40 Owings Mills Elementary Students See Disney's Beauty and the Beast

On Wednesday evening, January 23 at 7:30pm, 40 fourth grade students from Owings Mills Elementary School headed downtown to the Hippodrome Theatre to see a live performance of the Broadway Musical Disney’s Beauty and the Beast.  This theater experience is part of a unique educational program called “Bringing Enchanted Tales to Life” which is sponsored by the Hippodrome Foundation Inc. (HFI), the non-profit partner of the Hippodrome Theatre.   Owings Mills Elementary School’s participation in the program was made possible by a grant from the T. Rowe Price Foundation. 

 “Bringing Enchanted Tales to Life” will introduce the arts to more than 280 fourth, fifth and six grade students from seven Baltimore City and County Schools.  “Bringing Enchanted Tales to Life” will provide students with tools and instruction to study the concept of fairytales, and then HFI staff will help students to write and illustrate a class fairytale, which will be published into a hard back book.

This program is being done in connection with the Broadway Musical Disney’s Beauty and the Beast.  All of the students will be attending the show during its two week engagement at the  Hippodrome Theatre of the France-Merrick Performing Arts Center from January 22 - February 3, 2013

The fourth grade students from Owings Mills Elementary School have already written their class fairy tale after attending an in-school workshop on the concept of a fairytale.  The students are now getting ready to illustrate their fairytales in a second in-school workshop which will be held on February 5, 2013.  HFI staff, using software provided by U Build A Book, will turn the text and illustrations into a hard bound book - each student will receive a copy and one will be put in the school library.

HFI Director, Olive Waxter, says, “Disney’s Beauty and the Beast is the perfect show to introduce young audiences to the wonders of live theatre and we are really appreciative of the sponsors who made this possible – Wells Fargo, T. Rowe Price Foundation, Legg Mason and M&T Bank Foundation.  Seeing this show will be a unique life opportunity, and learning more about fairytales in advance will allow the students to appreciate the show even that much more.”

About HFI:  The mission of the Hippodrome Foundation Inc., in addition to presenting the Broadway series at the Hippodrome, is to maximize community access to the France-Merrick Performing Arts Center through free outreach and education programs.

Participating Schools:  Eutaw-Marshburn Elementary, James McHenry Elementary School; Owings Mills Elementary; George Washington Elementary; Dr. Rayner Browne Elementary; Sparrows Point Middle; Booker T. Washington Middle School.