Emerald City Theatre (ECT) announced Monday at Newton Bateman Elementary the revival of a tremendous partnership. In a remarkable effort to provide access to literacy and the arts as well as advance skill-building, ECT has once again partnered with Mary Pope Osborne – author of the award-winning Magic Tree House book series. Through Ms. Osborne’s Classroom Adventures Program, and with support from KPMG’s Family for Literacy, the partnership will provide an opportunity for all Chicago Public Schools (CPS) 2nd and 3rd grade students (totaling over 60,000) to receive a free viewing of a theater performance of Magic Tree House: Showtime with Shakespeare and a free companion Magic Tree House book.
On Friday, February 9, 2018, at 10:15 AM, ECT's performance of the brand-new family hip-hop musical, Magic Tree House: Showtime with Shakespeare will be live streamed to all second and third grade CPS classroom from the stage at Apollo Theater. Ms. Osborne and playwright Will Osborne will be in attendance for the event allowing students the opportunity to meet them, as well.
Magic Tree House: Showtime with Shakespeare features Jack & Annie, the protagonists of the 56-book New York Times best-selling series, travelling to Shakespearean England to help save a troubled production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. The play is based on Magic Tree House #25: Stage Fright on a Summer Night. The script and lyrics were written by Jenny Laird and Will Osborne with music and additional lyrics by Randy Courts.
“We are thrilled to provide books and inspire readership in over 60,000 Chicago children. In expanding our partnership with Emerald City Theatre, Random House Children’s Books, and KPMG, we’re able to get books directly into the hands of students and teachers in Chicago Public Schools and bring the theatre directly into their classrooms with the live stream event. What a wonderful way to motivate young readers to learn more about the creative process," said author Mary Pope Osborne.
CPS teachers may register their second and third-grade classrooms to receive books and participate in the live stream event online at EmeraldCityTheatre.com. Also provided will be an original study guide written by ECT Education staff that helps integrate the Magic Tree House: Showtime with Shakespeare performance and book into Common Core standards, as well as a behind-the-scenes video that will walk students through the creation of the play. Additional lesson plans for the Stage Fright book, and all other Magic Tree House fiction books and nonfiction Fact Trackers, are available free of charge on Ms. Osborne's Classroom Adventures Program website.
This marks the second time that Mary Pope Osborne, KPMG's Family for Literacy, and Emerald City Theatre have teamed up to bring the Magic Tree House stories into CPS classrooms to foster literacy and arts education. A previous live stream event took place on March 18, 2016, and showcased Magic Tree House: A Night in New Orleans, a jazz musical based on Magic Tree House #42: A Good Night for Ghosts. That partnership also included a gift of 30,000 books to all CPS second graders.
