October 2019
Students will hone their skills, work as an ensemble, and learn from professional artistic staff as they work toward a culminating performance of Once Upon a Mattress.
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Students will hone their skills, work as an ensemble and learn from a director, music director, and choreographer as they work toward a culminating performance of The Addams Family!
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Want another opportunity to perform alongside the WHBPAC family and professional singers and actors? Be part of our HOLIDAY SPECTACULAR, a seasonal variety show of epic proportions! Students must commit to five rehearsals (dates and times TBD), including two dress rehearsals before the big show!
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Directed by Christopher Morris
An impoverished preacher who brings hope to the Miami projects is offered cash to save his family from eviction. He has no idea his sponsor works for the FBI who plan to turn him into a criminal by fueling his madcap revolutionary dreams.
October 18 & 20 only – no screening October 19.
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This energetic and fun music class is designed for our UpBeat students to sing and dance to their favorite music, while building self -confidence, socialization and music skills. Classes begin Tuesday October 22nd for a total of 8 classes and will culminate in a performance at the WHBPAC Holiday Spectacular December Saturday, December 7th.
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It’s no secret that most everyone is terrified of public speaking. It’s also no secret that public speaking becomes a little easier after a glass of wine. We’ll give you the glass of wine…and we’ll also give you the tools you need to give speeches like a pro. Using fun source material from plays, literature, and famous speeches, Arts Academy Director Julienne Penza-Boone will have you finding your inner politician, CEO, or Oprah in just six weeks.
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Love to sing? Love a good libation? Put it all together at Sip and Sing! This class – taught by professional singer and cabaret queen Valerie DiLorenzo – includes mini voice lessons for all with group vocal exercises to strengthen your voice and improve breath support, learning and singing fun and upbeat songs, and of course, wine tasting! No experience necessary and ability to read music is not required! Lyric sheets are provided. Students will have the opportunity to perform as part of our Holiday Spectacular in December!
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Our youngest students will learn the beginning fundamentals of musical theatre in this fun class with a spooky twist, and will perform alongside our Teen Theatre students in The Addams Family!
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Join us for an unforgettable and intimate evening with host – Emmy winner, GE Smith: supreme musicologist and sideman to all, as he explores his passion for R&B while highlighting his guest, GRAMMY winner, Steve Earle and his masterful songwriting.
Find Out MoreNovember 2019
Directed by Bettina Perut and Iván Osnovikoff
Los Reyes is the oldest skate park in Santiago and it brings together teenagers from very different social and cultural backgrounds. Chola is young and vigorous and spends her days playing with balls that she throws to the pools in which skaters ride. Football is an old dog, but beautiful and energetic, that obsessively accompanies Chola in this game. The human world appears in stories of adolescents in transit to adulthood. We listen to their voices and see fragments of their bodies as part of the environment that surrounds the world of dogs. As Football grows old and Chola is left alone, the juvenile stories confront us with the rawness of a youth that does not find a place in our society.
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Directed by Paul Harrill
Gifted with sometimes-prophetic dreams and a lifelong interest in the paranormal, Sheila (Marin Ireland) is asked to investigate a potential haunting at a Tennessee farmhouse. It’s there she meets Richard (Jim Gaffigan), a recent widower who believes his wife may still be with him. The investigation that ensues — which eventually pulls in Shelia’s son, Owen and his classmate Lucy — forces them to confront the mysteries of their own lives.
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In 1941 Amsterdam, 13-year-old Anne Frank goes into hiding with her family from the Nazis. For the next two years, she never leaves the attic where her family is concealed. With fear of discovery ever present, Anne finds solace writing in her diary, capturing the daily lives of the secret annex’s inhabitants—from the horrors of war to the excitement of first love—with wit, determination, and idealism.With a multicultural cast, National Players brings the true story of this incredibly insightful young girl that is often read in school to the stage in hopes of inspiring the next generation to stand up for justice rather than sit back in apathy.
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Directed by François Ozon
The story of three adult men—Alexandre (Melvil Poupaud), François (Denis Ménochet), and Emmanuel (Swann Arlaud)—who band together to expose the code of silence that continues to enable a priest who abused them as boys. Their experiences powerfully illustrate the varying effects that the trauma of abuse causes on individuals and their families for years. The true story upon which the film is based is an ongoing scandal in France, with Philippe Barbarin, Cardinal of Lyon, convicted in March 2019 for concealing the conduct of Father Preynat.
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Directed by Pedro Almodóvar
Pain and Glory tells of a series of reencounters experienced by Salvador Mallo, a film director in his physical decline. Some of them in the flesh, others remembered: his childhood in the 60s, when he emigrated with his parents to a village in Valencia in search of prosperity, the first desire, his first adult love in the Madrid of the 80s, the pain of the breakup of that love while it was still alive and intense, writing as the only therapy to forget the unforgettable, the early discovery of cinema, and the void, the infinite void that creates the incapacity to keep on making films. Pain and Glory talks about creation, about the difficulty of separating it from one’s own life and about the passions that give it meaning and hope. In recovering his past, Salvador finds the urgent need to recount it, and in that need he also finds his salvation.
