The Rep Receives the Employees Community Fund of Boeing St. Louis Grant

The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis announced today that it is once again a recipient of an Employees Community Fund of Boeing St. Louis Grant. This year's grant of $7,500 for Active Learning Through Live Theatre helps underwrite performances of The Rep's Imaginary Theatre Company (ITC) for under-served schools.

The Employees Community Fund of The Boeing Company (known as ECF or the Fund) is a unique employee-owned and directed giving program that allows employees to support the needs of their local communities via tax-deductible recurring payroll deductions or one-time gifts.

Thanks to generous funding from the Employees Community Fund for the past six years, The Rep has provided free ITC performances to schools that were financially unable to support such programs. The Rep will continue to conduct programs at elementary schools in the metropolitan area of St. Louis, serving under-served and at-risk youth from October 2010 through April 2011. The programs will include an ITC performance and a question and answer period at each of the selected schools.

"The Rep is honored to receive the Employees Community Fund Grant from Boeing. We are thrilled that we can share our Imaginary Theatre Company performances with more audiences because of receiving this special funding," said Steven Woolf, artistic director of The Rep.

The Rep will present at least 10 performances and some workshops in 7-10 schools, two of which are part of the juvenile detention system. The performances, primarily of Chanticleer! and Trail of Tears, as well as workshops, will utilize theatre skills as tools to help children acquire knowledge, skills and an understanding of the arts. The objective is to engage students in active learning that nurtures a love of the arts and relates theatre to real-life experiences. In The Rep's 2009-2010 season, the majority of participating teachers estimated that ITC provided a first-time exposure to live, professional theatre for at least half of their students.

Additional information about the productions in the season and The Rep's many education programs and special events is available on the web at http://www.repstl.org.