For the sixth year, Creede Repertory Theatre brought its Young Audience Outreach Tour to Northwest Kansas schools, providing students with an entertaining and educational performance.

Playwright Diana Grisanti was commissioned to create a brand-new musical theater play for young audiences grades K-6 entitled Coyote and the Counting Game.

Each student who saw the play received a free copy of an original book designed to help support literacy while connecting the themes of the play into classroom activities. Teachers were provided with a study guide to ensure that the material covered was useful to the curriculum and integrated with other coursework.

The 2024 tour was extremely successful, reaching 7,000 young people throughout 47 schools in rural Northwest Kansas.

Bobbi Murray, principal of Eisenhower Elementary in Norton, said the music, rhythm, singing, crowd interaction, connection of math to music and character lesson provided in the show were much appreciated.

“BEST ONE YET!!! Thoroughly enjoyable, interactive & high energy,” she said. “It was a fun-filled way to learn about other cultures. My bilingual kids LOVE it! Please come back!”

The Hansen Foundation sponsored the performances, making them available free of charge to area schools that participated as part of the NWKansas LEARNS initiative.