Season 9 of Wheaton Family Theatre Series. Wheaton Family Theatre Series To keep up on the latest news about InterAct’s Wheaton Family Theatre Series Season 12 and get reminders about our next program dates, join our mailing list . We also invite you to check out our past seasons 1—11 by clicking on any of the season buttons! Season 12 Season 11 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 9: October, 2023 through May, 2024 Past programs: InterAct Story Theatre Presents An Encore Performance! Not My Monkey October 7, 2023 and October 8, 2023 Event held at Highland Elementary School - 3100 Medway Street, Wheaton, MD 20902 FREE and open to the public! No tickets or registration needed. Everything's topsy-turvy under the big top in InterAct Story Theatre's NOT MY MONKEY . The new circus leader is trying her best to lead her zany crew of circus folk, but there’s a new problem every time she turns around, and no one wants to pitch in or even try to get along. "Not my circus, not my monkeys!" they say. To make matters worse, the monkeys have broken loose and are wreaking havoc everywhere! How can everyone work together to catch those monkeys, when no one thinks it’s their problem to solve? And how can the community work together to stop the monkey madness? Everyone in the audience gets into the act right from where they’re sitting, becoming part of the community of performers and townspeople who need to tackle this hair-raising problem. Best for ages 5 & up. Luis Garay: The Passion and Inspiration of the Drum November 4, 2023 and November 5, 2023 Event held at Highland Elementary School - 3100 Medway Street, Wheaton, MD 20902 FREE and open to the public! No tickets or registration needed. Luis Garay’s South American, Caribbean, and African rhythms is a highly educational and entertaining musical journey, introducing the audience to many exotic instruments such as the balofone, djembe, and talking drum, and also to the more familiar congas, bongos, timbales, and drum set. The audience participates throughout the performance as they learn to clap authentic rhythms from different cultures. Best for ages 4 and up. A Family Literacy Fiesta with InterAct's Ali Oliver-Krueger Books Alive January 20, 2024 and January 21, 2024 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. Dancing Our Way Through Books led by Kelly King February 10, 2024 and February 11, 2024 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 Monster at the End of this Play by Sculpted Clay Productions March 2, 2024 and March 3, 2024 Event held at Highland Elementary School - 3100 Medway Street, Wheaton, MD 20902 FREE and open to the public! No tickets or registration needed. A spooky forest. A mysterious letter. The worst villains in all of Fairytale Land. What could possibly go wrong? "The Monster at the End of This Play" is a lighthearted and humorous exploration of how the things we don't understand are not always as scary as they seem. Best for ages 5 and up. The Monsters of Seahorse Island World Premiere of a Brand New Play by InterAct Story Theatre! April 13, 2024 and April 14, 2024 Event held at Highland Elementary School - 3100 Medway Street, Wheaton, MD 20902 FREE and open to the public! No tickets or registration needed. 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. Mail List KidStory Theatre Festival A theatrical celebration of stories written by kids for kids May 18, 2024 and May 19, 2024 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.

Culturespot MC "Accessible Arts" by Karen Shafer March 29, 2017 “What I really loved, what really excited me, was being able to teach through the arts, being able to really connect with kids and reach kids who might not get a chance to see things like theatre and opera if we don’t bring it to them.” “ …Even in the midst of a negative situation, [InterAct] creates something positive…” “Such experiences can help children learn empathy and communicate more effectively. ” < Back to Press

Since our founding in 1981, InterAct Story Theatre has been 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. 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. Statement on Equity, Justice, and Inclusion: InterAct Story Theatre believes in equity, justice, and inclusion for all. We believe our work is stronger by the many voices, perspectives, and experiences we bring to the organization and the field. We actively welcome and include all people regardless of race, socioeconomic class, color, national origin, religion, diverse perspectives, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, neurological or physical ability, veteran status, legal status, or education level. 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 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 Redirect-Company InterAct Story Theatre Company Members Steve Barker Teaching Artist Lenore Blank Kelner Founder Drama, Creative Drama Ingrid Bork Performing Artist Jordan Brown Performing Artist Amber Coleman Performing Artist Kelly King Teaching & Performing Artist Dance Nancy Krebs Teaching & Performing Artist Music Marian Licha Teaching & Performing Artist Drama, Storytelling Anabel Milton Teaching Artist Ali Oliver-Krueger Executive Artistic Director Drama, Music, Opera, Storytelling, Puppetry Pete Oliver-Krueger CTO/Technical Director Theatrical & Product Design, Multimedia Design Penny Russell Teaching & Performing Artist Puppetry Tom Teasley Teaching & Performing Artist World Music, Drumming Khaleshia Thorpe-Price Stories on Stage Drama Emily Townsend Artistic Administrator and Literary Manager Creative Drama, Dramaturgy, Devising Erica Washington Teaching & Performing Artist Steve Wolf Design & Publications Manager Drama, Visual Arts Anchor 1

