AATE 2025 National Conference

Using a unique case study of the national expansion of Stories that Soar! through its recent collaboration with Coastal Carolina University (CCU) as a reference, this panel will discuss and consider ways for university theatre programs to partner with community-centered arts organizations to transform their service area and make a regional impact in building artistic and educational infrastructure in sequential tiers of academia simultaneously. In all, this panel will discuss how a community-focused university theatre program can effectively and positively serve as a connector and agent to ensure that elementary schools, high schools, universities, and professional theatre companies can come together in collaboration to amplify the impact of the arts in their region. Focus will be placed on best practices and effective methods of connecting with local elementary schools to inspire creativity, promote active literacy, and build engaged artistic communities through the creation of devised theatre performances based on original stories written by students at the school – a process perfected by Literacy Connects of Southern Arizona and their Stories that Soar! program. Additional discussions will center on attracting local high schools to participate in the same transformative process with their feeder elementary schools in subsequent academic years to continue to inspire the writing of new stories, the crafting of new performances, and the promotion of literacy through arts-based curricula. Panelists are teaching artists in the theatre discipline who seek to use applied and devised theatre methods to ensure that collaborative creation can inspire the growth of the arts and storytelling in local educational communities. We hope this is more than a case study and panel discussion; we see it as a movement towards a more equitable and creative future as a community through the empowerment of young writers and the celebration of their stories and imaginations.