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Syracuse Children’s Theatre is Keeping the Arts Alive Syracuse Children's Theatre Keeping the Arts Alive

The SCT is preparing for its December productions of Frozen Jr.

By Hailey René

(Track 1)
WELCOME TO THE NO DRAMA DRAMA ZONE. BETTER KNOWN AS THE SYRACUSE CHILDREN’S THEATRE. AND THIS OCTOBER, THE CHILDREN HAVE JUST ONE QUESTION:
{***SOT FULL***} (CG: xxx)
[TAKE SOT DURATION:0’03”]
(” Do you wanna build a snowman?”) (Track 2)
ALTHOUGH IT’S NOT QUITE SNOWY SEASON YET, REHEARSALS ARE FULLY UNDERWAY FOR THE SYRACUSE CHILDREN’S THEATRE DECEMBER PRODUCTIONS OF FROZEN JR. THAT’S RIGHT. PRODUCTIONS. PLURAL.
{***SOT FULL***} (CG:TODD ELLIS ) [TAKE SOT DURATION:0’06”]
(“Frozen Jr. itself. 4 hundred and 42 students and 5 casts.”) (Track 3)
TODD ELLIS IS THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE THEATRE, AND HE SAYS ARTS EDUCATION ISN’T JUST FUN FOR STUDENTS, BUT EMPOWERING.
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SCT Feature Duration: 1:41
{***SOT FULL***} (CG:TODD ELLIS ) [TAKE SOT DURATION:0’13”]
(” I got a note from a teacher once saying ‘I’m gonna register my child for you classes because there’s this student in my class who always made C’s and now they’re making high B’s and A’s. So what are you doing to this person? And it’s the confidence that it gives the kids.”)
(Track 4)
WHILE ELLIS IS PASSIONATE ABOUT ARTS EDUCATION HERE IN SYRACUSE, HE NOTES HOW OTHER THEATRE PROGRAMS, LIKE HIS CHILDHOOD ONE IN TENNESSEE, HAVEN’T BEEN ABLE TO SURVIVE.
{*** SOT FULL ***} (CG:TODD ELLIS ) [TAKE SOT DURATION:0’11”]
(” It should not be where cuts are coming. Luckily in Central New York, almost everyone seems to have it. I mean, outside of New York, I know things are getting cut significantly.”)
(Track 5)
ALTHOUGH ARTS PROGRAMS THROPUGHOUT THE COUNTRY ARE BEING DEFUNDED, HERE AT SYRACUSE CHILDREN’S THEATRE, THE PROGRAM KEEPS ON GROWING.
{*** SOT FULL ***}
[TAKE SOT
DURATION:0’11”]
(” Now, 21 years later, we’re over 7 hundred thousand dollars a year in business and foourteen hundred students a year. We have twenty staff members between 3 full time and about seventeen part-timers right now.”)
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SCT Feature
(Track 6)
LOOK LIKE THOSE THOSE STAFF WILL COME IN HANDY WHILE STUDENTS CONTINUE TO REHEARSE FOR ALL TEN OF THEIR PERFORMANCES THIS DECEMBER.
“Hailey Rene, N-C-C News”
Duration: 1:41

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) —  Children who study theatre are 40% more likely to show compassion than those who do not, according to a 2019 Rice University study. They also receive better test scores overall, according to the study. Luckily here in Central New York, organizations like the Syracuse Children’s Theatre are keeping the arts alive and well.

Executive director Todd Ellis’s favorite part of the job is watching students blossom and come out of their shells, he said.

“I got a note from a teacher once saying ‘I’m gonna register my child for your classes because there’s this student in my class who always made C’s and now they’re making high B’s and A’s,” Ellis explained. “So what are you doing to this person? And it’s the confidence that it gives the kids.”

Ellis told countless examples of children who succeeded within their program, whether they finally broke out of their shell, or moved on to star in Broadway productions.

Ellis had his own background in the arts as well. As a child, he sang with the Louisville Kentucky boys choir. He expressed disappointment about the decline of his home theatre in Tennessee, and noted how lucky New Yorkers are when it comes to arts education.

“It should not be where cuts are coming,” he said.  “Luckily in Central New York, almost everyone seems to have it. I mean, outside of New York, I know things are getting cut significantly.”

Now, students at the Children’s Theatre are in rehearsals for their December performances of Frozen Jr. The musical will be performed 10 times. The size of this production is “great” and “crazy,” according to Ellis.

“Frozen Jr. itself, has 442 students and five casts,” he said.

The Syracuse Children’s Theatre productions of Frozen Jr. opens Dec. 13.

 

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