New Stage Announces 2018-19 SchoolFest Matinee Lineup

New Stage Theatre, a professional theatre located in Jackson, Mississippi, announces its 2018-2019 SchoolFest Matinee performances, as a part of New Stage's Arts in Education program. We will celebrate our 53rd season, "The Power of Place", with a wonderful variety of great theatre for all ages. "The characters in this season's plays yearn and search for home, redefine place and struggle for identity in the changing worlds around them. A strong impression of place can evoke anger, joy, tears, and laughter. At New Stage Theatre we know there is a place for everyone," says artistic director Francine Thomas Reynolds.

New Stage will offer one SchoolFest Matinee performance for a new comedy written by Mississippi's own award-winning playwright Topher Payne. Morningside will take the audience to an upscale house in Atlanta one bright, sunny afternoon. Shrewd, witty and razor sharp, this hilarious spin on modern motherhood asks if one's family house is a place to call home. Morningside is recommended for ages 16 and up and there is one SchoolFest Matinee on September 19th, 2018.

As vital today as when it was first written, the classic Diary of Anne Frank is the second play offered in our SchoolFest Matinee program. Anne's chronicle of courage and terror created an enduring place in history for the Frank family. Based on the original play, this new adaption by Wendy Kesselman brings us into the secret annex where 13-year-old Anne and seven other Jews evade Nazi deportation. Diary of Anne Frank is recommended for ages 12 and up, and will perform SchoolFest Matinees on October 24th, 26th, 31st, and November 2nd, 2018.

We are thrilled to be offering our traditional holiday favorite A Christmas Carol as a part of our SchoolFest Matinees! Come see the story you've always loved and bring the whole family! A Christmas Carol is recommended for ages 8 and up and will perform SchoolFest Matinees on December 4th, 5th, 7th, 11th, 12th, and 14th, 2018.

Set in Mississippi, our third SchoolFest Matinee offering has characters stranded on a levee in search of a new landing place. Written by Marcus Gardley and based on actual events, Hell in High Water is a new play with blues music that revisits the Greenville, Mississippi flood of 1927. New Stage Theatre has been awarded a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to produce Hell in High Water and will partner with area organizations to present special community events during its January and February performances. Hell in High Water is recommended for ages 12 and up and will perform SchoolFest Matinees on January 30th, February 1st, 6th, and 8th, 2019.

Next is the regional premiere of Sweat, the 2017 Pulitzer Prize winning and Broadway hit play. The author, Lynn Nottage, was searching for a place that exemplified what she calls the "deindustrialized revolution" and she found it in Reading, Pennsylvania. Told with both humor and tremendous heart, the action is in a fictional bar and takes us to the heart of working-class America. Sweat is recommended for ages 16 and up and will perform SchoolFest Matinees on April 25th and May 2nd, 2019.

Students can attend these SchoolFest Matinee performances for the low ticket price of $7/$8. The students can also attend a post-performance question and answer session with the production's cast. You will receive a comprehensive study guide before the show. The study guide will include a synopsis of the play, information about the playwright, character summaries and suggestions for classroom activities. Please call 601-948-3533 ext. 245 to reserve seats for your school or class!

New Stage Theatre was chartered as a not-for-profit organization in 1965, producing its initial season in the winter/spring of 1966. Founded by Jane Reid-Petty with the assistance of the American National Theatre Academy and Actor's Equity Association, dedication to professional excellence in theatre arts was part of the theatre's original mission. New Stage's first home was a converted church, and the full houses for its opening season were significant: they represented the city's first racially integrated theatre audience.