NJ State Bar Foundation Funds Pushcart Players Scholarships for NJ Schools

Published by New Jersey Stage
10/04/2024

(L to R) Marlaina Powell, Joshua Hendricks, Harriett Trangucci. Photo by Thiery Donaus

Pushcart Players, the award-winning educational theater for young and family audiences, has received a generous investment from The New Jersey State Bar Foundation (NJSBF) with a grant to subsidize performances in New Jersey schools. Part of Pushcart's Diversity and Outreach Initiative, the project will support under resourced schools in presenting "Lift Every Voice: A Letter to the Editor" during Pushcart's 50th Anniversary Season.

“NJ State Bar Foundation is making it possible for Pushcart Players to share what we love to do - use the power of theater to instruct, illuminate, and entertain,” said Paul Whelihan, producing artistic director. “And middle schools in our home state will be able to access this learning opportunity because of NJSBF’s enlightened support.”

The NJ State Bar Foundation is a nonprofit educational and philanthropic organization that offers a wide variety of free law-related education programs and services for teachers and their students in the Garden State. With the certainty that “informed citizens make better citizens,” the fundamental purpose of the Foundation is to affect people’s lives by helping them better understand the laws impacting them every day. Whether educating students about the justice system through the mock trial programs, training teachers to better combat teasing and bullying, or keeping students up to date with timely articles on social justice and voting issues, quality programming is the hallmark of NJSBF.

“Lift Every Voice: A Letter to the Editor” begins performances in February of 2025 in celebration of Black History Month and runs throughout the school year. Written by NJ playwright, Tylie Shider, “….Voice…” is a multimedia piece exploring the spirit, images, and music of mid-century America, while honoring the courage and resilience of everyday Americans during the Civil Rights Movement. The story centers on Junebug, a 12-year-old boy in the 1960’s South, who learns of James Meredith’s attempt to enroll as the first African American at the University of Mississippi. When the editor of “The Oxford Eagle,” a local newspaper, expresses her negative opinions on integration, Junebug takes matters into his own hands and confronts these views, speaking out for equality and inclusion.

Pushcart Players is NJ’s premiere touring theater company specializing in arts education for young people. Twice nominated for an Emmy©, Pushcart is the recipient of numerous state and private awards for excellence and innovation. Founded in 1974, Pushcart brings substantive musical theater, workshops, and residencies to young people in schools and theaters nationwide. The company has traveled more than 2.6 million miles nationally and abroad, from the rural red schoolhouse to the nation’s White House.

Pivotal to all Pushcart’s programming are the principles of equity, diversity, inclusion, and access. “Everyone, everywhere has the right to the inspired learning power of theater,” said Whelihan. “While the study of theater is valuable in and of itself, there is the added benefit of learning about history, human values, responsible behavior, and social ideals. NJSBF is joining Pushcart reaching and engaging the State’s diverse population.”

As a not-for-profit organization, Pushcart Players’ programs are made possible by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts, Pine Tree Foundation of New York, NJ State Bar Foundation, Actors’ Equity Foundation, ADP Foundation, EJ Grassmann Trust, Hyde & Watson Foundation, Montclair Foundation, PNC Bank/Lillian P. Schenck Trust Fund, The Turrell Fund, The Whitehill Foundation, and numerous individual contributors.