Educational Programming

Entertaining, Enriching & Educating through the Arts

Schooltime Theater
Sheffel Theater Clinic
Young Artist of the Year Awards

The Topeka Performing Arts Center is dedicated to making youth arts education accessible as an adjunct to local and regional education systems. Our special programs for children grades K-12 offer opportunities to learn, experience, and be recognized in the world of music and theater.

Schooltime Theater live arts performances for children directly complement schools' curricula, and we hire the best professional touring children's theater companies in the nation. Children's exposure to the arts helps develop key cognitive skills such as good decision-making and problem-solving. Schooltime Theater is sponsored by a generous grant from Security Benefit.

Sheffel Theater Clinic was founded in 1995. Every Shawnee County third grade student - from public school, private school and home schooled - is invited to attend and learn about the joys of theater. They are treated to six 30-minute workshops in acting, costuming, make-up, movement, technical staging and vocal expression, plus a delicious lunch and a short performance that includes all the elements of theater they learned during the day. STC is sponsored by Payless ShoeSource, T&T Mangement, Commerce Bank & Trust, the Topeka Active 20/30 Club #524, Durham School Services, Friends of TPAC, and FritoLay.

The Young Artist of the Year Awards program was founded in 1995, and is sponsored by T&T Management (Steve & Karen Tyler). Any Shawnee County high school junior can be nominated in one of ten awards categories: instrumental music, musical theater, vocal music, dramatic theater, ballet/classical/modern dance, tap/jazz/other dance, visual arts, creative writing, technical theater, and community services in the arts. A panel of judges reviews the nominees' work to choose the best in each category. Click here to view the 2009 results.

And there's more. Students of the arts:
significantly out-perform their non-arts peers on SAT scores in mathematics and verbal skills;
are four times less likely to drop out of school;
are more likely to participate in community service;
develop greater self-esteem;
develop better self-discipline;
are more likely to use positive and safe ways to release their emotions.

SCHOOLTIME THEATER

The Schooltime Theater performances for the 2006-2007 season are:
Presented by Security Benefit
FOR TICKETS: Call (785) 234-2787 x112

2009-2010 Schedule
All performances begin promptly at 10AM

SHEFFEL THEATER CLINIC

The Sheffel Theater Clinic (STC) provides an important cultural supplement to area schools' arts education curriculum by serving nearly 2,300 third grade students annually. The Clinic is held at the Topeka Performing Arts Center in January through March each year.

In 2004, 2,349 students participated in the program, each gaining a hands-on understanding of the backstage world of theater at a critically receptive and creative time in their lives. We hope to open their minds to future participation in the arts as a performer, technician, creator or audience member.

The program began in 1995 with about 300 students, and was made possible through a bequest by Topekans Irving and the late Beth Sheffel in memory of their daughter Anita. The program grew to include all third grade students from all schools in Shawnee Country. In 2000, TPAC opened the program to students outside Shawnee County for a small fee, and began actively including alternative education sources such as home schools, special needs and individual education programs.

Payless ShoeSource generously became the Corporate Sponsor of the Sheffel Theater Clinic in 2004. Due to Payless' on-going commitment to our community, the Topeka Performing Arts Center is able to continue this valuable educational program, which introduces the creativity and magic of live theatre to the students.

Admission is provided free to students from Shawnee County. Students from outside Shawnee County pay $6.50 per student to cover actual costs.

Students arrive between 9:00am and 9:15am for their daylong experience. They attend six 30-minute workshops, each devoted to a different artistic aspect of theater: acting, costuming, make-up, movement, technical staging and vocal expression. The students attend three workshops in the morning, have lunch, which is provided by McDonald's (T&T Management) and FritoLay, attend three more workshops and end their day by watching a live performance in the Georgia Neese Gray Performance Hall.

Clinic planners stress fun, experiential learning and inclusive interaction for each of the students as they move from one workshop to the next, all staged throughout the TPAC facility.

The Topeka Performing Arts Center offers the best in live performance and arts education for Northeast Kansas audiences. TPAC offers a full calendar of professional and community performing arts for all audiences.Call 785-234-2787 for more information about Sheffel Theater Clinic, and how your school can participate.

YOUNG ARTIST OF THE YEAR AWARDS

The Topeka Performing Arts Center Young Artist of the Year Awards Program was conceived to recognize Shawnee County high school seniors who excelled in fine arts in order to celebrate their contributions to the enrichment of their schools and their community, and to encourage students' continued achievement in the arts.

Annually in spring, any Shawnee County high school junior can be nominated in one of ten awards categories. A panel of judges reviews the nominees' work to choose the best in each category.

Categories include: Instrumental music, musical theater, vocal music, dramatic theater, ballet/classical/modern dance, tap/jazz/other dance, visual arts, creative writing, technical theater, and community services in the arts. Click here to view the 2008 results.