Search

InterAct Story Theatre Arts are for everyone, and everyone learns through the arts! interacting with our communities local performances, family workshops and community events interacting with students & learners arts education and arts integration programs for students and teachers interacting online interactive performances, school programs and community programs presented through virtual/online platforms New * Now * Next • Stay Tuned! We're busily planning for this fall and the 2024-2025 school year. Please continue to check this website for new Information. ​ • Interested in bringing InterAct Story Theatre to your school or community event? We’re selecting now for classes and events. Click here for information on KidStory Theatre , our annual May stage festival and drama-based writing program celebrating stories written by kids for kids! ​ • Our Next Wheaton Family Theatre Series event is October 5 & 6. FREE event for kids & families! • Follow us on Facebook , Instagram , and Twitter to stay up to date on the latest info! Celebrating our 10th Anniversary Season of the Wheaton Family Theatre Series! This October we welcome award-winning world musician & composer Tom Teasley A Journey Around the World through Music Saturday, October 5, 2024 at 11 a.m. & Sunday, October 6, 2024 at 2 p.m. The Wheaton Family Theatre Festival for kids and families is FREE and open to the public! No tickets or registration needed. Event held at Highland Elementary School - 3100 Medway Street, Wheaton, MD 20902 . This October, Tom Teasley, award-winning percussionist, world musician and composer returns to Wheaton! Tom dazzles audiences with an inspiring cross-cultural musical journey around the world, weaving ancient musical traditions with modern technology. A unique performance not to be missed! Great for ages 4 and up. CLICK HERE to view Season 10

InterAct in Schools Scroll Down Touring productions and arts-in-education programs for learners of all ages Since 1981, InterAct Story Theatre has brought a wide variety of educational, interactive performances, plays, and assembly programs to schools, libraries, and community venues, all throughout the area, delighting children, families, and educators alike. InterAct Story Theatre is partnering with schools and community partners across the country to deliver in-person and virtual/online options for workshops, artist-in-residence programs, performances, family programs, and professional development opportunities for educators and artists. ​ Follow the links below. Boxes saying “Available Online!” next to a program title means, in most cases, the program can be either presented virtual or in-person. And if you don’t see what you’re looking for, ask us about designing a program just for you and your students! One of our favorite things to do is to design programs with our partners...in fact, many of the programs you see on our website were originally designed in response to requests by parents, teachers, kids, and community partners. Contact us or request more info to talk with us about how we can present or design an in-person or virtual/online arts program for your school or your community. We’re cooking up some new and creative online programs—so check back with us or join our mailing list to stay in the loop with the latest information! REQUEST MORE INFORMATION Performances & Assembly Programs Arts Education & Arts Integration: Classroom Workshops Arts Education & Arts Integration: Artist-in-Residence Programs Out of School Time Programs KidStory Theatre Parent Workshops & Literacy Events Staff Workshops & Trainings Clinics & Master Classes Professional Development Residencies Back to Home Page Add to Mailing List

KidStory Theatre Our annual May stage festival and drama-based writing program celebrating stories written by kids for kids! ​ ​ Every year, all year long, InterAct Story Theatre artists create stories with students, and invite them to share their epic stories with us. Each May, we choose the best of the best and transform them into short plays, musical numbers, and vignettes performed by professional actors as part of our KidStory Theatre Festival event. ​ Your class can participate in a set of arts integrated creative drama workshops in which we create short stories and plays about the curriculum you are already teaching! REQUEST MORE INFO How can my school participate in a KidStory Workshop? Click the Request More Info button or contact us at info@interactstory.com or (301) 879-9305 about bringing our KidStory Theatre creative drama-based writing workshops to your school. Before the workshops, we’ll ask your teachers about the curriculum content/topics/themes you would like us to explore with your students. The minimum number of workshops is two sessions per classroom, with a two classroom minimum. We are now scheduling workshops with classes in grades preK-8... if your school or class is interested in participating, please contact us! Subsidies are available thanks to our generous funders at the Nora Roberts Foundation, the Maryland State Arts Council, and the Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County. Between October - April, InterAct’s teaching artists lead participating classes in a collaborative, creative drama-based writing process to create and dramatize a story rooted in the topic(s) or text(s) you’ve given us. Our process is designed to connect with grade-level content standards and National Arts Standards in Theatre. The project can also be designed to meet standards in other subject areas. In the spring, we select our favorite stories. These stories are transformed into short plays and musical numbers to be performed by professional actors at the Annual KidStory Theatre Festival in May! REQUEST MORE INFO We can’t wait to see what kids dream up each school year! ​ ​ < Back to InterAct in Schools

