Community Cue: Conversations Inspired by the Stage
This series of free events, open to the general public, welcomes the community to explore a theme or topic inspired by an upcoming show. Community Cues elicit impactful conversation from attendees around these themes, with moderated events featuring local experts, teaching artists or members of the featured production's cast, crew or creative team. Community Cues take place at community sites around the Charlotte region, as well as at Blumenthal venues.
Sign up for Community Cue email list
Bring more voices to the conversation! Know a great location for a Community Cue or want to host? Email educationdepartment@blumenthalarts.org.
Current Offerings
Community Cue: 1776
Lunch and Learn on Tuesday, June 6. Join us for a lunch and learn with cast members from the next Broadway musical in this year's season, 1776!
Link to register, click HERE
Community Cue: Ain't Too Proud
More details coming soon!
Past Offerings
Community Cue: Come From Away
Join us for a lunch and learn with Jim Knubel, a local man whose own story was brought to life in the award-winning Broadway musical, Come From Away. You won't want to miss this incredible story!
This program is a Community Cue, sponsored by the Blumenthal Performing Arts Education Department.
A Soldier's Play
Jagged Little Pill: The ways substance abuse by a parent can impact a family
In Jagged Little Pill, MJ – a wife and mother, battles addiction to pain medication after an accident. In this Community Cue, we’ll hear from our partners at Anuvia Prevention and Recovery Center about the many ways that a parent’s addiction can negatively impact all members of a family. We will also learn about the wrap around services available in the Charlotte area offered to families of loved ones battling addition. Don’t miss this important and impactful conversation.
Dear Evan Hansen: QPR Suicide Prevention Training
Mental health, suicide in teens, bullying, and loneliness are themes prevalent in DEAR EVAN HANSEN. For this Community Cue, we are partnering with Mental Health America to deliver this important, impactful, and life-saving training. QPR stands for Question, Persuade, Refer and the training teaches three steps as an emergency response to someone in crisis and has been used to prevent suicide. It’s the most widely taught suicide prevention training in the world. This training usually costs $30 per person but will be offered at no cost to anyone attending this event and attendees will receive a certification upon completion.
To Kill a Mockingbird: Julius Chambers and the Fight for Civil Rights in Charlotte
In 1965 De Kirkpatrick, a white student, and Jimmie Lee Kirkpatrick, a Black student were classmates at predominantly white Myers Park High School. When Jimmie Lee, a stand out on the football field was not elected to the prestigious Shrine Bowl, Julius Chambers filed a lawsuit, alleging racism as the reason for Jimmie Lee being snubbed. An incredible story of friendship, bravery, and the ways we continue to fight the legacy of the institution of slavery. We'll discuss De and Jimmie Lee's story as well as Julius Chambers, now the namesake of Chambers High School. This event will take place just weeks after the first anniversary of the renaming of the high school from Zebulon B. Vance High School (former slave-owner and officer in the confederate army) to Julius L. Chambers High School (civil rights leader, attorney, and educator).
*Please consider the themes, actions, and words in this story when considering the age of attendants at this event. Race, racism, and racially-motivated violence will be topics of discussion.
To Kill a Mockingbird: Art as a form of Protest
Part of the Wednesday Night Live Series, we invite you to this Community Cue held at the Mint Museum Uptown.
This panel discussion will be moderated by Jamila Brown, Artist and member of the curatorial staff at the Mint. Panelists will include Dammit Wesley, Curator and one of Charlotte's Black Lives Matter muralists; Pamela Nixon-McCarter, Equity Lead at Charlotte Mecklenburg Library; and Attorney Micheal Littlejohn who specializes in discrimination and civil rights law. Join us as we discuss the story told in one of the country's classic novels, how and why the story continues to be relevant and how both the visual and performing arts can be used to protest violations of civil rights.
*Please consider the themes, actions, and words in this story when considering the age of participants of this event. Race, racism, and racially-motivated violence will be topics of discussion.
"Far from the home I love..."
As the national tour of Fiddler on the Roof arrives in Charlotte bringing its familiar songs, humor and bittersweet storyline centered on Tevye, his family and the close-knit community of Anatevka. What makes this story, first told nearly 60 years ago, relevant today is that it is set-in modern-day Ukraine.
On Wednesday, June 1 at 5:30pm, Blumenthal Performing Arts invite you to a Community Cue: The Refugee Resettlement Process with a pre-show program inspired by Fiddler on the Roof.
The FREE event will include live klezmer music (a Jewish instrumental style with roots in Eastern Europe), local band Viva Klezmer! will play a medley of songs from Fiddler as well as traditional klezmer tunes. The group will also explain the cultural significance of the music and other aspects of Jewish tradition.
Then Laura Jones, Assistant Regional Director of Refugee Services with Catholic Charities, will speak about the refugee resettlement process and how the Charlotte community can help new arrivals.
For a more in depth read on the subject and how you can support, please read Liz Rothaus Bertrand's article.