Preschoolers who spend more time in role-play (acting out characters) have higher measures of creativity: voicing someone else’s point of view helps develop their ability to analyze situations from different perspectives.

NEWSWEEK “Creativity in America” July, 2010

Photos on front & back cover and page 3 courtesy of the Courier-Post Newspaper/www.courierpostonline.com

This newest Youth Stages offering is an exciting hybrid of our current programs! Part touring play, part interactive work-shop, these new family PLAY-SHOPS are the best of both worlds and best enjoyed by 3-9 year olds and their parents. Each of these PLAY-SHOPS will be a combination of stories and music. A Youth Stages actor-educator will lead the chil-dren as audience-participants in the retell-ing of classic folktales, fairytales, nursery rhymes, and/or folk songs. Children will provide sound effects, physical move-ments, and lines of dialogue as they help bring songs to life and creatively and dra-matically re-tell stories with our performer.

Watch and participate in amaze-ment as books, stories and songs become PLAY-SHOPS!

Anansi and the Moss-Covered Rockretold by Eric Kimmelre-imagined by Youth Stages The trickster spider plays a joke on animal friends!

Four String Fool!Youth Stages presents a sing-along/play-along with Mr. Rizz Joey Rizzolo unleashes his magic ukulele, leading an interactive sing-along through children’s standards, original music, and obscure tunes that are sure to become instant favorites.

Bugs, and Insects, and Arachnids, Oh My!classic bug songs & stories re-imagined by Youth Stages May include: The Itsy-Bitsy Spider, The Ants Go Marching, Little Miss Muffet, I’m Bringing Home a Baby Bumble Bee, David Kirk’s Miss Spider’s Tea Party; Eric Carle’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar, The Very Busy Spider, or The Grouchy Ladybug; E. B. White’s Charlotte’s Web; Thomas Rockwell’s How to Eat Fried Worms

Who’s in Rabbit’s House?retold by Verna Aardemare-imagined by Youth Stagesused by permission of Curtis Brown, Ltd. Various animals help Rabbit discover who’s in Rabbit’s house.

Farmyard Folliesclassic animal-themed songs & storiesre-imagined by Youth Stages May include: Old MacDonald Had a Farm, B-I-N-G-O, The Three Little Pigs, The Three Billy Goats Gruff or There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly

All New! Play-Shops

FEES: $135.00 one PLAY-SHOP • $245.00 two PLAY-SHOPS (same location, same day) • 55¢ per mile round trip travel ($20.00 minimum) • Running time: 35-45 minutes • Maximum audience: 125 audience-participants

609-430-9000 • manager@youthstages.com

Workshops, Residencies, & Classes for Preschoolers Creative play is an intricate part of who preschoolers are and how they learn. Utilizing theatre activities and control techniques, a Youth Stages actor-educa-tor structures creative play into creative drama. Children dramatize stories incor-porating language, visual arts, music, and movement. Stories come to life with the children acting the roles they choose. Our professionals are adept at incor-porating role play, physicality, sequenc-ing, repetition, listening skills, prediction, rhythm, and pattern into your story times!

Here are some Workshop Ideas And Stories To Dramatize With Preschoolers in libraries, preschools, places of worship, and after-school classes And There Are So Many More Terrific Stories And Books...

Contemporary LiteratureThe Baby Beebee Bird • Boom, Baby, Boom, Boom! • The Carrot Seed • Dinner at the Panda Palace • Dinosaur Roar • Good Night, Gorilla • The Gruffalo • The Hat • The Knight and the Dragon • The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything • Mr. Gumpy’s Outing • Mushroom in the Rain • Sheep In A Jeep • The Snowy Day • The Tiny Seed

Nursery RhymesHickory, Dickory, Dock • Itsy Bitsy Spider • Jack and Jill • Jack Be Nimble • Old King Cole • Old Mother Hubbard • Pat-A-Cake • Pussy Cat, Pussy Cat • Three Little Kittens

