TUTS Sets 2016-16 Student Matinee Season: RENT, OLIVER! & More

Theatre Under The Stars (TUTS) has announced their 2015/16 student matinee season, which will include performances of Rent, Scrooge, James and the Giant Peach and Oliver!. As part of TUTS' Education and Community Engagement programs, student matinee performances are offered to schools throughout the Greater-Houston area. Student matinees expose students to musical theatre, many of whom have never experienced it before, and provide an arts education. Thanks to generous local supporters, these age-appropriate musicals are offered at discounted prices.

"TUTS' student matinees are one of my favorite parts of the organization. I love that we provide students with an opportunity to experience the joy of musical theatre and learn more about the arts outside of the classroom. Seeing their reactions to each of the productions is always a highlight for me," said Bob Lawson, TUTS' Director of Education.

The 2015/16 student matinee season will kick off with an inspiring performance of Rent on September 18 at 10 AM in Zilkha Hall at The Hobby Center for the Performing Arts. Set in the East Village of New York City, Rent is about falling in love, finding your voice and living for today. Winner of the Tony Award for Best Musical and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Rent has become a pop cultural phenomenon with songs that rock and a story that resonates with audiences of all ages. Suggested for grades 9 - 12. Logo HERE.

Commissioned specially by TUTS Education for their Musicals for Young Audiences program, holiday performances of Scrooge will be offered on December 8 - 11 in Zilkha Hall at The Hobby Center for the Performing Arts. Scrooge is the musical comedy version of the classic Yuletide fable A Christmas Carol, complete with up-to-date ghosts, a revived holiday spirit and just a Dickens of a good time! This blockbuster is sure to bring smiling faces and tapping toes to your season. A content guide with suggested teaching activities is available online. Suggested for grades K - 5. Logo HERE.

The season will continue with performances of James and the Giant Peach, also a part of TUTS' Musicals for Young Audiences program, on March 29 - April 1 in Zilkha Hall at The Hobby Center for the Performing Arts. When James is sent by his conniving aunts to chop down their old fruit tree, he discovers a magic potion which results in a tremendous peach - and launches a journey of enormous proportions. Suddenly, James finds himself in the center of the gigantic peach among human-sized insects with equally oversized personalities, and the adventure takes a whole new twist once they land on the Empire State Building. A content guide with suggested teaching activities is available online. Suggested for grades K - 5. Logo HERE.

The 2015/16 student matinee season will conclude with a captivating performance of TUTS main-stage show, Oliver! on April 13 in Sarofim Hall at The Hobby Center for the Performing Arts. Discover the story of a runaway orphan who finds himself in the grimly fascinating underbelly of eighteenth-century London. Befriended by the Artful Dodger and his fellow gang of youthful pickpockets, the pure-hearted Oliver is introduced to a witty, gritty world of new friends, formidable foes - and an abundance of merry mischief. Suggested for grades 6 - 12. Logo HERE.

TUTS' student matinee productions are made possible by the generosity of The Cullen Trust for the Performing Arts, the Immanuel & Helen B. Olshan Foundation, The CFP Foundation, the Albert and Ethel Herzstein Charitable Foundation, the Anadarko Petroleum Corporation, the Kinder Morgan Foundation, Phillips 66 and PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP.

For more information on TUTS' student matinees, visit TUTS.com/teachers.

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