Scroll Down Wheaton Family Theatre Series Celebrating 10 years of the Series with a return of audience favorites To keep up on the latest news about InterAct’s Wheaton Family Theatre Series Season 10 and get reminders about our next program dates, join our mailing list . We also invite you to check out our past seasons by clicking on any of the season buttons! Season 10 Season 9 Season 8 Season 7 Season 6 Season 5 Season 4 Season 3 Season 2 Season 1 < Back to Community Page Season 10: 2024—2025 The Wheaton Family Theatre Series is a FREE public performing arts series for kids and families. Let the celebration begin! We are honored to present our 10th Anniversary Season of InterAct Story Theatre's Wheaton Family Theatre Series. We are bringing back some amazing favorites for kids and families that celebrate the rich diversity of our arts community. In season 10 of InterAct Story Theatre's Wheaton Family Theatre Series we present a series of interactive family events, for the Wheaton community, in theatre, dance, storytelling and world music completely FREE to the public! Thanks to the partnership support of Highland Elementary School and support from a plethora of community members; and funding from Maryland State Arts Council, Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County, Nora Roberts Foundation, and individual and corporate donors. Support also provided by a grant from the Greater Washington Community Foundation. Award-winning world musician & composer Tom Teasley A Journey Around the World through Music Saturday, October 5, 2024 at 11 a.m. & Sunday, October 6, 2024 at 2 p.m. Event held at Highland Elementary School - 3100 Medway Street, Wheaton, MD 20902 FREE and open to the public! No tickets or registration needed. This October, Tom Teasley, award-winning percussionist, world musician and composer returns to Wheaton! Tom dazzles audiences with an inspiring cross-cultural musical journey around the world, weaving ancient musical traditions with modern technology. A unique performance not to be missed! Great for all ages. Story Tapestries featuring Jamaal "Mr. Root" Collier Saturday, November 9, 2024 at 11 a.m. & Sunday, November 10, 2024 at 2 p.m. Event held at Highland Elementary School - 3100 Medway Street, Wheaton, MD 20902 FREE and open to the public! No tickets or registration needed. In November we welcome Story Tapestries back to Wheaton Family Theatre Series. Their program features the dynamic Hip Hop artist Jamaal "Mr. Root" Collier. Jamaal's interactive and engaging Hip Hop-based performance is challenging, fun and entertaining! Each member of the audience has an opportunity to 'GET INVOLVED' with call-and-response, steady beat chants, pop quizzes, beat production and even some group dancing! Jamaal explains the importance of expressing yourself and explains how some legends of the culture have done the same. This performance is fun to watch but it's even better when you GET INVOLVED! A Family Literacy Fiesta with InterAct's Ali Oliver-Krueger Books Alive Saturday, January 11, 2025 at 11 a.m. & Sunday, January 12, 2025 at 2 p.m. Event held at Highland Elementary School - 3100 Medway Street, Wheaton, MD 20902 FREE and open to the public! No tickets or registration needed. This January, celebrate the start of the New Year as InterAct Story Theatre’s Artistic Director, Ali Oliver-Krueger leads kids and adults in exploring a favorite folk tale together through movement, drama, and song. Everyone’s a part of the story in this Family Arts Workshop! Best for ages 3 and up. Dancing Our Way Through Books led by Kelly King February 2025, dates TBD: Saturday at 11 a.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. Event held at Highland Elementary School - 3100 Medway Street, Wheaton, MD 20902 FREE and open to the public! No tickets or registration needed. Join Kelly King, InterAct Story Theatre teaching artist and founder of Contradiction Dance Theatre and The Movement Movement as we'll explore a kid-friendly folk tale through creative movement and dance. Kids get to practice reading skills while moving, dancing, and sharing stories with our families and friends. No prior dance training needed...just bring your body and get ready to move. What a fun way to dance away the winter blues! Best for ages 3 and up. The Legend of Pufferfish Pat: A Tall Tale for Mad Times Saturday, March 15, 2025 at 11 a.m. and Sunday, March 16, 2025 at 2 p.m. Event held at Highland Elementary School - 3100 Medway Street, Wheaton, MD 20902 FREE and open to the public! No tickets or registration needed. The Legend of Pufferfish Pat: A Tall Tale for Mad Times is a play set in the Old West, looking at how we deal with anger and other big feelings. When Pat gets angry, he blows up like a Pufferfish, which gets him a new name and a reputation that he doesn't want. With the little town of Gravy Gulch heating up for the annual gravy cook off, it's more important than ever that he keep his cool! Where can he go to find folks who might understand? The play is performed by actors appearing as a multitude of characters, with the whole audience becoming cowpokes and townspeople right from where they sit! . Happenstance Theatre: PREPOSTEROUS! Saturday, April 5, 2025 at 11 a.m. and Sunday, April 6, 2025 at 2 p.m. Event held at Highland Elementary School - 3100 Medway Street, Wheaton, MD 20902 FREE and open to the public! No tickets or registration needed. InterAct Story Theatre welcomes back our friends from Happenstance Theater as these charming vintage clowns play circus animals, sing as a human calliope, do a classic circus mirror routine, invent a number of ridiculous “entrées,” perform live music, and execute a preposterous slow motion number involving a pie! All ages. KidStory Theatre Festival A theatrical celebration of stories written by kids for kids Saturday, May 17, 2025 at 11 a.m. and Sunday, May 18, 2025 at 2 p.m. Event held at Highland Elementary School - 3100 Medway Street, Wheaton, MD 20902 FREE and open to the public! No tickets or registration needed. All year long, InterAct Story Theatre artists create stories with kids, and invite them to share their epic stories with us. This May, we’re choosing some of our favorite stories written by kids over the years, as we present a series of short plays and stories performed by our InterActors. We can’t wait to see what kids dream up each year! Best for ages 4 and up. Mail List

