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SMU Meadows will collaborate with Dallas’ long-running and acclaimed Theatre Three (T3) for an upcoming production of Carrie the Musical.

The show features 13 students from Meadows’ Division of Theatre, all in major and supporting roles, with sophomore voice major Jordan Lage landing the title role of Carrie White. The show will be directed by Christie Vela, T3’s Associate Artistic Director, with two Meadows faces also at the helm: Director of the Sexton Institute for Musical Theatre and professor of practice Joel Ferrell, who will be choreographing, and senior theatre major Dylan Hudson, who will be assistant directing.

T3 has a reputation for being a kind and safe space for young artists to learn and hone their skills before stepping out into the big world. While they have previously partnered with SMU’s Division of Theatre on a smaller scale by casting grad students and undergrads in a few of their productions, the co-production of Carrie will mark the beginning of what both institutions hope will be a very fruitful and long-lasting collaboration.

“A co-production with SMU aligns perfectly with one of our core values at T3, which is to provide a space for young theatre artists to gain professional experience alongside master theatre artists,” says Vela, who has regularly collaborated with both Ferrell and Chair of Meadows’ Division of Theatre, Blake Hackler, in the past. “Both organizations were already thinking of programming Carrie into our respective seasons, so it was a delightful coincidence that convinced us further to co-produce.”

The cast of "Carrie" features 13 Meadows theatre students, as well as senior Dylan Hudson in an assistant director role.

This co-production will allow current students in performing arts programs access to musical theatre opportunities, even before the first cohort is accepted to Meadows’ Sexton Institute of Musical Theatre in the fall of 2026. When the program fully launches, it will continue to ensure that students have similar access to professional teaching artists, opportunities at professional organizations, and a vast network of mentors and colleagues while they are in school and post-graduation. 

“We are working diligently to create opportunity for current Meadows theatre, voice and dance students to perform musical theater both on campus and in professional institutions around DFW,” explains Joel Ferrell, the inaugural director of Meadows’ Sexton Institute for Musical Theatre program. “I love that we’re beginning to teach the larger community – not only at Meadows, but at SMU and all of DFW – that our students and professional faculty artists will be present everywhere.”

For many Meadows students involved in the production of Carrie, this will be their first time working in a Small Professional Theatre (SPT) House with a professional stage management team and a regional creative team. 

“This partnership will help promote more accessibility for students to gain industry experience while in college,” says assistant director Dylan Hudson, a fourth-year Theatre Studies student with an emphasis in Directing. “I feel that many students want to go straight to LA or Broadway but something like a SPT 5 is how many actors get steady work, especially in Dallas-Fort Worth.”

This will not be Hudson’s first time working with Vela, who he previously worked with on her Kitchen Dog Theater's production ofMan Cave. He has also assistant directed bothThe Winter's Taledirected by Rob Clare andThe Laramie Projectdirected by Alex Organ, prior to securing his role on Carrie with T3. Hudson plans to continue directing professionally after earning his degree and will be serving as a Production Assistant for Dallas Theater Center's production ofJoseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat immediately following graduation.

Carrie, showing at T3’s home theater in The Quad (formerly the Quadrangle) in Uptown Dallas, opens Thursday, October 3 and will run through Sunday, November 3. For tickets and more information,