Ingrid Bork Performing Artist Back

Anabel Milton Drama Teaching Artist Back

Emily Townsend Emily Townsend (she/her/hers) has worked as a teaching artist throughout the Washington metropolitan region, for organizations ranging from the Sitar Arts Center to the Shakespeare Theatre Company, where she spent a season interning in the Education Department. Also a passionate musician, she has spent the last several years singing with some of the leading symphonic choirs in the area, and has performed with world-class conductors and orchestras both in Washington and internationally. Emily has been a featured guest artist with 1928 and the New Resonance Orchestra. She completed her graduate studies at the University of Maryland, College Park in Theatre History and Performance Studies, specializing in historical Shakespearean performance. Emily currently manages and contributes to Two Hours' Traffic, a website devoted to theatrical reviews and criticism for the Washington DC region and beyond. Creative Drama, Dramaturgy, Devising Artistic Administrator and Literary Manager Back

TWO WEEKENDS ONLY! In this interactive forum theatre experience for kids & families, help Bob the Monkey figure out where they got in trouble monkeying around. Led by Artistic Director Ali Oliver-Krueger, audience members make suggestions about how Bob could do things differently, and watch Bob and friends role play out their ideas. Best for ages 4 & up. MC Cultural Arts Center, Theatre II. 7995 Georgia Ave., Silver Spring, MD 20910 #InterActStoryTheatre #interactstorytheatre Bobtail Bong Bong A Monkey's Tale Performance Dates! Saturday, Oct. 4, 2025: 1:30pm & 3:30pm Sunday, Oct. 5, 2025: 1:30pm & 3:30pm Plus a Field Trip Friday for school groups and home schoolers! Friday, Oct. 3, 2025: 10:30am & 12:30pm Children must be under the supervision of their parent or a responsible adult at all times. PURCHASE TICKETS ON EVENTBRITE Performed at the Montgomery College Cultural Arts Center in Silver Spring, Maryland! A play for kids and families. Bob the Monkey is the smartest monkey in the land, and they want everyone to know it! Bob the Monkey wants what they want and they want it NOW! But...why is everyone mad at Bob? Bob didn’t do anything! In this interactive forum theatre experience for kids and families, audiences follow Bob’s madcap misadventures and help Bob figure out where they went wrong and got in trouble monkeying around. Led by InterAct Story Theatre’s Artistic Director Ali Oliver-Krueger, audience members make suggestions about how Bob could do things differently, and watch Bob and friends role play out their ideas. Can Bob flip the script and turn things around? Can Bob make things better by making better choices? Does it work? What happens next? Best for ages 4 and up. PURCHASE TICKETS ON EVENTBRITE Directions to the MC Cultural Arts Center Mail List

InterAct Story Theatre’s Wheaton Family Theatre Series is a free, monthly performing arts series that runs each year fall through spring. Season 10 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 10: 2024—2025 Past programs: 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. Saturday, October 5 & Sunday, October 6, 2024 Award-winning world musician & composer Tom Teasley A Journey Around the World through Music 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! Saturday, November 9 & Sunday, November 10, 2024 Story Tapestries featuring Jamaal "Mr. Root" Collier 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. Sunday, January 12, 2025 A Family Literacy Fiesta with InterAct's Ali Oliver-Krueger Books Alive Saturday, February 22, 2025 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. Dancing Our Way Through Books led by Kelly King 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! Best for ages 5 and up. Saturday, March 15 & Sunday, March 16, 2025 The Legend of Pufferfish Pat: A Tall Tale for Mad Times Saturday, April 5 & Sunday, April 6, 2025 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. Photo credit: Leslie Swan Photography Happenstance Theatre: PREPOSTEROUS! 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. Saturday, May 17 & Sunday, May 18, 2025 KidStory Theatre Festival A theatrical celebration of stories written by kids for kids Mail List

Voytto Tech: a scifi fable on bullying Click Here to read the review by Theatre Bloom Five Stars! September 18, 2018 "It’s a remarkable and innovative piece of theatre that addresses issues with which all children are faced in this present day and age. How to survive as an individual and what to do when your individuality gets you bullied. InterAct Story Theatre has an extraordinary show on their hands with a powerful message, and together the whole thing is simply out of this world.” < Back to Press

