Theatre for Kids!

   My pal Sarah Diamond Burroway earned some well-deserved recognition this week in a terrific story by David Malloy for the Herald Dispatch (he also took the photo of Sarah above)!

   You can read the story right here - or here's an excerpt:

-------------------

   Sarah Diamond Burroway has a passion for bringing arts to students in the Tri-State who may have never seen a play.

   "Humanities are what connects us to each other and the world," Diamond Burroway said. "I love stories and storytelling. I think it's important for kids to learn through storytelling."

   "Arts in the schools is being reduced," she said. "What we're doing is a way to help."

   She may be familiar to Tri-State radio listeners as Sarah Diamond, news director at WTCR-FM from 1987 to 1993.

   Diamond Burroway co-founded Actors for Children Theatre, part of the Rivertown Performing Arts League, to bring plays to local schools starting in the spring of 2013.

   Their first performance had four actors and two members in the crew. This fall, the actor's group has an all-youth cast of middle school and high school students.

   Their first performance is set for Monday, Oct. 17, at the Cultural Arts Center in Raceland, Kentucky. The play "Hoodie," is written by Lindsay Price and has eight cast members from the ages of 12 to 17.

   The play touches on issues like body image, growing up and facing changes, Diamond Burroway said.

   A performance also is scheduled Friday, Oct. 28, at Ashland Middle School and at the Olive Hill Historical Society on Wednesday, Nov. 9, she said.

   They'll also perform it as part of the Kentucky Theatre Association at the Community Theatre Festival on Friday and Saturday, Nov. 11 -12, at the University of Kentucky, she said.

   The Actors for Children Theatre is making its fourth appearance at the Kentucky Theatre Association and has been named outstanding production in the state for the past three years. That advanced the group to the Southeastern Theatre Conference in Alabama, in Tennessee and in North Carolina from 2013-15.

   "Our plays always have a message," she said. "We like taking plays to local schools. We get a bigger audience."

   Diamond Burroway, grants writer at Ashland Community and Technical College, has helped secure several grants for the performing arts group.