ACT! Achieve & Connect Through Theatre
  
A contract for services for Project SUCCESS was funded by year a three-year grant from the United States Department of Educations Cultural Partnerships for At-Risk Children and Youth Program, from 2002-2005. Saint Paul Public Schools was one of nineteen districts nationwide to receive a grant. Saint Paul Public School's project, called Achieve & Connect through Theatre, or ACT!, created a partnership with Project SUCCESS, a nonprofit organization, and two Saint Paul middle schools.
ACT!

Project SUCCESS is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to inspire young people to imagine, believe in, and act upon the possibilities in their own lives using school-based workshops and theater. Under the auspices of a contract for services with Saint Paul Public Schools, Project SUCCESS provided a counseling and theater arts program for all students integrated into language arts classes. The core curriculum, taught in conjunction with the teaching of language arts classes, was developed and tested in other sites. There were three interrelated parts:

 

1. School-based Workshops: Eight monthly workshops for students each year conducted by a Project SUCCESS Program Facilitator who worked alongside English/Language Arts teachers in all classes.

2. Theater Experiences: Support for all students, as well as their teachers and families, attended between 5-10 professionally-produced plays and musicals, with transportation and child care provided, as well as facilitated post-show discussions with cast members. Among the fifteen theaters who donated tickets were Guthrie Theater, Ordway Center for the Performing Arts, and Penumbra Theatre Company.

3. Special Projects: Student-developed play productions; one-on-one assistance and counseling for those who needed extra help in locating the resources to achieve their goals (e.g. college counseling).

Project SUCCESS is currently, and very successfully implemented in Humboldt Junior High School and Washington Middle School.