Multi-cultural StoriesAnansi and the Moss-Covered Rock • The Billy Goat in the Chili Patch • Caps for Sale • It Could Always Be Worse • The Squeaky Old Bed • Stone Soup • The Funny Little Woman • The Mitten • Rum Pum Pum • The Story of Little Babaji • The Great Big Enormous Turnip

Fairy Tales And Other ClassicsThe Elves and the Shoemaker • The Gin-gerbread Man • The Little Red Hen • Noah’s Ark/Old Noah’s Elephants • The Princess and the Pea • Rumplestiltskin • Sleeping Beauty • Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs • The Velveteen Rabbit • Where the Wild Things Are • Winnie the Pooh • We’re Going On A Bear Hunt

FEES: $75.00 per hour (one hour minimum) • $275.00 per day (four teaching hours) • 55¢ per mile round trip travel ($11.00 minimum) • Running time: 30-minutes to one hour, depending on the age of the children • Maximum audience: 20 children (plus adults, where applicable) 609-430-9000 • manager@youthstages.com

Little Red Riding Hoodby Joey Madia Youth Stages brings its signature style to new heights. The audience, collectively, plays the title role! That’s right! Your chil-dren are Little Red Riding Hood and Youth Stages’ two talented actors play a loving Mother, a tricky Grandmother, a rockin’ Wolf, and an all-new lovable and kooky relative, Auntie Robin. Join us as we take a not-so-scary walk in the woods.

Stubby The ElephantPeg Wetli’s adaptation of The Elephant’s Child by Rudyard Kipling Preschoolers can relate to Stubby–he is “full of ‘satiable curiosity, and that means he asked ever so many questions.” In this participatory play, Stubby makes his way through the jungle asking questions of the children in the audience who become snakes, lions, giraffes, and monkeys.

The Three Bearsby Jean Prall Rosolino This all-new take on the classic story is a one-woman show with the audience as Baby Bear! The Youth Stages actor-educator plays Mama Bear, Papa Bear and Goldilocks. With Mama Bear’s guidance, Baby Bear (the chil-dren in the audience) get dressed, do morning exercises and chores, and, of course, discov-er “Someone’s been eating my porridge.”

Plays for 3-5 years

FEES: $300.00 one show • $525.00 two shows (same location, same day) • Maximum audience: 125 children • OTHER: 55¢ per mile round trip travel ($45.00 minimum) • Running time: 30 minutes • Study Guide provided • These shows can be performed in a cafeteria, function room, gymnasium, or all-purpose room with the audience seated on the floor.

609-430-9000 • manager@youthstages.com

FEES: $400.00 one show • $700.00 two shows (same location, same day) • Maximum audience: 1 75 children • see OTHER below

Plays for 3-9 yearsAesop And The Bully: A Fable For Our Timesby Joey Madia In a small village in Greece in 600 B.C., Demetra is being threatened by Diabom, the village bully. Her friend, Aesop, and her classmates at The Academy (the children in the audience) arm her with the skills and techniques she needs to stand up for herself by enacting The North Wind and the Sun, The Tortoise and the Hare, and Androcles and the Lion...with special attention to The Golden Rule. Children love participating as they learn important anti-bullying strategies!

Two Marys, Five Jacks, And One Very Big Shoe: A Clever Retelling Of The Rhymes Of Mother Goose by Joey MadiaProduced by special arrangement with The Dramatic Publishing Company The Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe had so many children she didn’t know... how to get them to sleep! Her children (the audi-ence) recite, sing and finger-play a number of nursery rhymes in this interactive pro-duction. Sing and play along!

Genies, Lamps, And Dreams: Tales Of The Arabian Nights adapted by Joey Madia Imagine yourself on a flying carpet traveling back in time to the Sultan’s palace in the Persian Empire in 803 AD. With a great deal of audience participation, Youth Stages makes these classic tales accessible to young children as they become bakers and birds, fish and frogs, and doors that say “Open Sesame.”

