New York, NY, August 24, 2005 – The League of American Theatres and Producers, Inc. announced today the recipients of its tenth annual National Education Grants. These grants support innovative programs that enable students from coast to coast to experience touring Broadway as a form of artistic expression and as an educational tool.

The 2005 National Education Grants program bestows $5,000 to each of 10 presenters of touring Broadway shows across the U.S. for the development or support of education programs associated with touring productions. Since it was founded in 1996, the League’s National Education Grants program has awarded $500,000 in grants to support education efforts of Broadway presenting organizations. The League administers this program with generous additional financial support from Theatre Development Fund.

During the past year, theatre education professionals at organizations that present touring Broadway productions have worked closely with local teachers and community organizations to create activities that engage young people with theatre and enhance their academic experiences.

“League-member presenting organizations have once again demonstrated their commitment to creating innovative learning strategies designed to heighten critical thinking, problem solving-skills, and the examination of relevant social themes by incorporating the act of theatregoing into the formal educational experience,” commented Jed Bernstein, President, The League of American Theatres and Producers, Inc. “These programs serve a diverse population that includes students who may not otherwise have an opportunity to experience live theatre due to economic and/or geographic constraints.”

This year, the ten programs that were awarded grants of $5,000 each are as follows:

The Fox Theatre Inc., Atlanta, GA
Then and Now, Metamorphosis: The Fox Theatre will invite students to learn about the historical background surrounding the musical Little Women. They will compare and contrast the social conditions and issues of the 1860s to today, analyze the information learned, study how dramatists use history, and transfer their knowledge into a literary and/or artistic form. The Fox will work with three groups of students including participants in after-school programs at the Boys and Girls Clubs; a new playwriting class at North Atlanta, the performing arts high school for the city of Atlanta; Camp Broadway 2005 and Good Moves, a dance group. They will continue their studies in artistic workshops through the year.

Shea’s Performing Arts Center, Buffalo, NY
Movin’ Out Master Classes: Exploring the Vietnam War Era: This project creates an opportunity for an in-depth audience enrichment experience for 40 participating local high school students. Designed to introduce the students to the political and emotional climate surrounding the Vietnam War as it relates to the music and plot of Movin’ Out, this program will combine after-school workshops with interviews of local Vietnam War veterans and the attendance of a live theatre performance at Shea’s Performing Arts Center. Students will use research, discussion and creative writing to explore the historical aspects of Movin’ Out.

Victoria Theatre Association, Dayton, OH
United By Diversity: The United by Diversity project is a uniquely personal exploration of the critical issues of civil rights and integration associated with the 1960s. This project of particular relevance to African American students will afford area high school students the opportunity to witness first-hand the civil rights struggles in America through guest speakers, education specialists, original art collages, and a live stage performance of the Broadway smash hit Hairspray.

Florida Theatrical Association, Ft. Lauderdale, FL
Wicked: Exploring New Twists on Old Favorites: Students in grades 9-12 in South Florida (Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties) will have the opportunity to develop their playwrighting techniques by writing a new play based on an existing story of their choice, changing the outcome and/or circumstance of the story. Project elements include workshops, attendance of the national tour of Wicked, professional arts critiques, chat-backs with professionals and a performance of the top submitted plays by Florida Theatrical Association’s student performance troupe, Broadway’s CLASS ACT. The project will serve as the inaugural year of a new playwrights program that will become an annual event.

Peace Center for the Performing Arts, Greenville, SC
Gateway to Broadway: A Rural Outreach: The Peace Center will conduct an outreach program to provide a positive gateway experience in the performing arts for an underserved, rural school district. Drama students from Liberty High School will attend performances of The Boy Friend and Movin’ Out while participating in a series of artist-directed workshops in critical analysis, staging and design, acting auditions and stage movement to create a continuous encounter with musical theatre over the course of the school year. The students will complete a facilitated writing project designed to show their increased capacity to engage the theatre experience on intellectual, emotional and social grounds.

Theater League, Inc., Kansas City, MO
Movin’ Out Musical Theatre Writer’s Project: Theater League will partner with Wyandotte High School to enhance the school’s pre-existing musical theatre curriculum via a multi-leveled educational experience. Students will attend the national tour of Movin’ Out in Kansas City and participate in workshops centering on the themes of war and artistic expression. Using educational resources from the National Headquarters of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, an Alvin Ailey in-school residency and local teaching-artists, the students will create their own music theatre piece exploring their perception of war in their own lifetime. This production will debut in a community performance at the end of the school year.

The Orpheum Theatre, Memphis, TN
Movin’ Out: A Movement in History and Dance: This program will use Movin’ Out to impress upon students the narrative abilities of modern dance using the theme of the Vietnam War. The primary participants will be at-risk students enrolled in modern dance classes at Dance Works, Inc. Students will learn about the Vietnam War and study the choreography of Twyla Tharp. They will also participate in a master class and attend a performance of Movin’ Out. Local artists, professional educators, and Vietnam veterans will interact with the dance students to help them create a new dance piece based on their own experiences and the ideas and principles of Movin’ Out.

Hennepin Theatre Trust, Minneapolis, MN
Critical View: Twenty-five senior high students enrolled in the Critical View class at the Interdistrict Downtown School (IDDS) will attend six touring Broadway productions and write reviews as part as a larger curriculum that includes comparative literature, critical thinking and creative response. The class will be co-taught by a Hennepin Theatre Trust (HTT) teaching artist and an IDDS classroom teacher to provide a comprehensive exploration of the productions within a context of the larger world of theatre and other art forms. Participants will meet theatre professionals to learn various aspects of theatre production and creative process. Selected reviews will be published in a variety of media outlets.

Connecticut Association for the Performing Arts, New Haven, CT
Literary Lessons: Little Women Project: This grant will enable students at high schools in the New Haven community to study this classic novel, relate it to contemporary coming-of-age literature, and attend the Broadway musical Little Women at the Shubert Theater. Literature will come to life with the assistance of guest artists who will provide students with insights into the process of marketing theatre, writing a novel, and how the two come together when dramatizing the written word.

Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, Inc., Tampa, FL
After Wicked / After Oz: A Broadway Sequel Project: This initiative will be a three-month arts education program designed around The Center’s presentation of Wicked. Center staff and instructors will partner with local high school English and drama teachers to create a program that will engage students in developing original plot narratives and monologues as sequels to L. Frank Baum’s The Wizard of Oz. After viewing the Hollywood film adaptation of Baum’s novel, the students will read Gregory McGuire’s Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West. They will learn about story and character development as they create their prequels and sequels.

“Young people represent the future of our audiences, and we are proud to help Broadway fulfill its responsibility to share the unique power of live theatre with them,” Bernstein states. “We firmly believe that in addition to their intrinsic educational value, the performing arts can be a useful pedagogical tool through which educators can initiate dialogue about important issues and concerns of people of all ages. The arts inspire, and we are proud to help presenters of touring Broadway shows to integrate theatergoing into the curriculum of students in their communities.”

In addition to the National Education Grants program, the League also administers similar grants for education programs affiliated with Broadway productions in New York City each year.

The League of American Theatres and Producers, Inc., founded in 1930 and operating under the trademark “Live Broadway,” is the national trade association for the Broadway industry. The League’s 550-plus members include theatre owners and operators, producers, presenters, and general managers in over 140 North American cities, as well as suppliers of goods and services to the theatre industry. Each year, League members bring Broadway to more than 25 million people in New York and on tour across the U.S. and Canada. www.LiveBroadway.com.

For more information on these programs, call Rachel Reiner at (212) 703-0215.