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Poetry Out Loud State Final 2011

Thank you, Virginia's 2011 Poetry Out Loud: National Recitation Contest participating teachers and high school students! This year 227 teachers and 8,653 high school students participated in Poetry Out Loud holding recitation contests in their classrooms, schools and advancing their school champion to the regional contests throughout the commonwealth.



Of the 76 school champions competing in the regional contests, 16 regional finalists advanced to the State Finals in Richmond at Theatre IV's historic Empire Theatre on March 17, 2011. After three rounds of poetry recitation, Carol V. Decker of Tuscaroara High School in Leesburg, Loudoun County was declared the highest scoring student and Virginia's 2011 Poetry Out Loud State Champion. Colleen Murphy of William Monroe High School in Greene County was declared State Runner-Up.



The National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation, partners with state arts agencies across the nation to support Poetry Out Loud. The contest serves 350,000 students throughout the nation. Poetry Out Loud encourages the nation's youth to learn about great poetry through memorization and recitation and helps students master public speaking skills, build self-confidence, and learn about their literary heritage. Here in Virginia, the Virginia Commission for the Arts, Peggy J. Baggett, Executive Director sponsors the contest. Theatre IV and Barksdale Theatre are proud to be the administrator of this program throughout Virginia.

Back to School = Back to FUN!

If your kids are singing the Back-t0-School Blues, let them know there are plenty of things to look forward to between now and next spring, like field trips to Theatre IV's Broadway for Families shows at the Empire Theatre and Willow Lawn and in-school performances from Theatre IV On Tour!

Our Broadway for Families season at the Empire Theatre and Willow Lawn kicks off October 1st with the familiar favorite, Ferdinand the Bull, based on the book by Munro Leaf and Robert Lawson. This bilingual family musical is part of our Hispanic Theatre Project and runs through October 17th. (Illustration by Theodore Taylor)

Other productions in our Broadway for Families season include The Velveteen Rabbit (at Willow Lawn), The B.F.G. (at the Empire) and HONK! (at the Empire). Theatre IV is also offering a special holiday option, Irving Berlin's White Christmas (at the Empire). Tickets can be purchased by calling one of our friendly box office staff at (804) 282-2620 or online at www.theatreivrichmond.org.

Odds are good that Theatre IV On Tour is coming to your child's school! Titles on the road Fall semester include Lyle, Lyle Crocodile, Home Sweet Homer, The Little Red Hen: A Country Musical, Patchwork: The Little House Life of Laura Ingalls Wilder, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, and Hugs and Kisses.

All our Theatre IV On Tour productions correlate to Virginia Standards of Learning, providing educators with an alternative teaching method to reinforce classroom lessons in English, Science, History and Family Life. And best of all, the kids (and teachers) have a great time!

We encourage parents to attend in-school performances (subject to school approval). If you would like to know if Theatre IV is coming to your child's school, contact our Tour Department at (804) 783-1688 and ask for Jeanie Rule.


Who knew going back to school could be so FUN? (We did!)

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Theatre IV Accomplishments

Yesterday marked the end of the 2009-10 season. Theatre IV had a remarkable year and we wanted to share the following accomplishments with you. Keep in mind, all of these activities were achieved while maintaining a balanced annual operating budget in a very economically challenging year!

This season, Theatre IV:

• Produced and presented 129 performances of six plays and musicals on our mainstage Broadway for Families Season in our historic Empire Theatre. These mainstage productions received excellent reviews from the critics, and were well attended by 42,140 children, parents and teachers.
  
  

• In partnership with Prevent Child Abuse Virginia, produced and presented 175 touring performances of Hugs and Kisses, Virginia’s principal child sexual abuse prevention program. The 2009-2010 tour was seen by 56,269 children in 127 schools spread out over every region of the state. One hundred and eleven (111) children were referred to the Virginia Department of Social Services based on post-performance disclosures. An additional 661 children came forward following the performance to ask pertinent questions.
  
  

• Produced and presented 16 additional SOL-aligned instructional programs, including Ben Franklin and His Kite, The Boy Who Cried “Wolf!”, Buffalo Soldier, A Christmas Carol, Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad, I Have a Dream – The Life and Times of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., The Jungle Book, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Lyle Lyle Crocodile, Patchwork – The Little House Life of Laura Ingalls Wilder, The Shoemaker and the Elves, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Sojourner Truth, The True Story of Pocahontas, ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas, and The Velveteen Rabbit. We staged 804 performances of thes e programs live before 291,281 Virginia students in 257 Virginia schools and venues. These same touring shows were performed live before an additional 295,304 students who saw the touring shows in 468 performances in 31 additional states and the District of Columbia.
  
