Theater
|
For more than two decades, William Strauss has
been active in theater, as a director,
writer, and performer—and
as co-founder of a nationwide program serving
high school theater and journalism students. |
 |
||
|
|
In 1981, William Strauss co-founded the Capitol Steps. At the time, he was Chief Counsel and Staff Director of a U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Energy and Nuclear Proliferation, and it was that subcommittee staff that put on the first-ever Capitol Steps show, for the Christmas Party of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The Capitol Steps became a professional act in 1985. Since then, they have performed nearly 7,000 shows, have released 25 albums (most recently “Between Iraq and a Hard Place”), completed five Off-Broadway runs, often with Strauss in the opening cast. Strauss directs the troupe, occasionally performs with it, and is best-known for this “lirty dies” backwards-talk comic routine, samples of which can be downloaded here. For information about how to see or book the Capitol Steps, or order their albums, see the www.capitolsteps.com web site. To learn the full story of the Capitol Steps, see the book Strauss coauthored with Elaina Newport, Sixteen Scandals. |
|
|
|
||
|
|
In 1999, as a personal response to the Columbine tragedy—and while writing Millennials Rising—William Strauss co-founded the Cappies program for high school theater students. Through the Cappies, high school theater and journalism students are trained as theater critics. They attend and review each other’s performances, under the guidance of high school theater teacher “mentors” (who volunteer their time). On deadline, the student critics write 300- to 400-word reviews. The teacher-mentors select the best-written reviews, which are forwarded to newspapers for publication. At the end of the year, the critics serve as awards judges, voting for “Cappie” nominations and awards, which are presented a few weeks later at a large, formal, Tony's-style Cappies Gala in venues like the Concert Hall of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. There are currently 14 Cappies programs across the U.S. and Canada, with ones in Ottawa, Philadelphia, Orange County (CA), South Florida, Cincinnati, and the National Capital Area. Major newspapers across the U.S.—the Baltimore Sun, Cincinnati Enquirer, Dallas Morning News, Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, Kansas City Star, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Washington Post, and many others—have published many hundreds of reviews under student byline. Each summer, top “Cappie” award winners from all programs gather in Washington, D.C., as part of the “Cappies National Theater,” to workshop new shows at the Kennedy Center Theater Lab. To learn more about the Cappies, or how to start a new Cappies program, visit www.cappies.com. |
|
