Broadway is Made More Accessible to Students Through Educational Programs

This past Broadway season included four different musicals based on books which were adapted into movies—“The Great Gatsby,” “The Notebook,” “The Outsiders,” and “Water for Elephants.” It is not uncommon to see school groups attending such musicals, which is just one element of a larger partnership between schools and New York City theater.

Of course, this partnership is not exclusive to shows based on literature. History-based theater such as “Hamilton,” “SIX: The Musical,” and “Suffs” proves useful in the classroom, and students often connect with shows about other students, like the now-closed Dear Evan Hansen and The Prom.

Student ticketing initiatives are programs offering discounted or even free tickets for school groups, which differ from show to show in terms of price and purpose. “The Great Gatsby,” for instance, sells its student group tickets for $39.

“Even though $39 may be a great rate, the public schools, especially New York City public schools, which are the most diverse in the country, cannot always afford that,” Broadway producer and educational consultant Rachel Weinstein said. Bringing students to theater is very important to Weinstein, and much of her work includes managing student ticketing initiatives across different productions.

“There are a lot of learners who appreciate material more when it’s live in front of them, when they’re seeing the story being presented, as opposed to reading it off the page,” Weinstein said. And so they’re very wise. They ask great questions. They totally get the material. And they love interacting with the actors, especially if they’re well known.”

Among Weinstein’s responsibilities is writing educational guides for various Broadway shows, such as “The Outsiders” and “Dear Evan Hansen.” She described the aim of these educational guides as being to “complement what they’re already doing in the classroom.”

“There’s historical background, there’s conversations with the creative team to sort of say, ‘what were your goals?’ ‘What were you trying to achieve?’” Weinstein said. “What kind of activities can you give them — either written or discussion or creative or research or whatnot — so that they can have assignments and classroom activities around this?”

Weinstein recently wrote a roughly 50-page educational toolkit for “The Outsiders,” Broadway’s newest Best Musical Tony winner, titled, “Inside the Outsiders: An Educational Study Guide,” which is available for free on the musical’s website. One element of it is discussion questions using song lyrics from the show. In one, titled “Ritual and Rites of Passage,” a line from the song “Grease Got a Hold” is used as the basis for a discussion.

“After Ponyboy is jumped by the Socs at the playground, the Greasers officially anoint him as part of their group by greasing his hair. This ritual is a rite of passage and a form of initiation,” the guide reads. What are some other examples of life rites of passage that include ritual? What are examples where ritual can be used for initiation? What is the purpose of that initiation? Discuss how an initiation might be beneficial and how it might be harmful.”

This toolkit is part of a larger educational initiative “The Outsiders” runs, The Stay Gold Project.

“The Outsiders is a story written by a teenager, about teenagers,” the initiative’s website reads. “To maintain this legacy and honor young voices, ‘The Outsiders’ on Broadway is working with the largest school system in the country, New York City Public Schools, to ensure the show is accessible and inclusive for middle and high school students.”

In addition to student ticketing and the educational toolkit, The Stay Gold Project included bringing a “Youth Ambassador Council” of 12 high-school students to rehearsals and previews to “provide feedback, continuing the tradition of bringing young voices into the process of every aspect of this story.”

While many shows do not have a written out toolkit like the ones Weinstein writes, they still make key historical context easily accessible. “SIX: The Musical,” for instance, includes information on the non-fiction stories of its main characters on a page titled “Her-Story.”

It has a specific tone and cheekiness to it that differs from some of the more serious educational guides. For instance, Catherine of Aragon’s “Interests” section reads, “Religion, sewing, dancing, a bit more religion,” and Anna of Cleves’ simply says, “Staying alive.” Meanwhile, some sections include important context that is on the more serious side, and the tone grows more serious with the shift. For instance, Katherine Howard is listed as being “Remembered for... Being completely used (and abused) by those with power over her.”

Meanwhile, “Hamilton” has the Hamilton Education Program. Its website explains that through it, “students study primary source documents related to Alexander Hamilton and the Founding Era, culminating in their own creative performances inspired by what they have learned.” The website explained that this was in response to research that revealed how “only one in 10 students demonstrated knowledge proficiency in US history.”

The program ran virtually through COVID-19, and now is back to in-person operation, almost 10 years after it first launched.

More information on student ticketing initiatives and educational programs can be found on different shows’ websites, with many educational toolkits available for free there as well.