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Celebrate, Honor, Remember: Black History

An actor portraying Dr Martin Luther King, Jr. stands in front of a painted backdrop depicting the American flag next to protest signs. He is wearing a navy blue suit, a tie, and a dark hat.

Theatre is a great tool for learning history, connecting to stories, and understanding why and how people make the choices they do. Our Black History performances connect students to  courageous and creative Americans and their experiences in the struggle for justice, equality, and freedom.

We still have a few spots left for our 2023 Winter Tours!

OR if you’re ready to book for 2024, we’re ready, too! In fact, we’ve just announced our titles! We’re proud to announce a brand new show debuting in 2024: Empowered, Brilliant, and Brave: Great Women of Black History.

Plus, we have virtual shows that are convenient and affordable. Choose from 9 different titles – or get access to all 40+ of our pre-recorded shows for one low price with our Bright Star Super Station Subscription!

In-Person Performances for 2023: Bring a live performance to your school!

Heroes of the Underground Railroad (Best for grades K-5)
Winter Fables (Best for grades K-6)
Let it Shine (Best for grades 4-Adult)
George Washington Carver & Friends (Best for grades K-5)
Struggle For Freedom: The Life of Dr. King (Best for grades 4-Adult)
Black History Heroes, Soldiers and Spies (Best for grades 4-Adult)
African Folktales (Best for grades PreK-5)
Jackie Robinson (Best for grades K-5)
Freedom Songs: The Music of Black History (Best for grades 4-Adult)
Black History Hall of Fame (All Ages)
Rosa Parks and Friends (Best for grades K-5)
North by Night: More Heroes of the Underground Railroad (Best for grades 3-Adult)
Once Upon a Time: Cinderella & Jack and the Beanstalk (All Ages)
Meet Dr. King (Best for grades K-5)
Black History’s Groundbreaking Geniuses (Best for grades K-5)

OR, go ahead and book for 2024!

Heroes of the Underground Railroad (Best for grades K-5)
Winter Fables (Best for grades K-6)
Let it Shine (Best for grades 4-Adult)
George Washington Carver & Friends (Best for grades K-5)
Struggle For Freedom: The Life of Dr. King (Best for grades 4-Adult)
Black History Heroes, Soldiers and Spies (Best for grades 4-Adult)
African Folktales (Best for grades PreK-5)
Jackie Robinson (Best for grades K-5)
Freedom Songs: The Music of Black History (Best for grades 4-Adult)
Once Upon a Time: Cinderella & Jack and the Beanstalk (All Ages)
Meet Dr. King (Best for grades K-5)
Black History’s Groundbreaking Geniuses (Best for grades K-5)
Black History Hall of Fame (All Ages)
**NEW** Empowered, Brilliant & Brave: Great Women of Black History (All Ages)
Rosa Parks and Friends (Best for grades K-5)

Virtual Performances: Convenient and affordable!

Jackie Robinson (Best for grades K-5)
Meet Dr. King (Best for grades K-5)
George Washington Carver & Friends (Best for grades PreK-5)
Let it Shine: American Civil Rights Movement 1955-68 (Best for grades 3-Adult)
Struggle for Freedom: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (Best for grades 3-Adult)
African Folktales (Best for grades Pk-5)
Black History Heroes Soldiers & Spies (Best for grades 3+)
Heroes of the Underground Railroad (Best for K-5)
Freedom Songs: The Music of Black History (Best for grades 4+)
OR – get access to all 40+ of our pre-recorded shows for one low price with our Bright Star Super Station Subscription!

Get in touch with us today and let’s get started planning your program!
To book your show, give us a call at 336-558-7360 or email us at booking@brightstartheatre.com.

in Black History

All Together Now! Our Summer Reading Tours are READY!

A woman is smiling and holding an open book in front of a painted backdrop featuring a sunshine

We LOVE that the Summer Reading theme for 2023 is “All Together Now.” Libraries all across the country are celebrating and encouraging friendship and kindness. And guess what? That’s what we’re all about, too!

Our Summer Tours are filling up fast! Our shows have friendship, kindness and unity baked right in. They are the perfect shows to go with your summer reading program.

We have special rates just for libraries – and if you book more than one show from the same tour, you can save even more!

Choose a Summer Reading Program from FOUR Amazing Tours!

