Boxtales educational programs for youth are multi-cultural, multi-disciplinary, curriculum and message oriented, and encourage audience participation.
Multicultural – BOXTALES aims to expose children and adults to the rich artistic folklore and myths of the world. The audience will become aware of both the similarities and unique qualities of varying cultures. BOXTALES hopes this will create an atmosphere of respect and tolerance of people from different cultures as well as a sense of pride in those who hear stories from their own heritage.
Multi-Disciplinary – BOXTALES offers professional theatre productions involving several artistic disciplines. We combine the ancient art of storytelling with elements of traditional theatre and commedia del arte, blending in a rich musical score played live on authentic ethnic instruments. Beautifully designed masks, costumes, and props add a strong visual aspect.
Curriculum & Message Oriented Shows – BOXTALES has made a concerted effort to create shows that relate to the curriculum being used in the schools. Outreach materials to explore both parallel myths as well as modern day events that relate to the stories in the shows are available to teachers. The history of myths are explored, a bibliography of the stories used and other myths from around the world are suggested, fun exercises are given to the lower grades, and helpful techniques in storytelling are provided.
Audience Interactive – BOXTALES involves their audience in each of their shows. Often audience members are pulled on stage or asked to call and respond during a tale. BOXTALES believes that the beauty of storytelling is that it is responsive to the audience. The audience is not only involved in the show, but they are also asked to interact with the artists afterward. BOXTALES follows each performance with a question and answer period so that the audience does not feel separated from the artist, that their curiosity in the arts can be fed, and that the arts are something they, too, can do.