Baltimore County, MD smARTS, 28 Mar 2016

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From YouTube: smARTS: Pumpkin Theatre (Fall 2015)

Description

Discover Pumpkin Theatre, children's theatre that aims to entertain, educate and empower young children through theatrical productions and education.

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Have you ever watched young children seeing a live performance for the first time?, there's really no way to describe how wide their eyes get and how their attention is riveted on the stage., it is an experience that stays with them and their parents.

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Often for a lifetime.

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with us now is anna goldseker from pumpkin theatre to tell us about a children's theatre that has commanded the attention of young theatre-goers and their parents for more than 47 years., anna, good to see you.

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Thank you! thanks for having me.

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So, first of all, tell me a little bit about your role with pumpkin theatre.. You are the board chair. sure, yeah.

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I'm the board chair, so bring new members in,.

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Help the fundraising part of it,, the organization,.

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All that kind of stuff.

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Now I know you're a very busy person and I'm sure a lot of people come to you, hoping that you will support their organization.

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So why did you decide to lend your support to pumpkin theatre??

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What is it about pumpkin, theatre?.

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Sure. so,, it's actually a really personal calling.

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I'm one of those people that was kind of dragged through.

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The public school system- and it wasn't until I had.

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An amazing theatre teacher that kind of turned me on,, right?,.

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That kind of lit me up., and it was actually through the theatre that I got to learn, right?.

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Because he was the teacher that gave me all the shakespeare books and said: oh, you could read this. and gave me a shakespeare, dictionary, "oh,. You could do this." and kind of showed me through theatre how to learn, how to study, how to work.

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so, I'm one of those people that kind of matured.

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And my eyes opened with the theatre.: how is children's theatre different than regular theatre?.

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So what does pumpkin theatre do? give me a typical performance that the pumpkin theatre, shows.

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Sure, sure, sure. so,. I think what this is--, what pumpkin theatre specifically does.

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Is it allows a space for the child to watch theatre.

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So at pumpkin theatre, children won't be shushed,.

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They won't be told to sit down,, they can really experience it full mind and body.

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They can sit cross-legged on the floor,. They can sit in chairs.

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Whatever their level is,, we meet them right. There.

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So this is all specifically for children to fully envelope the experience, right?.

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And be kids., they are asked to adhere to regular theatre, etiquette, right?.

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So, they are taught., so we do have raine bode, who's, the head of our organization,.

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Come and talk a little bit about how to have theatre manners,.

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So there is an experience.

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Teach them at an early age., yes, yes.

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How to behave at a theatre and be respectful for the performances on the stage, right?.

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And then we have the performance.

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and then afterwards, there's an autograph signing.

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Oh,, I'm sure the kids love that.

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Which is the cutest,, because they're so star-struck, right?.

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So the idea that they can come so close to the performers and touchy-touchy the costumes and all of that, and have a dialogue.

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So it's very interactive. yes.

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How many shows does pumpkin theatre offer in a year?.

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How can people find out more information?.

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Yeah,, so we have, our big season is starting soon.

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It's starting in a few weeks. we have five live main stage shows out of the year.

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But what I think is even more magical that we do.

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Is we go into the public school systems.?

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Oh you do?, and we provide programming for public schools that can't do the programming themselves.

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So it allows us to reach those certain kids that wouldn't normally be able to see a performance, -- actually see a performance. and we give the teachers ahead of time a curriculum,.

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So it's a whole experience,, so the teachers are brought into it.

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And, you know,. I think that that is really important.

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And for a lot of these kids,, it's the only theatre, performance, they've, ever seen.

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And I've seen some of the theatre, performances and they're very high-quality,, so we want to tell people that they can get more information.

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I'll, tell them in a minute. but anna,. I want to thank you so much.

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And I look forward to seeing you at some of the shows., I'm sure you re there,, right? yes!, come,, come,, we'd love to have you.

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Okay. for more information on pumpkin theatre, season, check out their website.