OUR CORE VALUES
Conviviality Echo Theatre provides a safe space for artists, supporters, and audiences to enjoy learning, growing, and evolving together as people and as an institution.
Inclusivity We acknowledge there is a diverse group of people who identify as women+ and we welcome them to our stage, our production table, our board room and our audience.
Fidelity We are resolute in our mission to champion the voices of women+ with high quality artistic effort.
Intersectionality** We acknowledge that systems of discrimination are interdependent and by championing women+, we holistically support all who are oppressed.
Additionally: Echo Theatre follows the DFW Theater Standards and the DFW COVID 19 Safety Standards.
* About women+: We recognize the limiting nature of the binary use of the word “woman.” We use the term “women-plus” to include an expansive and diverse array of people; including those born female, those who identify as women, and those who are gender non-conforming.
** Intersectionality: We work through an intersectional lens for gender parity. We understand and acknowledge that systems of oppression and discrimination are interdependent and span all social categorizations - race, class, gender, age, ability, sexual orientation, etc. - as they apply to a given individual or group. By addressing one spoke of systematic discrimination or disadvantage, we holistically acknowledge, recognize, and help address them all.
Administration
Kateri appeared in Echo Theatre's inaugural production, DREAM OF A COMMON LANGUAGE back in 1998 and remained a creative partner through the company's early years. In 2008, Kateri officially joined forces with Echo Theatre as a Producing Partner and was instrumental in developing Echo Theatre’s Big Shout Out International New Play Contest for Women Playwrights. In April 2019, Kateri was named Managing Artistic Director of the 21-year-old theater company.
As Managing Artistic Director, Kateri expanded the Echo Reads series to serve audiences all over Dallas at Venue Partners; making theater available to patrons in their own neighborhoods. The first online play readings began as a response to the COVID 19 pandemic, as did the Echo Offstage podcast, a Dallas-based interview show with guests from all areas of national and local theater that began production in 2020.
Dallas audiences first met Kateri at Undermain Theatre where she was a company member for ten years. She has since appeared on many area stages, including Shakespeare Dallas, Kitchen Dog Theatre, and Echo Theatre. Kateri holds a Bachelor of Arts in Theater Studies from The College of Santa Fe and is an enrolled member of the Potawatomi Indian Tribe.
Caroline Hamilton
ASSOCIATE PRODUCER
[ Echo Reads, Director ]
Caroline is a Dallas-based director and producer. She joined the Echo Creative Team in 2022 as an Associate Producer. Caroline has produced Echo Reads since 2022. She has directed readings for the past three years in the New Visions New Voices Festival at SMU.
Her work also includes directing FOUNDERS, KEEPERS and IT'S MY PARTY! at Echo Theatre, BETHANY and HOW I LEARNED TO DRIVE at SMU, and assistant directing LUNGS at Stage West, STEEL MAGNOLIAS at Dallas Theater Center, WHAT WE WERE at Second Thought Theater, and THE LADY FROM THE SEA at Undermain Theatre.
Caroline currently works with Ronald McDonald House Dallas as an Event Planner. She served as Managing Producer at podcast company Spoke Media, where she produced podcasts such as Hot & Bothered, Because I Watched, Listed, and more. You can find her with a crossword puzzle and a strong cup of coffee on any given morning.
Eric Berg
ASSOCIATE PRODUCER
[ Echo Offstage Podcast
Actor / Director ]
Eric is an actor, director, and producer based in New York City. He is a proud producing partner with Echo Theatre where he co-created and produces the Echo Offstage podcast. He has also served as co-producer for the Echo Reads series.
His directing credits include I AND YOU, and IN A WORD (Echo Theatre), and EURYDICE, and STELLA (SMU.) He has directed multiple staged readings for Echo, and readings for IMPRINT Theatreworks, and SMU. He has served as assistant director at AT&T Performing Arts Center's Elevator Project, Dallas Theater Center, Stage West, Kitchen Dog Theatre, and Jubilee Theatre.
Acting credits: Boy in US/THEM (Echo Theatre), Eugene in BRIGHTON BEACH MEMOIRS (Theater Arlington), and Parker in SPLIT SECOND (Jubilee). He holds a BFA in Theatre Studies from SMU.
Lauren Floyd
MARKETING & SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER
Lauren is a New Your City-based film and stage actress, who started working with Echo as a volunteer. She helped run Echo Theatre’s Burning Woman 2019 offering and began managing social media for Echo’s IT'S MY PARTY! streamed readings. She joined the staff of Echo in 2020.
Her acting credits include: Gillian in FOUNDERS, KEEPERS, Marlow Sharpe in THE OTHER FELIX (Echo Theatre), Hilde in THE LADY FROM THE SEA (Undermain Theater), Margot Frank in THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK, Ophelia and Gertrude in HAMLET, Phoebe in AS YOU LIKE IT (SMU), Sasha Berringer in SMU’s feature film THE BOOK OF JOB, and Anger Friend in EVERYTHING WILL BE FINE (Prism Movement Theater).
In addition to her work with Echo, Lauren is on the staff at Junior Players, and has worked with various creative groups including the podcast company Spoke Media and Dallas Theater Center’s Public Works program. She also loves painting, horror stories, and is a connoisseur of so-bad-they’re-good movies. Lauren is a Southern Methodist University graduate with a BFA in theatre and a minor in English.
Erin Malone Turner
PRODUCER
[ Echo Writes / Texas Shout Out Contest for BIPOC/Women+ Playwrights ]
Erin is a NOLA born/DFW-based playwright, poet, actor, director, & now producer. She will helm the Echo Writes, playwright-led creative writing series for 2024, and coordinated last year's Big Shout Out Special Project: The Texas Shout Out, a contest for BIPOC/Women+ playwrights. The contest is "blind", with the playwright's names unknown to the judges until the winners are announced.
