North End Elementary Students Experience Goodspeed Theatre

Last week, 50 students from Macdonough Elementary School participated in Goodspeed's Arts Education Collaboration. The day-long program included a choreography workshop taught by "Hello! My Baby" cast member Allie Schauer and a music workshop featuring Music Assistant Dan Pardo and "Hello! My Baby" cast member Beth McVey.  

Students toured the historic Goodspeed Opera House before heading to Chester to enjoy the matinee performance of the show at Goodspeed’s Norma Terris Theatre.

The purpose of Goodspeed’s Arts Education Collaboration is to enable students who might not otherwise be able to attend a Goodspeed performance, to experience live theatre at no cost, as well as to gain an exclusive behind-the-scenes look into the making of a musical.

As Macdonough is a school with 94 percent of its students on Title 1, this project is immensely important because it provides these underserved students with an arts education experience which is sorely lacking in their present curriculum. For so many of these students, this visit is the first time that they have ever experienced live theatre.

Since the program’s inception, a number of businesses have selected a neighborhood school to sponsor. Goodspeed has collaborated with East Hartford High School, Valley Regional High School in Deep River, and Hartford’s Naylor-CCSU Leadership Academy and Bulkeley High School. 

The success of this program has sparked the interest of many area schools, and it is Goodspeed’s goal to expand the Arts Education Collaboration to even more underserved students throughout Connecticut.

Citizens Bank supported the initiative.