Board & Staff

Artistic Director, Jeffrey Schmidt, is a great example of how T3 is integral to the arts ecology in DFW. He has worked in different capacities at T3 for 25 years. From carpenter to actor to designer and now Artistic Director, Jeffrey gained much of his experience from the opportunities T3 has provided. He served as Artistic Director for 2other theaters including The Drama Club which he founded. Jeffrey was the first theater artist to win the prestigious Mastermind Award by the Dallas Observer. New work and specifically Dallas-based new work is his passion. He’s directed and produced over 20 new plays and musicals during his career. He is also an accomplished film, television and radio actor working with the likes of Francis Ford Coppola, Paul Giamatti, Felicity Huffman, Veronica Falcón, Judd Nelson, Danica McKellar and Peter Berg to name a few. He can build ANYTHING. He’s knows his way around a farm tractor, can navigate Class V rapids with ease and can dress, skin and quarter a whitetail in 40 minutes. He’s married to actor, TCU Theater Professor and international voice over star Lydia Mackay. Most importantly, Jeffrey is a product of the DFW arts community from college all the way to the present.

Associate Artistic Director, Christie Vela, joined the team in 2019. All of Christie’s ideas are theatrical gold and she never misses a chance to tell you. She Came to Dallas in 1993 from College Station, Tx and cut her theatre teeth at Teatro Dallas under the mentorship of Cora Cardona. Since then you've seen her work as a director, actor and designer at The Undermain Theatre, Shakespeare Dallas, Cara Mia Theatre, Stage West, Water Tower Theatre, Echo Theatre, Amphibian Theatre, Dallas Children's Theatre, UNT as a guest director, The Dallas Theatre Center as a founding member of the Diane and Hal Brierly Resident Acting Company, Kitchen Dog theatre as an Artistic Company Member, Second Thought Theatre as an Artistic Associate. For the past 14 years Christie has led the Advanced Acting Learning lab as adjunct faculty at Booker T Washington High School. She gained all of her arts in education experience at Big Thought under the Mentorship of Lisa Schmidt and Gigi Antoni where she led the Coming Up Taller award-winning program CREATIVE SOLUTIONS for 5 years. She spent much of her time at Big Thought travelling around the United states training actors, musicians and dancers to be artist instructors. She is also a frequent guest-director at Trinity Repertory Company in Providence Rhode Island, one of the country's most respected LORT theatres. She has also served as a guest lecturer and Master Acting Instructor at Brown University. Christie has also acted in film, commercials. She's a commercial director and accomplished voice-actor. She most recently directed her first feature film The Finale (available on Amazon) and is one of the hosts of TERROR AND TACOS, a podcast about horror movies and local taquerias. She's the mother of two brilliant and terrifying theatre- makers in their own right and is married to John M Flores, the kindest and smartest man alive.

Kat Edwards started at T3 as an apprentice in 2013. Impressing Jac Alder (one of T3’s
founders and then-AD) she was invited to join the organization full time Assistant to the AD. She worked her way through the administrative offices as the Executive Assistant, Company Manager, and finally, the Director of Strategic Marketing and Data Analysis. A shining example of T3 nurturing young talent. She's even directed, designed and stage managed for various T3 and T2 productions. About the only thing she hasn't done at T3 is act. After six years, she accepted the position of Operations Manager at Cry Havoc, Dallas premiere organization for Young Adult Theatre and guided them through several critically acclaimed seasons. Kat returned to T3 in 2022 as its new Managing Director where she has helped to successfully navigate the organization through tough times while implementing new programs such as the ART GALLERY SPACE in the lobby, helping to create a new annual fund-raising gala, finding new income-generating uses for our space, on-boarding & nurturing new board members who reflect the dynamic identity of T3 while maintaining relationships with valuable longtime supporters. Kat is passionate about creating a space for artists to do their best work without worrying about the day to day and providing an exciting front-of-house experience for the patron. She is not only the epitome but also the product of one T3’s principals; teaching, mentoring, promoting professionals from within our own community.