WHERE DREAMS COME TO PLAY
WIMBERLEY — Watching stories unfold and students’ dreams come true from the stage is not new for Bridget Gates.
Bridget Gates[/caption]
In 2020, she started Central Texas Theatre Academy in Wimberley with the mission to provide every child with the opportunity to fulfill their dreams of being on stage and participating, while also instilling a lifelong appreciation of the arts.
“Before CTA, I ran all of the theater education programs at the EmilyAnn Theatre for 12 years,” Gates said. “They just made some changes during COVID and they don’t do the theater education programs anymore, so I opened Central Texas Theatre Academy with the help of my current students and parents … I had students that had been with me since they were five, and they were now graduating high school, and I didn't want them to not have a place to go that next year, especially since the world had been just turned upside down.”
Gates also holds bachelor’s in fine arts degrees in acting and directing from Texas State University. She has worked professionally with ZACH Theatre, Austin Shakespeare, City Theatre, Scottish Rite Children’s Theatre, Gaslight Baker Theatre, Theatre Synesthesia, The Baron’s Men, Poor Shadows of Elysium, Last Act, Different Stages and San Marcos Spotlight Theatre. She’s directed more than 75 full mainstage productions for various companies and has studied with the Royal Shakespeare Company three times. She was the Shakespeare for Youth instructor at the Texas A&M Folio Event and teaches theatre workshops all over Central Texas.
Central Texas Theatre Academy is an after school theatre education program that has classes for ages 5 through 7, 8 through 11 and 12 through 18. The older classes do full productions, while the other classes have smaller, shorter performances.
“The classes are focused more on theater history, improvisation and just learning to come out of your shells and get comfortable on stage,” Gates said. “Then, the older classes are just big, full productions that we charge tickets for audiences to come see.”
She added that they have different summer camps and a Shakespeare on the River Program, which is a six-week Shakespeare intensive for students ages 12 through 18. They build and design their own costumes and sets and rehearse to put on a full production of Shakespeare — this summer’s production will be “A Midsummer Night's Dream.”
Contributed Photo
Students of Central Texas Theatre Academy participate in Shakespeare on the River at Blue Hole Regional Park, performing “The Tempest.”[/caption]
“We are partnered with Blue Hole Regional Park and the performances are actually free for the Wimberley community and there, we perform at the river at Blue Hole. So, it's really magical and really cool,” Gates said. “Last year, we had, I think, 43 high school students involved and they all become so close. It's a special program.”
The academy offers a hub of students from all over the county.
“We have homeschooled students. We have students from San Marcos High School, we have students from Wimberley High School and we have students that come in from Kyle and Buda. It’s just a gathering of like-minded people but people that, if they didn't have those classes, they wouldn't know those people otherwise,” she said. “I feel like it creates a really special family and a special bond, because it's not the people that they go to school with every day. I guess some of them are in classes with the people they also go to school with, but for the most part, these are all people from different walks of life that they're getting to connect with and become friends with and become family with.”
Gates concluded that she hopes to teach students more than portraying a character on stage at the academy.
“I think it sharpens their communication skills, so they're able to do better with professional interviews when interviewing for colleges — if that's the path they decide to go on — or for jobs and just human interaction and their social skills overall,” she said. “What's amazing about art, but theatre especially, is that it teaches empathy because you have to walk in other people's shoes to portray other people on stage. I hope, and I feel like they do leave with a more open mind about other people's experiences and being willing to understand what other people are going through and just a greater sense of empathy.”
Central Texas Theatre Academy is located at 12111 Ranch Road 12, Suite 111 in Wimberley, but is also expanding to San Marcos to offer after school drama classes for ages 5-12 at the Price Center & Garden. For more information about the programs and camps that the academy offers, visit .
