Miss
Brenda B. Waffle was DFT Gecko Teatro’s founder. Miss
Waffle was previously the owner and director of the award winning
Columbus Youth Theater in Columbus, Ohio for ten years. For over
fifteen years, Miss Waffle was a teacher for the Cave Creek Unified
School District. Miss Waffle felt that serving as DFT Gecko
Teatro director was the perfect opportunity to combine her two great
passions of teaching children and theater. Miss Waffle had
been on stage acting since the third grade. She acted in
or directed over forty shows during this time period.
Miss Waffle passed away in July 2008. Ms. Lori Vander Maten
was asked to join DFT Gecko Teatro as its director and did so from
2008-2010.
Desert Foothills Theater's Gecko
Teatro is a youth theater program that provides theater education
and performance opportunities for youngsters in the Cave Creek, Carefree,
North Scottsdale and Northeast Phoenix areas DFT Gecko Teatro
provides training in stage performance skills for children ages kindergarten
through eighth grades.
Video of Elvis from DFT Gecko Teatro's fall
production of The Rocky Monster Show.
During the fall and spring of 2006/2007, we began the development of DFT
Gecko Teatro through support of the Black Mountain Elementary
School/Kiwanis Black Box Theater and BMES Drama Club. That work culminated
with a presentation of a show entitled Rats!by Jean and Dave
Perry,performed in the newly finished theater space and supported by Desert
Foothills Theater volunteers and staff.
Classes were run through the school year and offered at a variety of
elementary and middle school sites as before or after0school programs in
conjunction with Community Education. In the fall of 2009, class
offerings became incorporated under DFT
Conservatory of Performing Arts (COPA) and Gecko Teatro began a stronger focus on
youth theater productions including our summer camps.
Our inaugural summer class,
Introduction to Theater, presented the musical Save The Plants by
playwright Vincent Delaney in June of 2007.
In 2008, our summer program expanded to three
four-day weeks. Camp work included classes in acting, theater movement
and voice. The camp culminated in a production of Once Upon a
Dream: The Classic Cinderella Story by Dave & Jean Perry. Thirty
five students participated in our inaugural summer camp.
In 2009 our summer camp schedule changed to two full-day, five-day weeks.
It continues to be offered on that schedule the last two weeks of June each
year.
For further information on theater
classes or to volunteer to work with our Youth Theater, please contact
Meribeth Reeves.
Miss
Brenda B. Waffle was DFT Gecko Teatro’s founder. Miss
Waffle was previously the owner and director of the award winning
Columbus Youth Theater in Columbus, Ohio for ten years. For over
fifteen years, Miss Waffle was a teacher for the Cave Creek Unified
School District. Miss Waffle felt that serving as DFT Gecko
Teatro director was the perfect opportunity to combine her two great
passions of teaching children and theater. Miss Waffle had
been on stage acting since the third grade. She acted in
or directed over forty shows during this time period. 
