Thanks to a grant from the Yawkey Foundation, City Stage Co. will offer free performances of WHAT'S THE BIG IDEA at 30 elementary schools in eastern Massachusetts. The play is accompanied by a training session for teachers and a packet of lesson plans directed toward a third grade Social Studies curriculum.

Chris Bergeron in the Metrowest Daily News wrote, “It takes a special play to get a theater full of third-graders cheering about smallpox vaccinations, the invention of the microwave oven and Julia Child in drag. But that's exactly what happens in “What's the Big Idea,” a fun and informative play about innovative inventions. Shakespeare, eat your heart out. Playwrights Larry Coen and Susan Gassett know how to get kids excited about serendipity and science.

Their 30-minute play is an educational romp that will get audiences, young and older, interested in Bay State scientists whose discoveries changed the world” WHAT'S THE BIG IDEA is a joint project of City Stage Co., the Boston History & Innovations Collaborative and Boston Children's Museum.

 For more information about the show, go to the City Stage Co. website where you'll be able to “Vote for your favorite Massachusetts Innovator” and “Take the Boston Food Innovations Quiz.”

City Stage Co. received a 2005 Elliot Norton Award from the Boston Theater Critics Association, "for thirty years of inspiring children and families to make discoveries about themselves through theater." Susan Gassett, the Company's founder and Artistic Director, was named the 2006 StageSource Theatre Hero. 

Previous Page    Back to News    Next Page