MOONSCHOOL At 42nd Street Moon Continues Full Line-Up Of Virtual Programs

MoonSchool at 42nd Street Moon, the education side of 42nd Street Moon kicked off its third season of virtual programming this fall. After an impromptu pivot to virtual classes this spring and an incredibly successful summer of online theatre productions including Moana Jr, The Music Man Kids (directed by Marissa Hockfield with music director Dave Dobrusky), Bring it On (creative team: director Zoe Swenson-Graham, music director Phillip Harris, co-choreographers Kiah Kaloni and Gary Stanford, dramaturg Amara Brady) and classes in jazz, tap, voice, and improv, MoonSchool continues to offer high-level theatre classes and training virtually for students of all ages from 4 years old to 104 this fall.

Exciting classes for adults include 4 levels of Tap dance (taught by Meredith Fox, Ashley Cowl, Danielle Behrens, and Nicole Helfer), Hip Hop with Bay Area favorite Keith Pinto as the instructor, Directing 101 taught by Co-Executive Director Daren A.C. Carollo, and Dance Styles taught by a different prominent choreographer each week (Leslie Waggoner, Lavale-William Davis, Maggie Connard, Kiah Kaloni, Christina Lazo, Gary Stanford Jr.). Preteens and teens get to customize their schedule by bundling any two or more classes in hip hop, jazz, tap (taught by Meredith Fox), voice (taught by Juan Castro), improv (taught by Clay Robeson), auditioning, and more.

Plus, MoonSchool will launch 2 virtual productions: The Wizard of Oz for 2nd-6th Graders, directed by Marissa Hockfield with music director Chanel Tilghman and stage manager Alexa Burn; and The Addams Family for Middle and High School students, directed by Anne Norland with music director Phillip Harris, choreographer Zoe Swenson-Graham, and stage manager Sierra Holmgren-Lee.

Director of Education Anne Norland is committed to creating experiences that do not only replace in-person theatre while it's still not safe to meet in person but that are optimized for this mode. "Though we don't know how long this will last, we are discovering many benefits from working this way, including helping students develop at-home practices to improve their skills, which they'll be able to continue to use when we're in-person. We have a unique opportunity to provide access to high level theatre training for students who might not have been able to get to our studio after school or don't have the opportunities in school."

Since Norland took on the role of Director of Education in early 2019, the program had been expanding rapidly, doubling the number of summer camp offerings and offering spring and fall classes for youth for the first time. The wrath of COVID-19 has forced MoonSchool to think differently about all aspects of its programming: "we have revamped our curriculum and restructured how to sign up for a class so that adults and teens can completely customize their class schedule and focus on the skills they want to learn."

MoonSchool is also continuing to employ talented and engaged teaching artists who would otherwise be without work.

Find out more information about classes and programs for all ages through MoonSchool at 42nd Street Moon at MoonSchoolSF.org