Act One School Series

We are delighted to present the 2024–2025 Act One School Series season. The Act One School Series provides curriculum-linked, performing arts enrichment activities for students in grades K-12.

Review the event descriptions below, determine what programs work for you, and submit the order form.

Isotopes in Motion

Wednesday, November 13, 2024, 11am
Thursday, November 14, 2024, 11am
Grade levels: 5-12
Cobb Great Hall

Tickets to this performance will include pre and post-show activities exploring dance and physics along with the chance to tour FRIB.

Isotopes in Motion returns to Wharton Center for an exhilarating performance that combines dance, video, and physics. Featuring professional dancers and community members, The contributions of youth, women, and people of color in science will be presented through a diverse cast in age, ethnicity, and cultural backgrounds. This original work at the intersection of science and dance, at turns breathtaking and funny, highlights the wonders of science and illuminates the research at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB).

Curriculum connections: Science, Dance, History, Social Studies

Education Resource Guide

Bill Blagg dressed in dark colors surrounded by confetti

Science of Magic with Bill Blagg

Waitlist only

Thursday, December 5, 2024, 9:45am and 12:30pm
Friday, December 6, 2024, 9:45am and 12:30pm
Grades: 1-5
Pasant Theatre

Illusionist Bill Blagg’s one-of-a-kind educational experience, The Science of Magic, takes students on a rare, never-before-seen journey “behind the scenes” of the magic world. Students will discover firsthand how magicians use science to create their illusions!

The Science of Magic is designed to excite, educate, intrigue and promote students to think “outside the box” and spawn their curiosity about how science and the Scientific Method are used by magicians to create the impossible!

Curriculum connections: Science, Theatre, Literacy

Education Resource Guide

Mariachi Harencia de México

Thursday, December 12, 2024, 10am
Grades: K-12
Cobb Great Hall

¡Viva el mariachi! A Mariachi Christmas, featuring The 2x Latin GRAMMY-nominated Mariachi Herencia de México reimagines Mexican and American Christmas favorites on the Cobb Great Hall stage. Filled with music and holiday cheer, this colorful celebration of holiday traditions is perfect for students of all ages.

Curriculum connections: Music, geography, social studies, language

Wild Hope Lecture with Photographer Ami Vitale

Tuesday, January 14, 2025, 10am
Grades: 6-12
Cobb Great Hall

Join photographer, filmmaker, and writer Ami Vitale as she takes us on a journey, sharing powerful stories that drive change and inspire us all to push boundaries and have impact in our daily lives. Ami’s captivating stories are about people learning from wildlife and protecting endangered species like pandas, rhinos, and elephants. These uplifting narratives show us how hope and collective action are shaping a brighter future for our planet. 

Curriculum connections: Geography, Science, Social Studies

Time For Three

Wednesday, January 29, 2025, 10am
Grades: 4-12
Cobb Great Hall

Grammy and Emmy-winning ensemble Time for Three's captivating sound merges classical, pop, Americana, and singer-songwriter styles, resonating with audiences globally. The fun-loving fiddlers of Time for Three are known for their charismatic, energetic performances and collaborations as diverse as Ben Folds, Branford Marsalis, and Joshua Bell. They'll perform an hour of folk, popular, and classical selections in a set list that students will recognize and want to hear more of.

Curriculum connections: Music, history

MOMIX: Alice

Friday, January 31, 2025, 10am
Grades: 3-8
Cobb Great Hall

Moses Pendleton’s newest creation "Alice," inspired by Lewis Carroll’s classic "Alice in Wonderland" seamlessly blends illusion, acrobatics, magic, and whimsy. Join MOMIX on a mind-bending adventure as Alice encounters time-honored characters, including the Caterpillar, a lobster quadrille, White Rabbits, a mad Queen of Hearts, and a variety of other surprises!

Curriculum connections: Dance, literacy, music

Goodnight Moon & The Runaway Bunny

Waitlist only

By Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia
Monday, February 3, 2025, 9:45am and 12:30pm
Grades: Pre-K - 4
Pasant Theatre

Goodnight Moon is a celebration of familiar nighttime rituals, while The Runaway Bunny’s pretend tale of leaving home evokes reassuring responses from his loving mum. Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia's staged adaptation brings a new sense of appreciation to these stories that have delighted generations.

Curriculum connections: Music, Theatre, Literacy

The Peking Acrobats

Waitlist only

Tuesday, February 25, 2025, 10am
Wednesday, February 26, 2025, 10am
Grades: K-12
Cobb Great Hall

Witness spellbinding feats rooted in more than 2,000 years of history! These masters of agility and grace display their artful athleticism, pushing the limits of human ability, and defying gravity with their amazing acts of contortion and control. With a legacy of superb talent and rigorous training, The Peking Acrobats deliver all of the excitement and festive pageantry of a Chinese carnival!

Curriculum connections: Theatre, music, multi-cultural studies, geography, history

Creole for Kidz & The History of Zydeco

With Terrance Simien 
Thursday, April 24, 2025, 9:45am and 12:30pm
Friday, April 25, 2025, 9:45am and 12:30pm
Grades: K-8
Pasant Theatre

Creole for Kidz and the History of Zydeco is an innovative and high quality multicultural performing arts program that has reached over 500,000 K-12 and college students, parents, and educators around the globe! This concert is centered on the history and evolution of the unique American roots genre of Zydeco as well as Creole culture, and is sure to get students singing and dancing along.

Curriculum connections: Music, geography, history, multi-cultural studies

Stomp dancer, holding a garbage can lids, jumps with one leg kicked out

STOMP

Waitlist only

Special Event: Tickets $5
Thursday, November 7, 2024, 11am
Grades: 3-12
Cobb Great Hall

This special matinee engagement of STOMP is explosive, inventive, provocative, witty, and utterly unique—an unforgettable experience for students. The eight-member troupe uses everything but conventional percussion instruments—matchboxes, wooden poles, brooms, garbage cans, Zippo lighters, hubcaps—to fill the stage with magnificent rhythms. This special engagement will last 90 minutes. 

Curriculum connections: Music, dance, science

Education Resource Guide

NEA-sponsor-2023.png
Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs
jackson-sponsor-2021.png
Michigan-Arts-and-Culture-Council-sponsor-2023.png
MSUFCU, MSU Federal Credit Union
Piper & Gold Public Relations
TechSmith Corporation