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On September 3rd, 1977, The Grateful Dead headlined one of the largest and most musically successful concerts of all time at Raceway Park in Englishtown, NJ. The Englishtown Project pays tribute to that famous concert, performing the music of the Dead, New Riders of the Purple Sage, and Marshall Tucker Band. Comprised of an all-star lineup featuring members of New Riders, Phil Lesh & Friends, Zen Tricksters, Hot Tuna, and more, this is the ultimate Dead experience and the closest thing to the ‘77 concert that the world will ever see again.
Find Out MoreDecember 2019
Bill Blagg’s comedy-filled, action-packed, presentation is highly interactive and makes science fun and exciting! Students will use the Scientific Method to levitate one of their teachers in mid-air and even learn how the science of reflection can make their homework magically disappear! In addition, Bill even performs some of his mind-blowing, grand-scale illusions with a scientific twist! Bill caps the show off with an incredible display of the water cycle by making it snow from his bare hands! Students will watch in amazement as science creates magic right before their very eyes!
Find Out MoreEast Meets West
This collaboration between WHBPAC’s Arts Academy and Our Fabulous Variety Show will feature over fifty student performers ages 5 to 85 alongside professional singers and dancers – creating an unforgettable celebration of the holidays! This mash-up of song, dance, and theatre will feature holiday classics and fresh takes on the season.
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One of Jersey’s best kept secrets and the longtime favorite house band at New York City’s famed Copacabana; the Sensational Soul Cruisers are not just another 11-man vocal harmony group with horns. While it is may be possible to find a band with a similar line up of instruments, it is unlikely that you’ll ever find another that performs with as much energy, passion, and talent as these guys. Fortunately for those of us that feel that the sound of classic Philly Soul, Motown, Disco, Stax, and the music of The Temptations, Four Tops, Earth Wind & Fire, Chicago, The Trammps and other such groups was and still is some of the best music ever recorded or played live, the guys are headed east for the holiday to heat up the beach stage!
Find Out MoreJanuary 2020
Lifeline Theatre–Chicago Thursday, January 10 10am & 12:30pm For 27 years, the world of Ivan the gorilla was a dull cage in a roadside shopping mall. But when he meets Ruby, a baby elephant captured in the wild, Ivan’s ambitions and imagination must grow to meet the challenge of rescuing his endangered new companion. Aided…
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In the ancient times, in a faraway village in China, people lived joyously together in harmony with nature. However, every 365 days, a monster called Nian came to terrorize the people, and even their greatest warrior was unable to stop it. So the people prayed to the gods. Then, a wise old man came to them, answering their prayers, and an ingenious invention was created to repel the vicious monster that returned year after year. The renowned Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company’s spectacular telling of the origin of the Chinese New Year Celebration is full of dazzling props, colorful costumes, mesmerizing music, fantastic acrobatics and lively dance.
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From the company that brought us The Ugly Duckling, this innovative performance fusing lightwires and dance tells the story of a bullied mouse who finds himself on the adventure of a lifetime. Marvin the Mouse wants to be popular; he is constantly bullied and picked on by the “cool” rats. As respite from the continuous badgering, Marvin retreats into his science books and a world of fantasy. He longs to have adventures and to be the hero. This character education piece is all about celebrating differences among us and following your dreams.
Find Out MoreMarch 2020
This compelling dramatization of the life and times of one of the most influential and charismatic leaders of the “American Century” and the Civil Rights movement will inspire your students as they experience Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s struggle and his dream of lifting “our nation from the quicksand of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.”
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An innovative blend of reality and imagination, using interactive screen technology and live music, Yao Yao is an inventive tale from the other side of the world. Yao is a mischievous little girl who loves playing with her dad. But every morning Daddy has to go to work. One day, Yao, unhappy with her father’s departure, grabs his overcoat and accidentally pulls a thread that leads to the start of a magical world of adventure and discovery.
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Bedtime has never been so exciting! It’s the end of the day for the Llama family. After a long day of adventures at the school and the store, Baby Llama can’t wait to put on his red pajamas. He and his friends the toys are ready to sing and dance their way to sleep…except…they need a bedtime story and a kiss goodnight and a drink of water. But, where’s Mama? This hilarious new musical based on the bestselling books by Anna Dewdney will delight and warm hearts.
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Nicholas Allen has plenty of ideas. When he ends up in Mrs. Granger’s language arts class, he has his best idea ever. He decides to create his own word…FRINDLE! Before long Nick’s word creates a buzz in his school, his town and then, to his surprise, it spreads all around the country, and a power struggle erupts with the strict Mrs. Granger. Will the word “Frindle” win? Based on the multiple award-winning best-selling novel by Andrew Clements, this quirky, imaginative tale encourages discussion about creative thought, the power of words and the true nature of language.
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Dallas Children’s Theater Wednesday, May 13 10am & 12:30pm Based on the hilarious book by Harry Allard and James Marshall, this fun-filled musical follows the story of the Smedly School Tornadoes, who have yet to win a football game – in fact, they have never even scored a single point! With such a poor record…
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Based on Sharon Creech’s Newbery Medal-winning novel, this play tells the story of 13 year old Sal, who is driving cross country with her grandparents in search of her mother – and along the way meets many eccentric characters. None more so than Phoebe – Sal’s best friend and the main character in the stories she tells to entertain her grandparents. Phoebe’s story bursts with wild conspiracy theories of her own missing mother, which helps Sal confront her own loss. But with a deadline looming, Sal might not make it in time to reunite with the one person she wants to find most. Told primarily through memory, National Players weaves together a story that is both heartrending and heartwarming.
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