The PCPA Outreach Tour is hitting the road. Four actor interns and a stage management intern will traverse Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties October through May with original productions produced specifically for elementary through high school students.
The first production is PCPA’s first outreach musical adapted by Outreach Director Leo Cortez from the popular children’s book, Oliver Button is a Sissy by Tomie dePaola. It’s suitable for grades K to 6 and shows how one boy overcomes bullying by staying true to himself.
Next in the tour is another new adaptation for the stage by Leo Cortez, Reaching Out by Francisco Jimenez, the third book in The Circuit trilogy. It recounts the challenges Francisco faced in his efforts to continue his education. This is Francisco’s tale of poverty, guilt, separation, and self-doubt that was transformed by academic success. Reaching Out is suitable for grades 4 to 12.
Now in its fifth year, My Life=Art, PCPA in the Schools, an interactive theater development project, continues its exploration of turning real life stories into fully staged performances. The project involves two phases, beginning with a PCPA artist who comes to the school and conducts a series of writing workshops with the students. The written work is then distilled into a script and developed into a touring production by PCPA directors and actors that will be performed for the entire school in spring 2011.
For more information, visit pcpa.org. To book an Outreach Tour performance, call 928-7731, Ext. 4108.
Arts Briefs is compiled by Arts Editor Shelly Cone. Information should be sent to the Sun via fax, e-mail, or mail.
This article appears in Oct 14-21, 2010.