Lenore Blank Kelner Lenore Blank Kelner is an author, educator, educational consultant, keynote speaker and teaching and theatre artist. Lenore has presented her work in all 50 states and abroad and has been a presenter with the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts for 29 years. She was a Master Artist for the Wolf Trap Institute for Early Learning through the Arts for 25 years. Lenore is the author of The Creative Classroom (15th printing) and co-authored with Rosalind Flynn, A Dramatic Approach to Reading Comprehension (Heinemann, 2006, 5th printing). Lenore was awarded the 2004 Creative Drama Award from the American Alliance for Theatre and Education. In addition to conducting staff development residencies through InterAct Story Theatre, Lenore also works widely through her own company, Lenore Blank Kelner & Company and is the Director of the Creative Kids afterschool Drama Program. Drama, Creative Drama Founder Back

Rabbits and Sharks! A reimagined retelling of a Japanese mukashibanashi (folk tale) by Ali Oliver-Krueger We hope you like this story! If you want to read it, here it is in English and Spanish . After you watch the video, check out these activities and discussion ideas in English and activities and discussion ideas in Spanish ! Talking about stories is a great way to practice reading, speaking, and language skills. Enjoy the show! ¡Esperamos que le guste esta historia! Si quiere leerla, aquí está en inglés y en español . ¡Después de ver el video, revise estas actividades e ideas de discusión en inglés y también en españo l ! Hablar de historias es una excelente forma de practicar las destrezas de lectura, conversación y el idioma. ¡Disfrute de la presentación! Rabbits & Sharks! Play Video Facebook Twitter Pinterest Tumblr Copy Link Link Copied Post-performance Activities and Discussion Talking with our family after watching a show is a great way to practice speaking, reading, and listening skills! Here are some questions and activities to try with your children in English and in Spanish . We'd love to hear your ideas, hear what you think, and see the pictures and stories you make! If you would like to share your thoughts, ideas, and art with us write to us at emailus@interactstory.com . Thank you for coming to our show online! ¡Nos encantaría escuchar sus ideas, oír lo que piensa, y ver las fotos e historias que hace! Si quiere compartir sus opiniones, ideas y arte con nosotros escríbanos a emailus@interactstory.com . ¡Gracias por venir a nuestra presentación en línea!

Storytelling and Story Drama Programs Celebrating Cultures from Around the World. Available Online! Storytelling and Story Drama Programs Celebrating Cultures from Around the World STORIES ON STAGE programs combine storytelling, drama, and song to explore world cultures. Our gifted performers become a variety of characters while bringing a story to life. Students "get into the act" too by participating in this riveting experience. STORIES ON STAGE programs are performed by one actor with audience participation. Programs are designed for audiences with a maximum of 200 students, unless otherwise specified. Choose from a variety of programs listed below, celebrating different cultures from around the world. Contact us or request more info for details! Bullies and Heroes: Folktales from Japan with Ali Oliver-Krueger Grades 3 - 8 Available Online Ali Oliver-Krueger weaves stories from her Japanese-American childhood with traditional Japanese mukashibanashi (Long-Ago Stories). What does it take to be a hero? When an ogre bullies a village, ordinary villagers must step up to become everyday heroes. Silly Smarts: Folktales from Japan with Ali Oliver-Krueger Grades PreK-2 Available Online Ali Oliver-Krueger weaves stories from her Japanese-American childhood with traditional Japanese mukashibanashi (Long-Ago Stories) in this funny and heart-warming east-meets-west storytelling series. The stories in Silly Smarts emphasize the importance of using your smarts, and the pitfalls of being too smart for your own good and confusing "smart" with "wise". A Journey Through Latin America with Marian Licha Grades K-6 Puerto Rican-born actor and storyteller MARIAN LICHA weaves stories and song together as she takes students on a magical journey through Latin America. The stories are rich with humor and folk traditions. Included in the program are several stories of the foolish and delightful Juan Bobo. The Magic Tree with Khaleshia Thorpe-Price PreK-5 A funny, uplifting story adapted from a Zambian folk tale. The animals of the grasslands are in terrible trouble—it hasn’t rained in ages, and everyone is hungry and thirsty! Their only hope is to find out how to get the fruit from a mysterious magic tree, but they must journey across the land to learn how...and they have to remember the secret on the long journey back! Featured Plays Stories on Stage World Music Family Programs < Back to InterAct in Schools

