Wheelock Family Theatre welcomes audiences to a presentation of Lord of the Flies, as Soap Actress, Victoria Rowell participates in the celebration festivities.
Wheelock Family Theatre (WFT), the professional Equity theatre of Wheelock College, continues to create artistic productions which engage, educate and enrich our diverse community. The theatre company is a significant organization, entertaining audiences from across the city of Boston and throughout the state. For twenty-five years, the focus has been “to improve the quality of life for children and their families, to break down the barriers that separate people of different backgrounds and to make theatre a vital force in the community.” Co-Chairman to the special event celebration, is Boston bred actor, Matt Damon, who attended his first drama class at Wheelock Family Theatre, successfully starting his development as an actor. Each year the Wheelock Family Theatre provides an outlet for hundreds of students across the Commonwealth who are seeking to perform, perfect their craft, or attend shows in order to unite them in a shared experience of live theatre.
Through the organization’s commitment to family and children, it has gained recognition; as the Winner of the 2005 Commonwealth Award, Massachusetts highest honors in Humanities/Arts/Science, as well as the John F. Kennedy Center’s 2005 LEAD Award for Excellence in Accessibility Leadership.
To kick-off the 25th anniversary celebration, WFT presents Lord of the Flies (October 28th- November 20th, 2005) featuring a local cast. Lord of the Flies as the first performance of the season, embodies many of the values behind the Wheelock Family Theatre and its initiatives for audiences to identify with the characters and their life situations, participate in problem solving and using creative thinking to stimulate the imagination and encourage racial harmony.
New England native, Victoria Rowell, the Emmy-nominated, The Young and The Restless soap-actress, as well as fellow Co-Chairman to the Wheelock Family Theatre 25th gala, plans to support the company by attending a pre-opening invitation-only reception prior to the performance hosted by the Wheelock College’s president, Jackie Jenkins-Scott. During Victoria’s stay, she will also promote, The Rowell Foster Children’s Positive Plan, as an advocate and established scholarship fund for foster care children across the country.
About Wheelock Family Theatre
Wheelock Family Theatre (WFT), an extension of Wheelock College, is an award-winning, non-profit, equity theatre providing affordable, professional theatre for both adults and youth. WFT was the first New England recipient of the prestigious Actors’ Equity Association Rosetta LeNoire Award recognizing its outstanding contribution to increasing diversity in the American theatre. WFT is one of the only theatres in America to offer a theatre education program for deaf teen-agers. It has received national acclaim for its social and educational innovation from the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities/National Endowment for the Arts at a special White House ceremony. WFT is the only theatre in New England with an education program sustained by a professional theatre and an institution of higher education, Wheelock College, whose mission is focused on child development, early childhood education, and improving the quality of life for children and families.
Wheelock Family Theatre
Lord of the Flies: Oct. 28 – Nov. 20
Tickets: $20 - $12
Phone: 617-879-2300 http://www.wheelock.edu/wft
Victoria Rowell, Actress
At eight years old Ms. Rowell received a scholarship to the Cambridge School of Ballet, through the Ford Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. She successfully went on to grace the pages of countless magazines, soon choosing to become an actress. Since then she has established a remarkable acting career in both television and film. An Emmy-nominated actress, and the recipient of seven NAACP Image awards, her credits including the television series, The Cosby Show, Diagnosis Murder, The Young and The Restless. Some of her films include: The Distinguished Gentleman, Dumb and Dumber, Eve’s Bayou and Feast of All Saints. With the founding of The Rowell Foster Children’s Positive Plan she is succeeding in her goal, leading the cause of advocacy for foster children throughout the United States.
