Chances are that neighborhood resident Taubert Nadalini will be coming to a theater near you.
Twelve-year-old Taubert began acting in productions around Dallas when he was 7 and was cast as a munchkin and an Emerald City dancer in Dallas Summer Musicals’ “Wizard of Oz.” Since then he has been cast in numerous productions, including Southern Methodist University’s opera “Turn of the Screw” and in this month’s “Shadowlands” at the Contemporary Theatre of Dallas.
“It’s fun to wear the costumes and see the set on stage," says Taubert, a sixth-grader at Highlander School. “It’s fun to be someone else on stage. Any play that I can, I’ll audition for.”
Taubert’s first exposure to theater was watching Woodrow Wilson High School’s production of “Wizard of Oz” at the age of 3 in East Dallas. He remembers that he loved it and began acting like the witch melting when he arrived home. Taubert returned to Woodrow’s stage a few years later when he was cast as a farm boy in “Oklahoma!”
Even though acting is fun for Taubert, it’s also work. Rehearsals for “Shadowlands” last from 7 until 11 p.m. most weeknights. He rushes home after school to finish homework and grab a bite to eat, and then heads to rehearsal.
His current play explores the later life of author C.S. Lewis, and Taubert was cast as Lewis’ stepson, Douglas. Jim Crawford will play C.S. Lewis, and it’s not the first time the actors have worked together. Taubert and Crawford played father and son in “A Christmas Carol” a few years ago when Taubert was Tiny Tim.
“The director (of “Shadowlands”) told them they had chemistry,” says Shannon Nadalini, Taubert’s mother.
To learn more about acting, Taubert has taken lessons at the Dallas Theater Center. And to hone his musical talents, he is a member of the Children’s Chorus of Greater Dallas, which took him on a 10-day trip to last summer.
Nadalini says she and her husband, Jimmy, don’t have the talent that Taubert does. And he has led the way on his acting interests.
“I’ve seen this passion since (Taubert’s) second Christmas” Nadalini says. “All he wanted was a ukulele.”
When Nadalini cleans Taubert’s room, she finds plays lying around that her son has written, and she’s saving them.
“I want to eventually get to Broadway and be an actor and director,” Taubert says. “I like being in charge a lot. I like sitting in the audience and seeing it all come together.”
Taubert tried something new last year when he was cast in the SMU’s “Turn of the Screw.” He says he didn’t think he would like it, but he did, even though singing was difficult for him.
“I ended up dying at the end,” Taubert says. “That was fun. I kind of twisted around and fell down.”
One of his aunts, a singer in a band, gave him a rock inscribed with the phrase “Believe in it.”
“I take it to every audition and rehearsal,” Taubert says. “It gives me confidence in myself.”
Shadowlands
When/ Friday, Feb. 9 through Sunday, March 4; Thursdays at 7:30 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 2 p.m.
Where/ 5601 Sears (one block west of Lower Greenville behind the Arcadia Theatre)
Cost/ $27; $22 for seniors and students
For information/ 214-828-0094 or contemporarytheatreofdallas.com
