Introduction to Theatre - Fairy Tale Theatre is over 20 years old and boasts fun, higher grades, good attendance, and camaraderie among students. Where the other fine arts appreciation classes are lecture-based, test-centered, textbook required, and grade-centered, this mode of Theatre Appreciation has created a life of its own.
Each semester, the Honors Program Section of Introduction to Theatre spends the entire semester preparing "classic" fairy tales for elementary school students. Students are separated into "casts" and create a brand new fairy tale from scratch. Once written, each cast will dramatize their story and rehearse the product. All of this activity is geared toward producing short children’s plays for kindergarten - third grades of Tyler elementary schools.
Under the guidance of Theatre faculty, Honor’s students rehearse these tales in preparation for "hitting the road". During the months of November and April, the Fairy Tale Theatre leaves campus by 8:30 A.M., travels to an area elementary school, performs two original fairy tales, and returns to campus by 9:50 A.M.. Between mid-semester and finals, Fairy Tale Theatre will have presented its plays to thousands of children.
Fairy Tale Theatre may be the most fun class ever experienced in a college. Performance builds confidence and strengthens communication skills. Not only have former students written about the memories and enjoyment shared in Fairy Tale Theatre, but maintain that it changed their lives forever.
Click here for a sample of TJC's Fairy Tale Theatre: Jack and The Beanstalk, and Hansel and Gretel.