Local News: Main Street Theater Receives $25,000 NEA Grant

Posted by: Staffon 2006/6/12 8:00:00 5046 reads NEA Awards Main Street Theater With Grant

Summer 2006

Main Street Theater has been named 1 of only 36 theaters nationwide to receive a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts for the 2006-2007 Shakespeare for a New Generation Program. Main Street Theater and Dallas Theater Center are the only theaters from Texas to be awarded this prestigious grant...

“Of course we’re thrilled to be selected,” says Founding Artistic Director Rebecca Greene Udden, “but, more significantly, this grant will open up a vast new audience for the kind of immediate and compelling Shakespeare we have been providing for young audiences for decades.” Each theater company will receive $25,000 for a total NEA investment of $900,000.

Through Main Street Youth Theater, Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew will tour middle schools and high schools in Fall 2006. “So many middle school and high school budgets have had to eliminate funding for field trips,” says Vivienne M. St. John, Producing Director of Main Street Youth Theater.

“There was a time when we could produce Shakespeare in-house for these older students. But in recent years, we’ve had to drop Shakespeare from our program because the schools simply could not attend. Thanks to the NEA, we can now take Shakespeare to them.” Adds St. John, “And we hope Taming of the Shrew will be particularly fun for students. It’s one of the most accessible Shakespeare plays and a great introduction to his work.”

Each school that books a performance will also receive accompanying educational materials.

*Main Street Theater's performance is part of the Shakespeare for a New Generation, a national theater initiative sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts in cooperation with Arts Midwest.

Click Here to Visit The National Endowment for the Arts' Site!
Click Here to Visit MST's Site!