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 2 other 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.

Sarah Barnes is the woman behind the curtain, pay no attention to her. T3 has been her theatrical home since 2016. She was the Resident Stage Manager at Theatre Britain for six years. Additionally, she has stage Managed at various locations in DFW as well as Chicago, Cleveland, and Sarastoa, FL. In her free time she plays roller derby. Some of her friends call her Duckie.

David Saldivar has been the Operations Manager since 2019. In addition to his daily administration work, he is T3’s resident fight choreographer and the current lead instructor for Fight Nights. He continues to work with local theaters & high schools as a fight choreographer including Shakespeare Dallas, Bishop Arts Theatre, Irving MainStage, and others. When he is not working on projects, he spends his time with his dog or finding hole in the wall taquerias with friends.

Tayla Underwood is a recent graduate from the #1 public HBCU in the nation. The Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University. As T3's unofficial ornamental hermit, much like "Where's Waldo?", you can find her anywhere in the building if you look hard enough. Whether she's set up at the Box Office or the T2 green room she's getting to the bag for T3. Tayla is proud to call T3 her home and looks forward to making her way in the Dallas arts community both on stage and behind the scenes.

James Chandler is the Box Office and Front of House Manager here at T3. If you are wondering where you have seen him before, he is also an award-winning actor/director who has worked for several theatres all over the DFW area, across the country, and off-Broadway. You may also have heard his voice talents on various tv shows, cartoons, and films. He is a member of Actor's Equity Association.

Isa Flores has worked at T3, where she considers her safe space, as a Box Office Agent since 2017. In that time she's also submitted a Monday Night Playwright, provided blood and SFX for multiple productions, and was featured as a gally artist. She is a graduate of KD Conservatory of Film and Performing Arts where she studied film production. Isa has worked on a number of productions and some indie films in DFW doing gore effects and/or wardrobe. In her spare time she like to write and paint.

Kelechi Imoh graduated from UTA with a BA in Theatre Arts. She is a former T3 apprentice and happy to continue on working in this new capacity. Kelechi comes from a big family, so she's used to handling a lot. In her free time she likes playing Just Dance, watching reality competition TV shows, meeting new people, and having a good laugh. Kelechi is always looking to fill up the glass of water to drink it in the end. She thanks everyone who has helped her get to this point.

Dylan Hearn is a graduate of Savannah College of Art and Design with a B.F.A. in Sound Design. He loves making weird sounds in multiple different mediums like animation, film, and theatre. The people in the office love his work. Dylan has experience as an Audio Engineer, Sound Designer, re-recording Mixer, and his favorite otamatone player. His love of both theatre and film pushes him to be a sound designer that blends the two realms of media and creates something new.

Nicholas Thornburg is proud to consistently be the worst dressed person at T3. He has worked as a stagehand and set builder since 2002, with many companies including: Virginia Stage Company, Virginia Arts Festival, Virginia Opera, kentucky Shakespeare Festival, Cleveland Playhouse, The Huntington, and others. Nicholas has also taught Stagecraft and Production at the Governor's School for the Arts and Old Dominion University in Norfolk, VA. He is also a freelance scenic designer and artisan carpenter, and makes a darn good pecan pie.

Alaric is a design and technical apprentice here at Theatre 3. He has been fortunate enough to have been given many opportunities and of these opportunities he is truly grateful to get to learn about the entire theatrical process at T3, it is a dream of Alaric to become a full time designer and is looking forward to a great year of learning with Theatre 3!

Ash is a Production Apprentice here at Theatre Three and they are very excited to have the opportunity to work with so many amazing artists this season! They have worked with Theatre Three before as the T2 stage manager during the FIT festival as well as the light/sound board operator for the improv group Dry Clean Only. Ash looks forward to expanding upon and diversifying their skills in production and stage management during their time here as an apprentice.

Nina Louise has been T3's Barktistic Director since 2023. Her nicknames include Nina Beans and Squiggle-butt. She takes her job seriously as head of morale. She is always happy to meet new people but has great anxiety about attending meetings without Jeffrey.