Orlando Family Stage
The Finest in Family Theater
Dear family and friends of Orlando Family Stage,
What a year to wrap up my tenure as the Chair of the Board of Directors! Summer 2019 saw a change in leadership as we welcomed Chris Brown to the role of Executive Director. We continued with an extensive strategic planning process to refine our mission and values, and steamed ahead with innovative programming. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, we ended our 2019-2020 fiscal year in the black, with all of our staff, and without touching our reserves. Lastly, I am proud to add my family’s name to our building, having committed to a gift to name the Bocox Family Box Office. Here at Orlando REP, your relationship with the work does not end simply because your term as Chair has come to a close!
Please scroll down to see examples of our impact in this community, along with insights from Executive Director Chris Brown and Artistic Director Jeffrey Revels.
Thank you for all you do for children!
Best,
Kirt Bocox
Literacy | Mental Health | Creativity | Celebrating Our People
Equality, Diversity, Inclusion | Pandemic Response | Our Financials
Over the past 4 years, Orlando Family Stage has been involved in a ground-breaking dual-language program called EYEPlay which involved the following partners: Orange County Public Schools (OCPS), Childsplay Theatre in Arizona, and Arizona State University. This program, which allowed Orlando Family Stage to provide professional development to dual language OCPS teachers, included a research element that put our theories to the test and provided evidence that drama-based arts-integration teaching does in fact enhance student learning. Over the course of the program, Orlando Family Stage has hired and trained 11 bilingual teaching artists, coached 13 teachers, provided 20 professional development workshops, facilitated and observed 60 lessons, and reached approximately 750 students. This has been, by far, the largest professional development program Orlando Family Stage has ever had.
We served over 300 teachers in Engaged Learning Through the Arts seminars, residencies, and model lesson training, where we teach arts integration as a means to improve curriculum, classroom management, and more.
Supported in part by:
UCF Graduate student Brittany Caine worked directly strengthening literacy in the REP Readers program, which provided story time, free show tickets, and books to children in Central Florida.
Our season productions include important lessons in truth-telling, collaboration, resilience, and empathy. We watched Anne of Green Gables navigate her difficult childhood and changing circumstances with plucky optimism and grit and watched George Bailey rediscover a love for life in Miracle in Bedford Falls. In 2019-2020, we took things a step further with an enrichment program supported by the Florida Blue Foundation.
In 2019-2020, we took things a step further with an enrichment program supported by the Florida Blue Foundation.
The enrichment program features a number of elements, including a pre-show scavenger hunt around the theatre so our smallest patrons can familiarize themselves with our space, a take-home arts and crafts activity associated with the themes of the show, and dramaturgical information displayed around our lobby.
We also launched Nutrition Facts for our shows so patrons can see all the “goodness” in the work.
And, understanding that learning does not stop when the curtain falls, the 2019-2020 season saw the beginning of Questions for the Ride Home, prompts for each show to facilitate discussion as families left our theatre.
Our Education department worked with several community partners to strengthen empathy, confidence, literacy, and creativity in marginalized children across Central Florida.
At United Cerebral Palsy (UCP), we used drama strategies to enrich the lives of their clients.
In addition to UCP, Orlando Family Stage worked with Orange County Public Schools, the University of Central Florida, Hope CommUnity Center, Creative U, ArtReach Orlando, Orlando Union Rescue Mission, Edgewood Children Ranch, ArtWorks, and the City of Orlando Recreation Centers to bring character-building theatrical programming to children across our community.
From Fall 2019 through the COVID-19 closure in March 2020, we welcomed over 43,000 to our public and field trip performances! Our stages were home to 208 performances of the State of Florida’s only full-time, professional Theatre for Young Audiences.
See video trailers, behind-the-scenes interviews, and more on our YouTube channel
We taught life skills through theatre skills in camps, classes, and workshops – for newborns through high school graduates! Fall, Spring, and Summer courses reached so many students – including 4-year-old Bella.
UCF Graduate students worked in the community, directing and teaching creativity to young people.
In honor of his 25th anniversary at Orlando Family Stage in February 2020, we were honored to celebrate our Artistic Director by dedicating The Jeffrey M. Revels Rehearsal Hall in his name. Jeff has held a number of roles here at Orlando Family Stage in these 25 years, and we are so lucky to have him!
After serving ten years in various roles at the theatre, managing 100 productions, and overseeing over $3.5M in facility renovations, our very own Chris Brown took the helm as Executive Director in July 2019!
“I know Chris Brown will continue to build Orlando REP’s standing in this community as a place where young people can learn life skills through theatre and better understand how they can make an impact in the world,” said Gene Columbus, who has served as the Executive Director for 11 years after retiring from the Walt Disney Company.”
– Gene Columbus | Former Executive Director
We are at the beginning of a journey that includes staff wide training and discussions with peer theatres and performing arts organizations, community messaging, and organizational improvement.
Our team is working through the We See You White American Theatre publication, and we encourage you to read it, too.
“We taught life skills through theatre skills with online experiences for members of the family.”
“I just wanted to share how impressed I am with the Lost Boys virtual camp. I was really hesitant signing up my son, Asher, because he wasn’t a fan of Zoom calls during fourth quarter, but I really wanted him to be active without me having to drive the content each day. From one teacher to another, Chanel is killing it! She guides these kids through imaginative play so well and Asher looks forward to each live session. Attached is a photo collage of me trying to catch him in the moment, which was very easy since his body never stops moving. I’m looking forward to Asher engaging in person at the REP in July. In the meantime, thank you for hiring the right girl to champion these kids’ imaginations in this strange virtual/home world.”
– Holly H. | Camp Parent
“We took precautions to gather safely and create theatre magic that no mask could hide.”
Our Keeping Classes Safe – Health & Safety Plan kept your loved ones’ safety in the forefront.
“When you have an angsty 12 year old girl and they get into the car with a smile, you don’t ask a lot of questions, you are just happy to see the smile.”
– Camp Parent
Young people jumped on board to film, one at a time, The Big One Oh!. Our spaces transformed into fully functioning video studios, and our partnership with Image In a Nation, LLC helped create a unique blend of theatre and film for young people!
We are especially grateful to have been able to retain all of our full-time staff – no layoffs, furloughs, or terminations! The team has spent 2020 researching, innovating, and developing exciting programs for 2021 and beyond. Right now, we are planning ahead for Spring 2021 and we cannot wait to see you there.
