Jul 01, 2025
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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Jul 01, 2025
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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Jun 16, 2025
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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Jun 09, 2025
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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Jun 09, 2025
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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Jun 09, 2025
“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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May 05, 2025
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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Mar 25, 2025
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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Feb 25, 2025
Arts integration is a valuable tool educators can implement to facilitate language and literacy goals in the classroom while boosting engagement. Simply, music, movement, storytelling, and puppetry help words leap off the page and encourage children to explore what those words mean. For example, in “What Does That Say?” Wolf Trap Teaching Artist Morgan Sendek uses dramatic movement to interpret signs and symbols. Throughout the...
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Feb 20, 2025
Puppetry and music have gone hand-in-hand in storytelling even before “Sesame Street.” Andy Furgeson takes this medium to a whole new level with his bard-like persona, Red Yarn. In his folk-rock music, whimsical online video content, and boot-stomping live performances, Red Yarn strives to create inclusion and unity for future generations. ...
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