Staff Workshops & Trainings. Professional Development for Teachers, Artists, and Care Providers. Online programs available. Staff Workshops & Trainings As experts in arts integration and linking the arts with classroom learning, InterAct Story Theatre provides professional development opportunities for teachers, artists, and child care providers. For information about professional development residencies, intensives and institutes, please click here . If you'd like to know about our 60-minute, 90-minute, 3 hour or full professional development workshops, please scroll down! InterAct Story Theatre is an approved provider of Core of Knowledge training through the Maryland Office of Child Care; if you are a Maryland provider or center interested in hosting a training, please contact us or request more info about which trainings are eligible for Core of Knowledge clock hours. New training workshops are being added. Please check back soon, or contact us or request more info ! REQUEST MORE INFO Professional Development for Teachers, Artists, and Care Providers Books Alive for Little Ones: Building Language and Literacy Skills through Drama and Music Grades preK-1 and early childhood care providers With Ali Oliver-Krueger Early Childhood teachers, Head Start teachers, and child care providers are asked not only prepare children for school readiness to provide expert care, but also to implement a wide variety of classroom curricula. In this workshop, participants will explore how imaginative exploration of books and stories through drama and music can help build language and literacy skills, and will learn techniques they can use to lead children in acting out stories in their own words. (OCC 3 curriculum clock hours) Creating Casual Opera in the Classroom: Building Reading Comprehension and Writing Skills through Music & Drama Grades K-5 and 6-8 With Ali Oliver-Krueger In this workshop emphasizing character traits and motivations, mood, emotions, and interior monologue (for older students), teachers learn techniques through which they can lead students in examining text, making inferences, and then applying those inferences to create casual classroom operatic scenes. This work is especially strong for Reading/Language Arts and Social Studies, and has been implemented successfully with students from ages 4 and up. Drama Games for the Student Brain Grades K-5, 6-8, 9-12 Available Online! With Ali Oliver-Krueger In this training, participants learn simple yet engaging strategies that can be implemented in the classroom and adapted or expanded to address a plethora of goals and objectives. Particular emphasis is placed on articulating the rationale for drama gaming in the classroom and on providing participants with concrete strategies they can use right away to promote learning and help develop a wide range of skills. (OCC 3 curriculum clock hours) Picture This: Creating Effective Classroom Tableaux Grades 4 & up With Ali Oliver-Krueger A hallmark among strong readers is the ability to visualize and develop mental images of the actions and events described in texts. The creative drama strategy of tableaux fosters visualization skills and encourages students to develop and present strong sensory images, thereby strengthening understanding of text and allowing students to gain a deeper connection to the text. This strategy can be adapted to a variety of content areas, and is especially valuable in working with informational text. This workshop is also available as part of a professional development arts coaching residency. Reader's Theatre for Young Readers: A Creative Drama Approach Grades PreK-2 Available Online! With Ali Oliver-Krueger Readers Theatre offers students opportunities to interact with text and build oral fluency. It provides repeated reading practice, which is a key factor in building fluency. Repeated reading practice also improves students’ and enthusiasm for reading and confidence in themselves as good readers. But how to implement Readers' Theatre with young readers whose skills are just developing? In this training, Ms. Oliver-Krueger leads participants through a creative drama-based process in which teachers develop and perform engaging readers' theatre scripts with their students. In this workshop, teachers discover how to create and host an imaginary talk show, "Books Alive!", in their classrooms. Students portray characters from a book and answer questions in role. The questions encourage the students to make predictions, draw inferences and examine the theme of the text. An amazingly fun way to achieve and assess reading comprehension! Jump Start Creative Writing Through Creative Drama Grades K-5, 6-8, 9-12, adult education Available Online! With Ali Oliver-Krueger Sometimes the hardest part of writing is just getting started! In this professional development workshop led by InterAct Story Theatre’s Executive & Artistic Director Ali Oliver-Krueger, participants learn by playing and creating stories on the spot, exploring strategies that spark creativity and address prewriting skills, oral composition and discourse, speaking and listening skills. We'll engage in warm-up activities for getting brains moving quickly and flexibly, and strategies for facilitating brainstorming and collaborative composition, and tips for dramatizing stories as a way to review and identify points of revision. These include concrete, easy-to-apply "bite sized strategies" that teachers can apply quickly in a few minutes, expand into full arts-integrated lessons and units, or even use to springboard students into creative projects and deeper exploration of content. Music Detectives: Practicing Inferencing Skills through Music and Active Listening Grades K-5 and 6-8 With Ali Oliver-Krueger The ability to look beyond what is explicitly stated in order to make inferences is one of the key characteristics of strong readers, and is consistently one of the biggest challenges faced by struggling and reluctant readers today. This powerful strategy combines active listening, movement, and music to give students valuable practice in making inferences. Participants will learn the process of a Music Detectives lesson: learning and applying basic elements of music to examine musical samples, searching for clues, reading between the lines to make inferences, and then citing specific evidence from the "text" to support their theories. By giving students a chance to practice making inferences away from written text, we help students gain skills in predicting, drawing conclusions, and hazarding educated guesses, so that they can bring those skills to written text with greater confidence. Reading Between the Lines: Building Inferencing Skills through Music and Drama Grades K-5 and 6-8 With Ali Oliver-Krueger This workshop combines the strategies of Music Detectives and Creating Casual Opera, offering teachers a comprehensive approach to building reading comprehension and writing skills through drama. Teachers learn techniques to prompt inferences through active listening, acting, and simple composition. These strategies can be learned and applied by non-musicians and music enthusiasts alike! Black Belt Tableaux: Advanced Tableaux Skills for Assessment and the Common Core Grades 3-5, 6-8, 9-12 With Ali Oliver-Krueger Tableaux and Living Statues are among the first creative drama strategies that many teachers learn for integrating drama with classroom curriculum. But are you and your students getting the most you can out of this powerful and endlessly adaptable strategy?Designed primarily for teachers who have had some exposure to Tableaux, Living Statues, and/or Artful Thinking routines, this workshop explores advanced adaptations and extensions such as Conflict Webs and Statues, Internal/External Conflict, The Human Video Feed, Tableaux games, and effective uses of Tableaux as Assessment. In the half-day and full day workshops, teachers also have an opportunity to discuss and workshop ongoing work with this strategy, to brainstorm with Ms. Oliver-Krueger and their peers for ways to fine-tune and freshen up existing plans. This workshop is also available as part of a professional development arts coaching residency. A Creative Drama Approach to Reader's Theatre Grades K-8 Available Online! With Ali Oliver-Krueger This workshop introduces simple creative-drama based techniques through which teachers can lead students in developing, planning and performing Readers' Theatre presentations rooted in literary text or content curricula. Readers' Theatre offers students opportunities to interact with text and build oral fluency. It provides repeated reading practice, which is a key factor in building fluency. Repeated reading practice also improves students’ and enthusiasm for reading and confidence in themselves as good readers. The process of developing and performing original Readers' Theatre scripts also gives students a fun, creative way to not only build their understanding of a text or topic but also demonstrate their understanding to others. Informational OPERAtunities: Exploring Informational Text through Music and Drama With Ali Oliver-Krueger Informational text can sometimes feel dry, and motivating students to dive in can seem like a daunting task. How can we inspire students to embrace informational text with the curiosity and zeal of artists? Many of the best composers, playwrights and performers dive into informational text and research to create artistic work by reading between the lines to imagine the actions, emotions, motivations and conversations. In this workshop, teachers learn techniques through which they can lead students in approaching informational texts like artists: examining sources, building knowledge, making inferences, and then applying those inferences to create casual classroom operatic scenes that breathe life into the topic through music and drama. A portion of the workshop is dedicated to brainstorming and planning practical applications for the classroom; teachers are encouraged to bring an example of informational text or curriculum planning materials they might like to explore with their students. < Back to InterAct in Schools

