Student Matinees

2019-2020 Student Matinee Details Below!

Each year American Stage offers a number of special performances aimed directly at student audiences through our Student Matinee program.

Experiencing live theatre empowers us all to be bolder, wiser, and more compassionate on stage and in life. Through our student matinee program, many students have the opportunity to see a play for the first time, and to foster a love for powerful storytelling and the performing arts.  We select plays in our season that support what local educators are teaching in their classrooms.

Each Student Matinee performance includes:

  • An exciting and insightful talk-back with the cast following the show.
  • An easy-to-use Prezi presentation that can be applied as a study guide for teachers, or an in-class workshop presented by an American Stage Education faculty member visiting your classroom for no additional fee.
  • Each experience connects to Theatre Arts and English Language Florida State Standards noted in the Prezi/study guide.

Student matinee performances take place on select Wednesdays and begin at 10:30am.

To make a reservation, please call the Education department at
727-823-1600 x 204 or education@americanstage.org.

Click HERE for our Student Matinee ticketing and payment policies

Tickets are $12 for students and teachers/chaperones receive 1 free ticket per 10 student tickets purchased.  Additional chaperone tickets are $15 each.

Seeking additional subsidies for busing or tickets?

If you are seeking additional support to bring your students to a student matinee, please contact:
For public school teachers (prior to 6 weeks before the performance date) contact Jeanne Reynolds, Performing Arts Specialist for Pinellas County Schools, reynoldsj@pcsb.org
For all others (including public school teachers within 6 weeks of the performance date) contact Tiffany Ford, Director of Education & Outreach at American Stage, tford@americanstage.org

VIETGONE

By Qui Nguyen
Regional Premiere
October 2 – November 3, 2019
Student Matinee: EMAIL TO REQUEST A DATE, education@americanstage.org
WINNER! 2016 ATCA/Steinberg New Play Award

An all-American love story about two very new Americans. It’s 1975. Saigon has fallen. He lost his wife. She lost her fiancé. But now in a new land, they just might find each other. Using his uniquely infectious style the story skips back and forth from the dramatic evacuation of Saigon to the here and now – playwright Qui Nguyen gets up-close-and-personal to tell the story that led to the creation of…Qui Nguyen.

“CRITICS’ PICK! – A raucous comedy… Nguyen’s fresh voice rarely lets up as he thumbs his nose at our expectations.” – The New York Times

Recommended for high school students.

SILENT SKY

By Lauren Gunderson
America’s most popular modern playwright
November 20 – December 22, 2019
Student Matinees: December 4th & 11th at 10:30am

When Henrietta Leavitt begins work at the Harvard Observatory in the early 1900s, she isn’t allowed to touch a telescope or express an original idea. Instead, she joins a group of women “computers,” charting the stars for a renowned astronomer who calculates projects in “girl hours”. Social progress, like scientific progress, can be hard to see when one is trapped among earthly complications in this luminous, witty and inspiring true story of a brilliant, history-making woman.

“…sheer magic…bursts of smart, infectious humor.” – San Francisco Chronicle

Recommended for high school students.

SKELETON CREW

By Dominique Morisseau
Tampa Bay Premiere
January 22 – February 23, 2020
Student Matinee: February 12th at 10:30am

It’s 2008, and one of the last auto plants in Detroit is on shakey ground. The remaining factory workers are living paycheck-to-paycheck and now each of the workers must navigate the possibility of foreclosure. As power dynamics shift, and they are pushed to the limits of survival the line between blue collar and white collar gets blurred.  With moments of heartbreak and humor, SKELETON CREW is a beautiful homage to the American blue collar worker.

“CRITICS’ PICK! A deeply moral and deeply American play, with a loving compassion for those trapped in a system that makes sins, spiritual or societal, and self-betrayal almost inevitable.” – The New York Times

Recommended for high school students.