It was October 9, 1962 when the Cuban Missile Crisis ended and I began. As far as I know, the two items are unrelated. 

I was born in Seattle Washington, far from Cuban Missiles. My father, Merle Proulx, was a pioneer in the computer field, and we moved a lot.

He wrapped up his position at Boeing and accepted one at Goddard Space Center in the other Washington—D.C., then later a programming position in Houston, Texas, and finally another in Dallas, Texas. By the time I was 8, we’d moved at least 6 times, and I just assumed that people weren’t allowed to live in any one place for longer than two years.

Imagine Dad’s surprise when, at 10, I asked him where we were moving to next. As it turned out, he’d been offered a position in Panama, but he turned it down. We ended up staying in Dallas and putting down roots.

When Mom didn’t have my brother and me already occupied, I spent a lot of time as a child watching movies, TV, and writing things; dreaming about someday. Someday I’ll be a famous singer and circus acrobat. Someday I’ll make movies with Robert Redford. Someday I’ll be a renowned martial artist, synchronized swimmer, naturalist, and world traveler… when I’m not making movies. With Robert Redford, of course.

When I was 10, it hit me. When is someday? Isn’t today just yesterday’s someday? If I wanted any of these things to happen, I needed to get serious! Turn fantasies into plans, so plans could create my reality. The first thing I did was trim circus acrobat off my list—I still couldn’t turn a summersault.

I began taking classes in theater and dance, and sang with the school choir. In Jr. High I was active in speech and drama tournaments. My mother found The Arts Magnet High School at Booker T Washington in Dallas, and I was lucky enough to get accepted there. I majored in theater with an emphasis in mime, but took tap, modern and jazz dance and sang with the woman’s choir as well. We didn’t have a football team or cheerleaders at Arts, but we had a mime troupe, the jazz band, the lab singers… I knew I’d finally found my people!

I worked my way through college delivering singing balloon-o-grams in a chicken suit. My sense of humor had a huge growth spurt during that time, and I learned a lot about the roads and drivers of Dallas. Look for my memoirs as a singing chicken in an upcoming book, “Chicken Suit for the Soul”. I auditioned for every show and musical around, college and community theatre—I was even cast in some! 

One of my favorite memories of performing was the Foxtales tour in 1984-5. We went to schools all over Texas and performed in the Wolftrap International Children’s Festival at Wolftrap Farm Park in Virginia. No, it’s not about capturing small furry animals—it’s a wonderful theatrical venue in the woods with indoor and outdoor theaters. Their Children’s Festival is the Mecca of children’s theater!  Foxtales at Wolftrap—it seemed to fit. 

After college, I spent a year at the Bastrop Opera House where I performed in their Summer Stock shows and helped to create and open a new children’s theater program called First Act. I then relocated back to Dallas and began teaching after school drama clubs with the Dallas Theater Center and the Jr. Players Guild, and fell in love with igniting the theater torch of the next generation. 

I had trouble finding good children’s theater scripts, and began writing my own for many of my projects. I also supplemented my income by writing for magazines occasionally over the years. I headed up the children’s area at Scarborough Faire Renaissance Festival for five years, which included casting, writing, directing, performing and lots of improvising. The Trial of the Big Bad Wolf, part of Fairy Tale Courtroom, premiered at Scarborough Faire.

I continued to act in Dallas, everything from Shakespeare in the Park to Industrial films, and continued to do mime, creating both solo and mime troupe shows. I worked with several children’s theater groups in Dallas, including Capers for Kids, the Dallas Children’s Theater, and Young Audiences. I also continued to write, creating Cinderella vs. the Step Family and Shakespearian Shorts and launching those projects. I married my husband John in Autumn of 2000, and gave birth to our daughter Lauren in Summer 2002. 

Having a family gave me renewed perspective on arts in education, and the lack thereof. My husband is active in local politics, and is an all-purpose Mr. Fix It. Whether it’s repairing a house, a car, restoring old antiques, revitalizing a city or creating an amazing meal, he can fix it! My daughter is into everything, and has that youthful enthusiasm for life that makes me smile.

They are both a source of inspiration to my writing, and continued motivation for me to grow in my field.

In 2003 I had the opportunity to work with a Young Audiences and Wolftrap partnership and help begin the Dallas Wolftrap chapter. For me, this was coming full circle in many ways. I continued receiving training annually and became a Wolftrap teaching-artist trainer myself in 2008. They specialize in early childhood education through the arts.

Since then, I have also focused on the 21st Century After-School Programs, Every Child Ready To Read Initiative, the Dept. of Education’s Theater Project, SLANT 45, I have written theater curriculum for Dallas ISD, worked as an Integration Specialist in after-school programs, and I continue to foster arts in education in every way I can. 

Today I spend my professional time teaching, writing, performing and directing, and my personal time with my family, traveling, reading, swimming, and balancing those lives. But if any of you who are reading this happen to know Robert Redford, tell him I’m still available to work on that movie project with him!