Current Press Releases

Mountain Laurel Center To Present Whoopi Goldberg’s Alice

To More Than 2,000 Local Students as Season’s Fourth

Arts-in-Education Program

Students from Ten Elementary and Intermediate Schools in Pike and Monroe

Counties Will Visit the Center to Experience Stage Version of

Actress’ Popular Children’s Book

Bushkill, PA – More than 2,000 local schoolchildren from Pike and Monroe counties will visit Mountain Laurel Center for the Performing Arts on Wednesday, May 23 to experience a colorful stage adaptation of actress Whoopi Goldberg’s popular children’s book Alice. The event, a production created by the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., will be the fourth in MLCPA’s 2007 Arts-in-Education program, which brings outstanding performances by nationally recognized artists to children from throughout the Pocono region. 

Participating schools are from the East Stroudsburg School District (J.T. Lambert Intermediate, Lehman Intermediate, and Smithfield, Middle Smithfield, Resica, Bushkill and J. M. Hill Elementary schools), the Pocono Mountain School District (Clear Run Intermediate and Pocono Elementary Center) and the Delaware Valley School District (Delaware Valley Elementary). 

“Many of these students will be experiencing a professional theater performance for the first time in their lives,” said Richard T. Bryant, President & CEO of Mountain Laurel Center.  “Our Arts-in-Education program, which includes both in-school performances and events here at the center, is all about the abiding power of the arts to inspire and even change lives.  We are proud to partner with the Kennedy Center, which has played such a significant role in children’s arts programs, in bringing this acclaimed production of Alice to our stage.” 

Alice, which was the debut performance at the Kennedy Center’s Family Theater in 2005, is based on a bestselling children’s book by actress Whoopi Goldberg – which itself was loosely based on Lewis Carroll’s classic Alice in Wonderland.    Although Goldberg does not appear in the play, which was adapted from her book by playwright Kim Hines, the actress’ trademark sass and whimsy imbue the tale. 

Alice tells the story of a smart little girl – the title character – who dreams of someday becoming rich.  She longs to live in a mansion and buy anything she wants – and she’s sure this will win her lots of friends.  So she can hardly believe it when she’s named the winner of a mysterious sweepstakes!  With her two best friends – an invisible rabbit and a card-playing kid with a thing for hats – she journeys to the Big City to pick up her prize.  There she enters a colorful, topsy-turvy world and a labyrinth of wacky adventures on her way to discovering the biggest treasure of all – the importance of real friendship.

Recommended for ages 8 and older, this play features music, hip-hop dance and playful fun along with its valuable message.  “What we show,” says playwright Hines, “is that relationships with people are more important than money, how much you make or what you spend it on.  Alice finds out her friends are very valuable to her, and that’s what we seem to have gotten away from in our society.”

Bryant has more than 20 years of experience with the Kennedy Center’s signature children’s festival, Imagination Celebration – which has now spread throughout the country to cities coast to coast.  In Southern California, during his decade as a Director of the Orange County Performing Arts Center, he was instrumental in promoting the growth of the festival in Orange County, where it quickly became the largest annual children’s festival on the West Coast, with participation from more than 80 arts and education organizations, a dozen media organizations, and with performances at more than 20 venues over a period of two weeks. Later, his company, Bryant Associates LLC, was retained to direct marketing and advertising for the Kennedy Center during its transition in leadership, which allowed him to work closely with all Kennedy Center departments including education.  In bringing Alice to the Mountain Laurel Center, he is giving audiences a taste of the Kennedy Center’s innovative children’s programming and a preview of the Imagination Celebration concept.

Mountain Laurel Center’s Arts-in-Education presentation of Alice by Whoopi Goldberg is made possible, in part, by The Wolfington Companies, Pocono Produce Company, Pocono Mountain Visitors Bureau and the ongoing participation and support of the center’s patrons and friends.

Mountain Laurel Center provides comprehensive, interactive educational programs that are deeply integrated into the region’s schools.  Through direct collaboration at all grade levels, MLCPA aspires to help the many school districts meet core curriculum standards for the performing arts, while introducing students to a wide range of artistic offerings from numerous cultures and disciplines.  For additional information about MLCPA education programs, please call Steve Lastra, MLCPA Education Manager, at 570.426.2090, or visit mountainlaurelcenter.com.

Mountain Laurel Center for the Performing Arts is a nonprofit performing arts center serving the beautiful Pocono Mountains and beyond.  Its principle venue, the Tom Ridge Pavilion, offers 2,500 covered seats and room under the stars for thousands more on its comfortable lawn.  MLCPA is dedicated to serving the region by providing world-class artists and entertainers through an ongoing series of performances and educational programs.  For additional information about MLCPA, please call 570.426.2084 or visit mountainlaurelcenter.com.

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Contact:

CJ McKenna
Development Manager
Direct: 570.426.2080 x5007
Email: cmckenna@mlcpa.org

Mountain Laurel Center for the Performing Arts

Bushkill Falls Road, P.O. Box 1233

Bushkill, PA 18324

Administration: 570.426.2080

Fax: 570.588.5211

mountainlaurelcenter.com