Theater reinforces the life skills and character qualities valued in any profession: creativity, observation, self-confidence, communication, promise-keeping, leadership, empathy, listening, and teamwork.
Students are encouraged to take risks, be bold, laugh a lot, and have fun!
After-School Classes
We offer after-school programs to enrich the theater arts at schools. Our theater classes allow students to experience the creative process from inspiration to performance, learn the fundamentals of drama, focus on collaboration, take pride in the original plays they create, and foster a lifelong interest in the performing arts.
Our after-school classes are available to public and private schools, community centers, libraries, and more.
Bellaire Parks & Recreation
We are looking for good team players, movie fans, avid readers, sports fans, extroverts, shy kids, pirates, princesses and born performers – anyone and everyone who has ever imagined their own adventure! Our skills classes focus on particular aspects of performance and/or production under our professional teaching artists’ guidance. The students’ ideas inspire the final showcase–from selecting material to creating stories, and simple props and costumes. As with any team, each student’s presence and participation are important—so please consider your schedule when registering. Whether you are new to acting or a seasoned pro, there’s room for all on our Performing Arts Playground!
Ages 7 – 11
Tuesdays, September 13 – November 15, 2022
4:15 – 5:45 p.m.
Final Performance: Tuesday, November 15 at 5:00 p.m.
Tuition Fee: $300 per student
Theater helps the written word come alive for students. Using a theater-based approach, our in-school residencies advance literacy, poetry, and reading in schools in the greater Houston area. Past partners include North Belt Elementary, Cunningham Elementary, Beth Yeshurun Day School, and The Shlenker School, to name a few.
Drama Day
Actors and performing artists spend a lifetime exploring the possibilities of theater and performance, but there is a way to introduce your students to a variety of activities in just one afternoon! It’s Drama Day, a fun, fast-paced workshop that gives students an opportunity to participate in a range of hands-on theater projects.
Groups of students rotate through each of four performing-arts related activities over the course of the workshop. Your Drama Day activities may include:
- Theater and improvisation games
- Dance games and exercises
- Mask-making
- Puppet-making
- Stage combat
We will do our best to accommodate your preferences when booking a Drama Day! Some activities may not be available on all dates or for all age groups.
Drama Day Price: $400 for 2 hours
Drama Day Capacity: 60 – 100 students per hour
We will supply:
- Four qualified teachers
- All supplies and equipment
Requirements:
- One large, open room (like a cafeteria or gym) cleared of furniture and computers OR four smaller classrooms cleared of furniture and computers. We will need access to electrical outlets.
- 2 volunteers per group to supervise students as they work with teachers
Storytelling
Main Street Theater’s storytelling class encourages kids’ creativity and curiosity as they explore the events of their lives, family history, stories from many cultures, and their own imaginations.
Participants will examine several types of stories, from fables to students’ original fiction to tales they hear from elderly family members. They will also experiment with different types of storytelling, using speech, music and movement. At the end of each semester, students present the result of their hard work in a fun event for an audience of family and friends.
Poetry and Public Speaking
Main Street Theater’s poetry and public speaking class builds confidence as students experience firsthand the words of great poets and speakers from Shakespeare to Dr. Seuss, Maya Angelou to Barack Obama!
Not only will students explore the rich world of existing poetry and oratory – they will also create their own pieces for performance. At the end of each semester, students present the result of their efforts in a fun event for an audience of family and friends, featuring a combination of interpreted and original work.
Tour Dates
2019-2020 TBD
Monday – Friday
Performance and travel must be
completed by 3:30pm.
Call 713-524-7998
To book a tour, contact the Education Department at 713-524-7998
Performance
At a Shakespeare for All performance, students participate in the action when our traveling troupe of performers needs their help to complete the scenes from classics such as Romeo and Juliet, Henry V, and Macbeth, among others. While your students help the actors by using their creativity and imagination, they are also introduced to Shakespeare’s language, characters, and stories in an exciting and fresh way. Shakespeare for All is a unique, interactive assembly for middle and high schools with an alternate version available for elementary schools.
Workshop
We also offer Shakespeare for All workshops and have presented at primary and secondary schools, universities, juvenile detention facilities, and the DePelchin Children’s Center. Our mission is to help students find their own voice using the tools of Shakespeare’s language and ideas. We can provide additional workshops on Shakespeare or about a specific Shakespeare play and/or assist your ELA educators in teaching Shakespeare in the classroom with our performance-based approach.
“The performance was wonderful! The students loved it. It was for nearly all of them their introduction to both Shakespeare and live theater. How fortunate they were to have Main Street Theater provide them both experiences. The cast worked their craft to captivate their audience. Students are talking about it still. Just yesterday, a student used a phrase from ‘Romeo & Juliet’ in an essay. In middle school that’s very high praise indeed. Please convey our thanks to the cast for their kindness and professionalism.”
~ Warmly, Dom Zuccone, Deady Middle School
“Length was perfect … You keep in all the important monologues and soliloquies … Students really loved Mercutio, Romeo, Juliet, and the Nurse – oh and Benvolio – all of them! … Best of all, many students who didn’t like the play loved the performance! We have enjoyed having you here for the last two years, and hope to do it again next year!”
~ Kathleen Parker, The John Cooper School
SteAmwork brings the theater arts into the classroom to enrich learning in science, math, engineering, and technology. Working closely with a core curriculum specialist, our education team fuses their skills in the performing arts (using voice, body, and imagination) with scientific and technological concepts and lessons. Our partner in developing a significant portion of our SteAmwork curriculum is Lisa Felske, Curriculum Director of Science, Harris County Department of Education. Says Felske, “It is when students are physically and creatively engaged in what they are learning, when they are physically experiencing the curriculum content, that their brains are in the optimal conditions for learning.”
SteAmwork teaching artists use the theater tools of storytelling, playwriting, visual design, improvisation, and movement to bring scientific concepts to life. SteAmwork also allows the students themselves to become 3-D models to demonstrate these concepts. We will work with your school and specific teaching team to develop the games, activities, and projects that fit best with the subject needs of your particular classes.
To bring SteAmwork to your school, please contact the Education Department at 713-524-7998 or email Jonathan at jonathan@mainstreettheater.com.
Videography by Ric Ornel Productions