The realization hit him one day on the job. This project �鶹��Ʒ S�s legacy and impact were going to outlive him.

�鶹��Ʒ S�When I think back on every cool thing I �鶹��Ʒ S�ve gotten to do so far in my career, it does all kind of lead back to Orlando Family Stage, �鶹��Ʒ S� Lowe says.

Lowe was 6 years old when his cub scout troop attended a show at the stage, which recently celebrated its 100th anniversary �鶹��Ʒ S� the last 25 of those years in partnership with UCF.

He eventually went through its Youth Academy, interned as a UCF theatre student on site, made industry connections and now regularly contracts work at the stage as a full-time lighting designer for Clair Global, a tech company that specializes in live production services.

Lowe �鶹��Ʒ S�s story is just one example of the countless ripple effects that have materialized from UCF �鶹��Ʒ S�s longstanding, collaborative partnership with a nationally recognized leader in the theater industry.

�鶹��Ʒ S�I �鶹��Ʒ S�ve watched kids come in and they �鶹��Ʒ S�re so shy and they can �鶹��Ʒ S�t do anything. But by the time they leave, they �鶹��Ʒ S�re not only signing up for the next show, they �鶹��Ʒ S�re leading the next show, �鶹��Ʒ S� says Paul Lartonoix, assistant dean for the College of Arts and Humanities and longtime Orlando Family Stage board member. �鶹��Ʒ S�Sometimes it �鶹��Ʒ S�s amazing at what it does. There �鶹��Ʒ S�s no reason to not be proud of it. It �鶹��Ʒ S�s doing great things for families. It �鶹��Ʒ S�s doing great things for kids. It �鶹��Ʒ S�s doing great things for our students, and it �鶹��Ʒ S�s awesome that it �鶹��Ʒ S�s being run by Knights. �鶹��Ʒ S�

A Partnership That Builds Community

Orlando Family Stage, founded in 1926 as part of the City of Orlando �鶹��Ʒ S�s Recreation Department, has evolved over the past 100 years while persevering through historic challenges including the Great Depression, World War II, the Great Recession and the COVID-19 pandemic.

UCF entered the picture in 2000 when former Orlando Mayor Glenda Hood and UCF President John C. Hitt formed a community coalition to bring the stage under UCF �鶹��Ʒ S�s oversight. At the time, the theater needed a major overhaul �鶹��Ʒ S� both to its physical home at Loch Haven Park and in programming �鶹��Ʒ S� to ensure it could thrive in the new millennium.

�鶹��Ʒ S�I know with great confidence we would not be sitting here today without UCF on board. We wouldn �鶹��Ʒ S�t have survived. �鶹��Ʒ S� �鶹��Ʒ S� Chris Brown �鶹��Ʒ S�05, Orlando Family Stage executive director and UCF theatre alum

�鶹��Ʒ S�We wanted it because we thought that space was an exceptional, it had tremendous potential, and UCF should be a part of it. That really was the driving force, �鶹��Ʒ S� says Lartonoix, who served as executive director on-loan and was instrumental in leading the early years of the partnership. �鶹��Ʒ S�And when things worked, it was fantastic. �鶹��Ʒ S�

The intervention proved to be a major catalyst for its impact in the community today, and for the world at large through the countless children and UCF graduates who have been affiliated with its programming and education.

�鶹��Ʒ S�I know with great confidence we would not be sitting here today without UCF on board. We wouldn �鶹��Ʒ S�t have survived, �鶹��Ʒ S� says Chris Brown �鶹��Ʒ S�05, Orlando Family Stage executive director and UCF theatre alum. �鶹��Ʒ S�To think that leaders came together and said, �鶹��Ʒ S�We don �鶹��Ʒ S�t want to lose a vital theater organization in our town, and we want to create an active and engaged partnership with the university where we can collectively do good things to serve young people in the world. �鶹��Ʒ S� It �鶹��Ʒ S�s very special. �鶹��Ʒ S�

Florida �鶹��Ʒ S�s Only Professional Theatre for Young Audiences

A major part of that partnership is UCF �鶹��Ʒ S�s MFA in theatre for young audiences program, which launched in 2004. The program has operated for the past two decades as Florida �鶹��Ʒ S�s only professional theatre for young audiences and is one of the most distinctive programs in the country with its unique graduate-training residency.