Wheaton Family Theatre Series Season 9: October, 2023 through May, 2024 Past programs: InterAct Story Theatre Presents An Encore Performance! Not My Monkey October 7, 2023 and October 8, 2023 Event held at Highland Elementary School - 3100 Medway Street, Wheaton, MD 20902 FREE and open to the public! No tickets or registration needed. Everything's topsy-turvy under the big top in InterAct Story Theatre's NOT MY MONKEY . The new circus leader is trying her best to lead her zany crew of circus folk, but there’s a new problem every time she turns around, and no one wants to pitch in or even try to get along. "Not my circus, not my monkeys!" they say. To make matters worse, the monkeys have broken loose and are wreaking havoc everywhere! How can everyone work together to catch those monkeys, when no one thinks it’s their problem to solve? And how can the community work together to stop the monkey madness? Everyone in the audience gets into the act right from where they’re sitting, becoming part of the community of performers and townspeople who need to tackle this hair-raising problem. Best for ages 5 & up. Luis Garay: The Passion and Inspiration of the Drum November 4, 2023 and November 5, 2023 Event held at Highland Elementary School - 3100 Medway Street, Wheaton, MD 20902 FREE and open to the public! No tickets or registration needed. Luis Garay’s South American, Caribbean, and African rhythms is a highly educational and entertaining musical journey, introducing the audience to many exotic instruments such as the balofone, djembe, and talking drum, and also to the more familiar congas, bongos, timbales, and drum set. The audience participates throughout the performance as they learn to clap authentic rhythms from different cultures. Best for ages 4 and up. A Family Literacy Fiesta with InterAct's Ali Oliver-Krueger Books Alive January 20, 2024 and January 21, 2024 Event held at Highland Elementary School - 3100 Medway Street, Wheaton, MD 20902 FREE and open to the public! No tickets or registration needed. This January, celebrate the start of the New Year as InterAct Story Theatre’s Artistic Director, Ali Oliver-Krueger leads kids and adults in exploring a favorite folk tale together through movement, drama, and song. Everyone’s a part of the story in this Family Arts Workshop! Best for ages 3 and up. Dancing Our Way Through Books led by Kelly King February 10, 2024 and February 11, 2024 Event held at Highland Elementary School - 3100 Medway Street, Wheaton, MD 20902 FREE and open to the public! No tickets or registration needed. Join Kelly King, InterAct Story Theatre teaching artist and founder of Contradiction Dance Theatre and The Movement Movement as we'll explore a kid-friendly folk tale through creative movement and dance. Kids get to practice reading skills while moving, dancing, and sharing stories with our families and friends. No prior dance training needed...just bring your body and get ready to move. What a fun way to dance away the winter blues! Best for ages 3 and up. The Monster at the End of this Play by Sculpted Clay Productions March 2, 2024 and March 3, 2024 Event held at Highland Elementary School - 3100 Medway Street, Wheaton, MD 20902 FREE and open to the public! No tickets or registration needed. A spooky forest. A mysterious letter. The worst villains in all of Fairytale Land. What could possibly go wrong? "The Monster at the End of This Play" is a lighthearted and humorous exploration of how the things we don't understand are not always as scary as they seem. Best for ages 5 and up. The Monsters of Seahorse Island World Premiere of a Brand New Play by InterAct Story Theatre! April 13, 2024 and April 14, 2024 Event held at Highland Elementary School - 3100 Medway Street, Wheaton, MD 20902 FREE and open to the public! No tickets or registration needed. ​ The people of Seahorse Island and the people of the Kingdom under the ocean have been at odds for longer than anyone can remember, but why? And what happens when worlds collide? This thoughtful and funny play includes lots of audience participation and is best for ages 5 & up. ​ Mail List KidStory Theatre Festival A theatrical celebration of stories written by kids for kids May 18, 2024 and May 19, 2024 Event held at Highland Elementary School - 3100 Medway Street, Wheaton, MD 20902 FREE and open to the public! No tickets or registration needed. All year long, InterAct Story Theatre artists create stories with kids, and invite them to share their epic stories with us. This May, we’re choosing some of our favorite stories written by kids over the years, as we present a series of short plays and stories performed by our InterActors. We can’t wait to see what kids dream up each year! Best for ages 4 and up. Season 6 Season 5 Season 4 Season 3 Season 2 Season 1 To keep up on the latest news about InterAct’s Wheaton Family Theatre Series Season 10 and get reminders about our next program dates, join our mailing list . We also invite you to check out our past seasons by clicking on any of the season buttons! < Back to Community Page Season 7 Season 8 Season 9 Season 10

