Austin, TX – Due to popular demand, Austin children’s theatre company Pollyanna Theatre is extending the run of its reimagined on-line version of Mystery of the Green Teeth Ghost, with additional performances being held August 8 & 9 at 2 p.m. Tickets, which are $14 per child, are available at www.PollyannaTheatreCompany.org.

Playwright Holly Hepp-Gavin transformed the stage version of Mystery of the Green Teeth Ghost into a new Zoom version that casts audience members in various roles. The play invites young audiences to help solve a mystery using math games and tricks. “Each child gets a role, complete with suggested props and costumes,” said Pollyanna Artistic Director Judy Matetzschk-Campbell. “Children ages 8 to 11 have fun reading short scripts and gathering clues.”

Matetzschk-Campbell said popularity of the initial Zoom performance of Mystery of the Green Teeth ghost inspired the theatre company to offer additional performances. “As arts organizations we’re all re-inventing ways to reach our audiences,” she said. “This is one way to not only reach our audience, but to let our audience become part of the production.”

Writer and professional theatre-for-youth facilitator Holly Hepp-Galvan joins the Zoom performance to facilitate and direct the fun. “Young audiences enjoy solving both the mystery and the math,” she said. “And they get lots of chances to laugh!”

The first interactive performance of Mystery of the Green Teeth Ghost was held on June 27 and additional performances will be scheduled based on demand. The play can also be booked for private Zoom birthday parties.

Like the rest of the Austin performing arts community, Pollyanna has been impacted by the COVID-19 quarantine but has pivoted to offer on-line content that both supports parents and educators and offers fun for its young audiences. The Zoom version of Mystery of the Green Teeth Ghost is the latest on-line offering from the company. Pollyanna Storytime features dozens of books read by Pollyanna actors and supporters. Distance learning options include lessons for grade school and preschool students. “We’re offering these resources free on our website as a way to teach, entertain and connect with children,” Matetzschk-Campbell said. “We’re all eager to get back to the theater, but in the meanwhile we’ll do everything we can to help keep arts education thriving.”

ABOUT POLLYANNA THEATRE COMPANY, a resident company of The Long Center and part of the city of Austin’s New Artist Access Program: Founded in 2000 to promote theatre’s role as a powerful teaching tool, the Pollyanna Theatre Company reaches more than 20,000 school children each year with a series of top-quality theatrical productions. Pollyanna produces only original plays, commissioning playwrights from around the nation to create timely works for children that engage, motivate and inspire. As one of the most active professional companies in Central Texas to produce Theatre for the Very Young, Pollyanna illustrates the link between theatre, literacy and academic readiness, a connection that is furthered by the company’s partnership with the early literacy organization BookSpring. In addition to regular productions, Pollyanna also offers drama classes for homeschoolers and in 2018, Pollyanna was selected, along with four other arts organizations, to be a part of Austin’s inaugural Village of the Arts, which seeks to bring arts education to underserved communities while expanding affordable creative space.