Summer Tour 1

Old MacDonald’s Sing-Along Farm – sing along while sharing and caring for others!
Turkey Trouble at Friendly Acres Farm – empowering and fun!
Captain Friendship – kindness is the ultimate superpower!

Summer Tour 2

Aesop’s Fables – timely and timeless messages for all ages!
The Lady of Bullyburg – a world built on kindness is not just a fantasy!
Friend Request – positive friendships in-person and online!

Summer Tour 3

**NEW SHOW** Operation Kindness: A Captain Friendship Adventure – all ages can work together on Operation Kindness!
The Velveteen Rabbit – heartwarming tale of childhood and imagination!
Little Red and the Big Bully Wolf – funny, dramatic, and highly entertaining!

Summer Tour 4

**NEW SHOW** Operation Kindness: A Captain Friendship Adventure – all ages can work together on Operation Kindness!
Aesop’s Fables – timely and timeless messages for all ages!
Little Red and the Big Bully Wolf – funny, dramatic, and highly entertaining!

We can’t wait to see you this summer! To book your show, give us a call at 336-558-7360 or email us at booking@brightstartheatre.com.

in Summer Reading

The Weather May Be Turning Colder But We’re Already Planning for SUMMER!

 
Theatre is one of the best activities that students can do to build important language skills like speaking, listening and language fluency. Theatre builds creativity, communication, collaboration and critical thinking skills while helping students to practice empathy, social awareness and resilience.

Best of all – Bright Star shows, workshops, residencies and camps make a great complement to whatever you have planned for your students this summer. Using techniques and skills taught by our amazing teaching artists, your students will build their own sketch show based on their interest and the camp themes.

We are available this summer across the country to help your school, library or performing arts organization serve students and families. Camps and residencies can be designed to fit your schedule. Just give us a call to start planning your program!

You provide the space and campers – We provide the teaching artists and curriculum.
5 Day Camp Pricing Starts at $4995!
in Theatre Camps

School is about more than just academics…

One of the most important things we do at Bright Star, is help students learn how to develop healthy relationships and comabat bullying. It has been a part of our mission from the very beginning and now we are in our 20th year of presenting shows that help students learn to identify and confront bullying wherever they find it.
A school assembly with Bright Star can be the perfect way to introduce important Social -Emotional Learning topics including bullying, online safety, positive attention, cultural awareness and so much more! If it is part of your mission to help students navigate a complicated world filled with difficult relationships and emotions, then Bright Star wants to bring one of our shows to YOU!
Bright Star has a number of shows and programs that can infuse your Social-Emotional Learning and Bully Prevention programming with the power of theatre! October is national Bully Prevention month. All of Bright Star’s shows have a strong character education component, helping students make sense of the larger world, understand other cultures, and learn to navigate tricky social situations. Check out our Fall Tours below!
Everything has been so wonderful down on Friendly Acres Farm, that is, until a bullying turkey starts picking on the other farm animals and making life harder for everyone. Farmer Jim and his faithful dog must stop this bullying bird to save Friendly Acres.
The woods are scary enough without having to worry about a big bully howling in the shadows! Follow Little Red and meet her friends – the three little pigs, the Gingerbread Man, and more – as they learn to face their fears and stand up to the Big Bully Wolf! Learn to identify, report and resist bullying and develop healthy friendships as we follow Little Red on her journey to grandma’s house. Funny, dramatic, and highly entertaining!
One of the first true classics of American literature, this is an authentic retelling of Washington Irving’s story of Ichabod Crane and the Headless Horseman! When Ichabod Crane takes a new job as schoolmaster of Sleepy Hollow, he was expecting to have a simple life, but things get complicated very quickly! This tale is just spooky enough to delight any audience as the days get shorter, the air gets colder, and the nights turn long and dark. A perfect introduction to this literary classic.
The Lady of Bullyburg is our longest running bully prevention production because it has been heralded by educators and librarians for its power to change lives through lessons of friendship and kindness. Join Lady Kindness as she saves her town from a visiting bully while learning a variety of empowering tools along the way. A fairy tale that helps young audiences learn that a world built on kindness is not just a fantasy!
In a world where technology and society are changing at the speed of light, our hero, Maximus Mars, stands ready to challenge bullies wherever they may be found – in real life, online, or out of this world! Maximus Mars: An Intergalactic Bully Prevention Adventure stretches the imagination while exploring the challenges that students in middle grades face in the modern world – cyberbullying, electronic media, texting and more. Students need practical strategies for dealing with today’s pressures and Maximus Mars addresses those challenges in a direct and creative way.
No one tells a story quite like the Great Edgar Allan Poe! In A Tell-Tale Tale these spooky and clever stories and poems come to life before your very eyes. With a mastery of language that few can match, Edgar Allan Poe’s stories and poems are as impactful today as they were in the 19th century when they were written. This show blends rich language with expert storytelling to produce a rich language arts experience for middle grades. Stories include “The Tell-Tale Heart,” “The Raven,” “The Bells” and more!
Captain Friendship is our super fun, super impactful, superhero themed bully prevention circus adventure! There’s trouble under the big top as the Bully Bandit has struck fear in the hearts of all the performers. It’s up to one superhero to stand up and make a difference – Captain Friendship! Audiences learn to stand up to the Bully Bandit and find that kindness is the ultimate super-power!
Dr. Frank N. Stein is one of the world’s most famous scientists. Along with his trusty assistant, Igor, Dr. Stein has created some of the world’s most amazing inventions! But those inventions would be nothing without YOUR imagination. It will take Science, Technology, Engineering and Math to make his latest masterpiece come to life! This show helps students learn why STEM subjects are so important to the modern world while opening up an exciting world of STEM discovery. Back by popular demand, see why audiences made this our most popular STEM show ever!
A series of fun and informative vignettes, Friend Request explores the good and bad parts of social media and online culture. Technology can be great, but it also comes with some serious temptations and pitfalls. This quirky show gives your audience practical ways to address issues like cyberbullying, online safety, and understanding how to have positive relationships with friends both online and in real life.
in Anti-Bullying / Black History / History / STEM / Theatre / Uncategorized

