Children's Theatre Company and The Mother Baby Center to Launch Ticket Voucher Program for Newborns

Abbott Northwestern Hospital, Children's Hospital and Clinics of Minnesota, and Children's Theatre Company (CTC) have launched a groundbreaking new venture as part of an existing partnership to bring theatre to young patients. In 2014, CTC will give every baby born at The Mother Baby Center at Abbott Northwestern and Children's - Minneapolis a ticket voucher to CTC. The program was developed with the knowledge that exposure to the arts, especially live theatre, directly impacts literacy skills and social development. This program aims to make theatre a regular and crucial part of Minnesota family traditions.

Dr. Lisa L. Saul-Paylor, MD, interim President of The Mother Baby Clinical Service Line is enthusiastic about the new program and the opportunities it provides to children and families. "Children's Theatre Company is such an incredible part of the Twin Cities theatrical landscape just as The Mother Baby Center is an equally important part of the maternity and newborn care landscape. A partnership between CTC and Children's of Minnesota, which brings live theatre to patients in the hospital, is currently flourishing. However, we also wanted to develop a way to inform new parents about arts opportunities that exist in the Twin Cities. The newborn theatre voucher program was an exciting next step. The Mother Baby Center is proud to partner with Children's Theatre Company in providing children and families with exposure to the arts at the earliest point possible-birth."

Peter Brosius, CTC Artistic Director echoes, "Working with The Mother Baby Center further cements CTC's commitment to early childhood programming. Theatre experiences specifically designed for very young children have a critical impact in fashioning the foundation for learning. We are thrilled to have such a phenomenal community partner in this effort and are hopeful that this program is just the beginning of more to come." Yearly birth volumes at The Mother Baby Center are over 5,000, and CTC plans to provide a ticket voucher to each and every one of these babies in 2014.

Research in early childhood education makes evident that theatre has a direct impact on literacy skills, that seeing a play introduces concepts of empathy and problem solving skills, and that live performance encourages children to play, a crucial skill for intellectual development in young children.

CTC has been dedicated to developing programming for 2 to 5 year olds since 2004. With a nationally recognized critical literacy program for preschoolers (Early Bridges), a published anthology for preschoolers and Theatre Arts Training classes for 2 to 5 year olds, CTC has brought leading professional artists and educators together from around the world to create work for the youngest audiences.

A CTC ticket voucher, to be redeemed within five years, will be presented to all families with babies with birthdates on or following Jan. 1, 2014 as part of the newborn package that The Mother Baby Center currently gives to all its newborn families. Each family will be asked to register their newborn at childrenstheatre.org/newborn in order to receive reminders to redeem their voucher when their child is a toddler or young preschooler.

In addition to the voucher program with The Mother Baby Center, CTC will continue to work with Children's of Minnesota to perform the preschool play The Biggest Little House in the Forest at the hospital several times a year, a program which has been in place since 2011.

Children's Theatre Company (CTC) is the only theatre for young people to win the coveted Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theater (2003). Founded in 1965, CTC serves 250,000 people annually and is one of the 20 largest regional theater companies in the nation, named by Time Magazine as the number one theatre for families in the U.S.A. The company is noted for defining worldwide standards for youth theatre with an innovative mix of classic tales, celebrated international productions and challenging new work. In 2015-2016 CTC will celebrate its 50th season!