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Scroll Down Wheaton Family Theatre Series Celebrating 10 years of the Series with a return of audience favorites To keep up on the latest news about InterAct’s Wheaton Family Theatre Series Season 10 and get reminders about our next program dates, join our mailing list . We also invite you to check out our past seasons by clicking on any of the season buttons! Season 10 Season 9 Season 8 Season 7 Season 6 Season 5 Season 4 Season 3 Season 2 Season 1 < Back to Community Page Season 10: 2024—2025 The Wheaton Family Theatre Series is a FREE public performing arts series for kids and families. Let the celebration begin! We are honored to present our 10th Anniversary Season of InterAct Story Theatre's Wheaton Family Theatre Series. We are bringing back some amazing favorites for kids and families that celebrate the rich diversity of our arts community. In season 10 of InterAct Story Theatre's Wheaton Family Theatre Series we present a series of interactive family events, for the Wheaton community, in theatre, dance, storytelling and world music completely FREE to the public! Thanks to the partnership support of Highland Elementary School and support from a plethora of community members; and funding from Maryland State Arts Council, Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County, Nora Roberts Foundation, and individual and corporate donors. Support also provided by a grant from the Greater Washington Community Foundation. Dancing Our Way Through Books led by Kelly King Saturday, February 22, 2025 at 11 a.m. & Sunday, February 23, 2025 at 2 p.m. Event held at Highland Elementary School - 3100 Medway Street, Wheaton, MD 20902 FREE and open to the public! No tickets or registration needed. Join Kelly King, InterAct Story Theatre teaching artist and founder of Contradiction Dance Theatre and The Movement Movement as we'll explore a kid-friendly folk tale through creative movement and dance. Kids get to practice reading skills while moving, dancing, and sharing stories with our families and friends. No prior dance training needed...just bring your body and get ready to move. What a fun way to dance away the winter blues! Best for ages 3 and up. The Legend of Pufferfish Pat: A Tall Tale for Mad Times Saturday, March 15, 2025 at 11 a.m. and Sunday, March 16, 2025 at 2 p.m. Event held at Highland Elementary School - 3100 Medway Street, Wheaton, MD 20902 FREE and open to the public! No tickets or registration needed. The Legend of Pufferfish Pat: A Tall Tale for Mad Times is a play set in the Old West, looking at how we deal with anger and other big feelings. When Pat gets angry, he blows up like a Pufferfish, which gets him a new name and a reputation that he doesn't want. With the little town of Gravy Gulch heating up for the annual gravy cook off, it's more important than ever that he keep his cool! Where can he go to find folks who might understand? The play is performed by actors appearing as a multitude of characters, with the whole audience becoming cowpokes and townspeople right from where they sit! . Happenstance Theatre: PREPOSTEROUS! Saturday, April 5, 2025 at 11 a.m. and Sunday, April 6, 2025 at 2 p.m. Event held at Highland Elementary School - 3100 Medway Street, Wheaton, MD 20902 FREE and open to the public! No tickets or registration needed. InterAct Story Theatre welcomes back our friends from Happenstance Theater as these charming vintage clowns play circus animals, sing as a human calliope, do a classic circus mirror routine, invent a number of ridiculous “entrées,” perform live music, and execute a preposterous slow motion number involving a pie! All ages. KidStory Theatre Festival A theatrical celebration of stories written by kids for kids Saturday, May 17, 2025 at 11 a.m. and Sunday, May 18, 2025 at 2 p.m. Event held at Highland Elementary School - 3100 Medway Street, Wheaton, MD 20902 FREE and open to the public! No tickets or registration needed. All year long, InterAct Story Theatre artists create stories with kids, and invite them to share their epic stories with us. This May, we’re choosing some of our favorite stories written by kids over the years, as we present a series of short plays and stories performed by our InterActors. We can’t wait to see what kids dream up each year! Best for ages 4 and up. Past programs: Award-winning world musician & composer Tom Teasley A Journey Around the World through Music Saturday, October 5, 2024 at 11 a.m. & Sunday, October 6, 2024 at 2 p.m. Event held at Highland Elementary School - 3100 Medway Street, Wheaton, MD 20902 FREE and open to the public! No tickets or registration needed. This October, Tom Teasley, award-winning percussionist, world musician and composer returns to Wheaton! Tom dazzles audiences with an inspiring cross-cultural musical journey around the world, weaving ancient musical traditions with modern technology. A unique performance not to be missed! Great for all ages. Story Tapestries featuring Jamaal "Mr. Root" Collier Saturday, November 9, 2024 at 11 a.m. & Sunday, November 10, 2024 at 2 p.m. Event held at Highland Elementary School - 3100 Medway Street, Wheaton, MD 20902 FREE and open to the public! No tickets or registration needed. In November we welcome Story Tapestries back to Wheaton Family Theatre Series. Their program features the dynamic Hip Hop artist Jamaal "Mr. Root" Collier. Jamaal's interactive and engaging Hip Hop-based performance is challenging, fun and entertaining! Each member of the audience has an opportunity to 'GET INVOLVED' with call-and-response, steady beat chants, pop quizzes, beat production and even some group dancing! Jamaal explains the importance of expressing yourself and explains how some legends of the culture have done the same. This performance is fun to watch but it's even better when you GET INVOLVED! A Family Literacy Fiesta with InterAct's Ali Oliver-Krueger Books Alive Saturday, January 11, 2025 at 11 a.m. & Sunday, January 12, 2025 at 2 p.m. Event held at Highland Elementary School - 3100 Medway Street, Wheaton, MD 20902 FREE and open to the public! No tickets or registration needed. This January, celebrate the start of the New Year as InterAct Story Theatre’s Artistic Director, Ali Oliver-Krueger leads kids and adults in exploring a favorite folk tale together through movement, drama, and song. Everyone’s a part of the story in this Family Arts Workshop! Best for ages 3 and up. Mail List