Special “Plan For Next Year” Pricing

Wouldn’t it be great to have next year’s school assemblies planned before summer break?

Bright Star has incredible year round programming but we’re hoping to get a jump on fall as we plan for next year, so we’re running a special for the month of May.

Book an in-person show for Fall and get $50 off!
Book a show for Fall and any other season (Holiday, Winter, Spring, Summer) and get $50 off each booking.
You can also get $50 off a virtual show by ALSO booking an in-person show for Fall.

This offer is not good with any previous offers and will be only good for the month of May so plan for next Fall now!

TO BOOK:
Call 336.558.7360 or email
booking@brightstartheatre.com

in Uncategorized

Book by May 1st to Get This Year’s Pricing on Next Year’s Shows

Bright Star is the #1 name in theatrical programming for:
School Assemblies
Library Summer Reading Programs
Theatre Field Trips
Workshops
Residencies
Summer Camps
and
Online Programs!

This is our 20th anniversary season and we are so excited to share our incredible shows with you. We have new shows, old favorites and year-round programming available Coast to Coast!

PLUS – Book before MAY 1 and get this year’s prices on next year’s shows!

in Uncategorized

Celebrate the 75th Anniversary of Jackie Robinson Day with a Bright Star pre-recorded show!

Did you know that April 15th is the 75th anniversary of Jackie Robinson Day? This is a traditional event which occurs annually on April 15 in Major League Baseball, commemorates and honors the day Jackie Robinson made his major league debut.
Jackie Robinson’s number “42” has come to symbolize the triumph of the human spirit over incredible odds. Bright Star’s biographical tale follows the life of Jackie Robinson, the first black baseball player to cross the color lines in the Major Leagues. A real-life hero and a tribute to the power of persistence and determination in the face of adversity, see why Jackie Robinson has inspired so many people both in and out of sports!
Jackie Robinson is now available as a pre-recorded show along with many others.
Call us at 336-558-7360 or email booking@brightstartheatre.com for more information.
in Uncategorized

Introducing the Bright Star Super Station YouTube Playlist

We’ve been hard at work creating video trailers for all 24 of our shows currently available on the Bright Star Super Station.

Check them out on our YouTube Playlist!

Your school or library system can subscribe to the Bright Star Super Station for the entire year! That’s ALL of our videos – including more than a dozen new shows to be added throughout the year!

