2025-26 dates and information coming soon!
KITTY HAWK - A Musical Adventure
Scientific discovery comes alive through the arts in this STEAM-powered program.
Kitty Hawk is the second component of the Arsht Center’s Learning Through the Arts program, which ensures that all Miami-Dade County youth experience three meaningful touchpoints with the performing arts for free during their K-12 careers. Kitty Hawk launched in 2017 and is a live theater performance and Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math (STEAM) initiative that aims to educate all 25,000 seventh graders in Miami-Dade County Public Schools about the Wright brothers’ world-changing discovery of flight. Kitty Hawk sparks creative thinking and equips middle school teachers to reach beyond traditional teaching methods to improve STEAM learning in the classroom.
- The Musical: An original, Broadway-style production commissioned by the Arsht Center brings to the stage one of the greatest stories in American history — Wilbur and Orville Wright’s discovery of human flight. Kitty Hawk is written by Tom Bryant, with music and lyrics by Erik Della Penna. Students are transported to the Arsht Center each year at no cost to them or their schools.
- Arts-Integrated Curriculum: The show is accompanied by a state-aligned curriculum created by a collaborative team from the Arsht Center and Miami-Dade County Public Schools. The Center hosts free teacher workshops to share curriculum with seventh grade educators from across the county.
- Afterschool Workshop Series: Students at schools that lack access to high-quality STEAM programs receive hands-on learning opportunities to further enhance their theater experience. These seventh graders discover, create and analyze their own inventions while working with local teachers, scientists, artists and aviation professionals.
Teachers:
Click here to download the Kitty Hawk Guide.
Please check back for information on how to support this award-winning STEAM initiative today!
To learn more about this program, contact our education department at education@arshtcenter.org.
Transforming STEM to STEAM, the program targets populations underrepresented in STEM career tracks. Kitty Hawk addresses barriers to science and math education among young Latinx, Black and female students in Miami-Dade County Public Schools — the second largest “minority-majority” school system in the United States — by integrating the Arts into Science, Technology, Engineering & Math learning.
Nathan Allen founded The House Theatre of Chicago with friends in the year 2001 and led the company as artistic director. Writing and directing credits include Death and Harry Houdini, The Sparrow, Rose and the Rime, and The Hammer Trinity (The Iron Stag King, The Crownless King, and The Excelsior King.) He also wrote and starred in The Valentine Trilogy (San Valentino and The Melancholy Kid, Curse of the Crying Heart, and Valentine Victorious) and directed The Magnificents by Dennis Watkins, with whom he created the weekly magic show, The Magic Parlour.
Allen's work has been seen on the stages of The House, The Steppenwolf Merle Reskin Garage Theatre, The Adrienne Arsht Center, The Stoneham Theatre in Boston, Strawdog Theatre, The Neo-Futurarium, Collaboraction and The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Allen has received acknowledgements from the Joseph Jefferson Awards, The Orgie Awards and The American College Theatre Festival. He has been named an associate artist at the Adrienne Arsht Center, and received the Emerging Leader Award from his alma mater, Southern Methodist University.
In Season 13, Allen was the co-writer and director for the plays of The Hammer Trinity.
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