As Our Season Draws to a Close

Hope.

It's something that has carried us all through the trying circumstances of the last 18 months since the COVID pandemic began. And it anchors our faith, that by fall, we will gather again in a theater to share powerful, inspiring, and joyful stories together. Our desire to make theater for our community fuels our hope for the future.

But what if we told you that, for young people, it may be the other way around? Instead of hope creating theater, according to a recent study from the National Endowment for the Arts, live theater creates hope. In the school district the NEA studied, students with no previous exposure to live theater were taken on a series of field trips to New Victory Theater in New York, while other comparable students were not. By the end of the year, students who attended theater could envision a future beyond their current circumstances―which may be the best way to articulate just what hope looks like.

Hope is an irreplaceable gift―and one you can provide to the young people in St. Louis who need it most. As we prepare for our 49th season, would you consider making a gift to help MTC provide that hope to more young people?

Since the pandemic began, we have sought to provide hope, comfort, and context for young people and families―from our initial Learning Through Play in the Arts home learning video series to the Zoom plays inspired by our COVID-19 Memory Project to our co-commission of A Kids’ Play About Racism to our holiday gift to St. Louis with A Christmas Carol… all the way up to our recent extended run of our bilingual (live and streaming) production of The Very Hungry Caterpillar Show.

That commitment continues into the year ahead, as we to continue hybrid live and streaming productions to eliminate geographic barriers, offer pay-what-you-can pricing to mitigate economic barriers, ensure sensory-friendly, signed, and audio described performances to accommodate those with physical and neurodivergent challenges―and as always, bring teaching artists into classrooms and share inspiring stories of joy and resilience on the stage.

Your generosity makes it possible. Your tax-deductible gift is an act of hope to help MTC build a better future―but for so many young people in our region, truly, it is a gift of hope as well.

Thank you for helping to support St. Louis’s next generation.

— Joe Gfaller, MTC Managing Director

“There is something electric that happens when a child connects to a story through theater… It allows them to see the world of the character through their eyes, in an encompassing way that only being in a room with other people can do. It’s one of the most human experiences one can have, and every child deserves to know it. To feel it.” — Jason Reynolds, National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature and author of Ghost, which was adapted for the stage as part of a co-commission between Metro Theater Company and Nashville Children’s Theater in 2020. Photo: Jennifer A. Lin.

Metro Theater Company, The Very Hungry Caterpillar Show, 2021. Photo: Jennifer A. Lin

Metro Theater Company’s Education Team in classrooms, 2019. Photo: Jennifer A. Lin.