Each fall, Arts For All tours a professional theatrical production to over 2,500 in-need children.
The 2013 Audience Project
For our 2013 Audience Project Tour, Arts For All is bringing a free professional production of E. Gray Simmon’s ‘PINOCCHIO’ to 2,500 in-need students the five boroughs of New York City! Each performance of the 2-week tour is followed by a Q & A session with the audience. This engaging version of ‘PINOCCHIO’ explores adventure, desire, family, and learning right from wrong, with original music by Clayton Colwell. All the themes are augmented by a free Study Guide and 4-week pilot workshops.
The 2012 Audience Project
In 2012, AFA brought Jenn Palumbo‘s How Peanut Butter Met Jelly and The Fairy Tale Academy to over 2,500 kids in New York City. These two fairy-tale inspired shows teach lessons about teamwork, friendship, and study skills using a blend of humor and drama. How Peanut Butter Met Jelly answers the age-old question about how the sandwich was created through a series of anecdotes told by a relatable Narrator. For The Fairy Tale Academy, children in the audience are put in-role as judges for Fairytale Finals Week at the Academy.
Arts For All followed all performances with an interactive Question and Answer session with the audience, and provides each student and teacher with a Study Guide to help cement the lessons presented on stage. Teachers are encouraged to use the Study Guides to integrate lessons into the classroom curriculum.
The 2011 Audience Project
In 2011, Arts For All partnered with PigPen Theatre Company to tour The Mountain Song. Back-to-Back 2010 and 2011 FringeNYC Overall Excellence Award winners, PigPen Theatre Company is an ensemble of seven young men who create atmospheric theatrical fables with their own unique blend of live music, puppetry, shadow play, choreographed movement, and clever lighting effects. The Mountain Song was the runaway hit of last year’s New York International Fringe Festival (the largest multi-arts festival in North America), earning critical praise from Time Out New York, Backstage, and The New York Times. Everything the Arts For All children saw on stage was the result of years of collaboration between seven recent Carnegie Mellon University School of Drama graduates!
“I can’t thank you enough for bringing Pig Pen’s, The Mountain Song, to P.S. 69. Our children and staff absolutely loved it! Teachers were stopping me in the halls to tell me how terrific it was and how much their children enjoyed it. The actors were wonderful and quite entertaining and the story was touching yet amusing. We loved the set, the music, the whole presentation!” – Linda Sorrentino, Enrichment Coordinator, PS69
