Sightlines
School's Out for Summer!
Posted on 06/04/2019
With the weather warming up and summer beginning to make its presence known, it is time for our Performances for Schools 2018-2019 season to come to a close. This year nearly 19,000 students and teachers attended the 21 school day matinee performances at State Theatre—with events ranging from adaptations of Eric Carle’s classic stories of The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia, all the way to the national tour of RENT. Students experienced the art of ballet in Nutcracker, but also had a chance to laugh along with The Man Who Planted Trees, a play based off the short story by Jean Giono. Whether teachers were looking to expose their classes to the arts in directly connection with their lessons, like the science teachers who brought their students to Erth’s Prehistoric Aquarium Adventure to learn more about dinosaurs and other ancient creatures, or just wanted to bring them in for a fun time listening to STOMP and their symphony of sounds, every school was able to find something that fit with their curriculum.
Then after each performance, we always have a few classes and teachers who love to share what they thought of the show! One of our favorite pastimes here is going through this kind of mail.
Packages and emails from teachers like Jo Winik, of Haworth School, whose class put together a wonderfully colorful letter for us to say that Nutcracker is something that she “looks forward to making an annual event for my 5th grade class” is the community response that reminds all the staff here about our mission–to provide the finest arts education programs and encourage the community to have a life-long associate with the performing arts.
Our next season of Performances for Schools is now for sale, so if you know a teacher who is looking for an opportunity for their students to experience the arts, let them know about the opportunities at State Theatre New Jersey!
Bottom photo of Mayhem Poets by Jeffrey Auger Photography
