New Hope High School will soon offer a drama program, thanks to the efforts of Julie Duke, who teaches English, creative writing and public speaking at the school.
Duke learned in August that New Hope was one of 13 schools across the nation to receive a Touching Lives Through Theatre grant from Pioneer Drama Service, a Colorado-based play publisher specializing in scripts and resources for school, community and children’s theater performances.
Duke plans to use the $500 grant to establish New Hope’s first drama program, producing the inaugural performance by the end of the year.
“We are very excited and can’t wait to get started,” Duke said via email.
New Hope was the only school in Mississippi to receive the grant. Okolona High School and Prentiss Christian School received grants in 2010.
“We had many very qualified applicants, yet New Hope High School’s application stood out because of their long-term vision for a new drama program that will strengthen and encourage student growth,” Pioneer Publisher Steven Fendrich said in a statement.
The company also sponsors Sharing Through Theatre, through which Pioneer matches royalty donations by playwrights, distributing the funds to the American Red Cross, Habitat for Humanity, Scholarship America and UNICEF.
Carmen K. Sisson is the former news editor at The Dispatch.
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