When Jules Hoffman walks on stage—ukulele in hand and puppet pal Poppy at their side—you can feel the energy shift. It’s brighter, sillier, and a whole lot more fun. More commonly known as Jamming with Jules, the Brooklyn-based artist reminds audiences of all ages that music can be both playful and profound. Before Jules makes their Wolf Trap debut at Children’s Theatre-in-the-Woods on Thursday, July...
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Call It Social Music or All-Ages Music (or Both), the Grammy-wining Performer Shares His Recipe for Collaboration, Friendship, and the Democratization of Music Grammy Award Winner and Smithsonian Folkways recording artist Dan Zanes proves that it’s much easier (and a lot more fun!) to get by with a little help from his friends. Zanes boasts a career full of collaborations with all kinds of music...
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Whether they’re composing family-friendly jams or orchestrating the whimsical world of their popular family music podcast, Ear Snacks, children’s performers Andrew & Polly are a truly harmonious duo. The pair has spent nearly 15 years crafting clever, toe-tapping tunes and heartfelt musical conversations that strike a chord with both kids and grown-ups. Ahead of their upcoming performance at Children’s Theatre-in-the-Woods, Andrew & Polly discuss their...
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When Sonia De Los Santos takes the stage, it’s more than a concert—it’s a celebration! With a career that has taken her from Monterrey, Mexico to stages around the globe, De Los Santos’ songs carry messages of inclusion, kindness, and wonder. Her music blends catchy rhythms —ranging from festejo to cumbia to traditional Mexican folk —with billingual lyrics. De Los Santos returns to Children’s Theatre-in-the-Woods with her all-female band...
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Three Innovative Theater-Based Projects for this Year’s Grants for Performing Arts Teachers’ Program Brings Together Students and Audiences from Different Lived Experiences Like many educators, Bowie High School Performing Arts Teacher Kelsey Meiklejohn Bowen pulls inspiration for her student projects from personal experiences. The Prince George’s County, MD teacher received a Grant for Performing Arts Teachers earlier this year from Wolf Trap Foundation for the...
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How can a coffee can help tell a story? Wolf Trap Master Teaching Artist Melissa Richardson uses an arts strategy experience called “Coffee Can Theater” to help children learn the elements of a story. She uses small props to represent the characters and the scenery. Using these manipulatives, children can retell and sequence the story in a hands-on way, or the class can use them...
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It’s just about show time, and hundreds of young children and their families are gathered together in the Children’s Theatre-in-the-Woods (CTITW) amphitheater, under a canopy of leafy oak, poplar, and maple trees. What magical performance will await them today? It all starts with the woman standing to the left of the stage, with the walkie-talkie on her hip. Amy Russell is Wolf Trap’s manager of...
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“Each year, somewhere in the world, a magical dandelion grows….”¹ Like many educators, Bowie High School Performing Arts Teacher Kelsey Meiklejohn Bowen pulls inspiration for her student projects from personal experiences. The Prince George’s County, MD teacher received a Grant for Performing Arts Teachers earlier this year from Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts to fund the development of a children’s theater project for...
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Local Teachers Share Their Passion for Working with Young Children ACCA preschool teacher Ms. Tina (Tinhinane Meziane) stands next to Wolf Trap Teaching Artist Mollie Greenberg with a black and white cat perched in her hand. Greenberg, who holds a butterfly finger puppet, begins to mimic the movements of a butterfly by wiggling her fingers and moving the butterfly through the air. Ms. Tina maneuvers...
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On day three of her classroom residency at ACCA Child Development Center in Annandale, VA, Wolf Trap Teaching Artist Mollie Greenberg barely had time to put away her coat before the classroom teacher, Miss Tina, began sharing an exciting interaction she had seen in her classroom earlier that morning. “Miss Mollie,” she said, “you wouldn’t believe it. The children came in this morning and went...
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