Season 2 of Wheaton Family Theatre Series Wheaton Family Theatre Series Season 2: October, 2016 through May, 2017 The Legend of Pufferfish Pat: A Tall Tale For Mad Times October 2016 A brand new tall tale looking at how we deal with anger and other big feelings. The play is performed by three actors who become a variety of characters, with the whole audience becoming cowpokes and townspeople. Kwame Ansah-Brew and Fritete Drum and Dance Ensemble November 2016 An exciting morning of rhythms, dances, songs, and chants with a clear mission of representing various ethnic groupings in Africa! All ages. Cantaré ¡Feliz Navidad! A Latin American Holiday Celebration December 2016 Enjoy songs and stories from Latin American holiday traditions: villancicos from the Andes, festejos from Peru, parrandas from Puerto Rico, African chants from Brazil, Hanukkah songs from Spain and more! All ages. A Journey Around the World through Music March 2017 Celebrate Music in Our Schools Month with Tom Teasley, award-winning percussionist, world musician and composer. An inspiring cross-cultural musical journey around the world, weaving ancient musical traditions with modern technology. Silly Smarts and Other Stories from Japan April 2017 Ali Oliver-Krueger, Artistic Director of InterAct Story Theatre, will join us for a special interactive performance of Mama-San Stories, weaving stories from her Japanese-American childhood with traditional Japanese mukashibanashi (Long-Ago Stories) in this funny and heart-warming east-meets-west story theatre experience. KidStory Theatre Festival May 2017 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. We can’t wait to see what kids dream up each year! Best for ages 3 and up. To keep up on the latest news about InterAct’s Wheaton Family Theatre Series Season 12 and get reminders about our next program dates, join our mailing list . We also invite you to check out our past seasons 1—11 by clicking on any of the season buttons! Season 12 Season 11 Season 10 Season 9 Season 8 Season 7 Season 6 Season 5 Season 4 Season 3 Season 2 Season 1 < Back to Community Page

Jordan Brown Performing Artist Back

Tina Canady Tina Canady is a black, queer theater artist. Since earning her BFA in drama from NYU, Tina has worked with several theaters across Baltimore, including Single Carrot Theatre, Baltimore Center Stage, and Submersive Productions, LLC, where she serves as an artistic associate. Tina is passionate about creating new works, arts integration and continuing to cultivate her black joy! When she's not performing or teaching, she can usually be found playing board games, laughing or buying new wacky socks! Drama Teaching & Performing Artist Back

Steve Wolf Steve Wolf works with marketing concepts and graphic design and for the last 25+ years is a designer, photographer, and actor in the DC Metro area. Steve worked for many years with the Montgomery College Summer Dinner Theatre program training front of house customer service and providing box office and marketing support. In his spare time, he helps with website and layout for Hexagon's musical, satirical, political comedy revue and their charity work. Drama, Visual Arts Design & Publications Manager Back

Jordan Brown Performing Artist Back

Ashton Schaffer Drama Teaching & Performing Artist Back

Kelly King For over 10 years, Kelly has worked with teachers and students on adaptive movement bringing dance to all types of students. She has founded three dance programs, including the CityDance Center at Strathmore (2004) and Contradiction Dance (2007), led countless professional development workshops for educators nationwide, consulted for the DC Collaborative for the Arts and Humanities (2006-2008), and served St. Mary’s College of Maryland teaching all levels of improvisation, composition, jazz and modern dance (2006-2009). Currently, Kelly teaches beginners through professional levels of dance to students ranging from pre-school to senior citizens, including adults with disabilities. She also leads Moving Dialogues workshops to engage and empower non-dancers in the artistic process through their own writing and movement. As a trainer in arts integration, she also leads workshops designed to create the next generation of master educators. Dance Teaching & Performing Artist Back

Khaleshia Thorpe-Price Drama Stories on Stage Back