Stage One: top-tier plays for kids - and adults, too
It's no secret that several generations of schoolchildren have loved Stage One, Louisville's oldest continuous theater. But don't be too quick to relegate it to the "kids-only" file — adults love it, too.
Stage One is Kentucky's only professional children's theater and the second-oldest children's theater in the country. Every year, 100,000 children, their family and their teachers enjoy its plays — which include many world premieres.
You can check out the current season's plays by clicking here.
Stage One began in 1946 as the Louisville Children's Theatre. It has been an Equity theater with a professional resident acting company since 1980. In 1998, The Great Gilly Hopkins played a limited engagement in New York to rave reviews.
Even though Stage One appeals to the entire family, the theater doesn't forget its education mandate: It provides teacher resource guides for every production, including lesson plans for different grade levels and aligned to Kentucky and Indiana academic standards. The children's theater also provides pre-show workshops, custom-designed workshops, post-show discussions and teacher professional development.
You can buy tickets to public performances online or by calling (502) 584-7777. Or call (502) 498-2436 to buy a season subscription.
Like its sister theater company, Music Theatre Louisville, Stage One now stages its productions at the Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts' Bomhard Theater in downtown Louisville. You can view a seating map of the Bomhard Theater.
Teachers can reserve school matinees online or by calling (502) 498-2436 or tollfree at (800) 989-5946. The Fund for the Arts will partially subsidize field trips from Title I schools; the application is here.
The Kentucky Center offers wheelchair access on every seating and parking level. With three weeks' notice, sign interpretation is available for patrons who are deaf or hard of hearing.
- by Ivonne Rovira, Louisville Reporter for HelloMetro
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