Running July 2 – July 19 2026
Schoolhouse Rock Live! follows Tom, a young school teacher who is nervous about his first day of teaching. When he tries to relax by watching TV, various characters representing facets of his personality emerge from the screen and show him how to win his students over with imagination and music, through such songs as “Just a Bill,” “Lolly, Lolly, Lolly” and “Conjunction Junction.”
This pop culture phenomenon is based on the Emmy Award-winning 1970s Saturday morning cartoon series that taught history, grammar, math and more through clever, tuneful songs. Fun for the whole family! Join us this summer for theatre under the stars!
PLACE / TIME
Place: Tom’s house.
Time: The present. The morning of Tom’s first day of teaching.
Run-Time: 2 hours, including a 10-minute intermission
Show your support and make a difference by donating to the Theatre of the Big Bend here.
Listen to our radio interview on the local radio station!!
A NOTE FROM THE DIRECTOR
This show was born in the early 1990’s in Chicago. Generation X, (generally defined as kids born between 1965 and 1980), was coming of age, and the early art of the X-ers was a reflection of the influences of childhood.
And for Generation X, that means television. We were the first (and maybe the only) generation to be raised by television – the rise of the internet and smartphones has diminished television’s formerly inescapable influence considerably. We were the first Sesame Street generation. We were latch-key kids coming home to divorced or two-working-parent households, which meant spending afternoons after school alone until Mom or Dad got home from work. Television was our babysitter, our friend, and our cultural touchstone. And in those days, with only three major networks, Generation X was in some ways tied together by the common experience of what we saw on TV.
The 90’s theater scene in Chicago reflected this influence. Annoyance Theater broke ground in 1990 with Real Live Brady Bunch, where actors recreated episodes of the popular sitcom by transcribing reruns and faithfully playing them out on stage. What started out as a playful idea lead to standing-room-only crowds and even patrons paying half-price to watch the stage show (of a TV show deep into reruns, mind you) on a fuzzy TV in the lobby. Real Live Brady Bunch was a massive hit, transferred to Off-Broadway, and launched the careers of Jane Lynch, Andy Richter, and Melanie Hutsell.
A couple of years later, Theater BAM opened Schoolhouse Rock Live!, and like Real Live Brady Bunch, the show played to sellout crowds and transferred to New York. I remember sitting in the audience in tiny Cabaret Voltaire in Wrigleyville, a jaded 20-something proto-hipster, and feeling a little teary about my childhood. I was shocked to discover that I still knew all the words to all the songs. Gen X first experienced these songs alone. But for one night, for the duration of the show, surrounded by a like-minded audience seeing their television friends come to life on the stage, Gen X didn’t have to see childhood as lonely.
The really striking thing about Schoolhouse Rock Live! is the incredible music and the staying power of the messages these songs convey. One of the questions I ask myself for any show I direct is “why does an audience need to see this show right now?”
I think the messages of this show answer that question more directly than anything I could write. Every one of these songs has reminders that I think we desperately need today. I hope you enjoy this talented cast and Schoolhouse Rock Live! as much as I’ve enjoyed directing it.
PS: I bet you’ll be singing these songs for days after.
Bret Scott
SPECIAL THANKS
Madelline Mathis, Travis and Bettina Mathis, Teofila Flores, Joe and Betse Esparza, Vince Parras, Jennifer Hatch, Martin Benevich and the staff at KVLF, Sydney Walden, Liz Adams, Heather Mace-Meador, Chris Ruggia, Anita Banegas, Dr. Laura Payne, Dr. Bernie Canteñs, Dr. Carlos Hernandez, Dr. John Klingeman, Loretta Garcia, David Creek, Yuan Zhou, and Martha Bumpas.
SPONSORS
Sul Ross State University
The Brown Foundation
City of Alpine
First Presbyterian Church of Marfa
Front Street Books
Law Offices of Julie Balovich
Denizens.Nexus
Americana Salon
THEATRE OF THE BIG BEND DONORS
Travis and Bettina Mathis
Paul Echart and Robert Baldwin
James McDermott
George Bradley
Alpine Montessori School
John Dupree
Sondra Lynch
Hugh and Mary-Beth Garrett
Marshall and Patricia McCall
Janet Moeller
Constance M. Parker in memory of Christi
Jane Meador
Grant and Sherri Roane
Peter W. Gum
Timothy Wright
Linda K. Hedges and Richard Reese
David Schutte
Kathy and Albert Bork
NOTE:
The show will be performed at the SRSU Motion Capture Studio, behind the Kokernot Outdoor Theatre
Amphitheater.
Event policy:
Refunds issued due to cancelled performances.
Photography and video recording strictly prohibited.
