DCT NEWS TEAM: On Friday, Dallas Children’s Theater opens Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters. The play is based on John Steptoe’s Caldecott Award-winning book that puts an African spin on the Cinderella story. To get the scoop on the production, DCT sent its Anchorkids to track down executive artistic director Robyn Flatt for a hard-hitting interview, which you can watch above.

THE WORD FROM NEW YORK: Emily Emmett and Michael Williams, the best actress and actor winners at this year’s Dallas Summer Musicals High School Musical Theatre Awards, are in New York City this weekend for the National High School Musical Theater Awards. And they are sharing their experiences through through photos and blog posts on DSM’s blog. On Day 1 alone, they had some New York-style pizza and made plans to hit Sardi’s, so it sounds as if they’re fitting right in.

THE NATURAL II: If you pitched a studio on a fictional movie similar to Josh Hamilton’s life story, they’d laugh you out of the room. His journey from high draft pick to down-and-out drug addict to the best player in the game would be considered too much of a stretch. Of course, we’ve seen the real story play out locally, and that’s why Casey Affleck has been given the greenlight to write and direct the movie. More details are at dfw.com, who picks up the thread from a deadline.com report.