By Naeisha Rose
Several public schools will get a taste of Broadway this year and in 2018 with a new after-school theater program provided by the arts education non-profit Inside Broadway, according to its spokesman Sam Morris.
There will be arts education programs in city schools in Queens, Manhattan, Brooklyn and the Bronx for the 2017 to 2018 school year, according to Sam Morris, the non-profit’s spokesman.
Thirteen of those schools are or will be in Queens.
Schools that have already been introduced to the after-school program for October and November include PS 224, PS 69, PS 7, PS 13, PS 222, PS 113 and PS 162.
Those schools are located in Bellerose, Jackson Heights, Elmhurst, Glendale and Flushing, and will have final theater performances between January and February, according to Morris.
Students in the program will meet twice a week for 25 sessions with an Inside Broadway professional teaching artist, a musical director, scenic designers and makeup artists. Participants will learn how to create a backdrop, study theatrical makeup, rehearse and then present an original musical by the end of the program.
The students will be able to use songs from Broadway and follow a plot line from “NYC Musical Mystery Melodies,” but the musicals will diverge by incorporating a history lesson about their respective boroughs, according to Morris.
“The Evil Doctor So-and-So has stolen the Statue of Liberty and the Secret Agent Society must find her within 24 hours for the Big Apple Expo! Reporter Corey O. Graph and a team of news anchors provide up-to-the-minute news reports, which only heighten the search,” he said.
The program is funded by the New York City Council through the Department of Cultural Affairs under the Council’s Cultural After-School Adventures initiative.
The remaining six schools that will get a chance for its students to sing, dance and find clues are expected to have their start dates between January to March, with final performances throughout the spring, according to Inside Broadway.
Inside Broadway receives funds from Cultural Affairs, the City Council, the city Department of Education, and numerous foundations as well as individuals, according to www.Insid
Reach reporter Naeisha Rose by e-mail at nrose