InterAct Story Theatre Arts are for everyone, and everyone learns through the arts! interacting with our communities local performances, family workshops and community events interacting with students & learners arts education and arts integration programs for students and teachers interacting online interactive performances, school programs and community programs presented through virtual/online platforms NOW ON SALE: January 31—February 7, 2025 The Monsters of Seahorse Island Performance Dates at the Montgomery College Cultural Arts Center in Silver Spring: InterAct Story Theatre presents a play for kids and families about bias and conflict. The people of Seahorse Island and the people of the Kingdom under the ocean have been at odds for longer than anyone can remember, but why? And what happens when worlds collide? This thoughtful and funny play includes lots of audience participation and is best for ages 5 & up. Sat, Feb. 1, 2025: 1:30pm & 3:30pm Sun, Feb. 2, 2025: 1:30pm & 3:30pm Sat, Feb. 8, 2025: 1:30pm & 3:30pm Sun, Feb. 9, 2025: 1:30pm & 3:30pm Plus Field Trip Friday dates for school groups and home schoolers! Fri, Jan. 31, 2025: 11:00am & 1:00pm Fri, Feb. 7, 2025: 11:00am & 1:00pm Tickets on sale on Eventbrite! Celebrating our 10th Anniversary Season of the Wheaton Family Theatre Series! February 22 & 23, 2025! Dancing Our Way Through Books led by Kelly King Saturday, February 22, 2025 at 11 a.m. & Sunday, February 23, 2025 at 2 p.m. The Wheaton Family Theatre Festival for kids and families is FREE and open to the public! No tickets or registration needed. Event held at Highland Elementary School - 3100 Medway Street, Wheaton, MD 20902 . Join Kelly King, InterAct Story Theatre teaching artist and founder of Contradiction Dance Theatre and The Movement Movement as we'll explore a kid-friendly folk tale through creative movement and dance. Kids get to practice reading skills while moving, dancing, and sharing stories with our families and friends. No prior dance training needed...just bring your body and get ready to move. What a fun way to dance away the winter blues! Best for ages 3 and up. CLICK HERE to view Season 10 New * Now * Next • Stay Tuned! We're busily planning for this fall and the 2024-2025 school year. Please continue to check this website for new Information. • Interested in bringing InterAct Story Theatre to your school or community event? We’re selecting now for classes and events. Click here for information on KidStory Theatre , our annual May stage festival and drama-based writing program celebrating stories written by kids for kids! • Our Next Wheaton Family Theatre Series event is February 22 and 23. FREE event for kids & families! • The Monsters of Seahorse Island performs January 31—February 9, 2025. Tickets now on sale! • Follow us on Facebook , Instagram , and Twitter to stay up to date on the latest info!

About Us Scroll Down Our Vision and Our Mission Arts are for everyone, and everyone learns through the arts! InterAct Story Theatre is a theatre for young audiences and multidisciplinary arts-in-education organization based in Wheaton, Maryland, an urban district just outside of Washington, DC. Our mission is to create meaningful, accessible, interactive theatre and arts learning experiences for kids and the people who love them--especially to those who experience economic, social, or geographic barriers to equitable arts access. We believe that every kid, every grown-up, everywhere deserves great theatre, whether or not you can get to a theatre building. We believe that everyone, everywhere can learn and grow through artistic creation and exploration. And we believe that the arts help foster communication and understanding in our communities, because the arts help us express our ideas, our hopes, our emotions and our experiences when words alone are not enough. We create and produce original theatre for young audiences (professional artists performing for children, youth, families, and communities); present arts programming in our local community; and design and implement innovative, engaging, effective theatre and arts-based educational programs for all ages and stages. In our educational work, we are dedicated to providing quality performances, arts-infused workshops and artist-in-residency programs for students, teachers and families throughout our region and across the country. As experts in arts education and arts integration, InterAct is committed to producing arts programs with artistic integrity and direct relevance to the educational objectives of the schools and community organizations we serve. Our merry band of performers and teaching artists weave their artistry in theatre and drama, music, dance, creative opera and filmmaking with content curricula for students and teachers of all ages. InterAct Story Theatre creates performances and arts learning opportunities for all ages in: Drama and Theatre Applied Theatre Playwriting and Devising Improv for Actors Music Creative Opera Dance Creative Movement Media Arts and Technology Multidisciplinary and Interdisciplinary Arts Our Core Values Humans treating Humans like Humans Our work at InterAct Story Theatre—on stage, in the community, in the classroom, and behind the scenes, are driven by these core values: Arts are for everyone, and everyone learns through the arts People above things Be open, be transparent, be inclusive Compassion and respect above all Anchor 1 InterAct Story Theatre Company Members Hansin Arvind Performing Artist Kelly King Teaching & Performing Artist Dance Penny Russell Teaching & Performing Artist Puppetry Steve Wolf Design & Publications Manager Drama, Visual Arts Jordan Brown Performing Artist Nancy Krebs Teaching & Performing Artist Music Tom Teasley Teaching & Performing Artist World Music, Drumming Tierra Burke Performing Artist Marian Licha Teaching & Performing Artist Drama, Storytelling Khaleshia Thorpe-Price Stories on Stage Drama Hannah Fogler Teaching & Performing Artist Ali Oliver-Krueger Executive Artistic Director Drama, Music, Opera, Storytelling, Puppetry Emily Townsend Artistic Administrator and Literary Manager Creative Drama, Dramaturgy, Devising Lenore Blank Kelner Founder Drama, Creative Drama Pete Oliver-Krueger CTO / Technical Director Theatrical & Product Design, Multimedia Design Erica Washington Teaching & Performing Artist

