
Educator Series
Let the Educator Series inspire and rekindle your love of learning with and through the arts. This year, we are focused on providing high-quality arts education experiences for K-12 audiences at no cost. We add to that quality professional development experiences for educators that will enliven a passion for learning and spark an element of excitement and fun for all educators.
Please be in touch with Christy Chenausky (chenauskyc@appstate.edu) ahead of any educator series event to request a certificate of completion.
There are no upcoming events at this time
Study Guides
Every APPlause! Series event has an accompanying study guide. Program study guides give context, expand a student’s basic background and understanding of the discipline and can connect to the Common Core and North Carolina Essential Standards and serve to broaden and deepen the artistic experience for young audiences. Teachers are encouraged to use study guides to give their students a chance to prepare and connect to or reflect on the performances.
2023-24 Season
- Sonia de los Santos
- Marching Mountaineers
- Indigenous Enterprise
- Terrance Simien and the Zydeco Experience: Creole for Kidz and the History of Zydeco
- Sing and Swing — a Jazz at Lincoln Center PRESENTS Production
- The Kennedy Center’s Show Way The Musical
- TheatreworksUSA’s DOT DOT DOT: A New Musical
2022-23 Season
- Dan & Claudia Zanes: Songs of Streets and Sunshine — Brooklyn
- The Trolleys by Sara West
- ArtsPower Theatre on Demand: Laura Ingalls Wilder
- Western Piedmont Symphony: Explore the Orchestra!
- Natalie MacMaster and Donnell Leahy: A Celtic Family Christmas
- Pierce Freelon: Black to the Future
- KODO
- TheatreWorks USA’s The Pout-Pout Fish
2021-22 Season
- ArtsPower Theatre on Demand — From The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
- Sonia De Los Santos Latin American Family Music: En Casa Con Sonia
- Reggie Harris: Music and the Underground Railroad
- Ellis Paul: The Hero in You
- CONTRA-TIEMPO: Activist Dance Theater
- Glenis Redmond: Telling Stories through Poetry
2020-21 Season
- Nobuntu
- American Shakespeare Center’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream
- Billy Jonas: Who’s Gonna Make Our Music?!
- Hayes School of Music Holiday Concert
- Flamenco Vivo Carlota Santana
- Donna Washington Storyteller: Fun, Foolery and Folklore!
- Best of the Appalachian Dance Ensemble
- Hobey Ford’s Golden Rod Puppets: The Rainbow Bridge and Other Tales
2019-20 Season
- Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia: The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Other Eric Carle Favourites
- Taj Express
- Kraut Creek Ramblers
- Magic Tree House: Showtime with Shakespeare
- Peter and the Starcatcher by Rick Elice
2018-19 Season
- The World of Musicals
- Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour: Student Edition
- TheaterworksUSA’s “Magic School Bus”
- Ballet Folklórico de México
- Didgeridoo Down Under
- NC Symphony
- Theaterworks USA’s “Pete the Cat”
2017-18 Season
- Black Violin
- Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour: Student Edition
- Natalie MacMaster & Donnell Leahy
- Golden Dragon Acrobats
- Appalachian Dance Ensemble
- Ailey II: The Next Generation of Dance
- Theatreworks USA’s “Click, Clack, Moo”
2016-17 Season
- Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer
- The Nile Project
- Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour: Student Edition
- North Carolina Youth Tap Ensemble, “Percussive Dance Review”
- Theatreworks USA’s “We the People”
- Theatreworks USA’s “We the People”
- Appalachian Theatre & Dance, “Selkie: Between Land and Sea”
- Havana Cuba All-Stars
2015-16 Season
- Contra Tiempo Urban Latin Dance Theater
- Junie B.’s Essential Survival Guide to School
- Junie B.’s Essential Survival Guide to School
- The Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia: The Very Hungry Caterpillar
- The Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia: The Very Hungry Caterpillar
- The Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia: Little Cloud
- The Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia: The Mixed-Up Chameleon
- The Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia: “The Very Hungry Caterpillar & Other Eric Carle Favourites”
- Banff Mountain Film Festival
- American Shakespeare Center: “Julius Caesar”
- Doktor Kaboom Science Comedy: “Live Wire! The Electricity Tour”
- David Holt: “An Appalachian Musical Journey”
- Appalachian State University’s Marching Mountaineers
- Lakota Sioux Indian Dance Theatre
2014-15 Season
- The Diary of Anne Frank
- Koresh Dance Company: Styles of Dance
- Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour
- And Justice for All: America and the Civil Rights Movement
- Holmes: The Art of Deduction (ONE ACT)
- North Carolina Symphony: “What Makes Music MUSIC?”
2013-14 Season
Virtual Field Trip: Behind the Scenes at the Schaefer Center for the Performing Arts
This collection of virtual tours takes you behind the scenes at the Schaefer Center for the Performing Arts. Meet our staff and see parts of our facility that are generally reserved for staff and artists on performance days. From the box office to the spotlight booth – come on in and get to know this state of the art venue, and the people who make everything work smoothly on performance days!
About the Schaefer Center:
The Schaefer Center for the Performing Arts is dedicated to enhancing the artistic and cultural landscape of Appalachian State University and the surrounding region by providing a venue devoted to the year-round presentation of campus and community events that enrich, educate, inspire, and promote quality of life.

Every season, affordable music, dance, film, and theatre events are offered to students and their teachers from K-12 classrooms across the region. Students experience everything from high-energy acrobatics and Appalachian music to international dance and literary classics brought to life through theatrical productions. LEARN MORE >>
Contact
For more information about APPlause!, please contact…
Christy Chenausky
Director of Arts Education and Outreach
828-262-6084 ext. 109
chenauskyc@appstate.edu
APPlause! Sponsors
CHRISTINE PETTI OPPORTUNITY FUND
.