RENT: School Edition showing tonight!

Everyone around here is getting excited for a SCT Summer Season student production of RENT: School Edition showing this weekend here at the Charlotte Martin Theatre. And we're not the only ones looking forward to the show--we've had some great film segments on King 5 morning news and Evening Magazine, which we'll post online as soon as we can.

To all of our outstanding cast--good luck!





RENT: School Edition is playing Friday-Sunday @ 7, plus a matinee at 2pm on Saturday--be there! It's going to be a great show.

Arts Education

Today Michelle Obama put in a good word about the importance of arts for America’s youth. Her words?

"An educational foundation is only part of the equation," the first lady said. "In order for creativity to flourish and imagination to take hold, we also need to expose our children to the arts from a very young age." (San Francisco Chronicle - check out the full article here!)

She thinks that a good education goes hand-in-hand with a solid exposure to things like dramatic arts, which nurture creativity and imagination. Then again, there are those who criticize our educational system for focusing too much on the arts already, observing the recent accomplishments of countries like China or India, where engineering and hard sciences hold greater value. What do you think?

Spotlight from the Woodinville Weekly!

We just received our first bit of media attention for Summer Season today!

Deborah Stone, of the Woodinville Weekly, wrote a great article about three of the students performing in our upcoming productions.



She interviewed Lindsey Foster from our Midsummer Night’s Macbeth cast, Sophia Konat from Once on this Island, Jr., and Shelby Windom, who will soon begin rehearsing for Romeo and Juliet. We’re happy to see members of our student casts being recognized for all their hard work!

Check it out her article here!

Here's Kiki!

Here's another look at one of SCT's outstanding Summer Season education interns! Here's what Kiki Abba has to say:


1. What led to your decision to intern with SCT?
This is probably the best program in the country for someone that wants to be a Teaching Artist, so the decision was easy!

2. Where are you from, and what did you study before coming here?
I’m from Dubuque Iowa, and I went to the University of Iowa and double majored in Theatre Arts and Communication Studies.

3. Why is theatre important to you personally?
Theatre is a great lens for viewing the world. It’s all about storytelling and there is something so human and universal about it. Once you get “the magic,” you’re hooked for life.

4. What do you feel you bring to SCT’s Summer Season program?
I think I bring a bit of “after college” experience and a lot of facial expressions.

5. What’s your most memorable experience so far as an intern here?
I did a solo mime skit today about eating ice cream. It was EPIC. The ice cream fell in the grass and I ate it anyway. There was a lot of picking grass out of my mouth. Yum.

6. What do you feel are the biggest challenges confronting you as an intern?
The biggest challenge is not getting completely jealous that I’m not in RENT: School Edition. No day but today.

7. What part of this internship are you looking forward to the most?
I’m excited to be working on Alice in Wonderland and learning how to tape a set and track props. It’ll be fun to be on the other side of the tech table.

8. What is your specific job as an intern this summer – specifically,
what shows or age groups will you be working with the closest?
I’ll be doing Alice, a lot of Acting classes with high schoolers and a few toddler Creative Drama classes. I like to mix it up and keep ‘em guessing.

9. What do you feel is the most valuable thing you’ve learned so far as an intern here?
That a surprising number of people have a peanut allergy and I’m afraid to ever eat a Reeses again. I don’t want to kill someone.

10. What are your plans for the future?
I’m going to be the Audience Development Associate at Seattle Rep and I hope to continue working wit6h SCT in any way I can!

A few minutes with... Sylvia B.

As the 2008-09 Mainstage Season was winding down, we had the good fortune to get a surprise intern in Stage Management. Sylvia B. was a student at The Bush School and was selected to do a senior project and she chose us!

But, we should just let her tell you in her own words.

Thanks, Sylvia, for all the hard work - we all feel incredibly lucky to have had you around for the short time we did. Good luck in all your future endeavors.

Behind the scenes at one of our Drama School classes

I recently got the chance to sit in on one of our Drama School’s acting classes in Charlotte Martin Theatre. The first thing I noticed was how the kids seemed really engaged and excited to be there—in no small part due to the larger-than-life teaching of Keni, one of SCT’s Teaching Artists.


They started off with a few drama games. The exercises were really dynamic and fast-paced—I tried one out, and I was struck by the great energy level and focus which the students brought to the stage.


Eventually, the students began working on some simple scenes. After dividing into pairs, they were given an open-ended statement and a response—everything else was left up to them. Since the meaning and implications of the sentences were communicated through body language and context, there were some surprisingly different interpretations of the same phrase.


I tried my hand at this as well—I definitely did better than I did in the drama games, but I think my partner and I accidentally started a trend when we resolved practically every scene we acted out by having one of us storm off the stage. I guess I’ll leave dramatic interpretation up to the pros!