New Lebanon School Students Set to Perform Winnie the Pooh Kids

On Monday, 16 New Lebanon School 5th graders had their final dress rehearsal for the musical Winnie the Pooh Kids, which will be performed for family and friends on Tuesday night.

The theater program at the school is made possible by a grant from the Greenwich Alliance for Education.

The director is Carol Pugliano-Martin, who is an ALP teacher at the school. She wrote the grant application that resulted in a $28,000 grant from the Alliance.

“This is the second year of the grant,” said Julie Faryniarz, executive director of the Alliance.

“The students enjoyed it so much last year,” she added. “It’s a great opportunity for them to perform and learn lines and really rise to the occasion for their classmates, the younger kids in school and their parents.”

The musical represents just a portion of the full $28,000 grant.

Students in all grades will attend live performances at both the Ridgefield Playhouse an at Purchase. There is a group called Playgroup Theater who visit the school to do programming with all of the grades.

“It’s all about getting up, and movement and performing,” Faryniarz said. “Carol’s grant said there is a direct positive correlation to performance in theater and academics.”

“It had such an incredible impact last year, and there was such enthusiasm,” Faryniarz said. “The teacher community is all behind it. There’s loads of spirit behind the program.”

“Carol is an amazing champion behind all of this,” Reed Newberry who is a member of the Greenwich Alliance for Education Board said of Ms Pugliano-Martin.

Faryniarz said First County Bank Foundation provided a portion of the grant to the Greenwich Alliance that made the theater program possible.