Wheaton Family Theatre Series Season 2: October, 2016 through May, 2017 The Legend of Pufferfish Pat: A Tall Tale For Mad Times October 2016 A brand new tall tale looking at how we deal with anger and other big feelings. The play is performed by three actors who become a variety of characters, with the whole audience becoming cowpokes and townspeople. Kwame Ansah-Brew and Fritete Drum and Dance Ensemble November 2016 An exciting morning of rhythms, dances, songs, and chants with a clear mission of representing various ethnic groupings in Africa! All ages. Cantaré ¡Feliz Navidad! A Latin American Holiday Celebration December 2016 Enjoy songs and stories from Latin American holiday traditions: villancicos from the Andes, festejos from Peru, parrandas from Puerto Rico, African chants from Brazil, Hanukkah songs from Spain and more! All ages. A Journey Around the World through Music March 2017 Celebrate Music in Our Schools Month with Tom Teasley, award-winning percussionist, world musician and composer. An inspiring cross-cultural musical journey around the world, weaving ancient musical traditions with modern technology. Silly Smarts and Other Stories from Japan April 2017 Ali Oliver-Krueger, Artistic Director of InterAct Story Theatre, will join us for a special interactive performance of Mama-San Stories, weaving stories from her Japanese-American childhood with traditional Japanese mukashibanashi (Long-Ago Stories) in this funny and heart-warming east-meets-west story theatre experience. KidStory Theatre Festival May 2017 A theatrical celebration of stories written by kids for kids! All year long, InterAct Story Theatre artists create stories with kids, and invite kids to share their epic stories with us. Each May, we choose the best of the best and transform them into short plays, musical numbers, and vignettes performed by our InterActors. We can’t wait to see what kids dream up each year! Best for ages 3 and up. Season 6 Season 5 Season 4 Season 3 Season 10 Season 1 To keep up on the latest news about InterAct’s Wheaton Family Theatre Series Season 10 and get reminders about our next program dates, join our mailing list . We also invite you to check out our past seasons by clicking on any of the season buttons! < Back to Community Page Season 7 Season 8 Season 2 Season 9

Donate to InterAct Story Theatre Arts are for everyone ... and everyone learns through the arts! Every year InterAct is able to bring quality arts programs and arts-based learning experiences to more and more children, youth, and families, thanks to the generosity of donors just like you! With your one-time or recurring donation, you not only get the satisfaction of knowing you put a smile on a child's face and helped empower learning through the arts, you may also qualify for a tax deduction! InterAct Story Theatre Education Association, Inc. is a Section 501(c)3 nonprofit and your contribution may qualify as a charitable deduction for federal income tax purposes ​ We hope you'll consider supporting our work by making a donation to InterAct Story Theatre. You can make a one-time donation or recurring gift by credit card through the webform on this page. If you're interested in making a donation by check or making an in-kind donation of goods or pro-bono services, please contact us ! Every little bit helps! We will put your donation to work right away bringing fantastic arts and education programs to children, families, educators and community members throughout our area. Thank you! Make-a-Donation-Top-Page Thank you to our Funders, Donors and Supporters! InterAct Story Theatre Education Association’s arts-in-education programming is made possible due to the generous support of our funders, donors, supporters, and volunteers. Thank you so much to these caring communitarians, and to those who choose to support our work anonymously. You help us bring our vision to life, and make sure arts are for everyone, and everyone learns through the arts! Visionaries Arts & Humanities Council of Montgomery County Citrix Podio Greater Washington Community Foundation & The Arts Forward Fund Adriana Hernandez Ali Oliver-Krueger Peter Oliver-Krueger Maryland Humanities Maryland State Arts Council Suzanne Milton (in honor of Anabel Milton and the teaching artists who keep InterAct going!) Montgomery County Economic Development Corporation Nora Roberts Foundation Matthew Williams Champions The Biosophical Institute John Carlock (in honor of Anabel Milton) Shoshana, Izi and Eric Colchamiro Mirza Donegan Karen Donelan (in honor of the Milton Family) Blair Eig Julie Fitzgerald Cynthia Hallberlin Rozann Hassell The Henry D. Kahn and the Laura Primakoff Charitable Fund (in honor of Anabel Milton) Adriana P. Hernandez Craig & Eileen Hollander ​ John Jeffries Lenore Blank Kelner Jerry Kickenson The Milton Family (in memory of Jeff Hassell) Kathy and Randy Pherson (“Ali, you Rock!”) Maureen Roult Emily Townsend Rick Westerkamp The Westerkamp Family Adam Wise Steven Wolf Denise Young Advocates Mary Beth Bauernschub Valerie Baugh-Schlossberg Nora Benitez Eowyn Ellison Nancy C. Grant (in honor of Suzanne Milton) Terri Grant Susan Hutner Catherine Huntress-Reeve Vickey Kirkpatrick Marianna Martindale Laura Marvel Anabel Milton Sheri Moreen Mia Bell Porter Matthew Poti Nell Quinn-Gibney Hydeliza Revilla Maureen Roult Danielle Sultan Charles Vilade Kiersten Whitehead (in memory of Susan H. Drumm) Jenny Windstrup (in honor of Emily Townsend, "because she's a rockstar") Kent Woods Donate If you would like to support our mission by making a donation, you can make a one-time donation or recurring gift by credit card through the webform at the top of this page . InterAct Story Theatre Education Association, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) organization, and your financial contribution is deductible to the fullest extent permissible by law. Thank you!

Arts Education & Arts Integration: Artist-in-Residence Programs Artist-in-Residence programs, or residencies, combine a series of workshops and a performance to create an in-depth arts-based learning experience for students and teachers. ​ As arts integration specialists, InterAct Story Theatre conducts many residencies each school year, connecting the arts with learning objectives in a variety of subjects in preK-12. The following pages list just a few sample residencies that we have conducted in the past. A number of these residencies were designed or adapted especially to suit the needs of the partner school. REQUEST MORE INFO Artist-in-Residence programs for students of all ages and their teachers Artist-in-Residence programs, or residencies, combine a series of workshops and a performance to create an in-depth arts-based learning experience for students and teachers ​ As arts integration specialists, InterAct Story Theatre conducts many residencies each school year, connecting the arts with learning objectives in a variety of subjects in preK-12. The following pages list just a few sample residencies that we have conducted in the past. A number of these residencies were designed or adapted especially to suit the needs of the partner school. Interested in how an InterAct residency can infuse the arts into your learning objectives? Please contact us or request more info ! Sample Residencies Most of the residencies InterAct Story Theatre leads in schools and learning spaces are individually designed or adaptive residencies: We partner with teachers and schools to talk about what your goals are, and then design a residency to meet those needs. Here are just a few of the residencies InterAct has led recently connecting drama, dance, music and creative opera with content curricula. For more information, please contact us or fill out our response form ! Sample Early Childhood Residencies These are just some examples of residencies we’ve designed and implemented over the past few years. Contact us or request more info for any of these programs, or if you would like us to design something especially for your learning community! ​ Available Online! Books Alive! - a creative drama approach to foster language and emerging literacy skills. ​ Available Online! Responsive Playmaking: Creating Curriculum-Based Theatre in the Classroom - In this project-based residency, students explore a curriculum topic, a text or set of texts, a theme, or an event as actors and theatre-makers, and then work together to devise or create an original scene, drama, play, or story inspired by what they’ve learned. All stories, plays, scenes, and dramas created in this residency are submitted for consideration in InterAct Story Theatre’s KidStory Theatre Festival, a celebration of stories written for kids by kids...and the best of the best are performed by professional actors in the annual Festival! ​ Available Online! Books + Math = Drama! - students explore selected math concepts through age-appropriate literature and creative drama. Available Online! Penny's Puppets - students build literacy skills and gain hands-on experience with different types of puppetry. Available Online! Creative Arts for Early Childhood - Mix and match among our many early childhood workshops to create a multidisciplinary arts residency for your students ​ Available Online! Sing it! Dance it! Act it! - an exploration of a text through music, dance and drama. Available Online! Dancing Through the Rainforest - exploring the flora and fauna of the Amazon rainforest through dance and creative movement. ​ Available Online! OPERAtunities for Reading - a creative opera residency designed for early childhood populations ​ And more! Please contact us or fill out our response form for more details, or ask us how we can design a residency for you. Sample Residencies for Elementary School These are just some examples of residencies we’ve designed and implemented over the past few years. Contact us or request more info for any of these programs , or if you would like us to design something especially for your learning community! ​ Available Online! Responsive Playmaking: Creating Curriculum-Based Theatre in the Classroom - In this project-based residency, students explore a curriculum topic, a text or set of texts, a theme, or an event as actors and theatre-makers, and then work together to devise or create an original scene, drama, play, or story inspired by what they’ve learned. All stories, plays, scenes, and dramas created in this residency are submitted for consideration in InterAct Story Theatre’s KidStory Theatre Festival, a celebration of stories written for kids by kids...and the best of the best are performed by professional actors in the annual Festival! Available Online! The Play's The Thing - This classic InterAct residency is based on one of our featured assembly programs. Students attend a performance of one of InterAct's featured plays, and then participate in creative drama workshops in which they explore the themes of the play. This residency connects with curriculum standards in Reading Literature, Writing, and Speaking & Listening as well as fine arts standards in Theatre. Available Online! Books Alive! - Students explore text through creative drama, and develop original scenes extending the themes/plot of the text. This residency can be adapted to connect with curriculum standards in Reading Literature or Reading Informational Text, as well as standards in Speaking & Listening, Writing, and Theatre. Available Online! The Folktales Project - Students explore select folkloric traditions, and develop their own folktale incorporating both elements of good story structure and conventions of folklore. Available Online! History Alive! - Students explore historical events through creative drama, in a process that enables students to develop more understanding for the human factor behind key historical