Mountain Theatre Company opened their doors to local schools for two special matinee performances of their holiday production, Home for the Holidays, on Dec. 14 and 15. These performances were offered to school groups free of charge through Mountain Theatre Company’s Theatre for Young Audiences outreach program.
“At Mountain Theatre Company, we believe strongly in the benefits of giving children access to professional theatre,” said Lindsay Garner Hostetler, Director of Marketing and Outreach. According to a 2019 study by the National Endowment for the Arts, “Seeing live theater offers a range of academic, social, and emotional benefits to children. This includes…an increased hope for their own future, with the ability to imagine attending college and envisioning success; a greater recognition that the arts can have a place in their lives in the present and future; improved engagement and behavior in school environments…increased success on standardized tests; higher writing scores; and a stronger command of narrative devices.”
These two matinee performances for local schools hosted nearly 400 students.
Attendance included groups from Highlands School, Summit Charter School, Mountain View Intermediate School, Scotts Creek School, and others.
Students arrive at Mountain Theatre Company’s production of Home for the Holidays.
In addition to free tickets to all students, teachers, and chaperones for these school performances, Mountain Theatre Company also included a complimentary audience participation prop, called a Spirit-ometer, for each student who attended. These light-up fiberoptic wands create interactive moments in the show between the audience and the action on stage and are available for purchase in the lobby during regular performances.
The show’s plot follows a ragtag group of elves who come together on Christmas Eve to broadcast their annual North Pole holiday show live to the whole world. In a year when spirits are low across the globe, Mrs. Claus has created magic Spirit-ometers to raise Christmas spirits. At a critical moment in the play, the audience is asked to use their Spirit-ometers and help save the joy of the season.
“It was important to us that we keep this interactive element of the show in the performances for school field trips,” said Garner Hostetler. “This magical element was written into the show especially for our younger audience members. We wanted to see the pure joy of the kids using their Spirit-ometers in an audience full of people young enough to embrace the magic of the moment and the season. We are so glad we made the decision to gift these props to the students.
Hearing almost 200 kids in each show cheer in response to making live theatre magic occur reminded all of us at Mountain Theatre Company what this season is about and why we continue the hard work of creating live theatre for our community.”
Mountain Theatre Company’s outreach programs also include a Student Ticket Program which offers free tickets to all Mainstage productions to local students under the age of 18 in Macon, Jackson, Transylvania, and Rabun Counties. Student Tickets must be purchased in advance by calling or visiting the Box Office. Mountain Theatre Company also offers a Rush Ticket Program with a limited number of $30 tickets available at the door one hour prior to performance times. “Both of these outreach programs were created with the mission to make our programming accessible to as many people in our community as possible,” said +Hostetler.
Home for the Holidays runs through December 24, 2023. Tickets range from $58 – $70 and can be purchased in person at the HPAC Box Office at 507 Chestnut Street, by phone at (828) 526-2695, or online at www.mountaintheatre.com. Performance runtime for Home for the Holidays is approximately 1 hour, 45 minutes including one 15-minute intermission.
Home for the Holidays is the final production in Mountain Theatre Company’s 2023 Mainstage Season.
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Pictured at the top of the article is the cast of Mountain Theatre Company’s Home for the Holidays after a question and answer session following a school field trip performance.