Want to bring InterAct to your community? We want to hear from you! You can get in touch with InterAct Story Theatre in a variety of ways Contact Us Scroll Down Want to know more? Want to bring InterAct to your community? We want to hear from you! You can get in touch with InterAct Story Theatre in a variety of ways: Schedule a Program: Response Form You can fill out our Response Form , and we'll get right back to you about bringing InterAct Story Theatre to your school or center. Work with Us: To find out about open opportunities with InterAct Story Theatre, follow this link: interactstory.com/work-with-us . Find Us Online and Follow Us: Follow us on Facebook and Instagram . Join Our Mailing List: To keep up on the latest news about InterAct Story Theatre and get reminders about our next program dates, join our mailing list . Call Us or Drop Us a Line: Email: info@interactstory.com (general mailbox) General office phone: (301) 879-9305 FAX (240) 491-9884 Send Us Snail Mail: If you need to send something by U.S. Mail, please send it to: InterAct Story Theatre 11510 Georgia Avenue, Suite 140 Wheaton, MD 20902 Mail List

Parent-Child Workshops & Family Literacy Events. Available Online! Parent Workshops & Literacy Events InterAct Story Theatre's Parent-Child workshops and Family Literacy events offers parents and caregivers ideas they can use at home to build literacy and language skills through the arts. Parents observe teaching artists work with their children, and then learn how they can play, sing, and act with their children at home. A fun and educational experience for all! We are currently developing and piloting several new family programs rooted in drama, music, dance, and puppetry, so please check back! REQUEST MORE INFO Parent-Child Workshops & Family Literacy Events PARENT-CHILD WORKSHOP FOR GRADES PREK-1 Available Online Story Can Theater Parents and children participate in a delightful workshop in which a story is told through miniatures and toys (see Story Can Theatre Workshop description above). The children dramatize part of the story and the parents make several effective storytelling activities that they can use at home to promote literacy and thinking skills. This popular program is being used in schools nationwide. AN INTER-GENERATIONAL STORY SHARING EXPERIENCE FOR CHILDREN GRADES 3 AND UP AND ADULTS Building Dialogue and Community One Story At a Time Telling stories is a meaningful way to transmit history, values and cultures in families, schools and communities. In this workshop, participants tell, listen, and retell stories in a process designed to celebrate our stories and build community across the generational divide. This workshop enhances oral language, listening skills, prewriting skills, and builds bridges between storytellers from ages 8 to 108. PARENT-CHILD WORKSHOP FOR GRADES PREK-K Songbuilding Parents and children share in a rich music experience as they sing songs and learn about various musical instruments (See Songbuilding Workshop description above). The parents then create their own personal lullaby for their children. The lullaby focuses on their wishes, dreams and hopes for their family. A CD of both the songs sung in the workshop and the melody of the lullaby is given to each family. A warm, rich and meaningful family event. A LITERACY WORKSHOP FOR PARENTS AND CHILDREN Available Online Literacy Fiesta! Bringing Read-Alouds to Life Research shows that reading aloud with our children is one of the most important things we can do to help build strong readers. But how can we make read-alouds fun and engaging for you and your children? And what if we’re not so comfortable reading for ourselves? In this workshop, parents participate with children in fun arts-based activities with a book, then learn tips and techniques for engaging children in lively and fun read-alouds at home—even if you don’t love reading for yourself! Different workshops are available for early childhood, primary, and elementary school-age children and their families. < Back to InterAct in Schools

Online Visiting Performance for MSAC review: Mama-San Stories 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 program was designed for students in grades PreK-1, some of whom are with a teacher in a classroom, and some of whom are at home with a family member. A tech sheet 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. CLICK HERE FOR TECH PACKET CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO