![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Staereophonics1_ATTPAC.jpg\")
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t“Stereophonics,” starring Dallasite Claire DeJean (left), is set in a ’70s recording studio. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t“Stereophonics,” starring Dallasite Claire DeJean (left), is set in a ’70s recording studio. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
AT&T Performing Arts Center<\/p>\n
For the last nine months, Claire DeJean has been jet-setting across the country, starring as Diana, the female lead in the first national tour of the multiple Tony Award-winning <\/a>play \u201cStereophonic.\u201d But this weekend, she\u2019s staying with her family in Highland Park, getting some much-needed relaxation and restoration before the tour\u2019s closing weekend at the Winspear Opera House.\u00a0<\/p>\n DeJean, whose mom picked her up from the airport when she landed in Dallas for the five-show weekend, grew up in Highland Park before attending one of the nation\u2019s premier musical theatre programs at the University of Michigan and then joining the performing arts rat race in New York City.\u00a0<\/p>\n She saw the show \u201cStereophonic\u201d for the first time in September of 2024, months after it had been nominated for more Tony Awards than any other play in history, ultimately winning five. She thought, \u2018I could be in this show,\u2019 and she was right. The record-breaking three-hour play<\/a> is about a fictional band in the late \u201870s that struggles to record its second album over the course of a year, split into four acts. The show tackles creative burnout<\/a>, interpersonal relationship issues, addiction, the unknown terrains of success and the usual perils of coming of age. The play, which includes 16-bar snippets of live, original music and one full song, is set entirely in a recording studio.\u00a0<\/p>\n AT&T Performing Arts Center<\/p>\n Sign up for the Arts & Culture newsletter to get the latest stories delivered to your inbox<\/p>\n THANK YOU!<\/p>\n You’re all set.<\/p>\n CLOSE\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \u201cThis is kind of a perfect storm of all of the things that I love and that are very much me,\u201d DeJean says about the show. \u201cIt\u2019s cool because it\u2019s a play. There\u2019s amazing text, and story and characters\u2026 It\u2019s very rare that a play gets to go on tour.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cStereophonic\u201d has toured from sea to shining sea, but DeJean is particularly excited, and just a little bit scared, about ending the show back home.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThis is definitely written in the stars for many different reasons,\u201d she says. \u201cI feel so relieved in a way, too, to be able to come home after this kind of insane eight months of my life. I\u2019ve learned so much from this experience. I don\u2019t really get to come home a lot because I live in New York now. I\u2019m so tied up there, so it\u2019s special to get to be here.\u201d<\/p>\n Friday will be DeJean\u2019s first time on the Winspear stage instead of in the audience, and she\u2019ll spend, give or take, 15 hours in three days at center stage.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe love for the show keeps me going, and it reinvigorates and inspires me every day,\u201d she says. \u201cBut it is hard. I\u2019ve done over 200 shows at this point, and it still feels new. We really work to give people the best show that we can every night. But it\u2019s hard, I can\u2019t even sugarcoat it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n AT&T Performing Arts Center<\/p>\n Creative burnout in the pursuit of perfection is a central theme within the show, and it\u2019s what makes it resonate with so many.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI love getting to meet older women who come see the show, and they connect with my character,\u201d says DeJean. \u201cAt the same time, I\u2019m playing a woman in the \u201970s that\u2019s around the same age that I am now. She\u2019s just a girl who\u2019s finding her way and figuring things out, and has the pressures of her career and her life. I can relate to that a lot.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n After DeJean takes her final bow, she\u2019ll return to New York City (though she\u2019ll be stopping by her favorite bakery, JD\u2019s Chippery<\/a>, for some cookies before boarding her flight), ready to continue auditioning in a troubled arts landscape<\/a>. It\u2019s scary. It\u2019s exciting. It\u2019s essential to her happiness.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWithin my experience on the tour, I\u2019ve felt grateful that every day I get to do what I love\u2026 I wish I could say I\u2019m going to go back to New York and be carefree, but I care a lot,\u201d she says. \u201cI feel like I\u2019m always going to care about what the next thing is going to be. But being grateful for where I\u2019m at right now and understanding that I\u2019ll be back in this place again at some point keeps me going.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Stereophonics_ATTPAC.jpg\")
The seven characters in \u201cStereophonic\u201d never leave the stage the entire three-hour show \u2014 except for intermission, obviously. <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/ClairDeJean_Stereophonics_ATTPAC.jpg\")
The fictional band in \u201cStereophonic\u201d has been likened to Fleetwood Mac. DeJean\u2019s character is inspired by Stevie Nicks, and her love interest, Peter, played by Denver Milord, is her Lindsey Buckingham. <\/p>\n