Outreach Projects

Towson Theatre Infusion (TTI) creates dynamic interaction between Baltimore area high school students and Towson University’s Department of Theatre Arts. Undergraduate theatre majors are trained as Teaching Artists and work in area high schools to engage those students in the art and craft of theatre, preparing them to see a fully mounted production in Towson’s Center for the Arts. Our Teaching Artists then return to these schools, to assess and enhance students’ impressions of the play, and support further study of the play’s issues and themes with their classroom teachers. TTI enhances the skills of our undergraduate theatre majors, making them more competitive and viable in the professional theatre, while providing a valuable arts-integration experience for local high schools and introducing those students to Towson University, the College of Fine Arts and Communications, and careers in the arts. For more information email infusion AT_TOWSON.

The Department of Theatre Arts Reading Encouragement Program educates majors to use theatre as a tool to inspire third-graders to be life-long readers. Theatre students receive mentorship and training in storytelling techniques along with teaching tools for working with third graders during this important transitional year in reading education. After classroom instruction, theatre students visit Dr. Bernard Harris Sr. Elementary School to put their educational training into practice . The project, originally titled The Clifton R. Wharton 3rd Grade Designated Reader Program, began in spring 2002 as a partnership between the Department of Theatre Arts and the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore.