GableStage Newest Education Initiatives For Teens & Adults

GableStage has announced four innovative educational programs for its upcoming 2022-2023 season.

Ignite: the initiative that ignites the ambitions of the next generation of theatre artists; Shakespeare-in-the-Schools: brings students an abridged, modernized version of Shakespeare's most classic plays; Mainstage School Matinees: invites high school students to special performances created just for them; and Diary of a Production: a 6-week course for adults (subscribers only!) that explores the production cycle from script to stage.

With a mission of confronting today's issues and ideas, GableStage's new producing artistic director Bari Newport strives to strengthen appreciation for the role theatre plays in a community. Having played an essential role in Miami's professional theatre ecology since 1979, GableStage has been at the forefront of intimate, edgy, and inspiring work seen by over 400,000 patrons and 250,000 students. Newport, who has a long history of stewarding education programs, has prioritized the development of GableStage's educational wing.

"Truthfully, if not for the support of the Perez Family Foundation, through their CreArte grant, we would not have been able to launch the ambitious educational programming we are offering this season," Newport says. "That grant gave us the opportunity to hire the staff needed to manage the additional programming and also the ability to experiment with what our foundational educational offerings would be. Because of CreArte, we were able to bring on additional donors for the specific offerings - thus ensuring our ability to execute them fully. It is an exciting time."

IGNITEing the next generation of theatre artists!

Each season, IGNITE partners a designated Miami-Dade High School with GableStage. With a dual purpose of engaging serious high-school drama students in the production process of professional theatre and to connect young Miami theatre artists with theatre professionals in their community - the bigger idea is to let young Miamians know there is work right here; they do not need to make an exodus to New York or Los Angeles - they can be theatre professionals in Miami. "IGNITE is custom-built to provide performing arts students with an ongoing, in-depth relationship with GableStage and its season of work. There has never been a more pressing need in this state to broaden student's minds and include them in the challenging conversations that many of these plays will provoke" explains Iain Batchelor, the teaching artist/actor leading this new initiative.

Schools are visited before and after they attend the productions by a teaching artist and a member of the creative team who engages students in hands-on workshops. Students and teachers receive the scripts and interactive study guides for each production of the season. In addition to receiving tickets to all five productions, the partner high-school has access to GableStage artists and company members throughout the season.

Coral Reef Senior High is the designated partner school for this season's IGNITE program. Coral Reef High is locally known as "Miami's Mega Magnet School," and has one of its programs focused specifically on Visual & Performing Arts.

To nominate your school to be the next partner for the Ignite program, email education@gablestage.org

Shakespeare-in-the-Schools

From February 27th through March 31st, Shakespeare's romantic comedy Twelfth Night will set the stage in public and private schools around Miami-Dade, visiting upwards of 20+ schools each year and performing 40 or performances. GableStage harkens back to its roots as a Shakespeare company by performing a 50-minute adaptation of Shakespeare's most popular classics performed by emerging theatre artists.

Shakespeare-in-the-Schools, now in its 9th Season, is being reimagined for the 22/23 Season.

Directed by Shakespeare scholar and New World School of the Arts teacher, director/actor Eddie Brown, Twelfth Night tells the story of a shipwrecked woman navigating love and life in a new land. In this adaptation, the coast of Illyria is replaced with the vast beaches of Miami, while Haiti stands powerfully in the place of our protagonist's homeland of Messaline. Boosted by music, poetic language and rich cultural references, this Twelfth Night carefully explores the diverse tapestry of Miami and the migrant stories that have shaped the city many call home.

Starring a cast of eight BIPOC artists, the Shakespeare-in-the-Schools program is also designed to be the first professional opportunity for emerging artists. "This season, we added a professional contract to the production," says Newport who wanted to make certain all students could see themselves represented on stage. "This professional contract will not only ground the production, but having a professional actor in the piece will further the opportunity for the emerging artists to learn. Also, many BIPOC artists, emerging or not, have not had the opportunity to make classic text their own. Now is the time!"

Miami-Dade schools can sign up to participate in the Shakespeare-in-the-Schools program by clicking this link: https://forms.gle/R3y25Vf36VUVMYxZ8 OR emailing education@gablestage.org

Diary of a Production: A Doll's House, Part 2

From script analysis to design and direction, adults will be challenged to interpret text, embody characters and make bold design choices parallel to the production process of GableStage's A Doll's House, Part 2. Led by Miami-based actor, teacher and producer John Dalton, this stimulating series is open and free to GableStage subscribers only.

GableStage subscribers on Mondays from January 30th - March 6th, 2023 with two opportunities to observe a rehearsal. This initiative gives the opportunity to deep-dive through a six-week course through the artistic process of producing A Doll's House, Part 2 by Lucas Hnath.

Adults interested in taking this course may email education@gablestage.org. This course is open to 22/23 GableStage Subscribers only. To subscribe, visit: www.gablestage.org

MainStage Student Matinees

For decades, thousands of Miami-Dade high school students have been exposed to dynamic, contemporary storytelling through GableStage's much-lauded student matinee series. Now, after a long hiatus, GableStage with generous funding from the Green Family Foundation, proudly reinstates this impactful offering.

This season, GableStage will be offering four performances free of charge: Two Performances of the production, We Will Not Be Silent by David Meyers on Friday, January 20th & January 27th at 10:30 a.m. And two performances of El Huracán on Friday, April 20th & 28th at 10:30 a.m.

About the Plays:

WE WILL NOT BE SILENT by David Meyers. Described by The ArtsFuse Boston as "an intelligent and profoundly moving work of theatre." We Will Not Be Silent follows the story of German college student Sophie Scholl who had risked everything to stand up for social justice, courageously led a major act of civil disobedience against Hitler and his fascist regime. Scholls moral strength is tested while being interrogated for her crimes, leading her to question whether to save her own life or continue her righteous crusade. Based on true events, We Will Not Be Silent is a provocative and timely new work that examines the role of ordinary people in extraordinary times.

EL HURACÁN. Written by Miami native, Academy-Award winner, and writer/director of Disney's Encanto, Charise Castro Smith. As Hurricane Andrew threatens Miami, a mother and daughter ready themselves for the storm, but Abuela takes shelter in a world of memory, music and magic. A powerful tale of family and forgiveness, El Huracán, reveals what can be rebuilt in the aftermath of life's most devastating tempests and what can never be replaced. A Florida Premiere inspired by Shakespeare's The Tempest. As described in The Houston Chronicle, El Huracán is a "magical realism that touches on the domestic in drama-queen-like ways".

To sign up for Mainstage Student Matinees, click this link:

https://forms.gle/1DdiDZEkVqikaexr7 OR email education@gablestage.org

The sponsors who have made these educational programs possible are: The Jorge Perez Family Foundation, Peacock Foundation, Inc., Cornelia T. Bailey Foundation, Green Family Foundation, Al & Jane Nahmad Family Foundation, Coral Gables Community Foundation, The Shepard Broad Foundation, Miami-Dade County, The Children's Trust, Publix Super Markets Charities and Dan & Valerie Lewis.

To learn more about sponsoring a school or educational program, please contact advancement@gablestage.org.

To learn more, please visit: https://www.gablestage.org/educational-programs/ or contact education@gablestage.org

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