Wheaton Family Theatre Series Season 3: October, 2017 through May, 2018 The Town That Cried Avalanche October 2017 The tiny mountain town of Avalanche, California is rocked with controversy: how can they balance the need for progress with taking care of the environment? And how can they even talk about it when everyone is mad at each other? Can they come together to save the town--before the mountain comes tumbling down? Inspired by Montpelier Elementary’s Grand Prize winning story at InterAct’s 2017 KidStory Theatre Festival. Best for ages 5 and up. Lesole’s Dance Project:Zulu, Gumboot and Street Dances from South Africa November 2017 Dance your way to the tip of the African continent! Experience three different African cultures through dance, from traditional Zulu village dances through modern moves with a South African flair. Founded in 2003 by native South African dancer Lesole Maine, the company has performed to acclaim throughout the U.S. and locally at the Kennedy Center, Wolf Trap, Smithsonian and area schools. All ages. A Family Literacy Fiesta: Books Alive! January 2018 InterAct Story Theatre's Artistic Director Ali Oliver-Krueger leads kids and adults alike in a fun-filled, interactive afternoon bringing stories to life through drama. We'll act, sing, and dance our way through a rollicking story, and maybe even create some stories of our own! A Family Literacy Fiesta: Dancing Our Way Through Books February 2018 Explore a kid-friendly folk tale through creative movement and dance. Led by Kelly King, founder of CityDance Center at Strathmore and Contradiction Dance, kids get to practice reading skills while moving, dancing and sharing stories with our families and friends. What a fun way to dance away the winter blues! Best for ages 3 and up. Little Red Riding Hood March 2018 Seymour Barab’s funny and sprightly one-act opera delights youngsters as we follow Little Red Riding Hood’s merry jaunt through the woods to Grandmother’s house. Join us for InterAct Story Theatre and Victorian Lyric Opera Company’s fresh take on this classic children’s opera...and watch out for that sneaky Big Bad Wolf! Best for ages 4 and up. Skher Brown and the Dancing Warriors Ensemble April 2018 Capoeira Angola is a unique Afro-Brasilian art form that draws from dance, martial arts, music, and stories of distant lands. But it’s more than that--it’s a cultural doorway into the world of others both like us and different from us! Skher Brown and the Dancing Warriors mesmerize audiences with acrobatic choreography and transport students across the Atlantic Ocean to learn about this unique culture. All ages. 2nd Annual KidStory Theatre Festival May 2018 A theatrical celebration of stories written by kids for kids! All year long, InterAct Story Theatre artists create stories with kids, and invite kids to share their epic stories with us. Each May, we choose the best of the best and transform them into short plays, musical numbers, and vignettes performed by our InterActors. Season 6 Season 5 Season 4 Season 10 Season 2 Season 1 To keep up on the latest news about InterAct’s Wheaton Family Theatre Series Season 10 and get reminders about our next program dates, join our mailing list . We also invite you to check out our past seasons by clicking on any of the season buttons! < Back to Community Page Season 7 Season 8 Season 3 Season 9

Online Professional Development for MSAC review: Responsive Playmaking Thank you for reviewing this virtual professional development session for addition to InterAct Story Theatre’s AiE Roster listing! InterAct Story Theatre has a wide range of professional development options for educators, artists, and nonprofit organizations. About this workshop This virtual professional development workshop is the first in a series of three sessions, with asynchronous learning in between through materials provided by InterAct Story Theatre on our web portal & Google classroom. The virtual workshop submitted here is Day One of this three-day program, and is intended as an overview of the strategy. Prior to the session, participants completed a short pre-workshop survey, and this workshop was tailored based on the results of the survey. This iteration of professional development of Responsive Playmaking is conducted by InterAct Story Theatre’s Artistic Director Ali Oliver-Krueger with a cohort of teaching artists, classroom educators, and veteran InterAct Story Theatre artistic staff members engaging in continuing education. A Technical Rider outlining the program coordination and tech rehearsal process is uploaded here, as well as the slides of the Powerpoint. In addition to these materials, participants receive a pre-workshop and post-workshop survey as well as access to asynchronous materials through our web portal, our Google Classroom page for this workshop, or the workshop Padlet (in place of a traditional printed teacher packet). CLICK HERE FOR TECHNICAL RIDER CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO CLICK HERE FOR SESSION 1 POWERPOINT SLIDES

