The REP Heroes Program

As a special way to continue the 10^th Birthday Season celebration, The REP shines the spotlight on some very special citizens in our community- our child heroes! The REP is adopting a program established by its’ colleague, the Tony-Award-winning Children’s Theatre Company of Minneapolis, called the Heroes Program. The REP’s Heroes is a unique program that celebrates young people making a difference in our community. Anyone will be able to nominate a child, siblings, or group of children that truly exemplify civic heroism. Selected children are to be recognized onstage at The REP. The REP is thrilled to share our stage with real-life young heroes!

Meet our first REP Hero- Lexi Tehrani! In January, Lexi and her family were walking back to their car from the Magic game. It was one of our rare cold nights and Lexi noticed how many homeless people that must be cold.

The next morning, she called Salvation Army and asked how she could help get them warm clothes. They told her that jackets and professional clothes (to go on job interviews) would be the best thing to donate. Lexi then started a 4-week drive, including calling dry cleaners to donate unclaimed professional clothing, and sending flyers to friends and neighbors.

On Valentine’s Day, Lexi had a huge delivery for the Salvation Army to distribute to the people she saw that January night. Lexi also collected money from her class to “Adopt a Chimpanzee” and sent that money off to care for the animals. She is currently raising money for her science class and to help stray cats.

It is that can-do spirit, more than the what-to-do attitude, that makes Lexi our REP Hero. She was recognized onstage at The Paper Bag Princess. Here she is after the show with Chloe Robin, who played the Princess. Thank you, Lexi, for being the community citizen that we need and respect.

HOW TO NOMINATE A REP HERO

OBJECTIVE:  Recognize and reward kids who are making a difference in our community.

SELECTION PROCESS

• Children of any age, up to age 19.
• Children may self-submit, or they may be nominated by anyone else (hopefully, parents, educators, neighbors, friends, etc.). All nominations should be submitted to Jeff Revels, Artistic Director at [email protected]. Nomination submission forms are available on The REP’s website or at The REP’s Box Office. There are no deadlines for nominations and are open-ended. Notification that your form has been received is sent to the provided contact information.
• The REP (with assistance of a panel) makes the selection from the submissions received and notifies the recipient(s) and arrange for them to attend a show to be recognized.
• Submissions are kept on file for a to-be-determined amount of time. Those submissions not selected receive correspondence from The REP, thanking them for their service to our community.

SELECTION CRITERIA

• Each submission should provide enough detail of the child’s contribution, accomplishment, or achievement within their community, so that the team at The REP who read and select recipients can easily understand their impact. The description should include specifics about the action taken, the results achieved, and in what time period. Activities can be ongoing or a set, finite project.
• If the community effort was meant as a contribution to another community effort, that should be disclosed on the submission form (Example: John put a team together for a walk benefitting the heart disease foundation.).
• If the effort is made in collaboration with others, those individuals should also be named on the submission form.

RECOGNITION SPECIFICS

• This recognition is in the form of a formal announcement before a show in front of a live theatre audience, with the recipient(s) present.
• The recipient(s) receives complimentary tickets, along with a designated number of guests, for the production of which they will be recognized.
• With permission, the recipient(s) is recognized in a press release and on The REP’s web platforms. If permission granted, The REP may interview the recipient(s) with a family member if additional information is needed.