Arts in Schools
Fun, Flexible, and Free Arts Education for Bay Area Schools
Bay Area Children’s Theatre Arts in Schools Programs aim to empower the next generation of performers, innovators, and collaborators through arts education.
We strive to create brave spaces for ALL students to explore their creativity, build community, and find their most confident voice.
We endeavor to weave social emotional learning into the fabric of our curricula and aim to provide programs rooted in trauma-informed, culturally-responsive and anti-racist principles.
All of our Arts in Schools programs are carefully created to fulfill California Common Core Standards, National Core Arts Standards, and directly support what you do in the classroom every day.
Continuing scrolling to learn about our programs.
In School Workshops and Residencies
Invite a BACT Teaching Artist into your classroom for a one-time theatre workshop or 3-5 session residency. For all K-5 education partners, we create curriculum and lesson plans, provide class materials, and teach the classes. Both virtual and in-person classes and workshops are available! Workshops are universally designed for all learners. Our workshops are currently able to serve Bay Area Title I schools.
Literature to Life: Story Adventures!
Grades PK-2
45 minute sessions
one-time workshop or 3 session residency
Take your students inside a storybook! In each workshop, A BACT Teaching Artist will guide students through a piece of children’s literature and explore elements of the story through acting, music, art, and storytelling. Students will discover the narrative process, collaborate as an ensemble, and embody characters using voice, body, and imagination – all while using creative problem solving skills and imaginative play!
Storytelling: Journey of the Hero
Grades 3-5
60 minute sessions
3 session residency
Discover the power and magic of creativity through the journey of the hero! Students will learn the fundamentals of character development and storytelling through creative exercises that ignite the imagination and explore how traditional film and literature heroes are created. Students will develop their own hero and write a creative monologue over the course of the residency. The residency will culminate in a class performance!
Musical Theatre Madness
Grades K-5
60 minute sessions
one-time workshop or 1-3 session residency
Our most popular workshop series is back and here to get your students up and moving! These workshops use theatre, popular Broadway songs, and dance to get students excited about collaboration, imagination, creative expression, storytelling, and critical thinking! In each workshop, students will explore how performers use their bodies and voices to tell stories. Be sure to have a large space available so students can safely dance.
A Librarian's Quest
Grades 1-3
60 minute sessions
3 session residency
Bring curiosity and wonder into your classroom with this three session immersive learning adventure. When an eccentric librarian, Miss Beatrice Biblio, arrives in your classroom to share her favorite stories, she discovers that something peculiar has happened to her favorite book! As the teaching artist remains in role during this part performance, part workshop, students must immerse themselves into the story in order to help Miss Bea solve the mystery!
“I have been blown away with the workshops that we've participated in! Working at a title one school, we have to get creative in finding experiences for our students that are free or low cost. I truly appreciate the theatre offering scholarships... so engaging and so much fun!" - 3rd Grade Teacher
Meet Your Teaching Artists!
Amanda Le Nguyen (she/her) is filled with joy to be working as a teaching artist for BACT! She has been teaching children ages 3-15 years old specializing in Musical Theatre and choreography for a decade in the Bay Area. Her energy and enthusiasm for Musical Theatre fill every minute of her class time. All she asks are smiles and good vibes in all her classes.
Courtney Williams (she/her) is a multidisciplinary stage and screen artist. She’s an Oakland native and began to flex her love for storytelling as a child performing with The Lorraine Hansberry Theatre and African American Shakespeare Company. Courtney seeks to bring safety, silliness and new skills to all her classes!
Resources for Educators!
K – 5th Grade
Sign up for our year long Educator Membership Program to receive access to our virtual library of lesson plans, videos, study guides, and more! From our workshops to audio adventures and virtual student matinees! Sign up to access your FREE membership today!
"I am SO grateful to have been given the gift of BACT’s theatre workshops. They have been a fantastic way to bring drama back into my classroom."
- 2nd Grade Teacher
Student Matinees!
K – 5th Grade
Student Matinees are back!
Bring your students to the theatre! BACT holds limited special student matinees in the fall and spring, complete with resources and study guides for you to prepare students for the performance. We also offer pre and post show classroom visits with a professional teaching artist to prepare students to engage more deeply with the show!
Questions? Contact Education Outreach Director, Amber Hughes, at schools@bactheatre.org
Student Matinees!
K – 2nd Grade