We're doing something different this year: We are offering a 10 a.m. school matinee for ALL of our shows!
Join us for a special performance for local middle and high school students.
If you'd like to bring a group to our student matinee, please fill out our form.
John Proctor Is the Villain
By Kimberly Bellflower
Directed by Kyle Boatwright
Runtime: 2:15 including intermission
Content advisory: discussions of sexual assault, sexual harassment, and grooming. Recommended for children age 15 and up
Oct. 29 at 10 a.m.
$5 students/free to chaperones
What if the heroes of The Crucible…are actually the women?
Kimberly Belflower’s John Proctor Is the Villain, by turns intense and laugh-out-loud funny, follows a group of teenage girls who are grappling with the implications of sexuality and oppression as they study Arthur Miller's classic. Inspired by the #MeToo movement, they form their own feminism club at school—and are shocked to discover that maybe the heroes handed to us aren't heroes after all. It's a healing work that balances urgent political discourse with relatable, contemporary humor and the delirious joy of friendship, girlhood, and growth.
Our Town
By Thornton Wilder
Directd by Behnam Alibakhshi
Our Town is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Samuel French, Inc. www.concordtheatricals.com
Runtime: 2:35 including intermission
Content advisory: alcohol use and smoking, discussions of death. Recommended for children age 12 and up
Nov. 20 at 10 a.m.
$5 students/free to chaperones
What is life's destination? How much time do we waste on useless worries? How can love and kindness improve our lives?
Nearly 90 years after its writing, Thornton Wilder’s Our Town remains one of the best-known plays in the English language, and we take its lessons for granted at our peril. It portrays the preciousness of a simple life and the joys of companionship. Follow the residents of Grover’s Corners, New Hampshire, as they navigate joy and pain, the unexpected and the mundane. "It is an attempt," said Wilder, " to find a value above all price for the smallest events of our daily life."
Unfinished Women Cry in No Man's Land While a Bird Dies in a Gilded Cage
By Aishah Rahman
Directed by Gilbert McCauley
Runtime: 90 minutes
Content advisory: racial slurs, discussions of sexual activity and assault, discussions and depictions of drug and alcohol use and death. Recommended for children age 15 and up
March 11 at 10 a.m.
$5 students/free to chaperones
Unfinished Women, Aishah Rahman’s theatrical jazz tour-de-force, portrays a group of teenage mothers trying to decide whether to put their babies up for adoption, while in a room nearby, doomed genius saxophonist Charlie 'Bird' Parker slowly dies in a drugged and dream-filled haze. Rahman weaves spoken word and jazz music together in an intimate, emotional work described as an "underground classic".
Xanadu
Book by Douglas Carter Beane and music and lyrics by Jeff Lynne and John Farrar
Directed by Rose Schwietz Malla
Xanadu
Is presented through special arrangement with Music Theatre International (MTI). All authorized performance materials are also supplied by MTI.
www.mtishows.com
Runtime: 90 minutes
Content advisory: mild references to sex, some coarse language. Recommended for children age 10 and up
May 7 at 10 a.m.
$5 students/free to chaperones
Escape with us into the glittering world of the pastels, spandex and synthesizers of the roller disco! Ancient Greek Muse Clio goes undercover as a leg-warmer-wearing Australian to help hapless wannabe artist Sonny find his purpose. Along the way, she finds she has an important choice to make between immortality, or love and art. Xanadu is pure joy and silliness, with the hummable tunes of ELO mastermind Jeff Lynne.
It will leave the audience rolling with laughter – and on skates!
Post-show Q&As are offered to all groups free of charges. Study guides and/or other supporting materials such as lobby displays or online content may be available for productions and will be shared as they are available.
Pre-show workshops or backstage tours may be available by special request.
If you'd like to bring a group to our student matinee, please fill out our form.
Many of our productions deal with themes that may not be suitable for all ages. Our recommendations are meant to offer a rough guideline to help you decide whether a show is right for your group, but each student's life experience and maturity may differ. If you have questions about the suitability of a particular show for your student group, please contact us.
Student Matinee Study Guides
Our dramaturgs usually prepare Study Guides for the shows offering Student Matinees to local middle and high schools. Here is our list of past study guides, which we offer free for your use — please credit where appropriate.