Student Matinees
About the 2024-2025 Matinees
Each season, Queens Theatre is proud to present exclusive weekday morning performances for school children at every grade level. This year's lineup of Student Matinees include two musicals based on beloved children's books, a bilingual/bicultural musical adventure about Dia de Muertos, a thrilling, limit-defying circus, a puppet performance that traces the journeys of immigrants in New York City, and two internationally renowned contemporary dance companies. All shows will run approximately 60 minutes.
Tickets
$10 per student
1 free chaperone ticket per 10 students
Free for paraprofessionals
To reserve tickets, email Richard Hinojosa, Queens Theatre's Director of Education, at rhinojosa@queenstheatre.org.
Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! The Musical!
A TheaterWorks USA Production
Based on the books by Mo Willems
Monday, December 9th at 10:00am and 11:30am
Approximate Running Time: 60 Minutes
Recommended Ages: Grades Pre-K through 2
Whatever you do, don't let the Pigeon star in his own musical production! With a script written by Mo Willems, the creator of the #1 New York Times best-selling, Caldecott Honor award-winning "Pigeon" picture books, and featuring music by Deborah Wicks La Puma (Elephant & Piggie's We Are in a Play!), TheaterWorksUSA‘s Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! The Musical! is even more fun than staying up late and having a hot dog party!
It's not easy being the Pigeon-you never get to do ANYTHING! But when the Bus Driver has a crisis that threatens to make her passengers (gasp!) late, maybe that wily bird CAN do something. Featuring an innovative mix of songs, and feathers, Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! The Musical! is sure to get everyone's wings flapping.
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Curriculum Connections |
Themes |
Grand Pistachio's Layer the Walls Mid-Century
A puppet performance set in a Lower East Side Tenement
Tuesday, January 21st at 10:00am and 11:30am
Wednesday, January 22nd at 10:00am and 11:30am
Approximate Running Time: 60 minutes, followed by Q&A
Recommended Ages: 3rd through 8th Grade
In one tenement apartment in NYC’s Lower East Side, forty layers of wallpaper were found clinging to the walls—each piece applied by a new immigrant family. Using puppetry, masks, and live action, Layer the Walls tells the incredible stories held within each layer:
- A Chinese father endures separation from his family for decades, and when his granddaughter finally arrives in NYC, she finds dance as a way to honor his journey.
- A Jewish teenager arrives from a Displaced Persons camp and finds a way to honor his family.
- Two Puerto Rican sisters are divided about whether to join the Young Lords protest for healthcare rights.
| Curriculum Connections Social Studies, History Based, NYC Tenements, Chinese Exclusion Act, Puerto Rican Migration, The Holocaust, Social Emotional Learning |
Themes Immigration, Discrimination, Activism, Empathy |
Pilobolus re:CREATION
Friday, February 7th at 10:30am
Approximate Running Time: 60 Minutes
Recommended Ages: 6th to 12th grades
Step into a realm where imagination knows no limits. The boundaries of gravity and creativity blur, offering an intimate window into the essence of creativity itself with Pilobolus's re:CREATION tour. Following a triumphant three week summer residency at The Joyce Theatre in New York, Pilobolus's re:CREATION tour embarks on a nationwide journey, bringing their celebrated collection of repertory to delighted audiences from coast to coast. re:CREATION is a transformative odyssey of reinvention where both audience and artists rediscover, redefine, and recreate timeless narratives through new visions of history, myth, and the innate human need for expression.
Themes
Creativity, Reinvention, History, Myth, Self Expression
RIOULT Dance New York
Friday, March 7th at 10:30am
Approximate Running Time: 60 Minutes
Recommended Ages: 6th to 12th Grades
RIOULT Dance New York has been thrilling audiences all over the world for over twenty years. Known for its physicality, sensuality and versatility, this company never fails to leave the audiences cheering. Critics have said: “…there are few choreographers currently creating who can rival Pascal Rioult for musicality, structure and dramatic nuance. Like an artisan, he is the maker of a rich and complex cloth; he weaves moments in time from threads of imagination and makes them into dances.” … “Rioult’s choreography should be experienced often as part of a healthy dance diet.”
RIOULT Dance has performed at Queens Theatre many times over the years. After a devastating four-year hiatus due to COVID, RIOULT is back, returning to Queens, with all the energy and enthusiasm accumulated in the interim … Come celebrate RIOULT‘s Return!
Themes
Creativity, Imagination, Physicality
Pete the Cat
A TheaterWorks USA Production
Based on the Pete the Cat series of books by Kimberly Dean and James Dean
Monday, April 7th at 10:00am and 11:30am
Approximate Running Time: 50 Minutes plus brief talkback
Recommended Ages: Pre-K through 3
For Pete the Cat, life is an adventure no matter where you wind up. So the minute the groovy blue cat meets The Biddles, he gets the whole family rocking. That is, except for young Jimmy Biddle, the most organized second grader on planet Earth.
But when Jimmy draws a blank in art class during the last week of school, it turns out Pete is the perfect pal to help him out. Together, they set out on a mission to help Jimmy conquer second grade art, and along the way, they both learn a little something new about inspiration. Join Jimmy and Pete on an adventure of friendship, all the way to Paris and back in a VW Bus!
| Curriculum Connections Math, Literacy, Literature Based, Music, Social Emotional Learning |
Themes Confidence, Creativity, Friendship, Positive Attitude |