All Cincinnati tri-state area middle schools and schools with grades 5 – 8 are eligible to apply to participate in The Children’s Theatre of Cincinnati’s JumpStart Theatre program. So what is it, exactly? TCT’s JumpStart Theatre is collaboration among the Educational Theatre Association (EdTA), and New York City-based companies, Music Theatre International (MTI) and iTheatrics that trains educators to develop sustainable arts programs at local, underserved middle schools that do not currently offer theatre in the curriculum or after-school. This gives kids and teachers the opportunity to experience the arts!
Here’s how it works: Each selected school will receive all of the training, ongoing mentoring services and materials and production support (valued at $12,000) they need in order to put on a fun and fabulous show for their community. Students get to be involved in every aspect of the production, and in addition, TCT will host an annual JumpStart Theatre showcase, bringing all the participants together to share their great, hard-earned work.
Three teachers from each participating school are taught the techniques and skills to develop and manage a musical theatre program (everything from casting, to rehearsal schedules, to staging/choreography and technical requirements, to cultivating parent/community engagement, to achieving economic sustainability) through a series of three, full-day professional development “boot camps” each year of the three-year program, plus an ongoing mentoring/coaching relationship with an experienced theatre teaching artist. How fun is that?
Applications must be completed and submitted now through February 15; the selected schools will be chosen through the application and announced in the spring. The program will kickoff and begin being implemented into the schools fall of this year.
Enter your school today and learn more at thechildrenstheatre.