STAGES THEATRE IN-SCHOOL PROGRAMS
BRING THE ARTS INTO YOUR CLASSROOM!
Study after study shows a positive correlation between student participation in theatre arts and student achievement in school - from academic performance (literature, mathematics, science), to social emotional learning, to increased standardized test scores. Stages Theatre Company Education Programs has developed a variety of in-school programs that align with Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards in Arts Education, designed to engage students in the Twin Cities and greater Minnesota onsite at their school or community site.
See below for Stages Theatre Company’s offerings for your school, program site, and age/grade level during the 2023-2024 school year:
PRESCHOOL
SET (Sensory Exploratory Theatre) Story
Turn your classroom into a world of play with SET (Sensory Exploratory Theatre) Story! Stages Theatre Company’s innovative, touring, educational, creative play experience for the very young, SET Story, is back by popular demand. Using theatrical storytelling and tactile, sensory integration activities, Teaching Artists will guide your students through a dramatic adventure in which they will use their own bodies, voices and imaginations to meet characters, become characters, and work together to solve the problems within the imaginary worlds of story and play.
Hours, Pricing & Dates
DATES: Select Wednesdays & Fridays, November - December, 2023 and Mid-January - February, 2024
TIME: SET Story is a 35-40 minute experience. It can be repeated up to 4 times within one school day to accommodate multiple classrooms.
CAPACITY: 25 students. Due to the highly interactive nature of the experience, capacity is strictly limited to 25 students (as few as 10 students is welcomed; SET Story scales down very well to smaller class sizes!).
PRICE: $175 per SET Story experience, discount applied for additional performances at same site.
SPACE REQUIREMENTS: An open space large enough for all participants to be able to stand up and do small movements (in place) throughout the experience. A multipurpose room or gym is perfect!
Is SET Story right for my classroom? SET Story is perfect for daycares and preschools. Additionally, we are able to accommodate students of all ages who are in SPED programs, students who are on the Autism spectrum, and other students that would benefit from tactile, sensory-based theatre experiences.
For more information EMAIL or call Matt Ouren, Education Coordinator at 952-979-1112.
Story Drama
Story Drama lays the groundwork for collaborative learning, fosters social-emotional and motor skills development, and cultivates a sense of discovery & empathy in young students. Each class meeting highlights a new story, with a new jumping off point for dramatic adventure. Using books and stories (determined in partnership with classroom teachers!) as a guiding roadmap, Stages’ Teaching Artists’ lead students on dramatic journeys to discover different environments, create and play characters, and solve problems using their bodies, voices & imaginations!
Hours, Pricing & Dates
Recommended Instructional Hours: 3-6
Instructional hours can be divided into 30 minute, 45-minute and/or 60 minute sessions and scheduled to fit the needs of your classroom.
Price Per Instructional Hour: $115.00
For more information EMAIL or call Megan Collins, Education Director at 952-979-1117.
Theatre 360
Theatre 360 gives your students a full circle theatrical experience: an in-school theatre-exploration residency, a field trip to see a play, and a backstage tour & talkback with the production team. Theatre Exploration residencies allow students to explore dramatic play, improvisation, and acting performance in a safe, supported, in-school environment. Residency curriculum connects to the themes & content of the production, and includes lessons on the “backstage” aspects of theatre! Field trip tickets are provided at a discounted rate, and each field trip includes a backstage & onstage tour given by a staff member associated with the production.
2023 – 2024 Productions include: The Day You Begin, Spookley the Square Pumpkin, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast JR., Dragons Love Tacos, The Name Jar
Hours, Pricing & Dates
Pricing per hour of instruction: $115.00
Recommended Schedule:
- 4 or 6 hours PRIOR to the field trip
- 1 Field Trip & Backstage Tour (Tickets priced at Residency Rate ($115) for 1 hour)
- 1 hour AFTER the field trip
8- Hour Experience (including tickets): $920
Instructional hours can be divided into 30 minute, 45-minute and/or 60 minute sessions and scheduled to fit the needs of your classroom. Custom packages of longer or shorter lengths are available upon request.
Recommended Productions:
The Day You Begin by Jacqueline Woodson: September – November, 2023
Spookley the Square Pumpkin by Joe Troiano: September – November, 2023
Disney’s Beauty and the Beast JR: October – December, 2023
Dragon’s Love Tacos by Adam Rubin: January – March, 2024
The Name Jar by Yangsook Choi: February – April, 2024
For more information EMAIL or call Megan Collins, Education Director at 952-979-1117.
