Major Attaway Joins Theatre Arlington's 50th Anniversary Gala

If celebrating 50 years isn’t magical enough, Theatre Arlington was granted a big wish for its 50th Anniversary Gala on Saturday, Sept. 16. Guests at the gala will be entertained with a special performance by Major Attaway, who played the Genie in Disney’s Aladdin on Broadway for four years.

Theatre Arlington’s 50th Anniversary Gala begins at 6:30 p.m. at the Bluebonnet Ballroom in the E.H. Hereford University Center at the University of Texas at Arlington. Tickets are $150 each or $1,200 for a table of eight. Tickets are available on the theater’s website, TheatreArlington. org, or by calling the box office at 817.275.7661.

 

The gala’s honorary chairman is Mayor Jim Ross. The evening includes a cash bar, dinner, a live luxury auction, raffle items and dancing. The live auction includes a Texas Rangers luxury suite, a seven-night stay in Cabo, a progressive dinner in Arlington Highlands and much more.

 

Attaway’s road to Broadway included stops at Theatre Arlington, as the voice of the plant in Little Shop of Horrors and Big Jim in Big River. He also has appeared in the area at Casa Manana and Jubilee Theater in Fort Worth and Theatre 3 in Dallas as well as a soloist with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra. He was the second Genie to take over in Aladdin after the original Genie, James Monroe Iglehart, won the Tony Award for originating the role. Attaway appeared in more than 1,500 performances as the magical Genie and performed in the show’s national tour. He is honored on the Theatre Arlington Walk of Fame, which was unveiled earlier this year.

 

Theatre Arlington’s 50th Anniversary Gala is presented by Atmos Energy and Spring Creek BBQ. Golden Anniversary sponsors are State Farm Insurance (Al Clark and Shalyn Clark). Silver Star sponsors are Brackett & Ellis, Debra J. Freiheit, CPA; Frost Bank, Rotary Club of Arlington, and Texas Health/Arlington Memorial Hospital.

 

Theatre Arlington began 50 years ago as The Potluck Players with a production of Light Up the Sky. The theater was co-founded by Shirley Orr, Persis Forster and Charlotte Owen and incorporated in 1982 as Arlington Community Theatre. By 1989, the theater had become Theatre Arlington and had its non-profit designation from the state of Texas. The theater’s first home was in a vintage church building on Division Street before moving into its current location at 305 W. Main St. in 1991.

 

After the pandemic, Theatre Arlington reopened March 25, 2022, with a $3.4 million renovation that takes the theater into the next 50 years with a box office, a new lobby, all-new seating, the latest in lights, sound and projections, a revolving stage, and a new backstage area. The renovation was made possible by a generous $2 million donation from the city’s Arlington Tomorrow Foundation and a capital campaign by the theater.

 

Theatre Arlington has grown into being the second oldest and second largest theater in Tarrant County. In addition to plays, musicals and youth productions, the theater runs a year-round theater school with classes and camps for all ages and educational outreach for at-risk, under-served students in the community. The theater added to its repertoire with cabaret nights, comedy nights and staged readings for 50 weeks of entertainment each year as an anchor organization in the Arlington Cultural Arts District. Last year, Theatre Arlington was named 2022 Small Business Non-Profit of the Year by the Greater Arlington Chamber of Commerce and became a Small Professional Theater with the Actors’ Equity Association.

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