The American Place Theatre's Literature to Life Program Recently Seen as Featured Story on ABC News

ABC News education reporter, Art McFarland, recently featured a story on The American Place Theatre's Literature to Life program, a performance-based literacy program that presents staged adaptations of significant American literary works. The story captures the actors and students of PS 111 working with this season's award winning selection, Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury. Literature to Life strives to keep literature and creativity a primary component in the education of young American citizens. Highlighted in the story is their newest campaign, Project 451, which has been created to provide free access to this nationally acclaimed arts and literacy program for thousands of underserved students.

The program has already seen support from notables such as Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin, Sam Waterston, John Hockenberry and Kathleen Chalfant, who have contributed to the campaign by recording clips for the Project 451 Living Library. Mayor Michael Bloomberg, also fan of the program, recently said, "Not only are these inspiring presentations entertaining, they do so much to spark a lifelong passion for reading in their audiences."

David Kener, Executive Director of The American Place Theatre, is passionate about raising support for the project. "Engaging and inspiring students with great literature and great performances is an essential part of our mission and what they create is brilliant and powerful." The American Place Theatre recently received announcement of grant support from the National Endowment for the Arts through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 as well as grant awards from New York City Council Members Bill de Blasio and Tony Avella. In addition, Literature to Life was recently awarded the William T. Grant Foundation's Youth Service Improvement Grant. Similar to the efforts of The American Place Theatre, this foundation works to improve the life of youth aged 8-25 in the United States. These grants, donations and the efforts of supporters all enable Project 451 to inspire the imaginations of elementary students, and Keep Literature Alive!

The video can be seen here: http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/video?id=6866116

Photo credit: Walter McBride