“I believe in me. Do you believe in me?” was the question posed by then, 10-year-old Dalton Sherman. The 5th grade DISD student delivered the keynote speech at a back-to-school rally to kick off the 2008-2009 school year. His powerful speech brought a crowd of almost 20,000 teachers and staff to their feet last August.
Watch his speech here:
Since then, he’s been very busy. Dalton’s performance received hundreds of thousands of views on YouTube. He’s delivered his speech on “Oprah's Search for the World's Smartest and Most Talented Kids.” And he’s been a guest on the Ellen DeGeneres Show.
Now, his famous speech, “Do You Believe In Me?,” has incited a musical.
Fort Worth nonprofit theater company, Kids Who Care, debuts the play, "District XI – Believe in Me," this weekend at W. E. Scott Theatre.
Kids Who Care founder Deborah Jung says this play has been a long time coming, but it was Dalton’s speech that brought the idea full circle.
“This show we’ve been trying to write for about seven or eight years, and we’d start to write it and it wouldn’t take off,” Jung said. “So with Dalton’s speech, it was the right year, at the right time.”
This play is meant to provoke serious questions about the educational system, while still providing a light-hearted theatrical performance for attendees.
The play debuts Thursday at 7:30pm and will be shown at matinee and evening times throughout the weekend.
