Golden Triangle Theatre realized a longtime dream this week with the start of a new partnership with Fairview Elementary aimed at exposing students to the arts.
Through the theater’s new All For One program, fourth- and fifth-grade students at Fairview will have weekly opportunities to practice their musical theater skills.
GTT Executive and Artistic Director Garrett Torbert said partnering with local schools for the arts has been a longtime goal for the theater.
“The mission we have here at the Golden Triangle Theatre is really to provide the arts to everybody,” Torbert told The Dispatch on Thursday. “… The program that we’re going to be doing is going to mostly be implementing those theater elements of acting and improv, and also creativity.”
The All For One program, which officially kicked off Thursday, will last throughout the semester. Each week, two instructors from GTT will spend two hours working on different musical theater skills with fifth and fourth grade students who signed up for the program.
Fairview Principal Monte Ewing said the classes filled up quickly with more than 50 students hoping to get a spot.
“The participation – like the students’ anticipation and excitement about it – has been off the chain,” Ewing told The Dispatch on Thursday.
“The kids were just on fire about asking questions and participating. I went in (Thursday), and they were on their best behavior. They were all ears. They were so attentive, and so happy to be a part of this opportunity.”
Ewing hopes that the exposure to theater the students gain from the program will spark their interest in musical theater. Then, they can carry that on to the Columbus Middle School theater program, she said.
“What we would hope is in elementary they have been exposed to theater, which will support the middle school program,” she said. “They already have some exposure, and when they get to the middle school, they’re ready.”
But even if students aren’t all that interested in musical theater, Torbert said the program can still be a benefit. Through the classes, students also pick up skills like being confident and speaking in public, he said.
“One thing that’s not talked about enough – and there’s a good amount of research on it now – is how much the arts enhance other things in kids’ lives, whether it’s academics or behavior,” he said. “I told the kids last week, if you’re not a fan of getting up and dancing and singing and acting in front of folks, think of that more so like skill building. Building those soft skills for public speaking and working with others and really kind of getting yourself prepared for real world experiences.”
Torbert said the program is fully funded by the theater and not by the school. He said he would like to expand it to include schools in the area, especially when so few local schools have a theater program.
For now the program is only at Fairview, though Ewing said she hopes to expand it there.
“We’re going to give them an opportunity to work with those (fourth- and fifth-grade students) for the entire first semester,” she said. “And then second semester, we hope to switch it to give third-graders and second-graders the opportunity to get the same exposure.”
McRae is a general assignment and education reporter for The Dispatch.
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