FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Kids Who Care 2008-2009 Resident Company to Tour Work from Three Original Musicals
73 Youth from Metroplex to Tour Deep in the Heart, Earth and Soul and Let My Heart Sing
FORT WORTH, TX - August 26, 2008 - Kids Who Care, a non-profit international musical theatre company based in Fort Worth, today announced that it has selected its 2008-2009 Resident Company and will tour work from three original musicals this season, the largest number of shows the touring company has ever held in their ongoing repertoire. The original musicals are: Deep in the Heart, Earth and Soul and Let My Heart Sing.
Deep in the Heart is an original musical that celebrates all things Texas and includes mentions of several Fort Worth favorites, including the Cowgirl Hall of Fame, the Museum of Science and History, Amon G. Carter, Sid Richardson, and the Modern Art Museum. Earth and Soul: A Musical Revolution is an original musical about taking care of each other and our environment. Let My Heart Sing, created for Kids Who Care’s twentieth anniversary, is a musical journey that explores the power of imagination, tolerance, love and hope.
This season’s Resident Company is made up of 71 youth performers and 2 student sound engineers. The Kids Who Care Resident Company is an audition company of children, ranging in age from six to 18. The kids and teens in the 2008-2009 Resident Company come from all over Fort Worth and its surrounding areas, including Aledo, Arlington, Azle, Benbrook, Burleson, Crowley, Granbury, Grapevine, Haslet, Keller, Saginaw, Watauga, Weatherford and White Settlement.
Kids Who Care’s Resident Company trains year-round with a professional theatre staff and performs locally, nationally and internationally, September through May. Last year’s Resident Company performed over 70 times, through a combination of full stage productions and half-hour touring shows. Past performance venues include Off-Broadway at the Lamb’s Theatre, both Disney’s, The Kennedy Center, the Walter Reed Army Medical Center, at 30,000 feet aboard an airplane for the Make A Wish Foundation and at many regional stages in Texas.
Each year, the youth Resident Company also travels in March for a spring tour that includes performances, community outreach, cultural exchange and arts education. Past tours have included New York City, Los Angeles, Italy, Germany, Washington D.C., Chicago, Orlando and Nashville. This year, the tour will incorporate Italian performers when Kids Who Care produces their first ever international musical theatre camp on foreign soil.
“We’re thrilled to present, for the first time, a tour that includes three of our 19 original musicals,” said Deborah Jung, founding and executive director of Kids Who Care. “The idea of a Resident Company of kids training and performing together year-round, with a resident professional team, is a fantastic combination for great performances. The productions are high energy, inspirational, and fun for every age. Look for us this year at the Scott Theatre, the Palace Theatre in Grapevine, on stage in Italy and at countless events and conventions in the Metroplex.”
About Kids Who Care
Celebrating its 20th anniversary, Kids Who Care is a non-profit international theatre company based in Fort Worth, Texas that seeks to produce confident, caring and creative kids through leadership training, musical theatre education and performance. Kids Who Care offers professional musical theatre classes, summer musical theatre camps, international cultural exchanges, a touring Resident Company, public performances and more. The Kids Who Care Resident Company has performed Off-Broadway at the Lamb’s Theatre, at both Disney’s, at The Kennedy Center, at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center, at 30,000 feet aboard an airplane for the Make A Wish Foundation and at many other locations across the U.S. and overseas. The core values of the organization include: excellence in artistic development, artistic integrity of kids, leadership roles for kids, financial and cultural diversity and ensemble production. For more information, please visit www.kidswhocare.org.
Media Contact:
Kelly Kirkendoll Shafer
Shafer Communications for Kids Who Care
817.236.6075 or 817.235.3391
