New program at Summerside theatre aims to make young Islanders performing arts fans for life

Stephen Brun · CBC News

· Posted: Apr 05, 2025 5:05 AM EDT | Last Updated: 6 minutes ago

Harbourfront Theatre successful Summerside hopes to get much students connected its signifier and successful its seats done a programme it conscionable launched. 

Stages for Students offers children escaped tickets to shows, and provides backing to assistance schools signifier their ain productions astatine the theatre. 

It's each portion of the theatre's extremity of nurturing and processing a emotion of performing arts connected P.E.I., opening with its youngest patrons. 

"Programming for young audiences has ever been a portion of our mandate and we've enjoyed hosting tons of Island schools successful our earlier years," said Mary Dennis, Harbourfront Theatre's enforcement director. 

"As the years went on, determination seemed to beryllium a fewer much barriers to the schools being capable to travel successful arsenic overmuch arsenic they utilized to, and 1 of those barriers was, of course, a fiscal barrier." 

Finding backing wasn't conscionable an contented for schools. The non-profit theatre was not successful a presumption to connection thing similar Stages for Students connected its own. 

Or it wasn't, until the stars aligned with a generous $25,000 donation from the household of Marcia Whalen, an pedagogue and a unpaid astatine Harbourfront for 21 years who died successful 2024. 

When her children asked if determination was immoderate programming a donation could spell toward, the theatre's unit had precisely the close fit. 

"We emotion to imagination large astir here, and we imagined a programme that would unfastened our doors to the students of our assemblage truthful that they could some be performing arts and signifier their ain performances wholly escaped of charge," Dennis said. 

'Creating the audiences of tomorrow'

Staff are present lining up programming for this fall, and they're inviting schools crossed the Island to bring busloads of kids to spot a show for free. 

Any schoolhouse funny successful staging its ain accumulation connected Harbourfront's signifier tin find much accusation connected the theatre's website. 

"We tin marque it snow, we tin bash each kinds of truly chill things that they couldn't needfully bash astatine their schools.," Dennis said. "It truly opens the doorway to immoderate they tin ideate [and] we tin assistance them execute it."

Since the donation successful Whalen's representation volition agelong lone truthful far, the theatre is campaigning for much yearly donors to assistance prolong Stages for Students. Any contributions are tax-deductible, and Islanders tin donate to the programme close present done the site.

Dennis said those donations volition effect successful idiosyncratic maturation and more confidence and creativity among young Islanders. 

"To foster a emotion of performing arts successful kids astatine a young property means they're going to emotion the performing arts each their lives," she said. 

"We're fundamentally creating the audiences of tomorrow."