  

• With CenterStage, the Latin Ballet of Virginia, Richmond Public Schools, Chesterfield Public Schools, and Henrico Public Schools, launched the FIELD Project (Family Involvement in Early Literacy Development), addressing the reading deficits faced by economically disadvantaged students in Central Virginia’s pre-school programs. We are the lead administrator and controller of FIELD.
  
  

• As a part of our partnership with Richmond Public Schools in t he Kennedy Center’s national arts-in-education program, Performing Arts Centers and Schools, produced and presented three continuing education workshops with a total of 46 teachers. The three workshops were: “Beyond the Wiz—The Multi-Faceted History of African American Theatre,” “What It Takes to Produce a Musical,” and “Using The Sound of Music to Teach the Holocaust” (co-produced with the Holocaust Museum).
  
  

• Through our Tickets for Kids program, made free tickets available to 2,345 economically disadvantaged children in Greater Richmond. Our 2009-2010 partners included 64 local nonprofits including Art 180, Association for the Support of Children with Cancer, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Children’s Hospital, Dominion School for Autism, Flagler Home at St. Joseph’s Villa, Friends Association for Children, Garfield Childs Memorial Fund, Hospital Hospitality House, International Hospital for Children, Massey Cancer Center Children’s Ward, Richmond Area Association for Retarded Children, Ronald McDonald House, Sacred Heart Center, Salvation Army, STEP, United Methodist Family Services, Very Special Arts Virginia, Virginia Home for Boys, William Byrd Community House, and Whitcomb Court Community Center.
  
  
  
• With our holiday mascot, Snow Bear, provided free-of-charge entertainment for the annual Christmas party at the Children’s Hospital. Snow Bear also participated in numerous community events during the holiday season.
  
  

• With St. Andrew’s School, presented our fourth year of after-school instruction for economically disadvantaged fourth and fifth graders, this year working in partnership with SPARC for the first time.
  
  

• With Barksdale, implemented our annual Stage Explorers Summer Day Camp, serving 117 children over a six-week period.
  
  
  

• Staged the 13^th Annual Fairy Tale Ball, Richmond’s only family gala, entertaining 703 children, parents and grandparents while raising funds for our outreach programs.
  
  

• Participated as full partners in the Acts of Faith Festival and Minds Wide Open: Virginia Celebrates Women in the Arts.
  
  

• Working in partnership with the Virginia Commission for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts, managed Virginia’s statewide Poetry Out Loud national recitation contest. Virginia’s winner was among the top nine finalists nationally.
  
  

• Hosted our “Search for the Von Trapp Children” open auditions at Short Pump Town Center for our production of The Sound of Music. Over 300 children and their parents came out and 200 more were placed on a waiting list. All parents and auditionees were given free tickets to a Theatre IV mainstage performance.
  
  

• With Commonwealth Girl Scouts, hosted four theatre overnights and/or learning days in the historic Empire, providing workshops and performances necessary for 208 girls to earn their theatre badges.
  
  

• With CenterStage, participated in and loaned sound equipment for the Grand Opening, We also offered leadership, master classes, workshops and performances for Lights Up! CenterStage’s Open House for Young Artists.
  
  

• Volunteered staff and their time for 14 Career Days events in and around Richmond.
  
  

• Provided 356 free tickets to charity auctions throughout Greater Richmond.
  
  

• Owned, operated and maintained the historic Empire Theatre on behalf of the greater community, sharing the facility, often free of charge, with eight other nonprofit groups.
  
  

None of these accomplishments would have been possible without the patronage, advocacy and financial support of our theatre family. So go ahead, reach around and pat yourselves on the back, because these accomplishments belong to you!

HERE'S TO A STELLAR 2010-11 SEASON!

The Sound of Education

Originally posted by Bruce Miller on The Barksdale Buzz 5/25/10

Chase Kniffen (director and choreographer of The Sound of Music [TSOM]), Brian Barker (set designer, TSOM), Janine Serresseque (Barksdale's liaison with Richmond Public Schools [RPS]), and I had the wonderful opportunity of conducting an after-school Educator Training Workshop last week with a dozen or so teachers from RPS. The workshop was organized and facilitated by Susan Damron, theatre resource teacher in the RPS Arts & Humanities Center.

