Our creative theatre programs for students with learning differences and/or physical disabilities go beyond inclusion. Through the Discovery Arts program of Young Audiences of Houston, our teaching artists work with students to create and perform original works of theatre. Our programs are designed in consultation with the students’ classroom teacher to ensure that we understand each student’s strengths and challenges. The resulting theatre experiences are sensory-based, using sounds, smells, and sensations to help tell stories (in addition to words, images, actions, and music). They are guided by theatre artists and draw from students’ imaginations, favorite books, and/or learning objectives that develop social skills and job skills. Depending on a class’s needs, a final film may be created from the piece to help teach future classes. This workshop is taught by 2 Teaching Artists.

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Texas Commission on the Arts Grant Subsidies Available

Relax your mind, body, and soul with Kids Yoga! Children of all ages join a certified Yoga instructor from Brave Little Company through introductory Yoga movements that are structured to fit the skill levels of participants in grades PK-12. Meditation teaches children to control their emotions to handle daily and lifetime struggles. Facing failure and making decisions can put a lot of pressure on young children, and yoga can help them relax and refocus.

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Texas Commission on the Arts Grant Subsidies Available 

Students' stories move center stage in our creative theatre classes. Creative Theatre develops students' skills as actors through focused warm-ups, improvisation, voice projection, character creation, collaborative storytelling and writing, and performance. They will learn about setting and plot structure while drawing on their innate capacity for imaginative play. In addition to being creative, they will develop confidence, critical thinking, collaboration, empathy, and inclusivity. 

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(Consistent attendance is required to create a final performance.)

Texas Commission on the Arts Grant Subsidies Available 

All the world's a stage - and the tools of theatrical storytelling can support learning not only in the discipline of theatre, but also in subjects across the curriculum. A partnership between a K-12 educator and a theatre teaching artist can help students find their intrinsic motivation to learn, appeal to different learning styles, and create a sense of community within the school. Whether embodying a concept in math or science, depicting a setting in a reading assignment, or creating a fully realized demonstration of their understanding, students can develop their theatre skills at the same time as their academic learning! 

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Texas Commission on the Arts Grant Subsidies Available 

On stage and in life, it helps to be clear, confidant and prepared. These short and long-range programs use theatre arts to teach the 5C's of social an emotional learning: confidence, communication, creativity, collaboration and capability. Students learn principals of acting along with success skills for life.​

Texas Commission on the Arts Grant Subsidies Available 

Instruction in dance, singing and acting that builds into the performance of a musical scene/showcase. This workshop gives students (trained and untrained alike) the opportunity to perform in a musical number. For participants who may be nervous on stage, performing in the chorus will allow them to cooperate with others in a group. For those who wish to step out of their own a little, performing special solos and leading routines will be offered. In the end all parts work together to make a very entertaining whole.

These classes are designed to train young students how to use the traditional positions of fencing in order to choreograph a performance. Most of the entertainment for young people, boys and girls alike, involves swordplay. Many children have a light saber or foams sword in their toy chest. By taking this class, students come to understand partnering, teamwork and by completion each student will choreograph their own stage combat combination/scene. Students will practice/perform with special safety foam swords.

Imagination and problem-solving with Legos! In “The Building Blocks of STEM” the instructor will use Lego bricks to lead teams of students through interactive challenges, targeted for those in third grade and up. Group challenges: creativity, team building, and problem-solving. Please note that students will require adequate space for this activity, due to the space needed for Lego STEM building challenges.

Let actress Jean Donatto customize an after-school or in-class theatre residency for your school. In-school residencies are subject and grade level specific and help students understand any material of their teachers choosing. Students love to learn by doing, and Miss Jean guides them through active learning in subjects from literacy, to history, to science. After-school, this process-oriented residency focuses on communication, acting, and writing. Student experience how teamwork makes ideas reality in the world of theatre. Either in-class or after-school, this residency serves all students - shining stars and retiring violets alike – often with surprising results as students and their love of learning blossoms!

