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Theatre Art Education programs have been severly cut in public school systems throughout the country. Theatre arts education reaches a diverse group of students, some of which might not excel in a traditonal classroom enviornment but shine once given a mic and a song. For some children, it's a form of expression, for others, a kind of therapy. It's been statistically proven that most children perform better in a classroom when continually participating in regular theatre art education program. Many schools in NYC, in conjuction with MTI, have been trying to keep the arts alive in schools city wide, with great success. Now I ask this; what can be done on at national level? I feel teachers, administrators, parents, siblilings, communities as a whole, should try, and be able, to keep theatre art education alive in the public school system. Money is an issue for most, which is why these programs have been cut in the first place, but, if we all put our heads together, I know there must be a solution or a way to get the ball rolling. Any suggestions?

My group is doing Godspell in October. This time I decided to go out for the show and made the main cast, so as a person who normally does the lights, video work, special effects and helps develop sets, I'm trying to get alot of things done early since I will have songs and a script to learn. So with that I have a question that is a little more on the tech and special effects side of things.For the beginning of show I want to create what looks like something crashing into the back of the stage, we have a huge screen that comes down behind the stage. Well, at impact, not only do I want the video to have the effect of smoke, which is not an issue, but I want a good size puff of smoke to come off the back of the stage and maybe a few pieces of paper to look like it damaged something, just for effect. As a group we have 2 smoke machines, but they don't throw smoke fast enough to create this effect and make it look right. We don't have a whole lot of room to work with, the stage is only 16' by 16' and don't want to spend a fortune on something. We also couldn't really use pirotechnics, too close to the audience and during Halloween, while doing a Haunted theatre, in this theatre, our smoke machines set the fire alarm off. I am open to any ideas, whether it just be ideas that you thought of or already proven ideas that you may have done once before.Thanks for all the help.

Have any of you classroom teachers used musicals to teach other subjects? I don't just mean analyzing a musical in English class like you would any other literary work (although I'm curious about that, too!)--I mean using Pacific Overtures to teach students about the opening of Japan, or using Caroline or Change to look at the Civil Rights movement. For those of you that have, what are your experiences? What are some of the challenges you've faced--like a classroom of kids who hate musicals--and how have you overcome them? How do you use the cast album? Do you just focus on the text? If you haven't used musicals in your lessons, why not? Is that something you'd be open to?

Hello All,Does anyone have any ideas of how to make the final fire scene happen in Pippin? Its suppose to be a fire box style magic trick, but Im wondering if anyone has been able to pull off this scene using something else. I have a nice size budget for the show but I would perfer not using the money renting or purchasing a high-end magic trick.d

I am trying to narrow the search for next year's musical, for grades 7-12. Our theatre is closed down for a major remodel for the next year or so. We have moved all productions to our small theatre . It is an indoor amphitheatre with a 3/4 audience span. There is a stage size of approx. 15'x30'. I also utilize the two aisles through the audience that lead to the back of the house/exit. I would appreciate any suggestions on what MTI shows would work in this small limited space. Thanks!

Hi! Has anyone compared these two scripts side by side? Other than length, what are the differences in them?

Is Sweeney Todd: School Edition doable in a high school setting? I've heard a lot of debate on this topic. What do you think? I'd love to do Sweeney Todd as our 2010 musical!

We are a community theatre contemplating the production of Tick, Tick...Boom!, by Jonathan Larson. Has anyone out there already produced it, or has seen it that might be able to tell me what the sets looked like in detail. The performance space we use is somewhat limited, not to mention after each weedend performance we would have to strike the set and put it back up after the sunday church services are through.(the church also uses the space) Please help! Thanks. Peter

Does anyone have suggestions of good musicals with only 2-3 male singing roles with many female singing roles? I am constantly looking for these type of shows for our annual high school fall musical.

Does anyone have some good suggestions for musicals with only a few male singing roles (2-3) with many female singing roles? This seems to be our typical search for our annual fall musical at my high school.