Round Lake High School Honored By the American Alliance of Theatre & Education
Round Lake High School's Ghostlight Readers Theatre program was presented the Ann Flagg Multicultural Award at the American Alliance of Theatre & Education's National Conference. This year's AATE Awards Ceremony took place at the Roundabout Theatre Company's Laura Pels Theatre on Monday, August 5. Justin Frieman Charles, Ghostlight founder and theatre teacher at RLHS, was present to accept the award on behalf of the program.
The Ann Flagg Multicultural Award honors an individual, organization or company who has made significant contributions to the field of theatre/drama for youth or arts education dealing with multicultural issues and/or reaching diverse audiences and constituencies. The award is named in honor of Ann Flagg, who worked as an elementary drama teacher in the Evanston, Illinois School District 65 and as a director and playwright at Karamu House in Cleveland, Ohio.
Ghostlight Readers Theatre was created in late January 2017 by Justin Frieman Charles as the manifestation of the pledge Round Lake High School Theatre took as part of The Ghostlight Project on January 19, 2017. That pledge was to join in solidarity with other theatres across the country through a shared commitment to greater inclusion, participation, and compassion in our theaters and our communities through the creation of "brave spaces." All performances are free to students and donations are collected to support a non-profit charity whose mission aligns with the production. In order to involve students and reach out to audiences not already engaging with our school's theatre program, Ghostlight Readers Theatre created two original pieces from student interviews over the past two years.
More information about Ghostlight Readers Theatre and its 2019-2020 can be found at: