Menu
The Grand 1894 Opera House is proud to present 2021-2022 The Harris L. Kempner Children’s Series season. All of The Grand’s children’s programs feature professional touring companies who have sterling reputations for high-quality productions. Student productions are based on popular children’s books. These productions come with curriculum study guides that follow the TEKS and help students visualize books in a new way! These comprehensive study guides are available to schools prior to a performance, which will allow teachers to incorporate activities centered around the story into their curriculum.
Complimentary in-class workshops are offered to school groups with advanced Serious Fun reservations.
Contact The Grand’s Director of Education, Sarah Piel at 409.770.5066 or at spiel@thegrand.com to reserve workshops.
For School/Group reservations, call 800.821.1894
Pop culture phenomenon, Schoolhouse Rock Live!, explodes onto the musical stage—now updated for a whole new generation with imaginative visual projections and a rock’n’roll feel. The story follows Tom, a nervous young man on his first day of being a school teacher. He turns on the television to calm himself down and is visited by three aspects of his personality who remind him just how learning can be fun. Academic subjects will never seem boring again when presented through mega-hits like “Conjunction Junction,” “Just a Bill,” “Interplanet Janet” or “Three is a Magic Number.”
Grades: 1st–5th
Curriculum Connections: Science, Grammar, Social Studies, Math,
Systems of Government
E.B. White’s classic tale of friendship between a pig named Wilbur and a little gray spider named Charlotte, Charlotte’s Web comes to life onstage! Wilbur has a problem: how to avoid winding up as pork chops! Charlotte, a fine writer and true friend, hatches a plan to fool Farmer Zuckerman. Spinning the words “Some Pig” in her web, Charlotte weaves a solution which not only makes Wilbur a prize pig, but ensures his place on the farm forever. This treasured tale — featuring madcap and endearing farm animals — explores bravery, selfless love, and the true meaning of friendship.
Grades: K–5th
Curriculum Connections: Communication, Language Arts, Music, Relationships & Family
Get ready for the ultimate playdate—65 million years in the making—as Erth’s Dinosaur Zoo Live guides your students on a breathtaking tour that begins in pre-historic Australia. Observe, meet and interact with an eye-popping collection of amazingly life-like dinosaurs and other creatures presented in a theatrical performance that will astonish and entertain kids while stimulating their imaginations in ways that will forever connect them to their world. Brought to life by a team of skilled performers and puppeteers, and designed with the help of professional paleontologists, Erth’s Dinosaur Zoo Live’s puppets are so extraordinarily realistic you may feel the urge to run and hide—but don’t! You won’t want to miss a minute!
Grades: K–5th
Curriculum Connections: Natural History, Paleontology, Life Science, Scientific Method
This stirring drama with music is a classic tribute to the great American who freed herself and hundreds of her people from the bonds of slavery. As Harriet and her friend Sarah Bradford, narrate her adventurous life, we share in the joys, sorrows, and challenges faced by this brave woman who changed the world through her courage. This accurate and deeply moving musical history lesson is at turns inspiring, heart-warming, and comical, full of the good humor, determination, and charity of its subject.
Grades: 3rd–12th
Curriculum Connections: Biography, Language Arts, History, Multi-Cultural, Public Speaking, Reading, Self-Esteem, Character Development
Paddington is making his favorite marmalade jam but runs out of sugar, so he goes next door to borrow a cup from his neighbor, Mr. Curry. Mr. Curry, however, is in a panic because he is expecting a visitor; so Paddington volunteers to help him with his chores. Unfortunately for Paddington, his good intentions end up leading to chaos. Will Paddington be able to fix everything before Mr. Curry’s visitor arrives?
Grades: Pre-K–3rd
Curriculum Connections: Reading, Writing, Vocabulary, Problem Solving, Creativity, Geography
When Alice escapes her boredom of this world to venture into a dream of another, madcap high jinx and outlandish adventures are the orders of the day. The heroine learns it takes self-reliance and quick thinking to tame the comic nonsense of the Queen of Hearts, the Cheshire Cat and Wonderland’s unpredictable residents. Bits N’ Pieces Puppet Theatre’s giant body puppets whirl, dance and sing though Lewis Carroll’s journey.
Grades: Pre-K–2nd
Curriculum Connections: Language Arts, Reading, and Music
Book, Music and Lyrics by Ford Flannagan
“Who’ll help me plant the seed?,” asks the plucky red hen as she begins the process that goes into making a loaf of her delicious bread. “Not us,” say the sheep, the cow, the horse, and the pig. They all have better things to do. But, “a hen’s gotta do what a hen’s gotta do,” and so our crimson heroine perseveres until her work is done. But, the tricks of the conniving fox combine with the hen’s common sense to add adventure and a sound moral lesson to this classic, feel good, foot-stompin’ country musical.
Grades: K–5th
Curriculum Connections: Folk Tales, Language Arts, Reading, Science, Music, Peer Pressure, Self Esteem, Character Development
The children’s series performances have been designated The Harris L. Kempner Children’s Series in honor of Mr. Kempner’s lifelong commitment to youth, education and The Grand’s programming. Support is provided by the following: Harris and Eliza Kempner Fund, Dr. Leon Bromberg Charitable Trust Fund, the Ippolito Charitable Foundation of Galveston, Kathrine G. McGovern, John P. McGovern Foundation, Daisy’s Friends, The National Endowment for the Arts and Texas Commission on the Arts.