Pricing: Minimum $1000 (up to 20 classrooms. Additional Classrooms just $50 each.) That’s about $5 per month per classroom!

Visit our YouTube Playlist!

in Uncategorized

How will you combat bullying this year?

Bullying Is Never OK.
Facts:
1 in 5 students report being bullied in person at school.
2 in 5 students report being bullied or harrassed online.
A Bully Prevention Show from Bright Star can be a valuable part of your comprehensive Bully Prevention campaign.
Our shows shine a light on the issue and help students understand what bullying is and what to do when they see it.
Set the tone in your community that “Bullying Is Never OK”
by scheduling an incredible Anti-Bullying assembly with Bright Star!
Click on any of the amazing titles below to visit our website
and find out more about our Anti-Bullying shows for the Fall.
Call 336.558.7360 to book your show today!
In Person Shows (click here for pricing)
Bullysaurus Rex (Pre K-5) – a dinosaur themed, antibullying adventure!
Maximus Mars (Grades 3-8) – fight bullying wherever it happens in the universe, in person, online or out of this world!
Captain Friendship (Prek-5) – help Captain Friendship find the super power of friendship to put an end to bullying.
Friend Request (Grades 3-8) – a series of entertaining true-to-life scenes that help students recognize bullying and practice online safety.
Online Shows (click here for pricing)
Friend Request (Grades 3-8) – available both online and in-person!
Little Red and the Big Bully Wolf (Grades K-5) – the mean old wolf needs someone to stand up to him, and Little Red is just the person.
in Uncategorized

Looking for Online Programs?

Looking for a Wide Variety of Online Programming?
Subscribe to the Bright Star Super Station!

Bright Star Touring Theatre is one of the nation’s largest and most beloved theatre companies for young audiences and we are very excited to be returning to Live, In-Person Programming this year (visit our website to find out more about that).

However, the crazy year that we’ve all experienced over the last sixteen months has been very challenging, but there are some silver linings. One for Bright Star has been that we have been able to record 24 of our shows!

Pre-recorded shows offer amazing flexibility and with a school subscription to the Bright Star Super Station, your school can have access to all of our pre-recorded shows for one low price!

For $1000 your school can have access to up to 20 classrooms to watch the shows for the entire school year! Plus, additional classrooms are just $50 each! That’s around $2 per show per classroom – and we’re adding more shows all the time so the value is only going to get better! All of our shows come with study guides and are connected to state and national standards which make them a great fit for any school.

Check out the list of pre-recorded shows below:

Bully Prevention and Character Education:
Little Red and The Big Bully Wolf
Captain Friendship and the Pirates of the Pandemic
Friend Request

Black History:
Jackie Robinson
Meet Dr. King
George Washington Carver & Friends (Also STEM)
Let it Shine: American Civil Rights Movement 1955-68
Struggle For Freedom: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

STEM:
FrankenSTEM
Gus Goes Green: A Planet Earth Adventure

History and Social Studies:
We Can Do It: Great Women of History
Story of Anne Frank
USA to Z

Holiday:
A Dickens Tale
Holidays Around the World

Classic Literature:
Aesop’s Fables
Velveteen Rabbit
Once Upon a Time
Happily Ever After
A Tell-Tale Tale: The Stories And Poems Of Edgar Allan Poe
Wizard of Oz
Beauty and the Beast
Alice in Wonderland
Old MacDonald’s Sing-Along Farm

Coming soon:
Sept. 2
-Bullysaurus Rex (K-3)
-Jack’s Adventure in Space (K-8)
-Maximus Mars (3-8)

Sept 27
-Capt. Friendship and the Bully Bandit (K-5)

Nov 15
– Winter Fables (K-6)

Nov 22
-Stone Soup and Other Heartwarming Tales (All Ages)

Jan 10
-Black History Heroes, Soldiers, and Spies (3-8)
-African Folktales (PK-5)
-Freedom Songs ( Grade 4+)

Jan 17
-Rosa Parks and Friends (K-5)
-Black History Hall of Fame (K-8)
-Heroes of the Underground Railroad (grades 3-8)

May 30
-The Pirates of Bully Bay
-Treasure Island (All Ages)
-The Little Mermaid

June 6
-Giants of Science (All Ages)

in Uncategorized