The Show Must Go Online

Throughout our 33-year history, First Stage has nimbly responded to the needs of our community. Even now, in the midst of a global crisis, First Stage remains dedicated to inspiring creativity while finding new and innovative online options in order to engage students and serve our community. While we cannot gather in person at the theater or in classrooms right now, First Stage has a growing list of virtual resources that will keep your mind, body, and imaginations active.

First Stage at Home: Each week, First Stage’s Theater in Education department shares free and arts-integrated activities based on First Stage plays that families can explore together. Join the fun with theater games, videos, and readings of our favorite stories. #FSatHome

First Stage On Stage: Together with your family, explore scenes and songs selected by First Stage Playwrights in Residences, some of our favorite composers, and our Artistic Director Jeff Frank. Download materials—all free of charge—and gather the family to read or sing through the scenes and songs together. Share your experiences by tagging #FSatHome. We can’t wait to see what you’ll create!

Theater Academy Online: Although we must be physically apart, First Stage’s Theater Academy remains a place where students are encouraged to take risks and conquer their fears, and actively engage in developing and strengthening their acting skills. In addition to transferring our Performance Classes, School Year Intensives and Young Company classes to online platforms, and creating new programs specifically designed to be virtual, First Stage is bringing daily activities right to your home through YouTube and Instagram.

Check out the following ways to stay connected and creative:

·       The Theater Academy’s Advanced Musical Theater class has put together the following virtual choir performances: “There Will Be Sun” from GROUNDHOG DAY and “To the Lifeboats/We’ll Meet Tomorrow” from TITANIC.

·         Virtual Story Drama: Recommended for young people ages 3-6 with their families, Story Drama is an interactive telling of favorite children’s stories and together, families will participate in bringing these exciting tales to life through dramatic play. By engaging in creative play, young people will strengthen their ability to focus, cooperate with others, and solve problems.

·         The Show Must Go Online: While this class is officially sold-out, join First Stage online on May 29 for the final edited video of this classes’ musical performance that was specifically written to be rehearsed and performed remotely. Each student received a one-minute scene or song to rehearse, video record, and upload. When all the videos are played in order, they tell the hilarious story of a group of passionate students desperate to keep their annual musical alive!

·         Summer Theater Academy 2.0: To ensure the health and wellbeing of our students, families, and staff, First Stage is committed to implementing procedures to create a safe environment for all of our Summer Theater Academy classes this year. We will be shifting 70% of our Summer Academy classes to a virtual platform, with programming starting June 15. These classes will follow the Theater Academy curriculum, with professional theater artists sharing their expertise, skills, and passion for their art with our students, from ages 3-19 years old. All of these virtual class options will run as weeklong sessions, and we encourage students to try new classes and sign up for multiple sessions throughout the summer. In addition to our virtual programming, we anticipate holding a limited number of in-person classes at the Milwaukee Youth Arts Center starting July 6. Registration is now open.

Young Company: The Theater Academy’s nationally recognized training program for advanced high school actors, transferred classes to online as well as adapted their annual fundraiser, the Bard-O-Thon, and their spring Performance Project to be virtual. 

·         Bard-O-Thon: This year, First Stage celebrated the 10^th Annual Bard-O-Thon. This event allows Young Company members to help further First Stage’s mission of transforming lives through theater by raising funds to help support Shakespeare programming at First Stage.

On Saturday, April 25, the day began with Young Company Members breaking out into virtual rooms and performing as many monologues as they had memorized, followed by a virtual workshop lead by First Stage Alum and guest artist, Jeremy Tardy. 

Their final showcase went virtual this year with a Facebook Live Stream. More than 100 people logged on to watch 50 Young Company Members deliver Shakespeare monologues from basements, to bedrooms, and back yards. These young people displayed an incredible depth of understanding with their pieces and entertained online guests for an hour.

After the presentation, Young Company Director, Matt Daniels led a Sonnetpalooza, through which current Young Company Members were joined by alumni to perform as many Shakespeare sonnets as possible. It was incredible!

Overall, these young people came together and stretched their artistic endurance by memorizing and performing 504 Shakespearean monologues that day, all while raising $16,102 by streaming their talents to friends and family across the nation!

Over the ten-year history of the Bard-O-Thon, Young Company Members have raised more than $82,000 in support of First Stage’s Shakespeare programming.

·         YOU CAN’T TAKE IT WITH YOU: Young Company Performance Projects are actor-driven presentations that use elemental production values in order to enhance the connection between actor and audience in exciting ways. Young Company’s spring Performance Project of YOU CAN’T TAKE IT WITH YOU, a comedy in three acts by Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman, was live streamed on May 9 with recorded viewing opportunities available through Sunday, May 17.

Let First Stage help your family create positive memories and stay creative together—check out our virtual resources, and stay tuned for more to come!