From the Egyptian to the classroom with Todd Oliver

Last week the Egyptian Theatre in partnership with Tails Humane Society had the honor of working with four local elementary schools. Littlejohn Elementary School, Gwendolyn Brooks Elementary School, Genoa Elementary School, and Kingston Elementary School all welcomed Todd Oliver and his talking dog Irving to do a school assembly with their students. Todd Oliver is a ventriloquist who uses not only puppets but his very own talking dog!

Todd performed at the Egyptian Theatre last Saturday but before his performance here at the theatre he wanted to visit local elementary schools and do as many shows for the kids as he could. The Egyptian Theatre had never done anything like this before and thought this was a great idea! So we put together four different shows at four different elementary schools at no cost to them the week leading up to Todd’s big show at the theatre.

The show consisted of not only entertainment but a very good lesson for all the young children watching. Todd talked about the importance of school and listening to your teachers. He told the students how he fulfilled his dream of becoming a ventriloquist all because of school and the help of his teachers, and that anyone can fulfill their dreams if they stay in school and get an education.

Both the children and teachers loved the shows and laughed throughout his show! The students loved being able to interact with Todd and feel like they were part of the show themselves. Many of the students loved the show so much they came to the theatre and saw Todd and Irving for a second time! After one of the shows a young girl and her dad walked up to Todd and the dad said, “I guess I know what we are doing this Saturday night, she could not stop talking about the talking dog!” The teachers loved it too, one teacher said she was glad the theatre called and set this up because many of the kids would never have gotten an opportunity to see something like this. Seeing a talking dog definitely was a once in a lifetime opportunity.

We hope that this is the start of continued educational outreach that the Egyptian Theatre can provide to schools in the area.  Visiting over 1,500 students in just a few days was extremely rewarding.  A huge thank you to the schools, their principals and teachers for allowing us to come in with Todd and Irving!