TCT "specials" are guest appearances, educational opportunities and other events that aren't a part of our regular season.

Tupelo Community Theatre will present a free public performance by Wood and Strings Theatre of their production of Out of the Mist...A Dragon.  The show will provide a sampler of traditional folk puppets from diverse cultures around the world woven into a tale of magic and adventure.  The performance is Friday, April 4th at 7:30 p.m. and no advance tickets are necessary.  Two free shows will be provided to Lee County and North Mississippi Schools during the day on Friday.  To make reservations for the school shows or for more information contact the TCT office at 844-1935. 

Below are the links for the study guides.

Study Guide Out of the Mist

Study Guide Ananse

High-caliber arts education experiences such as these would not be possible without the generous support of many sponsors. TCT is indebted to AT&T, Journal Publishing, B and B Concrete, Inc., Blue Cross Blue Shield of Mississippi, The Southern Arts Federation and the Lyric Krewe.  Thanks to these sponsors, thousands of area children, teachers, and community members will be inspired, educated, and entertained.

In March 2006 TCT, St. Paul United Methodist Church and First United Methodist Church partnered to bring Metro Theatre Company to North MS.  A free community performance of Long Road to Freedom by Jan Lucas and directed by Nicholas Kryah was presented in at St. Paul's Family Life Center on Wednesday.  Around 400 enjoyed dinner, discussion and even a Civil War era group sing-a-long.  The play revolves around two strong women whose hearts will always be bound by friendship.  Mary Catherine is a Quaker widow living in Ohio. Graceanna is an escaped slave who has made her way to freedom in Canada.  Separated now by hundreds of miles, the women re-live the summer they met as ten year old girls.  Accompanied by Lydia Ruffin’s live music, this moving production addresses the importance of taking a stand, even when the stakes are high.  Youth from Lee County and Tupelo were given the opportunity to enjoy and learn from this historic performance.  Workshops were offered to area educators, as well as youth from The Boys and Girls Club.

International performance and visual artist Kevin Reese brought his delightful one-man show, A Perfect Balance, to Tupelo March 30th-April 2nd, 2005. Kevin portrays Sandy, a highly imaginative artist, who sets off in search of his masterpiece. Set in his studio, the play follows Sandy's many experiments to capture in his art what fascinates him most in the world—movement. Mr. Reese creates drawings, paintings, and sculptures on stage, some of which become characters to accompany Sandy in his struggle with the creative process. A Perfect Balance takes much of its inspiration from the work of American artist Alexander Calder (the inventor of the mobile). The play is a tribute to Calder's innovation—indeed, to all artists' triumphs and traumas along the road to create something new.
      Kevin presented the piece to students from Tupelo and Lee County schools during the week, and will offer a community performance on Saturday, April 2nd at 11 a.m. at the Lyric Theatre. In addition to his performances, Kevin worked with members of the Boys and Girls Club Haven Acres unit to create a full-scale mobile for their community center. Kevin's wife, Mary Hall Surface, is a noted playwright and director. She traveled to Tupelo from their home in Washington, D.C. March 1st and 2nd for writing workshops with THS and TMS English and drama students.    

     Theatre tells a story. Stories start with words. Opal Palmer Adisa, master storyteller, noted author, teacher, and standing nominee for the California State Poet Laureate position, visited Tupelo February 22-25, 2004. Thanks to the generous financial support of the Mississippi Arts Commission, the National Endowment for the Arts, The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal, Bellsouth, and Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Mississippi, thousands of area students and community members were educated, enlightened, and entertained by her presentations.
      Opal is a native of Kingston, Jamaica who currently resides in Oakland, California. While in town, she presented writing workshops, six school performances for 5th-8th grade Tupelo and Lee County students, a teacher workshop, and a free community performance. The writing workshop was scheduled for Sunday, February 22nd at the Link Centre and was open to the public. The workshop's topic was "Honoring Your Writing Self/I've Got a Story to Tell".
 
      From February 11th through the 15th, 2003, there were special performances by Kuniko Yamamoto, with Japanese Story telling with magical mask, mime and music. The performances utilized folktales combined with traditional musical instruments, hand crafted masks, origami, stylized movements and a touch of magic. Social ideas were illustrated through commentary and descriptions of Japanese traditions. In addition, the performances will included the use of origami -- A number of folded paper animals and faces came alive with tales from Japan, provoking students’ imagination. Origami was used to introduce the art of simplicity, the prime element of Japanese traditional arts and with the stories Japanese cultural topics were folded into interactive storytelling. In addition to the performances at the Lyric, the troupe made presentations at a number of other venues including Milam Elementary, Tupelo Middle School, the Boys and Girls Club, Lee County Library, Traceway Retirement Center, and TAG II.