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City Of Las Vegas Rainbow Company Youth Theatre Earns National Honor
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Rainbow Company First Nonprofit Community Theater Group To Receive Award By Children’s Theatre Foundation Of America
The city of Las Vegas Rainbow Company Youth Theatre has been selected for a Children's Theatre Foundation of America (CTFA) 2010 Medallion Award. According to Orlin Corey, chairman of the foundation’s Medallion Committee, “Rainbow Company is being honored because its diverse and extensive education program of classes, annual workshops, outreach programs, touring and productions are without parallel." This year’s awards presentation is scheduled for Aug. 6.
The Rainbow Company is a nonprofit, community theatre, through the city’s Department of Leisure Services. The theater group holds auditions open to both adults and young people throughout the year. The staff offer classes in all aspects of theatre for ages 4 through high school at Reed Whipple Cultural Center and Charleston Heights Arts Center, and presents five productions annually that bring the magic of live theatre to family audiences. In its 33-year tenure, Rainbow Company has received numerous accolades, including a recent Governor’s Arts Award, the Nickelodeon’s Parents’ Picks 2009 Award, the National Recreation and Park Association First-Place Dorothy Mullen Arts & Humanities Award, and more.
“This award is one of the most prestigious in the field of theatre for youth in the United States,” said Rainbow Company Artistic Director Karen McKenney. “Rainbow Company shares the honor with an impressive list of past recipients. Not only have distinguished children’s theatre practitioners, playwrights, professors and scholars received the medallion, but also such artists as Julie Taymor (‘The Lion King’ director and costume/puppet designer), Maurice Sendak (writer/illustrator of children’s books and theatre), Shari Lewis (and puppet Lamb Chop), Charles Schultz (‘Peanuts’ writer/illustrator) and Theodor Geisel (author/illustrator Dr. Seuss).”
For the past 19 years, a small group of outstanding leaders and organizations in the field and related areas have been honored with the CTFA Medallion Award for consistently superior and unique work in American child drama. The award has been bestowed occasionally on children’s theatres for specific portions of their programs and specific events, but only nine children’s theatres in the nation have ever received the award for their overall organization. And Rainbow Company is the only one among the nine that is a nonprofit, community theatre.
The Rainbow Company will present “Unsung Characters from Nevada’s Past” Feb. 5-14 at the Reed Whipple Cultural Center, 821 Las Vegas Blvd. North. The 50-minute original new musical, appropriate for all ages, tells stories from the early years of Las Vegas, focusing on the characters of Walter Bracken, Pop Squires, Helen J. Stewart, Roy Martin and Mary Nettles. These characters were important in the development of the city, but many of today’s residents have no idea who they were or how they helped Las Vegas grow. Show times are 7 p.m. Feb. 5, 7, 11, 12 and 13; and 2 p.m. Feb. 8, 13 and 14. Tickets are priced at $3 for children age 12 and under, $5 for teens and seniors, and $7 for adults. Call the Reed Whipple Cultural Center at (702) 229-6211 for tickets and more information.
Founded in 1958, CTFA of Avon, Ind., advances the artistic and professional interests of theatre for the young in the United States. CTFA pursues its goals by funding proposals of American theatres, artists, scholars, and special projects of national import to the field. For more information on the foundation, go online to www.childrenstheatrefoundation.org.
For more information about the Rainbow Company Youth Theatre, call (702) 229-6553 or go online to www.rainbowcompany.org.