NYC based non-profit organization Early Stages will introduce 25 children to the magic of live theatre today, Tuesday, December 8, when they attend a performance of the smash hit Broadway revival of West Side Story. Founded in 1983 by theatre legends Alvin Ailey, Lillian Gish, Michael Bennett, Helen Hayes and Jack Gilford, Early Stages brings New York's incomparable culture to its under-served City children by fostering literacy through the arts.
Broadway performer and member of the Early Stages Advisory Board, Matt Cavenaugh will meet with the children following the performance. "I was very blessed to have a thriving arts program throughout my schooling" says Cavenaugh. "As an actor, I am a living testament to the impact that theatre, music, storytelling, reading and writing can have on a life. However, the same can be said of my peers who are now teachers, lawyers, doctors, architects, journalists, husbands, wives, mothers and fathers. The creative, imaginative and comprehensive lessons and experiences Early Stages provides are empowering, inspiring, and potentially life changing. There is no doubt that the arts are a vital part of a child's education, and Early Stages is there to help educate and enlighten students to their fullest potential."
Active in all five boroughs, Early Stages' mission is to foster literacy through the arts, improve classroom learning, and inspire children to explore their own voices in order to reach their full potential. With the guidance of professional teaching artists, each student of the program learns performance techniques, language arts and life skills. Early Stages strives to cultivate literate, ethical and articulate young men and women who will be fully prepared to participate in the arts and in our society. With the idea that the transformative power of arts education should be available to all children despite their economic background, Early Stages bridges the gap between the City's world-class performing arts community and its under-served public school children.
Since 1983, Early Stages' Live Theater Program has brought over 300,000 students to over 3,000 performances of live theater, dance and music. The organization's Storytelling Program, an innovative interdisciplinary approach to theater arts education, aimed at giving teachers and students alternative tools, based in the arts, to meet new, more rigorous standards was introduced in 1998. Early Stages has conducted extended artist-in-resident programs at public schools in all five boroughs that align with national, state and city theater arts and language arts standards and has been recognized for the breadth and variety of its school and arts partners, the depth of its in-school programs and the thread of storytelling that runs throughout.
To learn more about Early Stages and how you can become involved, visit www.EarlyStages.org.
