Park Square Theatre Company

Filing Period

Sep 1, 2012 to Aug 31, 2013

Signed

Mar 12, 2014

Return Version

2012v2.1

Gross Receipts

$2,705,818

Mission

Major Activities

Activity 2

Teen programming-our 3m student series, which was awarded the 2005 sally ordway irvine award for education excellence, last year served 22,222 students from more than 260 schools. This was a slight increase over the previous year and represents minnesota's second-largest teen theatre audience. The educational community we serve includes middle- and high-school teachers and their students (aged 12-18) from all kinds of schools: 12% were from urban schools, 40% suburban and 48% rural. And, although schools cannot provide specific statistics, from observation we estimate students of color comprise 40% of our school audience. In response to the increasing number of recent immigrants now in saint paul schools, we created our first modified study guides to better serve english learner (el) students.to serve the broadest possible range of schools and disciplines, park square offered 5 productions that included curriculum-based classics (king lear, a midsummer night's dream, the diary of anne frank and the return of a our major production of to kill a mockingbird) and new works deep in social content (red, johnny baseball, and doubt). Two factors drove higher student program expense in 2013 over 2012: the high cost of producing the revival of to kill a mockingbird (which was demanded by schools and nearly sold out as it did the first time we produced it in 2011, serving 9,000 students) and the addition of performances for the diary of anne frank in may in order to serve schools whose trips were cancelled by the unusual and severe snow storms in april (because union actors are paid by the week, rather than the performance, not all expense from cancelled performances could be cut).park square's approach to students is mission-driven and authentic. For us, these young people are not a group sales target or part of an elite "outreach" project. They are an essential park square audience. They see exceptional shows filled with top talent. The program is carefully designed to be "an evening of theatre during the day," with specially-trained staff, reserved seating, professional playbills, and the other amenities every audience deserves. Study guides (available free and online) are written by practicing teachers. Each guide includes background information for the classroom teacher, as well as discussion questions, and activities. The richest offering, our immersion day(tm), turns the whole facility into a school for the day, with small-group artist-led workshops, build a moment(tm) workshop with designers and actors, performance, and post-show discussion. Two of our new student programs were enhanced as they moved out of the pilot phase and into core programming: 1) inner-city partnerships and 2) theatre ambassadors. Inner-city school partnerships served 2,000 underserved students at park square for multiple immersion days, and sent park square artists into their schools to assist with the needs they have identified, from technical help for productions to in-depth training for the student leaders of their drama programs. Through these partnerships, park square was able to impact needy schools - helping highland park save their drama program and spring musical after the drama position was cut, and teaching el teachers simple improvisation games to build their immigrant students' vocabulary, fluency and sense of community.the theatre ambassadors program developed the artistic, career and leadership skills of 20 students from schools across the metro. They met at park square over 9 months for full days of workshops, seminars and discussions and experienced 6 productions. Each ambassador brought park square artists into their school or community setting for custom learning experiences.park square recognizes that some learning can take place best outside the classroom, which is why teachers continue to demand theatre programming relevant to curricular needs, even though the logistics and expense of organizing a field trip can be challenging. Studi

Filer

EIN

41-1280683