Theatreworks USA

While I am on the subject of live theater in New York City let me relate another experience that is worth exploring. There was a great meeting of passions when Curious George the Movie hit theaters in February 2006. Of course I had to take my students to see this when it played in a Union Square movie house within walking distance from our school.

Seating arrangements were a challenge since I had to position myself so that my deaf students could watch me as I interpreted the dialogue into American Sign Language in the darkness. But because the story was familiar and the visuals were rich the children had no issue with following the plot. The movie was very moving and funny. That adorable little monkey cracks me up. And although the day was a success, in terms of providing a rich experience for our students outside of the classroom, I felt that the logistics of providing ease of communication could have been improved. Too bad there was not a live stage version of The Adventures of Curious George so we could hire interpreters and enjoy another performance to its fullest like we had with Peter Pan.

Then I found one....

Theatreworks USA was performing Curious George at beautiful Town Hall in midtown Manhattan and get this...tickets were cheaper for this show than they were for the movie! Group rates are only $7.00 per person with an order of 15 tickets or more. They were very accommodating with my request for interpreters. They sent me a copy of the script beforehand and when we arrived they had reserved a section of seats for us. The show itself was very well done. Everyone enjoyed the experience and it added another dimension to the students learning.

This year Theatreworks USA has a slate of 19 shows including Charlotte's Web, Seussical and The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe. If you are a teacher looking to enrich the lives of your students through live theater, look them up. If you are a parent who would like to expose your child to reasonably priced theater (individual tickets are only $10) check them out as well. I am certainly glad I did.