In addition to learning from the university �鶹��Ʒ S�s esteemed faculty, students gain practical experience with opportunities to work with professional artists and teach in Orlando Family Stage �鶹��Ʒ S�s award-winning Youth Academy, which offers camps, classes and experiences for every age level from infancy through teens.

The MFA program has seen graduates go on to work at some of the most prestigious theaters in the country, become educators at universities as far as Dublin and help run community theaters across the United States.

In addition to his leadership role, Brown teaches theatre management courses on UCF �鶹��Ʒ S�s campus. He says he believes an important part of his responsibility as an educator is to expand his students �鶹��Ʒ S� idea of where a career in the arts can take them.

�鶹��Ʒ S�We �鶹��Ʒ S�re helping them recognize that arts administration is creative work, �鶹��Ʒ S� he says. �鶹��Ʒ S�Writing a grant narrative, crafting a brand voice, planning a touring route or stewarding a donor relationship all require the same storytelling skills they bring to performance and production roles. �鶹��Ʒ S�

Instilling Bravery in Children

The stage �鶹��Ʒ S�s mission is to empower young people to be brave and empathetic.

Sure it sounds good, but more importantly, there �鶹��Ʒ S�s truth to the claim. Recent research by the UCF Department of Psychology provides evidence to support it.

The Orlando Family Stage �鶹��Ʒ S�s education team collaborated with associate professor Valerie Sims and senior lecturer Matthew Chin and more than a dozen undergraduate students from the Applied Cognition and Technology Lab along with associate professor of musical theatre Tara Deady �鶹��Ʒ S�07MFA on a study, which they are currently working on publishing. The study aimed to determine if the stage �鶹��Ʒ S�s programming delivers on its promise to promote creative engagement and bravery in children ages 1-5.

Because of the young age of the participants, traditional survey tools and written questionnaires wouldn �鶹��Ʒ S�t work. The team needed to get creative in a research approach that matched how children experience theatre.

The research team meticulously observed second by second footage of children and parent engagement during performances of Yo, Ho, Ho! Let �鶹��Ʒ S�s Go! �鶹��Ʒ S� an interactive, multi-sensory original production created by the stage �鶹��Ʒ S�s senior director of education Jennifer Adams-Carrasquillo �鶹��Ʒ S�11MFA.

�鶹��Ʒ S�We have evidence that theater participation really is beneficial to these very young kids. �鶹��Ʒ S� �鶹��Ʒ S� Matthew Chin, UCF psychology senior lecturer

They logged and quantified data through body language and audience responses. Early on, Sims and Chin say, children needed to be prompted by their parents to participate. However, as the show progressed, you can clearly see children initiating the participation on their own and parental involvement decreasing.

�鶹��Ʒ S�With this study we are able to say that it isn �鶹��Ʒ S�t just this thing that we think is true �鶹��Ʒ S� we have evidence that theater participation really is beneficial to these very young kids, �鶹��Ʒ S� Chin says.

In 2024-25 alone, more than 4,770 audience members attended Theatre for the Very Young productions like Yo, Ho, Ho! Let �鶹��Ʒ S�s Go!. Multiply those numbers year after year and the impact to the youth in our community is monumental.

The Next 100 Years

As the stage commemorates this special milestone in its history, it also acknowledges the scope of possibilities and impact ahead.

This year, when Gershwin Entertainment Group, who owns the theatrical rights for A Charlie Brown Christmas, needed a national touring partner to bring the show to life on stage around the country, they turned to the Orlando Family Stage to deliver. It became the highest revenue-generating show in the history of the organizatoin �鶹��Ʒ S�s performances in Orlando �鶹��Ʒ S�without counting the 32 cities it visited from New York City to Vancouver, Canada.

A partnership with the UCF Department of History is enabling the stage to create an archive of its materials from the last century as part of the RICHES Mosaic Interface, an online resource dedicated to collecting and sharing the stories of Central Florida.

Another is the inaugural Florida Children �鶹��Ʒ S�s Book Festival in partnership with Writer �鶹��Ʒ S�s Block Book Store and WUCF, which they hosted in February and plan to host annually to celebrate literature and the link between books, storytelling and live theater.

