3 Theatre Activities to Celebrate “The Week of the Young Child”
The Week of the Young Child™ is an annual celebration of early learning, young children, their teachers and families, but these creativity-building activities are perfect for any time of year! Theatre is important for young children because: · Pretend play builds curiosity through exploration and questioning · Language-rich stories and songs build vocabulary and pre-reading skills · Creative storytelling gives children opportunities to make choices and practice problem-solving · Expressive movement and rhythmic dance exercise motor skills, supporting muscle and brain development. · Dramatic play teaches empathy as children learn to identify and express feelings. · Self-expression is foundational to self and...
Barry Kornhauser Reflects on the Development of 'Balloonacy'
This preschool production isn’t just for preschoolers! Balloonacy was created in 2014 and started a wave of popularity around the world for Theatre for the Very Young. We sat down with playwright, Barry Kornhauser to talk about about the development of this work and about the audiences beyond preschoolers with whom this production resonates.
CTC's Newest Play for Preschool Audiences | Babble Lab
Children's Theatre Company Acting Company member, Autumn Ness, dives into the world of new play development with her most-recent creation, Babble Lab. Autumn Ness is celebrating her 23rd season as a member of the CTC Acting Company and is the recipient of the 2018 TCG Fox Foundation Fellowship, the 2020 MRAC Next Step Fund, and the 2022 MN State Arts Board Creative Support Grant which all supported this project. We sat down with Autumn to hear more about the creation of Babble Lab! To start, what exactly is Babble Lab and what is your role in it? About 10 years ago, I did my...
Theatre for the Very Young with Playwright, Ernie Nolan
Ernie Nolan is the executive artistic director of Nashville Children’s Theatre (NCT) and an award-winning director and playwright. Under Ernie's leadership, NCT launched The Snuggery program in 2018 which is an immersive and interactive Theatre for the Very Young (TVY) performance series created especially for children ages 0-5. We are thrilled to welcome 4 new TVY pieces by Ernie Nolan into the PNA catalogue. Nashville Children’s Theatre is home to one of the leading theatre for the very young programs in the country. Why do you find this work important for your community? This work has become so vital to our programming. In addition to...