It is Theatre Development Fund's belief that future audiences are built by engaging students, first-hand, in the vital and exciting activity of the creative process, as well as providing opportunities to see live performances of great theatre. To that end, 1,000 New York City high school students from all five boroughs who are participating in TDF's STAGE DOORS PROGRAM will be attending the critically acclaimed new Broadway musical, FELA! on Wednesday, December 9 at 2pm at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre (230 West 49th Street, NYC).
"We're thrilled to have the entire theatre for our students," said TDF Education Director, Marianna Houston. "During the past weeks, all of the students have had amazing pre-performance workshops in their schools with TDF teaching artists and their teachers. They can't wait to see FELA! live on Broadway."
FELA!, the most original new musical on Broadway, is a provocative hybrid of dance and Broadway musical. It features the Afrobeat music of Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, a book by Jim Lewis and the direction and choreography of Tony® Award winner Bill T. Jones. FELA! uses stirring Afrobeat music (a blend of jazz, funk and African rhythm and harmonies), to tell the story of Kuti's controversial life as artist, political activist and revolutionary musician. Featuring many of Fela Kuti's most captivating songs and Bill T. Jones's visionary staging.
The 1,000 students who will see FELA! through TDF's Stage Doors Program are from the MANHATTAN schools: Millennium High School, Beacon High School, and the High School of International Business and Finance; the BROOKLYN schools: FDR High School, Brooklyn Academy, High School for Global Citizenship, and The International High School; THE BRONX schools: Bronx Community High School, Bronx Leadership Academy, and Monroe Campus; from the QUEENS school: Queens High School of Sciences and from STATEN ISLAND's Susan E. Wagner High School.
TDF's STAGE DOORS is a project-based arts education program that provides middle and high school students with a meaningful introduction to live theatre. Each participating class attends a Broadway or Off Broadway performance and participates in eight in-class workshops: four workshops conducted by a TDF teaching artist and the other four conducted by the classroom teacher. The workshops engage students in discussion, writing, reading and improvisation to prepare them for their experience at the theatre. This program is offered at no cost to the school or students. Over 50,000 students have been through TDF's Stage Doors.
Theatre Development Fund (TDF) has played a unique role in strengthening live theatre and dance in New York City for the past 41 years. This not-for-profit service organization's programs have filled over 76 million seats at discount prices (with theatre lovers who would normally not be able to attend live performance) and returned nearly 2 billion dollars in revenue to thousands of theatre, dance and music productions. Best known for its TKTS Discount Booths, TDF's membership, voucher, access and education programs, as well as its Costume Collection, help to make the unique experience of theatre available to everyone. For more information, go to: www.tdf.org.