�鶹��Ʒ S�We all need to be aware of how special this place is. And we need to be so proud that our community has something like this. �鶹��Ʒ S� �鶹��Ʒ S� Chris Brown �鶹��Ʒ S�05, Orlando Family Stage executive director and UCF theatre alum

They look to expand the reach of Mind Matters, a program the stage initiated with UCF �鶹��Ʒ S�s psychology department and national playwrights to produce 10 original short plays about geared for teens about depression, anxiety, loneliness, isolation and other mental health challenges they face today. The plays serve as an educational resource for teachers to spark honest conversations on these topics with their students.

Brown envisions one day expanding the footprint of the building with more theater space, new classrooms and offices to help alleviate their bursting-at-the-seems infrastructure, so they can keep delivering on all the dreams they want to turn into reality and continue creating meaningful experiences for children and the audiences of tomorrow.

�鶹��Ʒ S�I can �鶹��Ʒ S�t get past the energy and the faces of busloads of kids coming in here every day, �鶹��Ʒ S� Brown says. �鶹��Ʒ S�We all need to be aware of how special this place is. And we need to be so proud that our community has something like this. �鶹��Ʒ S�

Celebrates the Arts Programming

You can catch live performances from the Theatre for Young Audiences program during April �鶹��Ʒ S�s UCF Celebrates the Arts festival at the Dr. Phillips Center in downtown Orlando.

Thursday, April 2 �鶹��Ʒ S� 7:30 p.m.
Hosted by Ashley Eckstein (Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Her Universe, HypeFriend!), this concert features performances that span musical styles and theatrical traditions, reflecting the many creative paths that begin at Orlando Family Stage.

*Featuring Micheal James Scott (Disney �鶹��Ʒ S�s Aladdin on Broadway), Leslie Carrera-Rudolph (Emmy Award-winning performer for Abby Cadabby, Sesame Street), Jack Griffo (Nickelodeon �鶹��Ʒ S�s The Thundermans), Davis Gaines (Broadway �鶹��Ʒ S�s longest running Phantom of the Opera), Michael Andrew (Composer and one of America �鶹��Ʒ S�s greatest interpreters of the American Songbook), Paul Vogt (Broadway �鶹��Ʒ S�s Hairspray and Chicago). Video appearances by Mandy Moore (This Is Us), Jasmine Forsberg (Broadway �鶹��Ʒ S�s Six and Here Lies Love), Clayton and Bella Grimm (Blippi), Broadway legend Norm Lewis and more.

*Artist lineup is updating and is subject to change.

Tuesday, April 7 �鶹��Ʒ S� 10 a.m.
When best friends Squiggle and Square move away from each other, they must find creative ways to keep communicating! Told through clowning, puppetry and music, Pen Pals is a 30-minute interactive play designed for 5 to 10-year-olds.

Saturday, April 11 �鶹��Ʒ S� 10 a.m.
Yo, Ho, Ho! Let �鶹��Ʒ S�s Go! is a 30-minute adventure designed especially for children ages 1 to 5 as a multi-sensory experience that invites them to help a pirate navigate the high seas. Together, they follow a treasure map, solve clues and chart the course forward.

The project, led by Amelia Lyons, associate professor of history and director of graduate programs, will engage UCF students in research and writing about veterans �鶹��Ʒ S� graves and monuments. In addition, UCF faculty and students will collaborate with Central Florida schools to produce interactive curriculums for K-12 students and organize a field trip to the cemetery in Bushnell, which is the county seat of Sumter County.

Involving students of all ages in the project will engage the community with the service and sacrifice of veterans, and will give undergraduate and graduate students a real-life lesson in professionalization, Lyons says.

�鶹��Ʒ S�This experience with primary research �鶹��Ʒ S� from identifying the subject and stories, to analyzing the sources to produce a narrative and becoming a published author �鶹��Ʒ S� is like no other, �鶹��Ʒ S� Lyons says.

�鶹��Ʒ S�Learning about the lives and stories of these soldiers is also teaching our students what a historian does, �鶹��Ʒ S� she says. �鶹��Ʒ S�It makes history real for them. �鶹��Ʒ S�

Luke Bohmer, a history graduate student, recently participated in a field research day at the cemetery. �鶹��Ʒ S�It is vital to go to where the history is, whether it’s a cemetery or an archive. This is more humanizing and palpable than any statistic could ever be, �鶹��Ʒ S� he says.

Janelle Malagon, an undergraduate, says that she has �鶹��Ʒ S�always had an interest in military history, and the VLP was a great hands-on experience where I had the unique opportunity to learn the stories of individual soldiers throughout American history. �鶹��Ʒ S�

The corresponding website exhibit created by the research team �鶹��Ʒ S� including Scot French, digital historian; Amy Giroux, a computer research specialist in ; and graduate student assistants �鶹��Ʒ S� will use software to map the research virtually, and UCF �鶹��Ʒ S�s RICHES Mosaic Interface to create a digital archive.

The public will also be able to participate in the project through an interactive element at the cemetery. Giroux will lead the team in the creation of an augmented-reality app, which will include student-authored biographies of veterans for visitors.

Students are already aware of the impact the program will have. Malagon says the digital components will allow relatives to learn something about their veteran in a way that would not have been possible without the technology available today.

The Florida National Cemetery is one of 135 cemeteries overseen by the VA. Team members recently visited the site to begin their research.

UCF researchers have already begun integrating assignments for the project into their graduate and undergraduate courses.

Students, including those in Lyons �鶹��Ʒ S� Modern Europe and the First World War class and Professor Barbara Gannon �鶹��Ʒ S�s War and Society classes, are conducting research, searching for any documented history on the veterans whose graves will be selected.

Undergraduate students are excited to participate in the project.

Kristina Himschoot comes from a family with deep military roots.  Her parents met in the U.S. Air Force, and both her grandparents served.

�鶹��Ʒ S�The VLP is becoming more important to me every time I learn something new about it, �鶹��Ʒ S� she says. �鶹��Ʒ S�I have the utmost respect for this project. �鶹��Ʒ S�

Anson Shurr expects he’ll draw a deeper, more personal connection with veterans through his research.

�鶹��Ʒ S�Seeing their graves in person, epitaph and all, is personal enough. But once you realize that in many cases they lived in the same town or street as you, or you see a surname you know, it really hits home, �鶹��Ʒ S� he says. He was particularly struck by the fact that people his own age put their lives and dreams on hold to fight in a war.

Kenneth Holliday, who is both a student and U.S. Army veteran, says that because April 6 marks the 100th anniversary of the nation �鶹��Ʒ S�s entry into World War I, the research is especially timely.

�鶹��Ʒ S�We are in the centennial of World War I. There is no better time to recognize the service of these veterans, �鶹��Ʒ S� Holliday says.

Graduate students in Professor Caroline Cheong �鶹��Ʒ S�s Seminar in Historic Preservation course are helping to identify the graves and monuments to be included and are photographing the sites for both the webpage and the app.

French, associate professor and director of public history, is having students in his Viewing American History in the 20th Century class create interactive digital materials for use on the website. John Sacher, associate professor of history and liaison with public schools, is integrating the results of the project into K-12 curriculum that will be available for use in schools across the U.S.

In May, the UCF team and local middle- and high-school students will travel to the cemetery as a kickoff event for the program. UCF student researchers will interact with younger students at the cemetery, providing what Holliday sees as �鶹��Ʒ S�a much more personal connection on an individual level. Instead of remembering the major battles and the big names of military and political leaders, the students and local residents can remember that at the heart of the conflict were average people that all of us can probably relate to in some way. �鶹��Ʒ S�

Gannon, who is also coordinator of UCF �鶹��Ʒ S�s Veterans History Project, says that because the university engages with veterans and rich history in creating extensive interactive exhibits and web-based tools, the funding doesn �鶹��Ʒ S�t come as a surprise.

Other schools selected by the VA �鶹��Ʒ S�s National Cemetery Administration for the project are San Francisco State University and Black Hills State University.

�鶹��Ʒ S�The award of these three contracts signifies the VA National Cemetery Administration �鶹��Ʒ S�s dedication and commitment to providing enhanced memorialization and lasting tributes that commemorate the service and sacrifice of veterans, �鶹��Ʒ S� says Ronald Walters, interim undersecretary for memorial affairs.

The contracts are the first of many planned initiatives to engage educators, students, researchers and the general public through the Veterans Legacy Program. For more information, visit the on the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ website.

Spearheading the initiative, UCF history graduate students in the Intro to Public History class were able to put their skills to work in collaborating with the Oviedo Historical Society, EZ Scan Photo and UCF’s RICHES (Regional Initiative for Collecting History, Experiences, and Stories) of Central Florida to coordinate the event. They conducted research on the city, evaluated submitted artifacts and conducted 14 oral-history interviews.

�鶹��Ʒ S�At the beginning of the semester I was excited to learn that we would be working with my hometown and the Oviedo Historical Society to learn more about their unique history,” said student Sarah Thorncroft. �鶹��Ʒ S�I was elated with the turnout from the community and the artifacts they brought to share with us. �鶹��Ʒ S�  

Desta Horner, president of the Oviedo Historical Society, said the preservation project is needed because the city is in transition.

�鶹��Ʒ S�A new downtown is being developed and the historic center of town is being demolished. It is important to save the heritage of the original Oviedo community and share it, �鶹��Ʒ S� she said. �鶹��Ʒ S�The History Harvest was the perfect opportunity to secure a digital record of our transition from a farming settlement of 300 to a thriving modern community of 33,000. �鶹��Ʒ S�

Some of the items were donated to the Oviedo Historical Society and others will be entered into the university �鶹��Ʒ S�s RICHES Mosaic Interface, an interactive web network, to be available to the public. The interface is the central Internet location for content created through RICHES and links to other repositories around the state.

Digital scanning company EZ Photo Scan, which is based in Central Florida but has worked on similar projects around the country, donated equipment for scanning in support of the preservation series and provided staff to facilitate the scanning. The History Harvest was partially funded by a grant from the Florida Department of Cultural Affairs through the UCF Public History Center �鶹��Ʒ S�s Historic Preservation Series.

The Orlando Naval Training Center, which was in operation 1968-94, was where the Baldwin Park neighborhood now sits. The Navy League of the United States �鶹��Ʒ S� Central Florida Council is raising money to create the patriotic memorial in the neighborhood �鶹��Ʒ S�s Bluejacket Park.

The remembrance will include a Lone Sailor statue and a 20-foot heritage wall exhibiting the history of the Navy in Central Florida. The group is raising funds now and hopes to construct and dedicate the memorial by early next year.

Students of associate professor Rosalind Beiler, director of public history, and military history assistant professor Barbara Gannon earlier this year researched the project and presented the findings to the council, which had asked for help in creating the heritage wall.

Mark Barnes, a graduate student who also made a presentation about the research at an intern showcase this summer at UCF �鶹��Ʒ S�s Public History Center in Sanford, said he was honored to be part of the project that will recognize those who trained at the base and went on to serve our country. This would be the ninth Lone Sailor Memorial Park in the nation, he said.

�鶹��Ʒ S�This will be a physical exhibit that I can go to and say that I did something that was a big part of this, �鶹��Ʒ S� Barnes said.

The UCF part of the project is still in progress. The oral histories are being contributed to the UCF Community Veterans History Project and, as appropriate, to the Library of Congress �鶹��Ʒ S� Veterans History Project. Permissions are being sought to use images, and the photos are being uploaded to the UCF online RICHES Mosaic Interface.

�鶹��Ʒ S�My students learned a great deal in the process of working with community partners on a �鶹��Ʒ S�real-world �鶹��Ʒ S� project, �鶹��Ʒ S� said Beiler. �鶹��Ʒ S�And the committee seemed quite pleased with the outcome. �鶹��Ʒ S�

The memorial will serve as a reminder of the Navy �鶹��Ʒ S�s legacy in Orlando, and an inspiration to those currently serving and who will serve in the Navy.

�鶹��Ʒ S�We could not have been more impressed with UCF �鶹��Ʒ S�s dedication on this, �鶹��Ʒ S� said Andy Mohler, co-chair of the Lone Sailor Navy Memorial Committee. �鶹��Ʒ S�So much talent and passion. That �鶹��Ʒ S�s what really came out.