events, people, movements and eras. Requires advance notice of topic and planning. Available Online! Reader's Theatre - A creative drama approach in which students develop and perform a readers' theatre script. Available Online! OPERAtunities for Writing - A creative opera residency designed to promote writing skills. Available Online! Playbuilding - An extended residency project in which students devise original performance pieces. Available Online! Creating a Colonial Village - Students examine appropriate text and data sources to explore colonial occupations, and then use acting tools and skills, technical theatre and design ideas, and simple craft materials to transform their classroom into a colonial village. ​ And more! Please contact us or fill out our response form for more details, or ask us how we can design a residency for you. Sample Residencies for Middle and High School These are just some examples of residencies we’ve designed and implemented over the past few years. Contact us or request more info for any of these programs , or if you would like us to design something especially for your learning community! ​ Available Online! Exploring Shakespeare's Themes - expanded from the single workshop to offer a more in-depth exploration of a select Shakespearean play. ​ Available Online! The Underground Railroad and the Civil War - Students explore issues surrounding the Underground Railroad and Civil War through the creative drama strategy of tableaux. Available Online! The City Dionysia/Greek and Roman Mythology - Students explore Greek mythology and theatre through creative drama, tableaux, and theatrical design. Available Online! Novel OPERAtunities - students explore key thematic issues of a select novel and create original operatic arias or scenes in this residency designed to foster text-to-self connection and an understanding of character traits and motivations. Available Online! OPERAtunities to Make History - students explore key events and eras of history through creative opera. Available Online! Devising Original Theatre - an extended artist-in-residence program in which a teaching artist works with a group of students to develop and perform a short original piece. ​ And more! Please contact us or request more info for details, or ask us how we can design a residency for you. < Back to InterAct in Schools

Staff Workshops & Trainings As experts in arts integration and linking the arts with classroom learning, InterAct Story Theatre provides professional development opportunities for teachers, artists, and child care providers. For information about professional development residencies, intensives and institutes, please click here . If you'd like to know about our 60-minute, 90-minute, 3 hour or full professional development workshops, please scroll down! ​ InterAct Story Theatre is an approved provider of Core of Knowledge training through the Maryland Office of Child Care; if you are a Maryland provider or center interested in hosting a training, please contact us or request more info about which trainings are eligible for Core of Knowledge clock hours. ​ New training workshops are being added. Please check back soon, or contact us or request more info ! REQUEST MORE INFO Professional Development for Teachers, Artists, and Care Providers Books Alive for Little Ones: Building Language and Literacy Skills through Drama and Music Grades preK-1 and early childhood care providers ​ With Ali Oliver-Krueger Early Childhood teachers, Head Start teachers, and child care providers are asked not only prepare children for school readiness to provide expert care, but also to implement a wide variety of classroom curricula. In this workshop, participants will explore how imaginative exploration of books and stories through drama and music can help build language and literacy skills, and will learn techniques they can use to lead children in acting out stories in their own words. (OCC 3 curriculum clock hours) Creating Casual Opera in the Classroom: Building Reading Comprehension and Writing Skills through Music & Drama Grades K-5 and 6-8 ​ With Ali Oliver-Krueger In this workshop emphasizing character traits and motivations, mood, emotions, and interior monologue (for older students), teachers learn techniques through which they can lead students in examining text, making inferences, and then applying those inferences to create casual classroom operatic scenes. This work is especially strong for Reading/Language Arts and Social Studies, and has been implemented successfully with students from ages 4 and up. Drama Games for the Student Brain Grades K-5, 6-8, 9-12 Available Online! With Ali Oliver-Krueger In this training, participants learn simple yet engaging strategies that can be implemented in the classroom and adapted or expanded to address a plethora of goals and objectives. Particular emphasis is placed on articulating the rationale for drama gaming in the classroom and on providing participants with concrete strategies they can use right away to promote learning and help develop a wide range of skills. (OCC 3 curriculum clock hours) Picture This: Creating Effective Classroom Tableaux Grades 4 & up ​ With Ali Oliver-Krueger A hallmark among strong readers is the ability to visualize and develop mental images of the actions and events described in texts. The creative drama strategy of tableaux fosters visualization skills and encourages students to develop and present strong sensory images, thereby strengthening understanding of text and allowing students to gain a deeper connection to the text. This strategy can be adapted to a variety of content areas, and is especially valuable in working with informational text. This workshop is also available as part of a professional development arts coaching residency. Reader's Theatre for Young Readers: A Creative Drama Approach Grades PreK-2 Available Online! With Ali Oliver-Krueger Readers Theatre offers students