The First Stage Children's Theater is a professional American children's theater based in

Milwaukee Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

, founded in 1987. Its season consists of six "mainstage" shows, two shows for very young audiences, and two shows from its award-winning Young Company. First Stage also provides education for children and youth interested in theater. One of the largest children's theaters in the nation, First Stage has large annual audiences and is the second biggest theater company in Milwaukee. The theater's main performance venue is the Todd Wehr Theater at the

Marcus Center The Marcus Performing Arts Center is a performing arts center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. Managed by a non-profit organization, it is marketed as Milwaukee's premier presenter of the performing arts. It is located at 929 North Water S ...

, with additional performance space and headquarters in the Milwaukee Youth Arts Center.

History

The First Stage Children's Theater, founded in 1987, was originally named First Stage Milwaukee. The young theater's first season (1987–1988) showed only 3 plays, ''The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'', ''Macbeth'' and ''The Sleeping Beauty.'' The theater's model began with a plan to produce one play for young children, one for middle schoolers, and one for high schoolers every season. Since then, it has progressed to include a wide variety of ages, both onstage and off. First Stage now aims to present theater from a young persons point of view, featuring young performers in leading roles. Plays have most often highlighted growth, overcoming challenges, or the importance of individuality.

First Stage Theater Academy

The First Stage Theater Academy was founded in 1992 to teach life skills through stage skills. It is the teaching arm of the theater, and serves more than 2000 students annually. The Theater Academy provides classes for grades K4 through high school seniors. Classes range from one week, half-day sessions, to four week long, full-day sessions. Classes include

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Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

Improv Improv may refer to: *Improvisation, an act of spontaneous invention **Improvisational theatre (includes improvisational comedy) **Musical improvisation Musical improvisation (also known as musical extemporization) is the creative activity of im ...

, Acting Theory, Voice, Movement, and

Speech Speech is the use of the human voice as a medium for language. Spoken language combines vowel and consonant sounds to form units of meaning like words, which belong to a language's lexicon. There are many different intentional speech acts, suc ...

. The Theater Academy provides a Company Class that focuses on a particular play which students perform at the culmination of the class. The First Stage Theater Academy is also home to the award-winning Young Company, founded by actor, acting instructor, and playwright John Maclay. The Young Company is an advanced acting troupe composed of high school actors, who perform two to three shows per year, as well as traveling to the

Utah Shakespeare Festival The Utah Shakespeare Festival is a theatrical festival that performs works by Shakespeare as its cornerstone. The Festival is held during the summer and fall on the campus of Southern Utah University in Cedar City, Utah Cedar City is the ...

to compete in their annual youth Shakespeare competition. They have an intensive focus on classical acting techniques and

. The Young Company meets in the Milwaukee Youth Arts Center every week for a two hour and forty-five minute intensive class period. The classes are taught by lead teachers Elyse Edelman, Marcella Kearns, and the current company director, Matt Daniels. The Young Company's performance projects are performed in the round in Goodman Mainstage Hall in the Milwaukee Youth Arts Center.

References

External links

* {{Official website, http://www.firststage.org Youth organizations based in Wisconsin Theatres in Milwaukee Performing groups established in 1987 Children's theatre Theatre companies in Milwaukee