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arts entertainmentPerforming Arts

Dallas’ Junior Players present telenovela-inspired production of ‘Much Ado About Nothing’

Lisette Sandoval Perez, who started training with the nonprofit when she was 15, makes her directorial debut.

Junior Players has been feeding the Dallas performing arts ecosystem for decades, training young actors, directors and designers for the stage. The latest payoff is a production of Much Ado About Nothing, helmed by Lisette Sandoval Perez, who began studying with the nonprofit aimed at underfunded and underserved communities when she was 15.

Over the years, Perez has portrayed Mimi in Rent, Bianca in Othello and Chiffon in Little Shop of Horrors and has performed with WaterTower Theatre, Cara Mía Theatre and in Shakespeare Dallas’ recent production of The Odyssey. Now a graduate of Texas State University, she is making her professional directorial debut.

The twist in this version of the Shakespeare comedy is that it’s influenced by the style of Spanish telenovelas. “I am still fighting off some imposter syndrome about this entire summer,” Perez wrote on her Facebook page. “Growing up I never thought people who looked like me would ever be taken seriously in this craft. [Junior Players] changed my perspective on my life and career. To have an organization mold me into the person I am today is the reason I keep coming back every single year.”

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July 30-Aug. 4 at 8 p.m. at Samuell-Grand Park Amphitheatre, 1500 Tenison Parkway, in collaboration with Shakespeare Dallas. Free with pay-what-you-can donations encouraged. juniorplayers.org/tickets.

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Mattix Casas and Lauren Wellborn in Junior Players' production of "Much Ado About Nothing."
Mattix Casas and Lauren Wellborn in Junior Players' production of "Much Ado About Nothing."(Abby Stigler)