Our Story

Our founder and executive director, Daphne Cox, has been doing this for a long time. She directed her first youth production at only 18 years old, and for the past 33 years, she has continued to use her immense experience to share her passion for performing with children wherever she can reach them. She has directed main stage youth productions in West Memphis, AR, Memphis, TN, Hernando,  MS, and more across the Mid-South; directed two- to three-week intensive summer camps several years in a row; led after-school theatre classes for the past ten years; and even brought up her own, now adult, children in the wonderful world of theatre. 

But of course, she couldn’t stop there. Daphne — with the help of long-time friend, collaborator, and fellow Mid-South theatre veteran Susan Zeringue — set out to start her own business from scratch, a weekly after-school and homeschool program for varying levels of experience known as the Dramatic Repertory Association for Music and Arts (DRAMA), to not only continue connecting with new generations of performers, but make great strides toward accomplishing her lifelong dream: establishing a children’s theater.

"We aren't in the business of making stars," Daphne often said to describe the goal of DRAMA. To Daphne, teaching children's theatre has never been about whether her students went on to win awards or perform on Broadway — though some certainly have, and she couldn't be prouder — it has always been about one thing: "We want children to have confidence in who they are." 

We believe that everyone needs a safe place to learn what they love and discover who they are meant to be. They need a place to learn how to collaborate, how to solve problems, how to find confidence. We believe theatre should be a nurturing and accessible environment for individuals from all walks of life, and we want to provide an invaluable experience that our students may otherwise not have access to. We currently teach children ages 3-18 years skills such as teamwork, self-discipline, overcoming mistakes, public speaking, and much more all through the performing arts.

On May 17th, 2024, just over one year after DRAMA was born, the Mid-South Academy for Children's Theatrics officially launched, the next huge step in making her dream come true. With the endless support and efforts of those who now comprise our Board of Directors — many of whom are parents of students who have grown up under Daphne's direction — we embarked on the arduous but rewarding journey of establishing ourselves as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, which gives us access to many invaluable resources and opportunities to achieve our goals. 

While we are incredibly excited for MSACT, we are still taking baby steps in this period of growth and transition. We currently offer DRAMA after-school programs and SummerACT intensive workshops, as well as occasionally partner with community organizations for individual workshops, and embarked on our first main-stage youth production in Fall 2024. In the future, we hope to find a performance center to call our permanent home base and hold after-school classes for low-income and disadvantaged students in the Mid-South.