Texas
    2 August 2024 - 4 August 2024
    Type: Theater - Live
    Heir to the Frankish throne, the young prince Pippin is in search of the secret to true happiness and fulfillment. He seeks it in the glories of the battlefield, the temptations of the flesh and the intrigues of political power

Attending Events

company map
3101 W Lancaster Ave, Fort Worth 76107, Texas, United States

Actor Profiles - Most Recent Additions 2

Lance E. Hayes - Actor Profile

Lance is currently a working actor out of New York City, and is loving every minute.

New York, New York
View details
Matt Gibson - Actor Profile

Matt Gibson is an award-winning actor with representation in NYC & London.

Rhode Island
View details
Cait Crowley - Actor Profile

Cait is a New York City based actor, dancer and singer who was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She graduated with a BFA in Musical Theatre from Montclair State University.

New York, New York
View details
Jason Simon - Actor Profile

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-YYjX74lBs

 

At a petite 6'3", Jason Simon is a presence! Whether he's bringing audiences to tears as the not so gentle giant Lenny in Of Mice & Men,…

Richard LaFleur - Actor Profile

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DlPRZyZpwY

Richard Lafleur is a Canadian born actor, singer, dancer, and aspiring writer. He is an alumnus of both the American Musical and Dramatic Academy…

Montreal, Quebec
View details
Eddie Gutierrez - actor profile

Eddie attended NYU for acting, training at the Stella Adler Studio and the Experimental Theatre Wing, and while he was there, he picked up a minor in Music, while also enrolling in the dance program at Peridance in Union Square.

Carina Avila - Actor Profile

Meet Carina Avila got her start in Los Angeles working on TV and music videos. She is now focused on transferring her early success to the theatre.

New York, New York
View details
Monica Cioffi - Actor Profile

https://youtu.be/aAThEvaPgF0

 

Get To Know Dancer / Actor Monica Cioffi as we caught up with her backstage at The Gateway Playhouse in Bellport, NY

 

Learn more about her…

Equity Theatres - Most Recent Additions

Mu Performing Arts

Mu produces great performances born of arts, equity, and justice from the heart of the Asian American experience.

Saint Paul, Minnesota
View details
Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum

Long before he founded Theatricum Botanicum, Indiana native Will Geer was well-known for his work on the New York stage, in film, and on radio. By the mid-1950’s, he had relocated…

Topanga, California
View details
San Francisco Mime Troupe

The San Francisco Mime Troupe creates and produces socially relevant theater of the highest professional quality and performs it before the broadest possible audience.

We do plays that make…

San Francisco, California
View details
Passage Theatre Company

At its best, theater transforms – inspires understanding of the rich diversity of the human experience, gives voice to the silent, and dignity to the dispirited. Through the creation and…

Trenton, New Jersey
View details
Tipping Point Theatre

The Tipping Point is that one dramatic moment in an epidemic when everything can change all at once…and we’ve reached it in a BIG way! From operating as a “vagabond” theatre company…

Northville, Michigan
View details
Zachary Scott Theatre Center

ZACH Theatre is a professional theatre company located in Austin, Texas, as well as its associated complex of theatre facilities. The company is the oldest continuously active theatre company…

Austin, Texas
View details
Oregon Shakespeare Festival

A major theatre arts organization, OSF offers a diversity of plays as well as events and activities to enhance your overall experience.

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival is a not-for-profit…

Ashland, Oregon
View details
Denver Center for the Performing Arts

We're best known for our touring Broadway shows and Tony-winning theatre, but as a not-for-profit organization that serves the entire Rocky Mountain region with the best arts programming and…

Denver, Colorado
View details