Signature In The Schools Presents IMAGE IS EVERYTHING

Now commemorating its 16th year, Signature Theatre's flagship Education Program Signature in the Schools will present local high school students performing in Image is Everything, a world premiere work by award-winning playwright and director Joe Calarco. The play, directed by Signature Theatre's Education Director Marcia Gardner, marks Calarco's fifth Signature in Schools script. Inspired by Leni Riefenstahl's legendary propaganda filmTriumph of the Will (1934) which chronicled the Nazi Party rallies and helped to glorify German leader Adolf Hitler, Image is Everything focuses on themes of propaganda, conformity, and personal responsibility.

Taking place in the present day, a group of students study the tragic events of the Holocaust and are forced to face the fact that propaganda didn't just die with Nazi Germany but is alive and well in America, even in their very own school.

Guest artist Vanessa Lock (Nest and in the absence of spring at Signature) joins the cast of students as Leni Riefenstahl and Assistant Director Alexander Strain returns for his fourth year of Signature in the Schools. Strain, a 3-time Helen Hayes nominee, will be joining Lock and the young cast as Adolf Hitler. The professional design team consists of Daniel Conway (sets), Eileen Garcia (props), Frank Labovitz (costumes), Mark Lanks (lighting), and Matt Rowe (sound).

Students participating in Image is Everything attend Wakefield High School, Yorktown High School, and HB Woodlawn High School. Students performing are Khaliun Amaburen, Jame Jackson, Stephen Kime, Chloe Laird, Sloane Mebane, Lintel Motsoasele, Delia Penalva, Jose Rodriguez, and Alana Wiljanen. Students working under the tutelage of professional artists and designers in a production capacity include Jenny Barua, Jack Dobbins, Joseph Escobar-Artica, Maya Giacobbe, Emily Hambridge, Max Rosenberg, Amanda Smith, Leila Spolter, and Kiara Trucios.
Public Performances

Additional public performance on Monday, February 14th at 7:30 pm

Student matinee performances on weekdays from Tuesday, February 8th - Tuesday, February 15th at 10:15 am

Tickets are free for the evening performances, but reservations are required.

For reservations, please call: (703) 820-9971

Signature's MAX Theatre

SIGNATURE IN THE SCHOOLS

Founded in 1995, Signature Theatre's education program Signature in the Schools uses theater to open the minds and broaden the viewpoints of local teens while engaging them in a positive and creative experience. The program also reinforces the Virginia's Standard of Learning curriculum. A recipient of The Washington Post's prestigious Community Service Award, Signature in the Schools reaches approximately 750 students annually through theatre workshops, in-class discussions, an after-school program and the production of an original play.
The annual production of an original play is one of the Signature in the Schools

program's key components. Students are given the unique opportunity to be part of

the process of developing a new play with a professional playwright. They are able

to work with a professional director and professional designers on the production.

In addition to their public performances, the student actors also perform five

matinees for local students who are bussed in from schools throughout Arlington County. Each student attending a performance receives an in-depth resource guide, researched and written by Signature's education director/stage director Marcia Gardner. Most also receive classroom visits by Gardner where students explore the worlds of history and theatre and have the chance to rehearse and perform a scene from the play.

Past productions have explored such vital historical topics such as the American Civil War, the Russian Revolution, the Tudor era, World War I, the Holocaust, and the turbulent 1960's.

This season's donors to Signature in the Schools include: Arlington Commission for the Arts, Arlington Community Foundation, Bank of America, Mike Blank, Barbara and Herman Bluestone, Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation, William W. and Jane Campbell, The Casey Family, Clark-Winchcole Foundation, Dallas Morse Coors Foundation, The Charles Delmar Foundation, Max and Victoria Dreyfus Foundation, David and Kimberly Durand, The Educational Foundation of America, ExxonMobil, Freddie Mac Foundation, Anita H. Gardiner, Ruth Goltzer and Jim Kohlmoos, Shirley and Roger Gunning, Robert E. Hebda, Mr. and Mrs. Edward Hilz, The Kennedy Center and the HSC Foundation, Virginia Joslyn and Tony Root, Andi Kasarsky, Judy Thibault Klevins, Mardi Gras Fund, Margaret Abell Powell Fund, Marpat Foundation, Tina M. Martin and Mita M. Schaffer, Eugene & Agnes E. Meyer Foundation, Faith Miller, National Endowment for the Arts, Jean T. Pelham and Heyward G. Pelham Foundation, Brenda Pommerenke and Larry George, Prince Charitable Trusts, Richard and Wendy Rahm, David S. Shrager Foundation, Ellen Spolter, Sprint Foundation, Robert J. Steele, U.S. Department of Education, Virginia Commission for the Arts, Venable LLP, The Wachovia Wells Fargo Foundation, Washington Forrest Foundation, and The Washington Post Company.
ABOUT SIGNATURE

Recipient of the 2009 Regional Theatre Tony Award®, Signature Theatre is a non-profit professional theater company in Arlington, Virginia dedicated to producing contemporary musicals and plays, reinventing classic musicals, and developing new work. Under the leadership of co-founder and Artistic Director Eric Schaeffer and Managing Director Maggie Boland, Signature has presented 31 world premiere productions and is renowned for combining Broadway-quality productions with intimate playing spaces.
In addition to hosting the finest talent from the DC metropolitan area and New York, Signature has been home to such theatre luminaries as Chita Rivera, George Hearn, Hunter Foster, Emily Skinner, Marc Kudisch, Judy Kuhn, John Kander and Fred Ebb, Cameron Mackintosh, Terrence McNally, and the company's signature composer, Stephen Sondheim. Since its founding in 1989, Signature has won 70 Helen Hayes Awards for excellence in the Washington, DC region's professional theater and has been honored with 276 nominations.
Signature is partially supported by a grant from the Virginia Commission for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts and by a gift from Arlington County through the Arlington Commission for the Arts and the Cultural Affairs Division of the Department of Parks, Recreation, and Cultural Resources.
Directions

The Signature Theatre is located at 4200 Campbell Avenue (22206) off I-395 at the Shirlington exit. After the exit, blue Signature signs mark the way to the Theatre. Free parking is available in two adjacent public garages. Please note that Campbell Avenue is a new street and some GPS online mapping systems do not yet recognize Signature Theatre's address. For directions visit http://signature-theatre.org/map.htm.

 

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