For the last eleven years, Theatre IV and RPS have partnered as Central Virginia's only affiliate of the Kennedy Center's prestigious Performing Arts Centers and Schools program. Through this national arts-in-education initiative, we present workshops that train teachers how to use the arts to enhance instruction across the curriculum at all grade levels. Teachers receive continuing education credits for their participation.

About half of the workshops involve master educators from the Kennedy Center's roster of the nation's best arts-in-education specialists. These days, about half of the workshops are developed here in Richmond by Susan Damron and various artists and educators from Theatre IV.

Earlier this year, we created a workshop entitled Beyond the Wiz. In response to teacher requests, the goal was to enable educators with no expertise in theatre--with the exception of George Wythe, RPS middle and high schools have no drama teachers--to learn where and how to look for plays that feature African American casts and themes but have little name recognition among the general public.

We assembled a panel comprised of Dr. Tawnya Pettiford-Wates from VCU (director, The Grapes of Wrath), April Jones - guest theatre artist at the University of Richmond, Derome Scott Smith - Artistic Director, African American Repertory Theatre (director, Black Nativity), and me. Together we discussed the history of African American theatre in the United States, and explored a large number of plays that have had successful revivals with African American casts even if they were not originally written from an African American perspective.

Each participating teacher left with a new appreciation for the wealth of material out there, an expanded knowledge of where to search for new titles, and an understanding of how to obtain reading copies of less well known scripts.

The subject of last week's workshop was Creating the Team Needed to Produce a Musical. Using The Sound of Music as our case study, I spoke about assembling the lead artists, Chase talked about how the director works with the stage manager and designers to move the process forward, Janine (who works overhire in our costume department) spoke about the various steps followed to create the costumes for a show, and Brian dazzled the crowd with his models and computer work, ably revealing how a designer in 2010 can use technology to more effectively communicate with the rest of the production team.

Throughout the entire workshop, we provided tips on how to create a musical on a budget--a subject near and dear to the educators' hearts and pocketbooks.

This afternoon, I will be accompanying the teachers on a tour of the Holocaust Museum. Again we will use TSOM as our case study, and discuss how to use theatre to enhance instruction across the curriculum by showing how TSOM is being used throughout Greater Richmond's school systems to teach the history of WWII.

This Friday evening, the teachers who have been participating in this workshop series will all come to see The Sound of Music, and take a behind-the-scenes tour after the show.

For decades, education has been at the heart of our work at Theatre IV and Barksdale. As early winners of the Excellence in Arts Instruction Award from the Virginia Dept of Education and the Virginia Commission for the Arts, we're proud to be a valued partner with public and private school systems throughout the Commonwealth.

Hope to see you (and the students in your life) at the theatre!

--Bruce Miller

Great reviews for The Sound of Music

Opening weekend of The Sound of Music included some rave reviews in the press:

"An unfogettable evening of theatre!

Climb every mountain if you have to,

but don’t miss it.!"

- John Porter, NPR on WCVE - read a transcript

"The perfect family summer musical!"
- Susan Haubenstock
Richmond Times-Dispatch

“The Sound of Music is the perfect
family entertainment!"
- Joan Tupponce, WCVE - read a transcript

photos by Aaron Sutten

The Sound of Music
on stage now at the historic Empire Theatre
More information

Come one, come all to the Fairy Tale Ball!

This year's Fairy Tale Ball has come and gone but folks are still buzzing about this magical event combining families, food and fun.

The theme, Adventures in the Alps, corresponded to Theatre IV's Broadway for Families season finale, Rodgers & Hammerstein's The Sound of Music (which, by the way, got a rave in Sunday's RTD, check it out! And check out the Von Trapp children & Maria at right).

The Empire Theatre was alive with the sound of cute kids and glam grown-ups at Theatre IV's signature family gala event on May 1st. Many were overheard saying this year's ball was "the best one yet!"

The 13th annual ball netted over 30% more for Theatre IV's educational programs than last year's ball. This translates to more opportunities for more economically disadvantaged children and families in Central Virginia.

"Glückwünsche!" (congratulations) to Fairy Tale Ball Chair Caroline Harding and her wonderful committee, Special Events Manager Jennings Whiteway and her assistant Jessica Dennis, and all the hard-working staff and volunteers who made this event an evening to remember!

And special thanks to Robyn O'Neill for taking such beautiful photos!

See ya next year!