PRESS RELEASE                

For Immediate Release    Contact:  Maryann Maslan (510) 444.4755

Now –April 3, 2006                                        E-mail: maryann@stagebridge.org

U.S. Department of Education Official to Visit Local Elementary Schools to See Stagebridge Storytelling Program in Action

Diane Austin, manager of programs within the U.S. Department of Education’s Arts and Education, will visit Hoover and Rosa Parks Elementary Schools April 3 to see how storytelling in the classroom improves learning skills.

Fourth and fifth graders have been working with Stagebridge Theatre Company’s senior storytellers as part of its “Storybridge” project. The nationally acclaimed program helps children improve literacy, writing, social and communication skills. The program in Oakland Public Schools is in its final year of a three-year study funded by the U. S. Department of Education. 

The evaluation and results of the project, by Data Driven Designs Group of Berkeley, independent evaluators, were very exciting, said Stuart Kandell, Ph.D., founder and director of Stagebridge. Stagebridge is the nation’s oldest senior theatre company, based in Oakland since 1978.

“Students showed ‘significant’ improvement in language arts and listening comprehension skills as a result of the program,” said Kandell. “Over a four-month period, students working with storytellers in the classroom have the opportunity to improve their creative artistic ability.”

The evaluation also stated that teachers appreciated the program’s intergenerational focus, the opportunities provided for public speaking and the ties to oral fluency and language arts.

The federal grant was awarded to Stagebridge in 2003. The company’s proposal ranked twelfth out of more than 200 applicants. It was one of 35 companies nationwide to receive the grant.

Stagebridge is an intergenerational arts organization that is dedicated to narrowing the gap between the generations with theatre arts classes, workshops and entertainment. The company does about 150 performances a year and 550 workshops in schools throughout the nine Bay Area counties. Storytellers also go into senior centers, retirement homes, libraries and community centers.

Student programs include an annual Grandparents Tales Writing Contest, in which children write stories about their elders.  The company also offers plays, workshops and assemblies on themes such as “Bully-Proofing Your School.” The storytelling programs will be featured in the May-June issue of “National Storytelling Magazine.”

During Austin’s visit on Monday, she will see student presentations of stories at Oakland’s Hoover Elementary School and Rosa Parks Elementary School in Berkeley. Rosa Parks’ school is not under the federal grant, but participates in “Storybridge” with funding from the West Berkeley Foundation.

For more information about Stagebridge, visit www.stagebridge.org or call 510.444.4755. Stagebridge is a non-profit organization