opportunities to interact with text and build oral fluency. It provides repeated reading practice, which is a key factor in building fluency. Repeated reading practice also improves students’ and enthusiasm for reading and confidence in themselves as good readers. But how to implement Readers' Theatre with young readers whose skills are just developing? In this training, Ms. Oliver-Krueger leads participants through a creative drama-based process in which teachers develop and perform engaging readers' theatre scripts with their students. In this workshop, teachers discover how to create and host an imaginary talk show, "Books Alive!", in their classrooms. Students portray characters from a book and answer questions in role. The questions encourage the students to make predictions, draw inferences and examine the theme of the text. An amazingly fun way to achieve and assess reading comprehension! Jump Start Creative Writing Through Creative Drama Grades K-5, 6-8, 9-12, adult education Available Online! With Ali Oliver-Krueger Sometimes the hardest part of writing is just getting started! In this professional development workshop led by InterAct Story Theatre’s Executive & Artistic Director Ali Oliver-Krueger, participants learn by playing and creating stories on the spot, exploring strategies that spark creativity and address prewriting skills, oral composition and discourse, speaking and listening skills. We'll engage in warm-up activities for getting brains moving quickly and flexibly, and strategies for facilitating brainstorming and collaborative composition, and tips for dramatizing stories as a way to review and identify points of revision. These include concrete, easy-to-apply "bite sized strategies" that teachers can apply quickly in a few minutes, expand into full arts-integrated lessons and units, or even use to springboard students into creative projects and deeper exploration of content. Music Detectives: Practicing Inferencing Skills through Music and Active Listening Grades K-5 and 6-8 ​ With Ali Oliver-Krueger The ability to look beyond what is explicitly stated in order to make inferences is one of the key characteristics of strong readers, and is consistently one of the biggest challenges faced by struggling and reluctant readers today. This powerful strategy combines active listening, movement, and music to give students valuable practice in making inferences. Participants will learn the process of a Music Detectives lesson: learning and applying basic elements of music to examine musical samples, searching for clues, reading between the lines to make inferences, and then citing specific evidence from the "text" to support their theories. By giving students a chance to practice making inferences away from written text, we help students gain skills in predicting, drawing conclusions, and hazarding educated guesses, so that they can bring those skills to written text with greater confidence. Reading Between the Lines: Building Inferencing Skills through Music and Drama Grades K-5 and 6-8 ​ With Ali Oliver-Krueger This workshop combines the strategies of Music Detectives and Creating Casual Opera, offering teachers a comprehensive approach to building reading comprehension and writing skills through drama. Teachers learn techniques to prompt inferences through active listening, acting, and simple composition. These strategies can be learned and applied by non-musicians and music enthusiasts alike! Black Belt Tableaux: Advanced Tableaux Skills for Assessment and the Common Core Grades 3-5, 6-8, 9-12 ​ With Ali Oliver-Krueger Tableaux and Living Statues are among the first creative drama strategies that many teachers learn for integrating drama with classroom curriculum. But are you and your students getting the most you can out of this powerful and endlessly adaptable strategy?Designed primarily for teachers who have had some exposure to Tableaux, Living Statues, and/or Artful Thinking routines, this workshop explores advanced adaptations and extensions such as Conflict Webs and Statues, Internal/External Conflict, The Human Video Feed, Tableaux games, and effective uses of Tableaux as Assessment. In the half-day and full day workshops, teachers also have an opportunity to discuss and workshop ongoing work with this strategy, to brainstorm with Ms. Oliver-Krueger and their peers for ways to fine-tune and freshen up existing plans. This workshop is also available as part of a professional development arts coaching residency. A Creative Drama Approach to Reader's Theatre Grades K-8 Available Online! With Ali Oliver-Krueger This workshop introduces simple creative-drama based techniques through which teachers can lead students in developing, planning and performing Readers' Theatre presentations rooted in literary text or content curricula. Readers' Theatre offers students opportunities to interact with text and build oral fluency. It provides repeated reading practice, which is a key factor in building fluency. Repeated reading practice also improves students’ and enthusiasm for reading and confidence in themselves as good readers. The process of developing and performing original Readers' Theatre scripts also gives students a fun, creative way to not only build their understanding of a text or topic but also demonstrate their understanding to others. Informational OPERAtunities: Exploring Informational Text through Music and Drama ​ ​ With Ali Oliver-Krueger Informational text can sometimes feel dry, and motivating students to dive in can seem like a daunting task. How can we inspire students to embrace informational text with the curiosity and zeal of artists? Many of the best composers, playwrights and performers dive into informational text and research to create artistic work by reading between the lines to imagine the actions, emotions, motivations and conversations. In this workshop, teachers learn techniques through which they can lead students in approaching informational texts like artists: examining sources, building knowledge, making inferences, and then applying those inferences to create casual classroom operatic scenes that breathe life into the topic through music and drama. A portion of the workshop is dedicated to brainstorming and planning practical applications for the classroom; teachers are encouraged to bring an example of informational text or curriculum planning materials they might like to explore with their students. < Back to InterAct in Schools

