Northern Stage to present SCHOOL OF ROCK

School of Rock, the currently running Broadway hit, will be performed by the Northern Stage Summer Musical Theater Intensive Company and Tuck's Rock Dojo students live on stage at the brand new Barrette Center for the Arts in White River Junction, VT, July 29-31. For tickets and information, call 802-296-7000 or visit www.northernstage.org. Tickets are $15 for students and $25 for adults. This production is recommended for ages 8 and up.

In an unprecedented move, Andrew Lloyd Webber has given the rights to a select group of educational programs to perform his currently running hit Broadway musical. Over the course of 4 weeks, local teens train and rehearse with a professional Northern Stage team to perform the outrageously funny show. The 2nd Annual Summer Musical Theatre Intensive is designed to give local youth the opportunity to push themselves and their abilities to the next level. This year Northern Stage is teaming up with Tuck's Rock Dojo, led by Tuck Stocking, who is training a youth band to be a core part of the production. The musical follows Dewey Finn, a wannabe rock star who poses as a substitute teacher. Dewey decides to create his own curriculum, turning his class into a guitar shredding, bass slapping, and mind-blowing rock band. This is an inspiring, high-energy production, and loving testimony to the transformative power of music that will be fun for the whole family. Northern Stage Assistant Artistic Director and Director of Education Eric Love directs the musical. "The talent, hard work, and love of theater of these young actors is awe inspiring. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to perform in a show that's currently running on Broadway. It's an honor to be working on a new show by the legendary composer Andrew Lloyd Webber and book writer Jullian Fellowes, the creator of Downton Abbey. Fellowes' script is extremely smart and funny. Lloyd Webber's score absolutely rocks! This show is a gift and I can't wait to share it with our community."

This production features area youth aged 12-18: Robert Varela, Camila Pentland, Tyler Nabinger, Marie Pillsbury, Ian Nolon, Roberto Silva, Catherine Somoza, Hunter Smith, Olivia Swayze, Macy DeMara, Maddy Trimpi, Julia Cook, Caroline Hamilton, Alicia Sanyal, Hope Bebeau, Ty Nolon, Charlotte Sturm-Gross, Meredith Felde, Artemisia Delgado, Sophia Hayes, Will Stedina, Drew Boyce, Charlie Tenney, Emma Tichner, Kylie Zubkoff, Emily Masteller, Alexandra Mekus, Andy Ogrinc, Audrey Lee, Connor Cantlin, Nicoya Parker, Ella Falcone, James Bryan, Maia Reynolds, and Sam Beliveau.

The professional creative team, led by Eric Love, includes David Klodowski (Music Director), Tuck Stocking (Rock Band Director), Maddy Apple (Choreographer), James Roeder (Scenic Designer), Alex Taylor (Lighting Designer), and Jill Tarr (Costume Designer).

For younger students (ages 6-11) Northern Stage offers several one-week summer vacation camps during the month of July. These education programs come on the heels of a very successful new pilot educational program, Class Act: Shakespeare in the Schools. Through this initiative Northern Stage brought the work of Shakespeare to Dothan Brook School and Hartland Elementary School, giving students a chance to engage with theater in a way they might not have otherwise encountered. Class Act concluded with performances of Twelfth Night in the Barrette Center for the Arts, and can perhaps be best summed up by one of the collaborators and teachers: "You turned 42 rambunctious fourth graders into Shakespearean actors, and they were loving it. You took an autistic boy and gave him his dream role. You took a girl with depression and applauded her acting talents. You took a bullied kid and allowed him to get laughs. You gave our students more in those four weeks than we could ever explain."

Following School of Rock, Northern Stage's educational programming will turn to the fourth season of YES: Youth Ensemble Studio, an eight-month experience for students in grades 7-12. Registration is now open and the company will participate in group nights at the theater with post-show discussions, master classes with cast members and creative teams of the main stage productions, and will rehearse and perform three productions of their own throughout the course of the academic year. YES culminates in a fully produced musical on the main stage at the Barrette Center for the Arts. Carol Dunne, producing artistic director for Northern Stage, ultimately oversees all educational programming and says, "Our mission at Northern Stage is to change lives, one story at a time. We live this mission by creating and cultivating educational programs that challenge the serious theater student and enrich the theater lover. The energy around the company is fantastic, and with the addition of Tuck's Rock Dojo, we are partnering with a community organization we have long admired! We cannot wait to share School of Rock with our audiences young and old."

Northern Stage offers a year-round schedule of education programs for kids and young adults. Student Ticketing Programs offer low-cost tickets to every performance for students of all ages, and low-cost matinees for school groups and homeschoolers - serving more than 2,200 students annually. OSHER, our collaboration with Dartmouth's life-long learning institute, is designed for adult-learners, and features in-depth discussions with Northern Stage staff members and experts in the field or topic of the associated play.

Northern Stage is a regional non-profit LORT-D professional theater with a mission to change lives, one story at a time. Based at the crossroads of New England -- the Upper Valley of the Connecticut River -- Northern Stage's intimate space sets the stage for actively involving its audiences with ambitious productions and expansive educational programs. Founded in 1997, Northern Stage has offered more than 115 high-quality, professional productions of new works, classics, and musicals. Annual attendance is now over 30,000.

Photo Credit: Kata Sasvari