Bay Area Children's Theatre Receives $100,000 Grant from Disney

The Bay Area Children's Theatre (BACT) has been awarded a $100,000 grant from The Walt Disney Company to help bring the Disney Musicals in Schools program to the San Francisco Bay Area.

BACT was one of only four arts organizations in the nation selected this year to collaborate with Disney Musicals in Schools. The program is an outreach initiative developed by Disney Theatrical Group to create ongoing theater programs in local elementary schools.

The Disney grant will fund two years of programming-five schools will be selected this year, and another five next year. The after-school programs are free to participating schools.

BACT will select five Oakland public elementary scho ols to participate in 2015.

"We are overjoyed with this incredible opportunity to bring musical theatre to elementary schools in our community," said Nina Meehan, executive director of the Bay Area Children's Theatre. "All children benefit from access to live theatre, both as performers and as audience members. We see the positive impact of performance-based theatre education in all the schools we serve. The Disney Musicals in School program will strengthen our capacity to provide programming and training in the performing arts that schools will be able to sustain. We are extremely grateful to Disney for its commitment to and support for this work."

Disney Musicals in Schools helps to keep the arts in schools and utilizes the unique world of musical theater to build positive relationships between students, faculty, staff, parents and the community. Students work in teams, developing self-confidence and strengthening their communication and collaboration skills, all while learning and enjoying the process of creating a Disney musical theater production.

The five selected schools will participate in a 17-week musical theater residency. BACT and Disney Theatrical Group will train and assign teaching artists in the after-school sessions. At no cost to them, the schools will receive performance rights, educational support materials and guidance from the teaching artists. The teaching artists' roles are to help produce the chosen Disney musical by working with educators to create a sustainable theater program in the participating schools.

The programs will culminate in 30-minute Disney musicals at each school site. At a later date, BACT will host a Student Share Celebration, where each school will perform a selection from its show on a professional stage for an audience of fellow students, family members and neighbors.

Applications are now being taken for the 2015 program from Oakland Unified School District public or charter elementary schools in which 70 percent or more of the student population qualifies for free or reduced-cost lunch. For more information and to apply, please visit bactheatre.org/DMIS or call (510) 2962-4433 ext. 7005 or email dmis@bactheatre.org. The application deadline is September 11, 2015.

Disney Musicals in Schools was launched in response to Disney Theatrical Group's concern that low-income students in urban, public schools were not afforded equitable access to the arts. After successfully offering the program in New York City schools, Disney Theatrical Group began partnering with organizations in other communities around the United States.

Disney KIDS musicals, created in partnership with Music Theater International (MTI), are about 30 minutes in length and have been adapted from the classic Disney films, 101 Dalmatians, Aladdin, The Aristocats, Cinderella, The Jungle Book, The Lion King, Sleeping Beauty, and Winnie the Pooh.

((high-res .jpg attached of a BACT youth production of Disney's Aladdin JR, in Pittsburg, CA. Photo credit: Melissa Nigro.))

DISNEY THEATRICAL GROUP (DTG) operates under the direction of Thomas Schumacher and is among the world's most successful commercial theatre enterprises, bringing live entertainment events to a global annual audience of more than 19 million people in more than 50 countries. Under the Disney Theatrical Productions banner, the group produces and licenses Broadway musicals around the world, including Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, Elton John & Tim Rice's Aida, TARZAN, Mary Poppins, a co-production with Cameron Mackintosh, The Little Mermaid, Peter and the Starcatcher, and Newsies. Aladdin is its most recent Tony Award-winning Broadway hit; its most recent London production is the critically acclaimed comedy, Shakespeare In Love. Other successful stage musical ventures have included King David in concert, the national tour of On The Record, several touring versions of Disney's High School Musical, and Der Glöckner Von Notre Dame in Berlin. DTP has collaborated with the country's leading regional theatres to develop new stage titles including Mary Zimmerman's adaptation of The Jungle Book and The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

Disney Theatrical Group also delivers live shows globally through its license to Feld Entertainment, producer of Disney on Ice and Disney Live! For over 30 years, Disney on Ice and Disney Live! have brought beloved Disney stories and characters annually to over 12 million guests in nearly 50 countries worldwide through productions such as Frozen, Princesses & Heroes, Treasure Trove, and Disney Junior Live on Tour! Pirate & Princess Adventure. In addition, DTG licenses musical titles for local, school and community theatre productions through Music Theatre International.

Music Theater International (MTI) is one of the world's leading theatrical licensing agencies, granting schools as well as amateur and professional theaters from around the world the rights to perform the largest selections of great musicals from Broadway and beyond. MTI works directly with the composers, lyricists and book writers of these shows to provide official scripts, musical materials and dynamic theatrical resources to more than 60,000 theatrical organizations in the U.S. and in over 60 countries worldwide.

MTI is particularly dedicated to the idea of theater as education and has created special collections for younger performers. The MTI Broadway Junior Collection includes "JR." titles, 60-minute musicals for performance by middle school children; and "KIDS" titles, 30-minute musicals for performance by elementary school children. MTI School Editions are musicals that have been annotated for performance by high school students, and the Theater for Young Audiences (TYA) Collection are 70-minute musicals designed for adults to perform for children.