Program Support

Support First Stage’s state of the art programs that transform lives through theater:

Theater Academy Scholarships: First Stage has never turned away a student from Academy classes due to the inability to pay. Each year, the Family Partnership Program (FPP) provides over 600 need-based Academy scholarships and other support to young people from low-income families.

Early Literacy Workshops: These workshops utilize children’s picture books to engage kindergarten and lower elementary students in drama-based activities such as imaginary play, song and dance, and role play. 

Arts Integrated Workshops: These workshops use dramatic activities to teach lessons throughout the elementary and middle school curricula, and are directly linked to the Common Core State Standards.

Character Education: Character education is the deliberate effort to develop virtues that are good for the individual and good for society. In our Theater in Education programs, First Stage is committed to nurturing students’ social and emotional wellbeing through engagement in dramatic experiences.  The hands-on, community-based approach of activities rooted in Theater for Social Change and creative drama allow us to connect with students and provide them with the tools to initiate positive changes in themselves and their community.

Next Steps Program: Using research-based best practices, Next Steps Theater Academy classes serve young people through our philosophy of teaching life skills through stage skills. We strive to help each student take his or her next steps as an artist and a person. We serve both verbal and non-verbal students, students with classic autism, PDD-NOS, other sensory processing disorders, and Asperger's. With small class sizes, our curriculum explores acting, singing, dancing and improvisation, through which students improve social understanding, fine and gross motor skills, empathy, conversation skills, public speaking and confidence.