Segerstrom Center Continues Second Year of Disney Musicals in Schools

Segerstrom Center for the Arts continues with its second year of participation in Disney Musicals in Schools, having recently selected four Orange County public elementary schools to embark in the 2015 program.

Last year, Segerstrom Center was awarded a $100,000 grant from Disney to help bring the Disney Musicals in Schools program to Orange County, and the first year of the program resulted in a total of 250 students and 20 teachers from four elementary schools going on a musical journey that would find them discovering the world of musical theater, all while developing and honing various skills throughout the process. Their journey, from the school grounds to the big stage, culminated in a production of a Disney KIDS musical.

Through an application process, Segerstrom Center has selected four Orange County public elementary schools, new to this program, to participate during the 2015 - 16 school year: Agnes Ware Stanley Elementary (Garden Grove), Ethan B. Allen Elementary School (Fountain Valley), San Juan Elementary School (San Juan Capistrano) and Westmont Elementary School (Westminster).

The four selected schools will participate in a 17-week musical theater residency. Segerstrom Center will train and assign teaching artists to work with each school. At no cost to them, the schools will receive performance rights, educational support materials and guidance from the teaching artists. The role of the teaching artists is to help produce the chosen Disney musical and to create a sustainable theater program in the participating schools. The programs will culminate in 30-minute Disney KIDS musicals at each school site. On March 22, 2016, Segerstrom Center will host a Student Share Celebration, where each school will have the extraordinary opportunity to perform a selection from its show on the Center's stage for an audience of fellow students, family members and friends.

Disney Musicals in Schools is an outreach program initiative developed by Disney Theatrical Group to create ongoing theater programs in local elementary schools. The after-school programs are completely free to participating schools. Disney Musicals in Schools helps to keep the arts in schools and utilizes the unique world of musical theater to build positive relationships between students, faculty, staff, parents and the community. Students work in teams to develop or restore self-confidence, strengthen communication and collaboration skills all while learning and enjoying the process of creating a Disney musical theater production.

Disney Musicals in Schools was launched in response to Disney Theatrical Group's concern that low- income students in urban, public schools were not afforded equitable access to the arts. After successfully offering the program in New York City schools, Disney Theatrical Group began partnering with organizations in other communities around the United States.

Disney KIDS musicals, created in partnership with Music Theatre International (MTI), are about 30 minutes in length and have been adapted from the classic Disney films, 101 Dalmatians, Aladdin, The Aristocats, Cinderella, The Jungle Book, The Lion King, Sleeping Beauty, and Winnie the Pooh.

DISNEY THEATRICAL GROUP (DTG) operates under the direction of Thomas Schumacher and is among the world's most successful commercial theatre enterprises, bringing live entertainment events to a global annual audience of more than 19 million people in more than 50 countries. Under the Disney Theatrical Productions banner, the group produces and licenses Broadway musicals around the world, including Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, Elton John & Tim Rice's Aida, TARZAN®, Mary Poppins, a co-production with Cameron Mackintosh, The Little Mermaid, Peter and the Starcatcher and Newsies. Aladdin is its most recent Tony Award®-winning Broadway hit; its most recent London production is the critically acclaimed comedy, Shakespeare In Love. Other successful stage musical ventures have included King David in concert, the national tour of On The Record, several touring versions of Disney's High School Musical, and Der Glo?ckner Von Notre Dame in Berlin. DTP has collaborated with the country's leading regional theatres to develop new stage titles including Mary Zimmerman's adaptation of The Jungle Book and The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

Disney Theatrical Group also delivers live shows globally through its license to Feld Entertainment, producer of Disney on Ice and Disney Live! For over 30 years, Disney on Ice and Disney Live! have brought beloved Disney stories and characters annually to over 12 million guests in nearly 50 countries worldwide through productions such as Frozen, Princesses & Heroes, Treasure Trove, and Disney Junior Live on Tour! Pirate & Princess Adventure. In addition, DTG licenses musical titles for local, school and community theatre productions through Music Theatre International.

MUSIC THEATER INTERNATIONAL (MTI) is one of the world's leading theatrical licensing agencies, granting schools as well as amateur and professional theaters from around the world the rights to perform the largest selections of great musicals from Broadway and beyond. MTI works directly with the composers, lyricists and book writers of these shows to provide official scripts, musical materials and dynamic theatrical resources to more than 60,000 theatrical organizations in the U.S. and in over 60 countries worldwide.

MTI is particularly dedicated to the idea of theater as education and has created special collections for younger performers. The MTI Broadway Junior Collection® includes "JR." titles, 60-minute musicals for performance by middle school children; and "KIDS" titles, 30-minute musicals for performance by elementary school children. MTI School EditionsTM are musicals that have been annotated for performance by high school students, and the Theater for Young Audiences (TYA) Collection are 70-minute musicals designed for adults to perform for children.

Segerstrom Center for the Arts is an acclaimed arts institution and as well as a beautiful multi- disciplinary cultural campus. It is committed to supporting artistic excellence on all of its stages, offering unsurpassed experiences, and to engaging the entire community in new and exciting ways through the unique power of live performance and a diverse array of inspiring programs.

Previously called the Orange County Performing Arts Center, Segerstrom Center is Orange County's largest non-profit arts organization. In addition to its six performance venues, Segerstrom Center is also home to the American Ballet Theatre William J. Gillespie School, where students ages 3 - 14 are taught by acclaimed teachers utilizing the renowned ABT National Training Curriculum in studios utilized by the world's greatest dancers and choreographers.

The Center presents a broad range of programming for audiences of all ages, including international ballet and dance, national tours of top Broadway shows, intimate performances of jazz and cabaret, contemporary artists, classical music performed by renowned chamber orchestras and ensembles, family- friendly programming, free performances open to the public from outdoor movie screenings to dancing on the plaza and many other special events.

The Center's arts-in-education programs are designed to inspire young people through the arts and reach hundreds of thousands of students each year. In addition to the presenting and producing institution Segerstrom Center for the Arts, the 14-acre campus also embraces the facilities of two independent acclaimed organizations: Tony Award-winning South Coast Repertory and a site designated as the future home of the Orange County Museum of Art.

Segerstrom Center for the Arts is also proud to serve as the artistic home to three of the region's major performing arts organizations: Pacific Symphony, the Philharmonic Society of Orange County and the Pacific Chorale, who contribute greatly to the artistic life of the region with annual seasons at Segerstrom Center for the Arts.

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