Greenport Students Chosen To See Free Broadway Show

GREENPORT, NY — Greenport students may soon get their first glimpse at the magic of a Broadway stage, for free — but funds are needed to help get the kids to New York City for the show.

A total of 65 Greenport students will be able to participate in a workshop led by a teaching artist — and see a Broadway or Off Broadway show, at no cost to the school, this spring.

The value of the tickets is approximately $7,500, he said.

According to Greenport Schools Superintendent David Gamberg, the Theatre Development Fund, or TDF, has selected Greenport High School to participate in the free "Stage Doors" program.

According to theTDF website, Stage Doors, now called the "Introduction to Theatre" program, is a project-based arts education program that provides middle and high school students with a "meaningful introduction" to live theater.

Each participating class attends a Broadway or Off Broadway performance and participates in eight in-class workshops: four workshops conducted by a professional teaching artist and four conducted by the classroom teacher.

"The workshops actively engage students in inquiry, creativity and community," the page said.

TDF said it founded Stage Doors in 1995, the program got its new name, Introduction to Theatre, in 2018.

"TDF understands that future audiences are built by engaging students, first-hand, in the vital and exciting activity of the creative process, as well as providing opportunities to see live performances of great theater," Gamberg said.

“The only cost to the students will be to cover transportation, making the experience much more accessible than if students needed to purchase tickets to a Broadway show,” Gamberg said.

The school is seeking to raise funds to reduce the $49 per student cost for taking a bus to New York City, he said.

So far, those coordinating the initiative are selling bracelets and keychains to help defer the cost of transportation.

"If anyone in the larger community would like to also support this cultural arts experience it would be most welcome," Gamberg said.

Teacher Karrieann Damon and teaching artist Dennis Green will design the classroom project to serve as preparation for the Broadway show, central to the program, Gamberg said.

"It is primarily an opportunity to engage the students in the creative process in a hands-on approach," TDF says.

For most of these students, the trip will be their first to a live professional theater performance; the goal of the program is to create a new generation of lifelong theater lovers.

“This is a wonderful way to enrich the lives of our students through the arts,” Damon said.

Greenport High School Principal Gary Kalish added, “This partnership with an artist in residence makes learning authentic and purposeful.”