Virtual Field Trips

The Collaboration:

In 2020, Miami Theater Center, The Adrienne Arsht Center, the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs’ South Miami-Dade Cultural Arts Center (SMDCAC) and Culture Shock Miami Program joined forces to form the new Miami-Dade Arts Education Collective. Despite the challenges of the pandemic and it’s ongoing repercussions, the collective has programmed two seasons of diverse artists across multiple disciplines – music, theater, dance, and visual arts.

In the 2021/22 season the collective is committed to providing diverse and high-quality arts programming to students, grades K-12. We seek to engage students by making arts performances available and accessible during the school year via online/virtual offerings instead of traditional in-person field trips. MTC continues to collaborate with the Miami-Dade County Public Schools’ (MDCPS) Cultural Passport Program to provide virtual content to their students and hopes to move towards in-person field trips in the Spring of 2022. As the fourth largest school system in the nation, MDCPS is comprised of 392 schools and serves 345,000 students. Located at the southern end of the Florida peninsula, the school district stretches over 2,000 square miles of diverse and vibrant communities ranging from rural and suburban to urban cities and municipalities. A truly global community in which district students speak 56 different languages and represent 160 countries. We would like to invite you and your student to see all of our wonderful offering this school year!

Please email terrence@mtcmiami.org for more information about how to access these virtual performances."

Hawaii’s first Olympic gold medalist and the grandfather of modern surfing, Duke Paoa Kahanamoku is unquestionably one of the most important and beloved figures in Hawaiian history. Using a minimalistic set and projections showing images and pictures from Duke's life spanning from the turn of the century through modern times, we find Duke through his own eyes, through history’s reflection on his journey in a complicated era, and through the viewpoint of those who loved him.

Discipline: Theater

Theme: Native & Indigenous Cultures

Dates: October 4-29, 2021

Grade levels: 3^rd and up

A physically poetic adaptation of Yuyi Morales’ story that tells of resilience, hope and the courage it takes to find one’s voice when navigating a new place. Dreamers honors the passion, strength, and hope that is born from the challenges experienced in an immigrant's journey and reminds us that, "Someday we will become something we haven't even yet imagined."

Discipline: Theater

Theme: Perseverance and Hope

Dates: November 1-12, 2021

Grade levels: K-6

Illustrating the real-life challenges of immigration, income inequality, and fears of violence in our schools, The In-Between is a realistic, relatable exploration of the complex social circumstances students must navigate in today’s world. With strong dialogue, moments of choreography, and a landscape of social media-embedded design, the performance tackles hard questions with humor, sensitivity and a deft ear for how young people negotiate the problems they encounter.

Discipline: Theater

Themes: Adolescence, Immigration, Income Inequality, Social Media Misinformation and Cyberbullying

Dates: Nov. 8 – Dec. 10

Grade levels:  9 – 12

Step Afrika!'s Magical Musical Holiday Step Show is the most vibrant holiday celebration in town! Join us DECEMBER 6-17 for a fun student-friendly performance that will have you stomping your feet and clapping your hands to energetic beats from Step Afrika! Why celebrate the holidays sitting still when you can step with Step Afrika!

As the world's first holiday show highlighting the African American tradition of stepping, the Magical Musical Holiday Step Show is a feast for the eyes and ears. Fabulous and furry friends from the Arctic Kingdom - Popper the Penguin along with polar bear twins and Polo, ensure a fun and exciting experience for the entire family!

Discipline: Dance

Theme: History, African-American Traditional Stepping

Dates: December 6-17, 2021

Audience: K-12

Diamond’s Dream is a virtual puppet production that takes place on a CTA Red Line train traveling south through pandemic-era Chicago. Diamond, a young African American boy, has fallen asleep on the train while on his way to visit his dying grandmother. When he awakes, time and reality have shifted, and he meets the ghost of a young African American girl, a shape-shifting elder spirit who died of Spanish Flu 100 years ago to the date. Both are confronted with paranormal puppets and images representing society’s ills – ignorance, poverty, and racism. While the spirit girl seeks only rest, Diamond comes to understand she must first be remembered in order to find it.

Discipline: Animation/Theater

Theme: Economic Hardships, Family Dynamics, Global Pandemic

Dates: October 18, 2021-June 8, 2022

Grade levels: 4-6

Ten-year-old Jabari loves to paint. And through his art, he escapes the turbulent world around him, and the reality of a friend hurt by police violence. In his dreams, he meets children and young people from the Civil Rights Era, including Ruby Bridges, Claudette Colvin, and others, who teach him how to be fearless. He also meets his hero, Barack Obama, as a seven-year-old boy on the eve of the assassination of MLK, Jr…

Will Jabari be able to instill in seven-year-old Barack the lessons he's learned and therefore ensure that Barack will have the necessary tools to become president? Will Jabari learn to take these lessons back into his own life and heal his community?  Using rap, freedom songs, history, and humor, this play explores what it means to have courage in a world where Black children, Black boys, are not safe.

Discipline: Theater

Theme: History, Civil Rights Era

Dates: January 10- 26, 2022

Grade levels: 3-6

This stirring drama set to music is a classic tribute to the great American who freed herself and hundreds of others from the bonds of slavery. Her courage helped to change the world. Share her adventurous life with your students in this accurate and deeply moving musical history lesson.

IN PERSON!

Discipline: Theater

Theme: Perseverance, Survival, Resisting Oppression, Discovering Self-Knowledge

February 10, 2022

Grades: 3 – 8

Citizen James, or The Young Man Without a Country Written by Kyle Bass| Directed by Joann Yarrow. Meet a 24-year-old James Baldwin at LaGuardia Airport. Young James is an unknown aspiring "Negro" writer whose first novel has yet to be published. He awaits his flight, having just left his family with the news of his decision to flee America for refuge in Paris. He speaks no French. He has a one-way ticket and $40 in his pocket. Witness James Baldwin as he decides he must do something to save himself from the violent reality of racism in America in 1948, a decision that sets him on the path to becoming a brilliant, powerful, and prophetic voice of the Civil Rights era and beyond. More than a one-man show, Citizen James is a bridge that connects the past to our now. Please note, the performance briefly discusses mature topics like violence, self-harm, sexuality and contains racially charged language.

Discipline: Theater

Theme: Perseverance, Survival, Resisting Oppression, Discovering Self-Knowledge

Dates: February 7-18, 2022

Grade levels: 8-12

Ten-year-old Belinda is a budding poet and loves to tell stories, but when she’s stuck in the basement preparing for a party upstairs that her stepmother and stepsisters will host, she’ll have to get creative. It’s a story within a story; Belinda lives out her version while also re-enacting the classic tale of Cinderella, using whatever objects are at her disposal: napkins, teapots, and doilies, to name just a few. With these everyday items, a healthy dose of imagination, and a love of poetry passed down by her father, Belinda imagines a bigger world for herself…

When she learns that the party's special guest is (real life) writer Gary Soto, Belinda wants desperately to attend the party and share her own writings with Soto. But to do that, she must learn to stand up for herself and take charge of her life and dreams. This captivating bilingual one-woman performance is a modern spin on the beloved fairy tale and tackles cultural heritage, family, and the power of language.

Discipline: Theater

Theme: Culture, Heritage, Family

Dates: March 7-18, 2022

Grade levels: K-6