StarShine Theatre Workshop
The StarShine Theatre Workshop is a partnership between The Players Guild of Dearborn and Neighborhood Services Organization (NSO). NSO is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit human services agency celebrating its 61st anniversary serving Metro Detroit’s most vulnerable citizens. The NSO mission is to change lives through innovative human services that harness the power of choice, continues to impact children, youth, adults, and seniors they serve.
StarShine Theatre is a five-day workshop to teach special needs youth about theatre and to give them the opportunity to perform on stage. The workshop started in 2009 and has continued every year since with the exception of 2013 when the Guild was undergoing extensive renovations.
The 2018 workshop culminated in a presentation of Bugz- The Musical directed by Guild member, Mary Beth Kinnell. Sadly, Mary Beth, who was the founding director of Starshine, passed away shortly after the performance. She left a lasting impression on all the young people and members that took part in the program and she will not be forgotten by the Players Guild.
Bugz – The Musical in rehearsal.
Click the links below to see a newspaper article about the 2018 Starshine Theatre Workshop and the workshop playbill.
The 2019 workshop, which marked the tenth anniversary of StarShine, culminated in a presentation of Hats – The Musical directed by Guild member, Brian Townsend, with musical direction by Guild member, Anna Dewey. This production was dedicated to Mary Beth Kinnell, who passed away shortly after the 2018 performance. Mary Beth directed six StarShine Workshops and she left a lasting impression on all the participants and members who took part in the program. Mary Beth would have been happy to see that 2019 marked both a record number of participants and audience members at the show.
To see a CDTV segment about StarShine Click here.