Khaleshia Thorpe-Price As an artist, she co-wrote A Journey with Jazz, an interactive performance experience for young audiences, for the Wolf Trap Institute for Early Learning through the Arts. She perform in this production with the Wolf Trap Jazz Trio. She has served as the host for the Music Box Family Concert Series with members of the BSO at the Meyerhoff Symphony Hall and has directed performances in the Folger Shakespeare Children's Festival. She has worked in arts education since 2000. As a teaching artist, she has facilitated residencies and workshops for children and adults for many arts organizations including Wolf Trap, Arena Stage, Young Playwrights Theater, Young Audiences of Maryland, Folger Shakespeare Library, Shakespeare Theater Company and M-NCPP. As an arts manager, she as coordinated workshops and residencies for thousands of students and educators in D.C., Maryland, and Virginia. She has partnered with many organizations including the United States Department of State, the National Portrait Gallery, and ZERO to THREE to provide unique arts learning experiences for all ages. In addition, she has managed enrichment and academic afterschool programs for D.C. Public Schools. She earned an MA in Arts Management from the University of Central Florida and a BA in Theater Arts from Morgan State University. Drama Stories on Stage Back

Response Form Scroll Down Bring InterAct to Your Community: Interested in bringing InterAct Story Theatre to your school, community, business, or event? InterAct Story Theatre tours plays, performing arts programs, family arts workshops, community dialogue events, arts education programs and lecture/demonstrations to community venues and festivals across the country, both virtually/online and in person! How can we bring the power of arts and learning together in your community? Please fill out this form, and we'll get in touch with you to make it happen! If you require assistance with this form or prefer to call by phone, you may contact 301-879-9305 . First Name* Email Phone School/Site/Organization Name* Address Are you interested in a virtual/online program or in-person program? (Check all that apply) I am interested in an online/virtual program. I am interested in a live/in-person program at my site. I am interested in a blended program--some in-person and some virtual/online. What kind of program(s) are you interested in? (Check all that apply) I am interested in a performance. I am interested in a workshop for students. I am interested in a staff development workshop. I am interested in a master class or clinic. I am interested in a parent-child workshop. I am interested in a residency program. Other Discount code (if any) Comments Submit Thanks for submitting! Last Name*

Erica Washington Teaching & Performing Artist Back

Professional Development Residencies REQUEST MORE INFO Arts Coaching Residencies--I Do, We Do, You Do Available Online! In these popular and effective residencies, an InterAct teaching artist works hand-in-hand with classroom teachers. They plan lessons together integrating drama with the on-going curriculum. The teaching artist demonstrates a lesson and on succeeding visits co-teaches with the classroom teachers. The design of this residency follows the guidelines for best practice procedures for effective staff development. The residency has been implemented successfully in school systems nationwide. Please contact us or request more info for details. Student Residencies PLUS Professional Development Workshop(s) Available Online! Many of our Professional Development workshops can be combined with student workshops to create an extended artist-in-residence experience that benefits students and teachers alike. This is often a great first step for schools and teachers who would like to explore arts integration in the classroom: An InterAct professional development workshop on a particular strategy, followed by a series of student workshops in which InterAct artists apply that strategy in the classroom, modeling the strategy for teachers so they can see it come to life with their students. Interested in knowing more? Please contact us or request more info for details. < Back to InterAct in Schools

Online Workshop Submission for MSAC review: The Monster Year (grades 2 - 4) Thank you for reviewing this online performance for addition to InterAct Story Theatre’s AiE Roster listing! InterAct Story Theatre has visiting performances for a wide range of educational and family audiences. This workshop is a recreation of a story dramatization workshop inspired by the Chinese folk tale “The Monster Year”. This workshop was conducted this year for 2nd - 4th graders; it has been recreated for this video submission with a mock audience of educators, actors and teaching artists. A technical rider outlining the program coordination and tech rehearsal process is uploaded here; in addition to this tech packet, partner organizations also receive an electronic parent-educator resource/study guide and a link to a feedback form. Our website is currently being updated so this information will be easily accessible online. About this workshop CLICK HERE FOR TECHNICAL RIDER CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO

The Hero of EVERYTHING Click Here to read the review by Sarah Shah with DC Theater Arts September 26, 2022 “A delightful way to spend an hour with a young person on a weekend.” < Back to Press

Evan Simon Performing Artist Back