KINDERGARTEN
ARTS INTEGRATION: THEATRE & LITERACY
Use theatre to expand and deepen literacy skills! The theatre arts are a natural partner with early literacy skills. Stages Theatre Company teaching artists will join your classroom with innovative curriculum that brings literacy lessons to life. All curriculum is built around grade-based standards, and is designed to activate students learning.
Recommended Instructional Hours: 3-6
Instructional hours can be divided into 30 minute, 45-minute and/or 60 minute sessions and scheduled to fit the needs of your classroom.
Price Per Instructional Hour: $115.00
Arts Integration: Theatre & Literacy Residencies are offered from January – April, 2024
For more information EMAIL or call Megan Collins, Education Director at 952-979-1117.
THEATRE EXPLORATION
Students learn how to use their “Actor Toolbox”—body, voice, and imagination – to play, create and tell stories! Theatre Exploration classes incorporate age-appropriate acting exercises, dramatic play, music, storytelling, and theatre making. This residency can be paired with literature or literacy concepts being learned concurrently, or stand on its own! Residency curriculum aligns with Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards in Arts Education, and is designed to fit the needs of your classroom.
Hours, Pricing & Dates
Recommended Instructional Hours: 3-6
Instructional hours can be divided into 30 minute, 45-minute and/or 60 minute sessions and scheduled to fit the needs of your classroom.
Price Per Instructional Hour: $115.00
Theatre Exploration Residencies are offered from January – April, 2024
For more information EMAIL or call Matt Ouren, Education Coordinator at 952-979-1112.
GRADES 4 – 6
Theatre 360
Theatre 360 gives your students the full circle experience: a theatre-exploration in-school residency, a field trip to see a play, and a backstage tour & talkback with the production team. Theatre Exploration residencies allow students to explore improvisation, playwriting, and acting performance in a safe, supported, in-school environment. Residency curriculum connects to the themes & content of the production, and includes lessons on the “backstage” aspects of theatre! Field trip tickets are provided at a discounted rate, and each field trip includes a backstage & onstage tour given by a staff member associated with the production.
2023 – 2024 Productions include: The Name Jar or Roald Dahl’s Matilda the Musical JR
Hours, Pricing & Dates
Pricing per hour of instruction: $115.00
Recommended Schedule:
- 4 or 6 hours PRIOR to the field trip
- 1 Field Trip & Backstage Tour (Tickets priced at Residency Rate ($115) for 1 hour)
- 1 hour AFTER the field trip
6 - Hour Experience (including tickets): $690
Instruction hours can be divided into 30 minute, 45-minute and/or 60 minute sessions and scheduled to fit the needs of your classroom. Custom packages of longer or shorter lengths are available upon request.
Recommended Productions:
The Name Jar by Yangsook Choi: February – April, 2024
Roald Dahl’s Matilda the Musical JR: March – May, 2024
For more information EMAIL or call Megan Collins, Education Director at 952-979-1117..
Perspectives on Peace
Perspectives on Peace (PoP) is an award-winning, statewide arts residency program developed by Stages Theatre Company that has reached 1,500+ students. PoP illuminates current world events and broadens students’ attitudes toward tolerance, respect, understanding, and peace using arts-integrated instruction and performance that ties to social studies, language, and arts curricula. Working with professional teaching artists, students discover, through writing and performance, what peace means to them and creatively express their viewpoints through a showcase at the end of each residency.
Hours, Pricing & Dates
12 Instructional Hours (10+ hours required, due to writing AND performance components)
Pricing per hour of instruction: $100.00
Perspectives on Peace Residencies are offered throughout the entirety of the school year, September – May.
For more information EMAIL or call Megan Collins, Education Director at 952-979-1117.
Theatre Exploration
Students learn how to use their “Actor Toolbox”—body, voice, and imagination – to create, tell, and perform stories! Theatre Exploration classes incorporate age-appropriate acting exercises, music, movement, storytelling, and theatre making. This residency can be paired with literature or literacy concepts being learned concurrently, or stand on its own! Residency curriculum aligns with Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards in Arts Education, and is designed to fit the needs of your classroom.
Hours, Pricing & Dates
Recommended Instructional Hours: 3-6
Instructional hours can be divided into 30 minute, 45-minute and/or 60 minute sessions and scheduled to fit the needs of your classroom.