FEES: $400.00 one show • $700.00 two shows (same location, same day) • 55¢ per mile round trip travel ($45.00 minimum) • Running time: 40 minutes • Study Guide provided • Maximum audience: 1 75 children • These shows can be performed in a cafeteria, function room, gym-nasium, or all-purpose room with the audience seated on the floor.

609-430-9000 • manager@youthstages.com

*NOTE: Two Marys, Five Jacks and One Very Big Shoe and Genies, Lamps and Dreams are available at this rate from May 1-September 1. Call Youth Stages at 609-430-9000 for further information.

The Lion, The Witch, And The Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis dramatized by le Clanche du RandProduced by special arrangement with The Dramatic Publishing Company All the roles in this unique adaptation are played by two performers! This imagi-native and whimsical theatre-in-the-round interpretation features dynamic acting and simple costumes, allowing young people to create Narnia in their imaginations.

A Play for K-6th grade

FEES: $275.00 for two hours • $525.00 per day (four teaching hours) • 55¢ per mile round trip travel ($11.00 minimum) • Running time: two hour minimum • Maximum audience: 25 adults

609-430-9000 • manager@youthstages.com

FEES: $550.00 one show • $995.00 two shows (same location, same day) • 55¢ per mile round trip travel ($45.00 minimum) • Running time: 50 minutes • Study Guide provided • Maximum audience: 375 children • This show can be performed in a cafeteria, function room, gymnasium, or all-purpose room with the audience seated on the floor or on a stage in an auditorium.

Professional DevelopmentYouth Stages conducts Professional Development sessions with:

• ELEMENTARY SCHOOL TEACHERS• PRESCHOOL TEACHERS• LIBRARIANS• MUSEUM PERSONNEL• YOUTH GROUP LEADERS

We can work with your staff on how to incorporate creative drama elements not only into your visual and perform-ing arts activities, but also story times, history lessons, language arts curricu-lum, museum exhibits, religious educa-tion classes, science lesson plans, and more.

Story Dramatization • Finger Plays • Drama for Docents • Bibliography of Books • Songs • Curriculum Integration • Games for Transitions • Rainy Day and Indoor Recess Ideas • Faith Made Fun • Interactive Activities • Read and ReACT

Workshops, Residencies, & Classes For K-6th gradesCREATIVE DRAMA: A Youth Stages session includes many of the following activities: a hands-on craft activity, a discussion of the day’s theme, pantomime activities, imagination games, physical exercises, vocal warm-ups, focusing games, full-group work, individual acting, reading of a book, sharing of student ideas, role-playing, dramatizing the story, small group scene creation, critique of one’s own work and the work of others, cool down. All of this is done with the professional classroom management skills of the actor-educator.

These sessions are terrific for:• Language Arts Classes • History Units• Library Programs • Science Tie-in• Bringing Museum Exhibits To Life • After-school Classes

LEARNING OUTCOMES: Creative Drama activities and scenework require participants to speak, improvise, visual-ize, think geometrically, memorize, work with others, utilize music and rhythm, know one’s body, project thoughts and feelings through speech and physicality. In creating and sharing improvisational scenes and adapting stories to performance, students name the characters, identify the plot, re-state and reorder dialogue and scenes, ap-ply and show their learning through perfor-mance, analyze the parts that make up the whole, evaluate and critique the scenes.

• Places of Worship• Scout Troops• Summer Camps • School Plays• Performing Arts Classes • Residency Programs

FEES: $75.00 per hour (one hour minimum) • $275.00 per day (four teaching hours) • 55¢ per mile round trip travel ($11.00 minimum) • Running time: one to two hours, depending on the age of the children • Duration: From a single session, to an 8-week course, to a long-term residency • Maximum audi-ence: 25 children • 609-430-9000 • manager@youthstages.com

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