We are thrilled that Erin 's play "the secret keepers" was named a winner of Echo Theatre's 2023 Texas Shout Out New Play Contest.
Soul Rep Theatre commissioned her play "what fits inside a human heart" with support from the TACA New Works Grant. Her plays have been featured on stages across DFW and include “through a glass darkly” (Amphibian Stage), and “how to catch a ghost” (Kitchen Dog Theater). Her plays are available on NPX.
Board of Directors
Kirsten Brandt James
BOARD CHAIR
Miki Bone Melsheimer
GOVERNANCE COMMITTEE
Robert G. McVay
FINANCE COMMITTEE
Catherine Whiteman
MEMBERSHIP COMMITTEE
Isai Cazares
EVENT COMMITTEE
Marty Van Kleeck
SECRETARY/TREASURER
Our Gratitude to Past Board Members
Jennifer Workman Anne Groben Daniel Tamez Diane Brandon Moody
Karen Bower Robinson Karen Lorince Suzy Blaylock Laura Alpert
Charles Beavers Rebecca Brooks Denise Lee Luis Ortiz
Reverend Dr. Jo Hudson James Zackey W. Charles Pyke Kathleen E. Palter
Advisory Committee
Alett Gray Laurel Hoitsma Pam Myers-Morgan
Artistic Leadership Timeline
April 2019 to Present Kateri Cale serves as Managing and Artistic Director. Hadley Shipley is Marketing and Social Media Manager. Eric Berg and Caroline Hamilton are Associate Producers. Erin Malone Turner is a Producer. Catherine Whiteman is Host of the Echo Offstage podcast and Isaac Young is podcast Sound Engineer.
2016 through 2019 Terri Ferguson served as Managing Artistic Director with Alett Gray as General Manager and Stephanie Butler as Administrative Assistant. Kateri Cale, Elly Lindsay, and Randall Bonifay served as Lead Producers.
Echo Theatre's 20th Anniversary Celebration
From left: Founding Producers, Linda Marie Ford, Suzanne Blaylock, and Pam Myers-Morgan,
with Terri Ferguson and Alett Gray.
photo by: Kateri Cale
2014 to 2016 A trio of producing partners were named Co-Artistic Directors: Kateri Cale, Terri Ferguson and Alett Gray.
1998 through 2014 Pam Myers-Morgan served as lead producing partner of Echo Theatre until she became Producing Partner Emeritus in 2014.
Former Producing Partners: Suzy Blaylock (Founder), Linda Marie Ford (Founder), Michael Starcher, Lisa Taylor, Ellen Locy, Brandi Andrade, Jordan Willis, Terri Ferguson, Stephanie Butler, Elly Lindsay, and Randall Bonifay. Honored colleague: Bob Myers-Morgan.
Echo Theatre's Origin Story...
Once upon a time in Dallas, Texas, director Pam Myers-Morgan and actress/producer Linda Marie Ford shopped a script around to several theater companies in town, hoping to garner interest in a show they wanted to produce. Set in 1874 Paris, DREAM OF A COMMON LANGUAGE by Heather McDonald explored the delicately complex balance between a woman's artistic calling, her family life, and the influence of societal constraints and expectations. The critically acclaimed play had been honored with six coveted Helen Hayes awards. Yet every theater they approached said it wasn't "their kind of play". Perplexed, the two made a list of all the positives - small cast; an interesting history play about Impressionist painters; strong, charismatic roles for women and men; written by an eloquent, witty woman; it even had tasteful, story-driven nudity for heaven's sake! Why in the world would it not be "their kind of play"? Thankfully for Dallas audiences, Pam, Linda, and colleague Suzy Blaylock decided it was precisely their kind of play and Echo Theatre was born. Dedicated to producing plays by women and embracing the themes of the first Echo production, the company has been producing excellent plays by women since 1998 while balancing art, family, and personal life.
Echo Theatre incorporated in the state of Texas in February, 1998 and received non-profit status that April. Inspiration for our company's name springs from the nymph "Echo" of Greek mythology; cursed to forever repeat the words of others, never speaking for herself. Because women playwrights are not heard on world stages as often as their male colleagues, Echo Theatre only produces plays written by women. The plays we present are as different as the women who write them, so you’ll enjoy a variety of entertainment. We're proud to specialize in women's work.
Pam Myers-Morgan hit the Dallas theater scene in 1992 and served as Artistic Administrator at the Dallas Theater Center, where she organized the internship program and coordinated local casting. She co-founded Echo Theatre in 1997 and served as a key Producing Partner for 13 seasons. Her directing projects with Echo include HIGH DIVE, RUINED, THE ECHO ROOM PRESENTS: HER SONG, BIBLE WOMEN, WELL, THE NIBROC TRILOGY (DFW Critics Forum Award, Best Director 2009), AMERICAN CASSANDRA, COCO & GIGI, OIL! (a staged reading with Tyne Daly), THE LADIES OF THE CAMELLIAS (DFW Critics Forum Award, Best Director 2007) and GOBLIN MARKET (Rabin Nomination for Best Director). She has also directed for Dallas Theater Center, Dallas Children’s Theatre, Wingspan Theatre, and Southern Methodist University. Local acting credits include the world premiere of WEDDING BELLES for One-Thirty Productions, and OFF THE MAP (Rabin Nomination, Best Supporting Actress) and FEFU AND HER FRIENDS with Echo. Pam is a noted Sound Designer with multiple productions on her resume. While an adjunct professor at Mountain View College, Pam taught Film Appreciation, Fine Arts Appreciation, Introduction to Theater, and Voice and Articulation, among others. She holds a Master of Fine Arts Degree in Directing from the University of Virginia. She and her husband currently reside in New England.