Price Per Instructional Hour: $115.00
Theatre Exploration Residencies are offered from January – April, 2024
For more information EMAIL or call Megan Collins, Education Director at 952-979-1117.
SCHOOL PLAYS
Elementary schools, Middle schools & Community Education departments can partner with Stages Theatre Company Education Programs to produce a musical, or play, onsite at your school! Stages Theatre Company has a full staff of theater arts professionals with experience in all areas of production. Teaching Artists will lead your school play serving as directors, choreographers, music directors, sets, properties, and costume designers for your students! While this experience does culminate in a final performance, the emphasis throughout is on the process: learning what it takes to put on a show, and experiencing the joy that comes with creating something together with others.
Hours, Pricing & Dates
Recommended Schedule:
Approx. 32 Hours of After-School Rehearsals
2 days a week (8 weeks) for 2 hours per rehearsal
3 days a week (6 weeks) for 2 hours per rehearsal
2 performances – Friday Evening, Saturday Afternoon
Pricing per hour of Instruction: $250.00 (assumes 3 Stages personnel, includes set, props, costumes)
Additional fees may apply, including royalties, licensing, or script fees, etc.
School Play Programs are offered throughout the entirety of the school year, September – May
Due to scheduling demands, the deadline for booking for the 2023-2024 School Year is Friday, June 30th, 2023
For more information EMAIL or call Matt Ouren, Education Coordinator at 952-979-1112.
FAIR SCHOOL PARTNERSHIP SITES
FAIR SCHOOL PILGRIM LANE (KINDERGARTEN – GRADE 5)
Stages Theatre Company is proud to be the theatre arts partner at FAIR (Fine Arts Interdisciplinary Resource) School Pilgrim Lane. FAIR Pilgrim Lane is a unique educational opportunity for students in Kindergarten through Grade 5 where the five arts disciplines are highlighted throughout the curriculum and school day. By experiencing dance, media art, music, visual arts and theater, students at FAIR Pilgrim Lane learn in and through the arts.
Interdisciplinary arts learning at FAIR Pilgrim Lane encompasses three main areas. Students receive instruction in music, visual arts and theater with a specialist teacher in each of those areas. Students have the opportunity to experience a variety of arts during artist residencies and field trips with Stages Theatre Company.
Arts learning strategies and outcomes are infused into literacy, math, science and social studies. Grade level teachers regularly collaborate with arts specialist teachers to create meaningful learning experiences that meet academic standards in both arts and content areas. During a literacy lesson, you may see a class critiquing a work of art; during a math lesson, you may hear students composing their own patterns!
FAIR SCHOOL CRYSTAL (GRADE 6-8)
FAIR School Crystal was conveyed to the Robbinsdale School District in the summer of 2015, although Stages Theatre Company has served as the theatre arts partner since the school’s inception in 2005. Students at FAIR School Crystal have the opportunity to participate in Stages Theatre Company led theatre classes during the school day, as well as participating in two afterschool productions produced by Stages Theatre Company each school year.
At FAIR School Crystal, interdisciplinary education allows students to integrate skills, concepts, and ways of learning. The colorful and dynamic physical forms of the school- the auditorium railings, for example, are based on the Fibonacci sequence - offer bright and joyful environments for dance, music, media, technology and more.
FAIR Crystal educates through STEAM: Science, technology, engineering, arts, and math. Together, the arts and STEM provide nearly limitless opportunities to develop future-focused skills like creativity, critical thinking, problem solving, and collaboration. FAIR Crystal inspires curiosity and a spirit of inquiry, empowering students to ask thought provoking questions that promote creativity and exploration.
FAIR SCHOOL FOR ARTS (GRADES 9-12)
Stages Theatre Company is proud to be a part of the student enrichment experience through a partnership with FAIR School for Arts.
FAIR School for Arts is the Downtown Minneapolis premier community school. Rooted in arts, equity, innovation and creativity, the FAIR School for Arts provides rich programming, relevant instruction, and fosters high achievement, cultural understanding, global citizenship, and a robust network of partnerships that help engage and empower students in personalizing their learning experience.
FAIR School for Arts provides a safe, integrated, equitable, and multi-generational learning community where rigorous study combined with real world experiences and opportunities allow every student to understand who they are. Students get to know their strengths, talents, and passions so they can engage and transform their world.
