Good Friday afternoon, everyone:

A brief article from Playbill , the theater world’s medium of choice, just came across our desks. It describes the “Storyline Initiative,” a Kresge-supported program to promote local theatre education. Undertaken by the Educational Theatre Foundation, the initiative honors the vision of Craig Zadan, who was Hollywood’s leading advocate for both live musical theater and youth involvement in high school theater performances.

Zadan was a formative bridge between Broadway and Hollywood, spurring heightened interest in live televised musicals through such productions as The Whiz , Sound of Music, and Jesus Christ Superstar –an interest that had all but disappeared. He had earlier been a first-mover in bringing musicals to the screen through such productions as Chicago, Footloose, and Hairspray .

And he was an outsized advocate for efforts to strengthen and expand theater education, particularly in school districts serving families with low incomes (below: the Detroit School for the Arts “Yellow Brick Road cast):

In the years following his untimely death in 2018, the Educational Theater Foundation sought to carry on Zadan’s interest in creating theater opportunities for young people and educators. The “JumpStart Theatre,” launched in 2017, supported musical theatre programs in under-resourced middle schools. The  Craig Zadan Pathway for Equity in the Arts program, established in 2021 paired high school students in low-income communities with mentors from Broadway during the staging of productions intended to foster community dialogue about social issues.

The Storyline Initiative represents the ETF’s latest effort to weave theater programs into high schools by working with school districts as a whole. They announced just this morning that our wondrous former colleague, and head of the National Endowment for the Arts, Maria Rosario Jackson, will serve as the effort’s senior advisor. She will work hand-in-glove with ETF Board member and our presidential adviser, Elwood Hopkins, Zadan’s husband.

The project could not be timelier, seeking to reinforce that arts are indispensable to – in the words of the ETF’s president Dr. Jennifer Katona –" developing empathetic, creative, and civically engaged citizens. " And Maria observes: “Theatre education doesn't just teach performance—it teaches empathy, confidence, and collaboration. Through Storyline, we're ensuring that these vital and unique transformative experiences are not dependent on a school's zip code or budget.”

I’m just delighted that Kresge’s support will help bring this about.

Rip

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