HAMILTON Education Program Welcomes Windy City Public Schools Today

The innovative educational program that launched last year at Hamilton on Broadway, in partnership with The Rockefeller Foundation, will debut in Chicago today, February 22, when 1,900 students and teachers from 30 Chicago Public Schools (CPS) attend the matinee performance of the musical at Broadway In Chicago's The PrivateBank Theatre (18 W. Monroe Street).

The February 22nd performance is the first of 10 all-student matinee performances in 2017 that will provide 20,000 Chicago high school students the opportunity to experience the musical Hamilton after having spent several weeks in their classrooms studying American history through a special integrated curriculum about Alexander Hamilton and the nation's Founding Fathers.

In addition to seeing a performance of Hamilton, the Chicago students will participate in a Q&A with members of the Hamilton cast. As well, students representing various schools in attendance will perform an original work they created based on their classroom studies - songs, rap, poetry, scenes, monologues - on The PrivateBank Theatre stage in front of their peers.

HAMILTON producer Jeffrey Seller - who devised the education program in New York in tandem with Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda, The Rockefeller Foundation, the NYC Department of Education and the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History - says about the program's premiere in Chicago, "Our goal is to ensure that students have a shot to see Hamilton and use its words, music and staging to further their understanding and enjoyment of American History, music and drama. Now we have the pleasure of expanding the education program outside of New York in Chicago and other cities around the country."

James G. Basker, President of the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, adds, "This project is transformative. Twenty thousand students in New York City, Chicago and other cities where Hamilton tours will experience American history in a new way and find their own connections to the Founding Fathers, to the performing arts, and to the future of our country."

"It will be electrifying to be "in the room where it happens" where 1,900 school students from all across Chicago will come together to see Hamilton and engage in history through art on February 22nd, the birthday of our first President," said Judith Rodin, President of the Rockefeller Foundation."

Chicago Public Schools CEO Forrest Claypool states, "We are thrilled that so many CPS students are learning about one of our nation's Founding Fathers through the Hamilton Education Program, and that they will have the opportunity to see this acclaimed musical. By combining the study of American history with an appreciation for the arts, we are giving students the well-rounded education they need to become successful thinkers and leaders. Huge thanks to Hamilton, the local funders and Gilder Lehrman for providing Chicago's youth with this unique opportunity."

Funders of the Hamilton Education Program in Chicago include:

The Crown and Goodman Family

Ken Griffin

The Joyce Foundation

Polk Bros. Foundation

Pritzker Foundation

Pritzker Traubert Family Foundation

Robert R. McCormick Foundation

Schools participating in the February 22nd event include:

· Al Raby School for the Community and Environment

· Benito Juarez Community Academy

· Bowen High School

· CICS Ralph Ellison

· Eric Solorio Academy High School

· Excel Academy of Englewood

· Gary Comer College Prep

· George Washington High School

· George Westinghouse College Prep

· Hubbard High School

· Hyde Park Academy

· Infinity High School

· John Hancock College Prep

· Kenwood Academy High School

· Lake View High School

· Lindblom Math and Science Academy

· Muchin College Prep

· North-Grand High School

· Perspectives Charter School

· IIT Math and Science Academy

· Prosser Career Academy

· Providence St. Mel School

· Roald Amundsen High School

· Senn High School

· Theodore Roosevelt High School

· Thomas Kelly High School

· UNO Charter School Network Rogers Park K-12 Charter School

· University of Chicago Charter Schools - Woodlawn HS Campus

· UNO Charter School Network Soccer Academy High School

· Von Steuben Metropolitan Science Center

Rockefeller Foundation provided an initial grant of $1.46 million that funded the educational partnership in New York City. After the resounding success of the partnership in New York, The Rockefeller Foundation committed an additional $6 million to the effort to support the national expansion of the program. The Rockefeller Foundation has a long history of supporting the arts and humanities, fueled by a belief that the cultivation of aesthetic sensibilities through literature, music and other fine arts is essential to the well-being of humanity. The Hamilton Education Program underscores the Foundation's commitment to nurturing the vitality of American cultural institutions and the role of the arts as a catalyst for social change.

The Hamilton producers are making tickets for this educational partnership available for $70, $60 of which is subsidized by funders. Tickets will cost $10 for each student.

With book, music and lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda, directed by Thomas Kail, choreography by Andy Blankenbuehler and musical direction and orchestrations by Alex Lacamoire, Hamilton is based on Ron Chernow's biography. Hamilton, winner of 11 Tony Awards including Best Musical, is the story of America's Founding Father Alexander Hamilton, an immigrant from the West Indies who became George Washington's right-hand man during the Revolutionary War, and was the nation's first Treasury Secretary. Hamilton's score blends hip-hop, jazz, blues, rap, R&B and Broadway - the story of America then, told by America now.

For information on Hamilton, visit www.HamiltonOnBroadway.com, www.facebook.com/HamiltonMusical, www.Instagram.com/HamiltonMusical and www.Twitter.com/HamiltonMusical.

Broadway In Chicago was created in July 2000 and over the past 17 years has grown to be one of the largest commercial touring homes in the country. A Nederlander Presentation, Broadway In Chicago lights up the Chicago Theater District entertaining well up to 1.7 million people annually in five theatres. Broadway In Chicago presents a full range of entertainment, including musicals and plays, on the stages of five of the finest theatres in Chicago's Loop including The PrivateBank Theatre, Oriental Theatre, Cadillac Palace Theatre, and just off the Magnificent Mile, the Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place and presenting Broadway shows at The Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University. For more information and performance schedule, visit www.BroadwayInChicago.com.

The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History is a nonprofit organization devoted to the teaching and learning of American history. To provide resources and programs for educators and students, the Institute draws on top scholars, an unparalleled collection of original historical documents, and a network of more than 11,000 Affiliate Schools across the country. As a leading provider of K-12 programs, the Institute supports tens of thousands of teachers and millions of students in elementary and secondary schools in all 50 states and 39 foreign countries. For information on The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, visit www.gilderlehrman.org.