A damaged android who spends his days repairing other broken robots is headed to Dallas's Arts District, in a wordless production built from circus arts, projections, robotics, and sign language. Prism Movement Theater will premiere Scrap Heart at Hamon Hall inside the Winspear Opera House as part of the AT&T Performing Arts Center's Elevator Project.
According to CultureMap Dallas, Scrap Heart is a devised production created with Deaf artists and features Deaf and disabled performers from across Texas, designed specifically for Deaf audiences.
The show's plot centers on a broken android who dedicates himself to bringing other damaged robots back to life, told through circus arts, projections, LED programming, robotics, sign language, and dance rather than spoken dialogue, according to TACA-Arts.org. That accessible, multidisciplinary approach reflects the mission of Prism Movement Theater itself.
A Grant-Backed Path to the Winspear Stage
Scrap Heart's road to Hamon Hall has been paved by local arts philanthropy. TACA awarded Prism Movement Theater a $22,500 grant from its New Works Fund for the production in October 2025, part of $125,000 distributed across four North Texas theater organizations. TACA's New Works Fund has invested more than $1 million into 33 regional performing arts works since 2012.
The company has drawn support from multiple funders beyond TACA: in 2026, Prism Movement Theater was named among 70 small and mid-sized Dallas arts organizations receiving grants from the Moody Fund for the Arts.
Small Theaters Lean on Local Funding
In June 2025, TACA distributed $650,000 in Catalyst Grants as unrestricted organizational funding across 50 Dallas arts groups, including Prism Movement Theater, as reported by KERA News. Local grantmaking of this kind has become increasingly central to keeping independent companies producing new work.
Scrap Heart's placement within the Elevator Project points to another layer of institutional support.
For Prism Movement Theater, that support has translated into a rare opportunity to perform inside one of Dallas's flagship venues, with dedicated performances built around ASL access and a built-in audience exchange between Deaf and hearing theatergoers when Scrap Heart opens next July.
