On a cloudy Thursday afternoon, neighbors gathered on the sidewalk in Dallas' Lake Highlands neighborhood and waited for royalty to arrive.
"Six feet apart," two girls dressed in princess outfits said to each other as they giggled. "Here she comes!"
That's when Maya Hernandez-Pearson got out of a white SUV, dressed as the Snow Queen Princess. "Everybody loves princesses," Hernandez-Pearson said.
The musical theater major from Sam Houston State University has been home from school because of COVID-19. She missed performing, so Hernandez-Pearson found an audience.
Photos: Musical Theater Student Turns Dallas Neighborhoods into Her Stage
"All of us are very lost right now," Hernandez-Pearson said. "I don't know that we've still reached any kind of normal."
Hernandez-Pearson's new normal is taking musical theater to the people. She started performing free curbside princess shows, singing some favorite Disney songs.
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"If singing princesses make people happy, that sure makes me happy," Hernandez-Pearson said. "Bring joy to kids in the same way I know I got when I was younger from meeting fairytales characters.
Hernandez-Pearson plans to graduate from Sam Houston State University next spring with a BFA in musical theater. For now, she performs free curbside neighborhood visits and can be booked for paid social distance princess parties.
*Map locations are approximate, central locations for the city and are not meant to indicate where actual infected people live.
