B Street Expands Partnership With Sutter's Fort

Expanding on a partnership that started in fall of 2017, B Street Theatre and Friends of Sutter's Fort and California State Parks are proud to announce an exciting and new collaborative offering to provide a joint field trip opportunity for teachers looking to visit two of Sacramento's top attractions in a single day.

Designed for school groups interested in watching an engaging and entertaining B Street Theatre production plus visiting the interactive and fun Sutter's Fort State Historic Park, the new offering will be available on Wednesdays starting this fall. This new collaboration will coincide with the debut of B Street Theatre's fall production of Treasure Island. After the performance, Sutter's Fort will then provide an opportunity for classrooms to enhance their B Street experience by participating in a custom program that will build upon themes from Treasure Island that are relevant to the Fort's history, including treasures, navigation and sailing.

As background, B Street Theatre and Friends of Sutter's Fort (the nonprofit Cooperative Association that supports Sutter's Fort State Historic Park) first collaborated in October 2017 for the annual Halloween extravaganza, "The Haunted Fort" at Sutter's Fort State Historic Park. B Street Theatre created and debuted an original play for the night entitled, Olive's Fort, disclosing the story of the last inhabitant, Olive Lawson. The extravaganza itself sold out six performances and led to a very successful night for both the theatre and Friends of Sutter's Fort. Then in 2018, B Street Theatre moved one block away from Sutter's Fort. Now, as neighbors in Midtown's thriving Sutter District, the two organizations - that both seek to provide excellence in educational opportunities for students - have been brainstorming potential opportunities designed to help expand their respective missions.

Sutter's Fort and B Street Theatre are committed to serving the educational needs of school children near and far. In fact, Sutter's Fort State Historic Park serves as a popular field trip to more than 50,000 students each year and has been doing so for more than 40 years. Also, generations of 4th grade students - to the tune of approximately 80,000 in number over the years - have participated in the memorable and immersive overnight Environmental Living Program. And, since 2001, B Street Theatre has offered field trip opportunities through its Family Series, adapting classic novels and historical events for the stage. B Street Family Series has performed for approximately 171,409 grade school kids and has created over 30 original theatrical adaptations for children. In its 32nd year, the B Street School Tour travels to approximately 170 schools a year, performing three different shows, each a collection of short plays, for over 50,000 school kids a year. The school tour's main event is the annual Fantasy Festival, which features plays written by students, developed by the B Street artistic staff and performed by professional actors.

Additional information and details about the new collaboration will be announced later this summer. For more general information about B Street Theatre, please visit bstreettheatre.org, and for more information about Sutter's Fort or Friends of Sutter's Fort, please visit suttersfort.org.

B Street Theatre:

B Street Theatre is a non-profit, professional theatre company producing primarily new work for adults, families and children located at the Sofia Tsakopoulos Center for the Arts in the heart of Midtown Sacramento. The three-theatre playhouse on Capitol Avenue in Sacramento is home to the Mainstage Series, the Family Series, Upstairs @ the B, and a multitude of music events and arts programming. Several local artistic companies including the Sacramento Ballet, the Sacramento Guitar Society, the Camellia Symphony and others have made the Sofia home for several of their annual concerts. Recognized as one of the nation's top professional theatres, B Street Theatre has produced more than 160 world premieres written by B Street playwrights and numerous productions which were world, national, West Coast or regional premieres.

B Street Theatre was originally founded in 1986 with the purpose of bringing the excitement of live performance to children through the B Street Theatre School Tour. This educational outreach program still serves over 200,000 students in Northern California annually. The Outreach & Education Department at B Street Theatre has grown immensely because of this success and has developed an adult and children's conservatory, as well as a playwriting workshop series for local Sacramento schools.

In 2014, B Street brought its most popular play ever, Around the World in 80 Days, to India. The original cast performed in three Indian cities, furthering the organization's mission by bringing high quality theatre to an international audience, while also raising money for Indian educational enrichment and schools and partnering with an overseas performing arts center with the hope of future international collaboration. B Street Theatre has produced over 250 professional productions since 1986.

The mission of B Street Theatre is to promote education and literacy, social interaction, and cultural enrichment by engaging children and adults in the highest quality theatre arts and playwriting.

Friends of Sutter's Fort

The Friends of Sutter's Fort is a nonprofit 501 (C) (3) organization that believes experiencing history first-hand at Sutter's Fort State Historic Park can be a positive life-changing experience for all generations. As a Cooperating Association, we work to provide California State Parks with critical funding for restoration and preservation projects, and we support the Fort's renowned educational programs. For more information, please visit www.suttersfort.org.

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