Student Matinees
Introduce your students to professional world-class theater, with student matinees available for almost every performance and a variety of grade levels.
At Two River Theater, your students will experience high quality, professional productions created by accomplished actors, writers, directors, and designers. The themes of our plays will inspire engaging and relevant discussions for your classrooms, after-school clubs, and groups. Every year, over 3,000 students and teachers from area schools see a show at Two River Theater.
Questions about student matinees? Please contact stumats@trtc.org or 732.345.1400 x 1839.
STUDENT MATINEE INFORMATION
- Convenient 10:00 AM performances
- Curriculum Guides to help you integrate our work on stage to your work in the classroom
- A post-show Q & A with the actors
- For $3 more per person, we offer a 9:15 AM Pre-Show Workshop to further engage students with the production they are about to see.
Student matinees for A Little Shakespeare begin at 10:30 AM, and because TRT will conduct free pre-show workshops at your school for A Little Shakespeare, pre-show workshops at TRT are not available.
2019/20 Student Matinees
TWELFTH NIGHT
JAN 23 & 30 / 2020
Twelfth Night is one of Shakespeare’s most celebrated plays and, perhaps, his most perfect comedy. Cross-dressing heroines, separated twins, and mistaken identities propel this gender-bending tale, which celebrates a world in which every broken heart can made whole.
A LITTLE SHAKESPEARE: TWELFTH NIGHT
FEB 4, 5, 6 & 7 / 2020
Now in its seventh season as one of Two River’s most popular programs, A Little Shakespeare introduces the works of Shakespeare to hundreds of youth and adults each year. Through this program, Two River produces a 75-minute abridged version of a Shakespeare play, performed and supported backstage by high-school students, and directed and designed by theater professionals.
AUGUST WILSON'S RADIO GOLF
MAR 12 & 19 / 2020
Director Brandon J. Dirden (King Hedley II, Seven Guitars) returns to Two River to direct our sixth production from August Wilson’s American Century Cycle—Radio Golf, the Cycle’s 10th and final play, set in 1997. Real-estate developer Harmond Wilks is determined to become the first black mayor of Pittsburgh, and to revitalize the Hill District.
THE HOMBRES
APR 23 & 30 | MAY 7 / 2020
Set in New Jersey (“somewhere off the NJ Transit line”), the play follows Julián, a gay Latino yoga teacher, as he clashes with the Latino construction workers outside his studio—particularly the older head of the crew, Héctor, who seeks from Julián something he never expected.
No Seats Empty Programs
NO SEATS EMPTY
No Seats Empty (NSE) is a grant-funded arts-in-education initiative that makes theater accessible to all students by providing free tickets and transportation to low-income students attending student matinee performances, as well as offering them the option to attend every pre-show workshop at Two River Theater for free. Depending on the performance, qualifying schools are eligible receive up to either 30 or 50 free tickets per school. Additional tickets can be purchased at student matinee ticket prices, if available. NSE attendance to any production is subject to availability. Please contact Education and Community Engagement Manager Amanda Espinoza at aespinoza@trtc.org or 732.345.1400 ext.1804 for additional information about your school and the No Seats Empty program.
NO SEATS EMPTY: TOTAL EXPERIENCE
A unique opportunity for up to five schools each season to truly engage their students with professional theater. Selected schools attend two to three student matinees in the season, and Two River teaching artists travel to their schools to lead pre- and post-show workshops designed to deepen the students’ understanding of and engagement with the theater production.
The deadline to apply for the 2019/20 No Seats Empty: Total Experience program has passed. We are pleased to announce that the following schools have been selected: Arts High School in Newark, Community Charter School of Paterson, Long Branch Middle School, Neptune High School, and Henry Hudson Regional School in Highlands. If you are interested in learning more about the application process for the 2020/21 season, please send an email of inquiry to Amanda Espinoza, aespinoza@trtc.org.
- School is designated as a Priority or Focus School by the NJ Department of Education.
- School is part of an Abbott District.
- NSLP Free and Reduced Lunch eligibility percentage of student population is higher than the NJ statewide average of 35.5%.
- Other extenuating inequities caused by student SES or disaster recovery may be considered on an individual school basis. Schools that feel they may qualify based on these inequities are encouraged to apply.