Featured Plays for School Audiences InterAct Story Theatre is proud to offer a variety of performances tailored to children and young adults of all ages. Please scroll down to check out our featured plays. Also, visit our storytelling and story theatre programs ! ​ ​ For more information, please request more info or contact us ! Our Spring 2024 Production: Availability of productions are subject to change The Monsters of Seahorse Island World Premiere of a Brand New Play by InterAct Story Theatre! Grades K–5 The people of Seahorse Island and the people of the Kingdom under the ocean have been at odds for longer than anyone can remember, but why? And what happens when worlds collide? This thoughtful and funny play includes lots of audie nce participation. 50 minutes with audience interaction, K-5 audiences ​​Contact us to schedule your performance today! . ​ ADD A TALKBACK SESSION AFTER THE SHOW! One of the best ways to fully appreciate a play is to talk with the actors who bring the play to life. Adding a Talkback session with the actors after a performance gives your students a wonderful opportunity to ask questions, explore the themes and lessons of the play, and learn more about the actor's craft. As part of the talkback, the actors will also demonstrate a little of what happens "behind the scenes", showing students how the set works and how the actors manage the split-second costume and character changes our plays require. An entertaining and educational arts experience! A typical Talkback is approximately 20 minutes in length. ADD A FOLLOW-UP CLASSROOM WORKSHOP! The fun and learning continues with a follow-up classroom workshop. After a performance, students participate in an engaging creative drama workshop with an actor from the play. Students explore the characters and themes of the play, and work together to compose and act out their own original scene extending the story of the play. This exciting workshop connects with curriculum content standards in English/Language Arts and Theatre. ​ Contact us to schedule your program today! Featured Plays Stories on Stage World Music Family Programs < Back to InterAct in Schools

Wheaton Family Theatre Series Season 1: October, 2015 through February, 2016 The Hero of Everything October 2015 Kids and adults become superheroes for a day in this play about the importance of teamwork and the problems of trying to be The Captain of EVERYTHING. Diane Macklin November 2015 Have a hoppin’ good time with Master Storyteller Diane Macklin, sharing legendary tales of America’s folk heroes through this interactive, storytelling program for all ages. Drumming Through Time and Across Cultures December 2015 Join award-winning composer and percussionist Tom Teasley on a unique musical journey around the world, following the Silk Road from Italy to China and the Sugar Trade Route from Africa to the Americas in one unforgettable performance! Story Tapestries January 2016 Get ready to dance, sing, wiggle and giggle with the Giggling Wiggling Bookworm, Arianna Ross. Eat your fill of stories as the bookworm in you finds a new, exciting story to share. One Gold Coin - Una moneda de oro February 2016 An interactive, bilingual play for kids and families inspired by a Latin American story about the power of kindness and giving. One Gold Coin — Una moneda de oro tells the story of a great healer who comes to a village in El Salvador with a magical gold coin. Audience members "get into the act" right from their seats, singing, acting, and becoming the villagers of Regalo who see the coin pass through many hands as it works its magic. Season 6 Season 5 Season 4 Season 3 Season 2 Season 10 To keep up on the latest news about InterAct’s Wheaton Family Theatre Series Season 10 and get reminders about our next program dates, join our mailing list . We also invite you to check out our past seasons by clicking on any of the season buttons! < Back to Community Page Season 7 Season 8 Season 1 Season 9

Scroll Down Community InterActions Welcome to Community InterActions, a four-part podcast series exploring the impact of Covid-19 on the Wheaton area. Our Wheaton community is full of stories to tell, and we're telling just a few of them in this series. Community InterActions collects some of those stories and shares them through the words and voices of the people who are living them. This limited audio series launched in 2021 takes a look at who we are in Wheaton, and focuses on some specific people in Wheaton who want to share their stories about the impact of the pandemic on their lives and livelihoods. To access our podcast episodes, click on an episode square below or click on this link . For more information about any of our guests and contributors, click on the images in the virtual gallery below! ​ We'd love to hear what you thought of our podcasts. Please fill-out this short survey to let us know! This project was made possible by a grant from Maryland Humanities, with funding received from the Maryland Historical Trust in the Maryland Department of Planning. Maryland Humanities’ Grants Program is also supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities and private funders. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this program do not necessarily represent those of Maryland Humanities, Maryland Historical Trust, Maryland Department of Planning, or National Endowment for the Humanities.