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By Contributor
PRODUCED BY KEMMIE RYAN
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Glencoe native SARAH HALL, who holds an MFA in Theater and has an impressive professional acting resume, founded her Sarah Hall Theatre Company eight years ago to bring quality children’s theater education to the North Shore. After garnering extensive credits on stage and on screen—including guest starring roles on Chicago Justice, Gilmore Girls, and ER—she turned her attention to teaching 25 years ago and has since directed and supervised theater programs for students of all ages. In addition to the dance and theater classes that Sarah Hall Theatre Company offers to more than 400 students ages 3 to 14, she recently launched a new Integrated Arts for the Ages website to provide interactive theater curriculum for residents at senior living communities. “While youth theater is a consistently growing industry,” she says, “I am hopeful that high-quality programming at senior living communities will continue to be prioritized for residents given the population increase of the baby boomer generation.”
What excites you most about the future of your industry? I think the most exciting aspect of my work is how acting and theater can impact young people’s (and older adults) lives in a meaningful and enriching way. I would like to be a part of a movement that honors, as opposed to marginalizes, growing old in America, and I hope the curriculum available at Integrated Arts for the Ages does just that!
What conversations are you passionate about bringing to the table? Enabling young people to feel confident and competent getting up in front of their peers in a supportive and creative environment. With my new venture, Integrated Arts for the Ages, I am passionate about recognizing the importance of interactive, engaging programs in senior living communities that promote social and cognitive well-being.
What’s a trend you’re embracing—or challenging? While we take our students, classes, and performances extremely seriously and approach each program with dedicated professionalism, we are in the business of developing people, not stars. In a world that often values celebrity, we place importance on individual growth onstage and off.
What legacy do you hope to leave behind? I sincerely hope that the students who have been a part of our programs feel that their lives have been enriched and bettered in some way and that my staff feels that I have done my very best to value them, recognize them, and support them during their tenure with me.
For more information, visit sarahhalltheatre.com. You may also follow Sarah Hall Theatre Company on Facebook or on Instagram @sarahhalltheatrecompany.
