Missing from the Museum is a FREE, audience-driven adventure for kids aged 9 - 14 and their families, with 20 possible variations determined by viewer input. This hybrid piece for young adults combines online performances with real-life exploration, and helps kids practice the discipline of always looking for who is included in arts institutions, and who isn't. The seven-part series (June 14 - July 26) was created in an unprecedented national collaboration among four theatres producing work just for youth audiences: Brave Little Company (Houston, Texas), Dare to Dream Theatre (Sheboygan/Manitowoc, Wisconsin), Off the Page Theatre (Brooklyn, New York), and Trike Theatre (Bentonville, Arkansas). Houston-based audiences can learn more at www.brave-little.com.
Meeting a mysterious mentor, young viewers learn about a newly discovered talent that only kids have. It's a skill that will help rescue lost and stolen artworks around the world - and more importantly, it will preserve the work of women artists who are at risk of being erased from history. Soon a shadowy group called The R.D. shows they will stop at nothing to track down the viewers in their travels. As the mentor becomes more secretive, her motives come into question. The viewers will have to decide their allegiance and priorities. The artists encountered by the viewer are all drawn from lesser-known (but real!) women in history, and include Black, Indigenous, white, Asian, and Latin American artists from around the world.
The project will stream simultaneously on Facebook Live and YouTube Live, with seven weekly episodes appearing between June 14 - July 26. The audience's vote following each episode determines the path the viewers will take in the story. During weekly interludes, viewers will explore clues, puzzles, virtual galleries, and creative challenges at their own pace. They will also have the chance to encounter women artists and patrons through video tours at the theatres' partner museums, such as the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art (Northwest Arkansas), a frequent collaborator of Trike Theatre.
Because more families have access to a smart phone or other device than regularly attend theatre or go to museums, Missing from the Museum is an opportunity to offer some families their first encounter with live performance. The online episodes are designed to spark engagement in real life - with the viewer's family, with history, and with museums that viewers can eventually, visit when pandemic restrictions are lifted. By its interactive nature, the series challenges viewers to critically engage with theatre and art in a real-world and historical context, and empowers viewers to interpret art. When people across the country are able to return to arts institutions, viewers of this project will have learned to look closely to see who is "missing from the museum" or other arts institution.
Houston actors to be seen in Missing from the Museum include
Brittny Bush, who previously appeared with Brave Little Company in Grandpa's Garden, of which she is also a co-creator;
Leslie Lenert, who appeared in THE BIG "US" PROJECT: A Cry in the Mediterranean; and Elissa Cuellar and Jeana Magallon, who appeared in and are co-creators of BLC's First Day, Nueva Escuela. The national creative team shares responsibility around script development, production, and extension activities. The team includes Troy Scheid, director of Brave Little Company, and
Brittny Bush, a Houston actor, director, and frequent BLC collaborator; Rachel Thuermer, Dare to Dream Theatre; Jody Drezner Alperin and
Vicky Finney Crouch, co-founders of Off the Page; and Amber-Nicole Wolfe and Chris Tennison, Trike Theatre.
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