Outreach

TPI Junior

There are no small parts, only small actors!

The Thibodaux Playhouse Children’s Summer Theatre Workshop began in 1982 thanks to three culturally-minded women: Sheela Plater, Angela Hammerli, and Kay Franz. Thirty-one years later, in 2013, the workshop was expanded to include a spring production and was affectionately renamed Thibodaux Playhouse Junior (TPI Junior).

TPI Junior encourages area youth to embrace the performing arts while providing an educational environment that fosters creativity in children ages 7 to 16. By participating in a TPI Junior production, children get to experience the magic of live theatre, all while learning invaluable life lessons.

TPI Junior services children from Thibodaux and the surrounding communities of: Schriever, Gray, Napoleonville, Chackbay, Vacherie, Raceland, Lockport, Cut-Off, and Houma. Low-income youth, as well as, youth with learning challenges and/or physical handicaps are fully accommodated and welcomed to be a part of TPI Junior.

TPI Teen

Our newest outreach effort!

TPI Junior has had the privilege of watching hundreds of children from around the community grow up on its stage. After years of dedication to the program, these children have the inevitable bittersweet ending- aging out. They become too old to perform in the junior productions, yet are too young to take on the roles required for adult productions. Oh, what’s a Playhouse to do?

In 2020, an idea that would bridge that gap was presented – TPI Teen. A program targeted towards teenagers, TPI Teen allows those aged 13 to 18 to participate in more age-appropriate workshops and productions. This effort is fueled by a team dedicated to fostering creativity in these young adults, while teaching them about the theatrical process as a whole, especially what goes on behind closed curtains.

TPI Teen services teenagers from Thibodaux and the surrounding areas. Low-income youth, as well as, youth with learning challenges and/or physical handicaps are fully accommodated, welcomed, and encouraged to be a part of TPI Teen.

TPI Field Trip

A culturally comprehensive learning opportunity, all at one convenient location!

In keeping with its vision of Expanding the Arts and Enhancing the Experience, the Playhouse expanded its programming in February of 2017 to include an annual field trip production for PreK – 4th grade students from Lafourche, Terrebonne, and Assumption Parish public and private schools.

By staging theatrical adaptations of Louisiana-based children’s stories, the Playhouse immerses local elementary students in Louisiana history and culture while increasing access, participation, knowledge, and exposure to the performing arts for area youth.

Thanks to the Playhouse’s partnership with the National Park Service, the Field Trip Production Outreach Project had evolved into a culturally comprehensive learning opportunity for area educators. In the past, National Park Rangers from across the Jean Lafitte network, along with their BTNEP and LUMCON cohorts, offered Wetland Experience sessions to all students following the performance.