Imagine arriving in a strange place with no amenities whatsoever and being uncertain if the skills you possessed were sufficient to guarantee you and your family’s survival. Such was the predicament of the earliest immigrants to the shores of our nation. Examining a time in the very early history of America when children were considered “little adults” and expected to shoulder a viable workload, this classroom residency looks at many of the aspects of early Colonial times. Theatre teaching artist Jean Donatto will guide your class through a creative process using teams, peer-coaching, and teacher side-coaching. Students will discover recreation possibilities from existing natural resources. Students will observe through research colonial activities from Dame schools, to harvesting logs, to the beginning of river commerce. Nobody knows what happened to the “lost” colony of Roanoke, but by using inference and knowledge of the conditions, students could certainly express a point of view. Using Language Arts creative writing strategies, students will plan and construct a travel brochure to entice visitors to their colony of choice.

Marcy uses a felt board and felt pictures from various children’s stories (example: Ugly Duckling, Little Red Hen, Gingerbread Boy, Three Bears, Little Red Riding Hood, etc.) to focus on characters, settings, plot, dialogue, and story telling for the youngest students. The children will discuss the various things they see in the pictures, determining what is going to happen next, how the characters are feeling, and answering questions about who, what, where, when, why, and how their ideas fit in the stories. Students will then be asked to “act out” using dialogue various parts of the story.

Students participate in a number of theater games and improvisational techniques that focus on paying attention, listening to and following directions, team work, playing fair, being a good winner and a good loser, and just plain having fun! This workshop would need to be held in a large empty room so students can move around.

Students will be shown a famous painting and discuss what might be happening in the painting as well as what happened prior to the scene depicted in the painting and what might happen to the characters after the painting. They will then write a short story including characters, setting, and plot with a beginning, middle, and end and be encouraged to include some dialogue. Students will then present their stories to their classmates.
 

During the Christmas period, Mrs. Santa Claus will visit your classrooms and read a holiday story to the children and discuss with the students the characters, settings, and plot, and what we can learn from the story (various stories will be used.

Community and connectivity are the cornerstones of recovery and resiliency, we build on these things through the sharing of our experiences. Students will utilize performing arts like drama, singing, and oration to express complex emotions, ideas, and query they may be engaging with. This artistic workshop and residency aims to develop student’s self-confidence, group presence, communal connectivity, and other social emotional (SE) needs. These sessions are designed to support the reduction of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), literacy, SE growth and development and oral communication.

The Ensemble Theatre’s Education and Touring Department engages the community via arts programming specifically designed for current and future audiences in an effort to broaden their understanding of theatre. Through exciting and thought provoking residencies, workshops and master classes, Ensemble assists students with ways of thinking outside of the box while exploring their emotional development and strengthening the ability to communicate effectively. For over 30 years, Ensemble has helped nurture young minds and talent by empowering them with the disciplines of theatre, music, dance, and spoken word.

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Texas Commission on the Arts Grant Subsidies Available

Teacake Ferguson offers a comprehensive suite of programs designed to nurture talent and creativity in the performing arts. Offerings include performing arts classes that provide training in acting, singing, and dance for all age groups, focusing on skill development and artistic expression. She also conducts theater production workshops covering all aspects of theater, including directing, stage management, set design, and technical theater. Our immersive theatrical experiences engage audiences in innovative ways, breaking traditional boundaries. In addition to performance arts, we offer creative writing courses aimed at developing skills for scripts, screenplays, and other creative writing forms.

Humpty Dumpty finds new friends to help him get up when he falls down. The audience will learn the  value of compassion and true friendship as they travel on a musical adventure with Humpty Dumpty and his new friends. Students will also have fun creating a make and take a Humpty Dumpty character and a paper plate wall.

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Sites are encouraged to book this workshop in conjunction with Twanda's Theatre on Wheels' Humpty Dumpty's Rhyme and Rhythm Musical performance.