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The Honolulu Advertiser
Updated at 9:37 a.m., Thursday, April 24, 2008

HTY awarded $25,000 NEA grant to do The Bard

By Wayne Harada

The Honolulu Theatre for Youth has been awarded a $25,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to support its fall production of Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" at Tenney Theatre in October. The show also will tour statewide in the spring.

HTY is one of 40 groups receiving 2008-09 Shakespeare for a New Generation Grants that allow theater companies to produce works by The Bard to introduce young audiences to the power of theater and specifically to the classical masterpieces of Shakespeare.

"I think it speaks to the breadth of our program," said Eric Johnson, HTY artistic director. "We applied (for the grant) and hoped and prayed — so we're excited."

The grant will help fund the October production of "Midsummer," said Johnson, "and help us tour to high school and middle schools in the entire state."

Fourth and fifth graders here will see an abridged "Midsummer Madness" production, with selected scenes, enabling youngsters to learn a little about Elizabethan theater and language.

"The hope is the youngsters will get a feel about the way Shakespeare works," said Johnson. He added that HTY occasionally expands its children's theater repertoire to embrace classical theater, and the grant helps fund the effort.

The HTY grant is part of a $1 million federal investment to expose Shakespeare to youngsters, some who have never seen a production of his work, and help teachers to enhance their lessons with residencies and workshops in the community. The program, now in its fifth year, has served more than one million students and their teachers.

Reach Wayne Harada at wharada@honoluluadvertiser.com.