Youth Theatre Shows

Waco Civic Theatre has been a vital home of theatre education for our city’s young people since 1968, and Petra Williams is honored to be a part of that continuing legacy.  A Baylor Graduate, with a BFA in Theatre Performance, Petra has worked professionally for over twenty years in NYC, Portland, and now Waco as an actor, educator, and theatre administrator. Her own childhood experience of discovering the beauty and change that theatre can create in our world has made bringing this art and training to children her greatest passion.

Upon completing her BFA in 2005, Petra moved to NYC to pursue her professional career. While there she worked as an actor in the city and touring shows within the New England area. Her most notable roles included Juliet in Romeo and Juliet with the Staten Island Shakespeare Festival, and Elain Robinson in The Graduate with the Theatre Barn of New Lebanon NY. While in NYC Petra also worked as a Marketing Intern of the Roundabout Theatre Company on Broadway and trained in drama therapy as a teaching assistant at the Rebecca School, a school for children with neurodivergence. Upon moving to Portland, OR with her husband Petra became a mother of two and a company member of the Original Practice Shakespeare Festival. Her most noted roles included Queen Elizabeth in Richard III, Ophelia in Hamlet, Adriana in Comedy of Errors, Titania in Midsummer Night’s Dream, Emilia in Othello, and Reagan in King Lear.  In addition to her program completion of Stop Motion Animation from the School of Visual Arts of NYC, Petra also completed continuing education and received certificates in Marketing, Social Media, and Entry Level Accounting from Portland Community College.

Like many families impacted by the Covid pandemic, Petra and her family moved to Waco in search of new opportunities and to be closer to family. And it’s good to be back home! Once settled in Waco, she and her husband, Judson, were thrilled at how the arts and theatre have blossomed in Waco. But there didn’t seem to be any kind of theatre organization that was purely focused on bringing professional theatre for young audiences to the families and schools in the area. So in 2021, the Heart of Texas Children’s Theatre was born with Petra taking the role of Founder and Executive Director. Since then, the company has produced 4 successful shows and toured them at such historic Waco locations such as the Hippodrome, Lee Lockwood, and Jones Theatre at Baylor University as well as local schools with more tours coming this season! She has also designed curriculum and taught multiple classes and camps for youths throughout the Waco area for the past 3 years. Petra is thrilled to be now working with the Waco Civic in this capacity to to continue to help grow the next generation of theatre artists for our great city!

For questions, contact Petra at education@wacocivictheatre.com