Summer Educational Outreach Student Performance at the St. George Theatre 8/12

On Friday, August 12th, seventy students ages 8 to 18 will be performing for their family, friends, and community as part of the Summer Education Outreach Program. The performance will begin at 1:00pm. The Summer Education Outreach Program is at the heart of the St. George Theatre's mission and was created from the founders' vision to address an expressed community need for more youth programs.

The student performance is intermixed with readings of original poems, dance and musical theater. There is an awards ceremony following the performance with the distribution of books, certificates, trophies and scholarships in dance. Representatives from Con Edison and Project Hospitality will also be on hand to present achievement awards.

The Summer Education Outreach Program has a staff of nine, including six professional teaching artists, who provided instruction in dance in a safe, nurturing and caring environment to the program's participants. During the course of the program, students learned the fundamentals of Street Tap, Ballet, Jazz, Hip-Hop, Irish Step and Modern Dance, in addition to Musical Theatre. Lessons in theatre history, dance appreciation, how to prepare for auditions and basics of stage presence were also part of the curriculum. For the third year, the St. George Theatre partnered with the Staten Island Reading Association to make a direct connection to reading a part of the program. Each year, the St. George and Reading Association work together to choose a theme for that year's reading curriculum. That theme is structured to compliment students' physical study of theatre, dance and performance techniques through the literacy portion of the program. This year's theme was interpretation dance with poetry.

The Summer Education Outreach Program is a free, full-day dance, theatre training and literacy workshop for 70 boys and girls from ages 8 to 18. Priority was given to children who came from socially and/or economically challenged homes. These children were recruited from recommendations from local social service agencies and churches. The St. George Theatre then opened enrollment for the remaining availability and publicized the opportunity in the Staten Island Advance and on the St. George Theatre website. Students applied in person at the theatre from mid-May through mid-July and were accepted to the program based on their application and subsequent interview.

The Summer Outreach was a two-week, five hour, full-time program that met five days each week. Each child received a free lunch daily, generously prepared by area restaurateurs.

Funding for the Summer Educational Outreach Program come from Borough President James Molinaro, Councilman James Oddo, Councilwoman Debi Rose, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, Con Edison, Staten Island Foundation, American Guild of Variety Artists in memory of Bea Kalmus Sher, Gavel Grill, Karl's Klipper, Lacey's Bridge Tavern, Pier 76 and many individual donors.