Disney award helps kids get immersed in theater

This article comes to us from the Orlando Sentinel:

Mickey Mouse came to town this week, carrying a check for $8,300 for the Bay Street Players’ Young People’s Theatre.

The iconic Disney character handed over the check and sets of Mickey Mouse ears to Elizabeth Scholl, the Bay Street Players’ outgoing executive director who wrote the grant application; Michael Morman, the new executive director; and Deborah Carpenter, a founder of the Bay Street Players.

“I’m still wearing my mouse ears,” Scholl said an hour after the ceremony. “I don’t think I’ll ever take them off.”

The money, from Disney Helping Kids Shine, is one of 31 grants awarded to nonprofits in Central Florida that have children’s programs and/or outreach efforts. Disney picked the organization’s Young People’s Theatre from 170 applications.

The 31 nonprofits shared $500,000, a part of Disney’s $1.2 million giving program that benefited 57 organizations, schools and groups that promote children’s well-being.

Scholl sought money to help support the Young People’s Theatre’s touring group, which has been visiting elementary schools each spring for more than 30 years, and to allow more money for scholarships.

“When I was enrolled in Young People’s Theatre, I won the Ed Dawkins scholarship,” Scholl said. “The YPT [Young People’s Theatre] shaped my life. I know what a difference it can make and I want to have more people be a part of this program.”

The Young People’s Theater, founded in 1975 by Carpenter, is the oldest continuously running children’s theater program in Central Florida.

In the past year, 55 children were enrolled during the school season with 15 percent receiving scholarships and 61 were enrolled during the summer, with 28 percent receiving scholarships, according to Morman.

“Learning about the YPT was the last phase of my learning about the Bay Street Players,” said Morman, who will officially replace Scholl in July. “I saw the children and what they actually learn. I have seen the relationships the new kids have formed. This was Elizabeth’s work and the grant is a great way to say goodbye.”

To see pictures of Disney’s weeklong traveling awards event, see shineontoday.com.

Photo credit TOM BENITEZ, ORLANDO SENTINEL

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