SYRACUSE STAGE TEACHER HUB
At Syracuse Stage, we’re making it easy to connect the arts to your classroom with curriculum-aligned resources, classroom activities, and study guides.
Live Theater’s Unique Benefits
Research shows that students who attended live theater performances have demonstrated greater gains in tolerance, social perspective-taking, and content understanding as compared to peers who did not (Greene et al, 2018). Facilitating student field trips to institutions of fine arts is correlated to higher school attendance, fewer behavior infractions, higher course grades and test scores, and greater tolerance toward differing opinions (Erickson, Watson, & Greene, 2020).
Though film can be a very powerful instructional tool when used effectively, live theater’s reciprocal experience in which meaning is co-created between performers and audience members in a shared physical space in real time uniquely encourages sustained focus, deep engagement, interpretive thinking, emotional responsiveness, and active interpretation of verbal and nonverbal cues (Bennett, 1997).
READ FULL ARTICLE - Behind the Curtain: The Academic and Social Benefits of Theater Arts By Dr. Joseph Goldberg, Teaching With Film, LLC
STUDY GUIDES
Download our comprehensive study guides below:
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
Featured Programs
Use imagination and discovery to help young learners explore stories, creativity, and new ideas through engaging theatrical experiences.
Children’s Tour
A high-energy, interactive production that comes directly to your school.
Touring September 29 through December 3, 2026: This Girl Laughs, This Girl Cries, This Girl Does Nothing
Theatre for the Very Young
Designed specifically for audiences 18-months to 5-years-old, this touring production introduces children to the world of performance using interaction and the collective imagination.
Touring January 11 – June 18, 2027: Click, Clack, Create
MIDDLE SCHOOL
Featured Programs
Bring learning to life with engaging live theatre productions at the Syracuse Stage student matinee series.
STUDENT MATINEE SERIES
Student matinees are performances of Syracuse Stage mainstage productions offered at 10:30 a.m. for Central New York schools. Most shows in the season will have at least one student matinee scheduled during its run. Our Production Study Guides feature classroom exercises, tools for analysis, and resources for further classroom exploration.
For rates and available dates, please contact:
Tracey White at (315) 443-9844 or email trwhite@syr.edu
HIGH SCHOOL
Featured Programs
Incorporate theatre and playwrighting into a high school curriculum to create meaningful connections that extend far beyond the classroom.
THE GINNY PARKER
YOUNG PLAYWRIGHTS FESTIVAL
Break away from traditional essays and expand your students’ writing repertoire with playwrighting. Every January, we invite high school students across Central New York to submit original 10-minute plays or performance pieces into the annual playwrighting competition.
YOUNG ADULT COUNCIL
A free and engaging program for high school students interested in theatre. Each season the group collectively plans what they want to learn more about and explore through the year.
STUDENT MATINEE SERIES
Bring learning to life with engaging live theatre productions at the Syracuse Stage student matinee series.
2026/2027 STUDENT MATINEES
Student matinees are performances of Syracuse Stage mainstage productions offered at 10:30 a.m. for Central New York schools. Most shows in the season will have at least one student matinee scheduled during its run. Our Production Study Guides feature classroom exercises, tools for analysis, and resources for further classroom exploration.
For rates and available dates, please contact:
Tracey White at (315) 443-9844 or email trwhite@syr.edu
Come From Away
Based on the incredible true story, this Tony Award-winning tale is filled with rousing, rowdy, rough-hewn folk songs—an inspiring tribute to one Canadian town’s heroic hospitality in the wake of 9/11.
September 16 – October 11
Student Matinees: September 30,
October 1 + 8
Les Misérables
Adapted from Victor Hugo’s classic novel of romance, rebellion, and redemption, this production brings you closer to the agony, the ecstasy, and the action than ever before.
November 27 – January 3
Student Matinees: December 1, 8, 9, 15, 16 (note: the 12/16 performance only begins at 10 AM)
The Book Club Play
The organized and ambitious Ana Smith is thrilled when a famous director asks to film her beloved Book Club meetings for a documentary. But things don’t go according to plan, and the book club drama becomes juicier than even the most salacious page-turner.
January 27 – February 14
Student Matinee: February 4
John Proctor is the Villain
Five high school girls, fueled by pop music, reclaim their voices as they make the case against a problematic “hero” in Kimberly Belflower’s twisty, modern revision of a canonical text.
March 3 – 21
Student Matinee: March 11
The Black Nationals
World Premiere
1950s Syracuse: The Nationals represent the city in the fledgling NBA while the team’s two African American players, among the first Black athletes to play professionally, fight to leave their mark on the court and on the history of the game.
April 7 – 25
Student Matinee: April 21
Dust and Shadow: The Unraveling of Sherlock Holmes – World Premiere Musical
Based on the nail-biting novel by Lyndsey Faye, literature’s most famous detective is on the trail of history’s most notorious madman in a harrowing race against the clock through the gritty streets of London.
June 2 – 20
Student Matinee: June 10