�鶹��Ʒ S�This will forever embody the history of the Navy in Orlando. It �鶹��Ʒ S�s not just an academic exercise that will gather dust on a shelf. �鶹��Ʒ S�

THATCamp is an �鶹��Ʒ S�unconference, �鶹��Ʒ S� meaning that there are no formal presentations in the sessions, but there will be workshops and discussions on topics such as fostering interaction and participation using Omeka, networking for research and teaching, scanning photos to create public and personal archives, a RICHES MI workshop and others.

Invited is anyone who is involved in digital teaching, research or dissemination of digital work.

THATCamp, which stands for The Humanities and Technology, will be 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Feb. 16 and 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Feb. 17. Free and breakfast and lunch will be provided.

The camp is free, but organizers ask that participants register at http://florida2013.thatcamp.org/apply/.

The event is hosted by the , of Central Florida, and at the University of Central Florida.

Or maybe you wondered what happened to the Dinky Line railroad that traveled between Orlando and Oviedo. (Formally known as the Orlando-Winter Park Railroad Co., the line started in 1889, but by 1969 all the tracks were removed because of the popularity of the automobile.)

The University of Central Florida �鶹��Ʒ S�s new RICHES Mosaic Interface, an innovative online project that just went live, taps into places, people and events like these that shaped the region �鶹��Ʒ S�s history.

RICHES (the Regional Initiative for Collecting History, Experiences and Stories) of Central Florida is a growing catalog of information that can be searched in a way that Dr. Connie Lester hopes becomes a digital model for others.

The interdisciplinary project started about two years ago, bringing together UCF departments, faculty members and students working with partners in the community to preserve the region �鶹��Ʒ S�s history. And now, the databases are being presented in the project �鶹��Ʒ S�s digital, interactive RICHES Mosaic Interface.

Lester, an associate professor of history and director of the project, said people can search the archives by using filters to find documents, photographs, podcasts, videos and other information pinpointed on maps and within certain time windows.

When she started meshing the history project with the most up-to-date technical capabilities, the goal was to tell Central Florida �鶹��Ʒ S�s story and provide a way to easily zero in on a specific topic.

�鶹��Ʒ S�We began to think about this together; we talked about how historians think and how people in the digital world think, and then we got them to work together, �鶹��Ʒ S� Lester said.

As a result, searchers can look for keywords within certain categories �鶹��Ʒ S� such as business and economy, social and cultural, and government and military �鶹��Ʒ S� and even delve into a specific time frame reaching back to 1840. (Florida became a state in 1845.)

Today there are 27 partners from the university, the community and beyond driving the project. Partners include the University of West Florida, Florida Atlantic University, historical societies and museums in the region, and organizations such as the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra, Hannibal Square Heritage Center, Celery Soup/Creative Sanford and the Florida High Tech Corridor Council.

Individuals, businesses and organizations can help build the site by electronically uploading photos, documents, and other items. Submitted information will be reviewed by the RICHES staff before the items are added to the site.

Much of the website so far has been compiled with data collected by UCF students through class projects and by working under the supervision of project directors.

Cataloging the history of Sanford is one of the pilot projects for the network, which later hopes to expand its collection about other Central Florida communities.

�鶹��Ʒ S�We picked Sanford because it was the �鶹��Ʒ S�Gateway City, �鶹��Ʒ S� �鶹��Ʒ S� Lester said. That was the town �鶹��Ʒ S�s early nickname because it was the jump-off point on the St. Johns River to open up the rest of central and south Florida after founder Henry Sanford incorporated the community in 1877. The city also has a history in the development of agriculture, industry and arts in the region.

RICHES developed the system with UCF �鶹��Ʒ S�s Institute for Simulation & Training and Adaptive Assessment Services Inc., a company that specializes in web-based training and assessments. The RICHES Interactive Team is: Connie Harper, senior programmer analyst; Katherine Marra, metadata editor; Dr. Paul Wiegand, research associate; and Dr. Larry Davis, senior vice president of research and development of Adaptive Assessment Services.

The next phase of the project is to create a system that not only searches geography and time, but also can search for relationships between subjects, said Davis.

Funding for the project has come from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Florida Humanities Council, Winter Park Health Foundation, Florida High Tech Corridor Council, the UCF College of Arts & Humanities, and UCF Academic Affairs.