Rebecca Pogue Fields, Head of Elementary School Programs, Featured on Literacy and Justice for All Podcast

The Alliance Theatre’s mission is to expand hearts and minds onstage and offstage. With the school year about to begin, the Education team is already envisioning, planning, and dreaming about the offstage impact that the arts will have in classrooms throughout Georgia, nationwide and worldwide. Rebecca Pogue Fields recently joined Dr. Ryan Lee-James, Director of the Rollins Center and Cox Campus, on the Literacy and Justice for All podcast to share about the impact and expansion of our educational programming, thanks to the partnership between the Alliance Theatre and Cox Campus – Alliance Theatre Arts Integration on Cox Campus.

Each school year over 500 schools, 28,000 students, and 5,000 teachers across the state of Georgia experience the power of arts integration, as Alliance Theatre teaching artists visit pre-school-12th grade classrooms. The research-backed results of this in-school programming: building stronger reading brains, improving literacy outcomes, and growing the ability to work as collaborators.

Take a moment to imagine. Historical figures come to life, as students write monologues from the first-person perspective, using theater tools to target social studies standards. Math concepts, such as fractions, are dramatized with character traits, exploring what happens when 1/3 and 2/3 meet to become a “whole”. Students are empowered to use the theater tools of body, voice, imagination, and concentration to extend learning across different content areas. Teachers are equipped with lasting skills that can continue to resonate in the classroom.

While classrooms throughout Georgia have the gift of experiencing the Alliance Theatre in-person, that gift is now accessible to teachers and classrooms worldwide, thanks to Cox Campus. This school year, the Alliance Theatre is thrilled to continue expanding the impact across state lines and even oceans, as we launch new free online arts integration training on Cox Campus and stream brand-new productions. Teachers can continue to deepen and develop their skills in arts integration, while empowering their students to take ownership of their learning.

Dr. Ryan Lee-James wrapped their time together by asking, “If theater becomes a birthright for every child, every individual, what does our world look like?”

Rebecca shared, “I know in my heart what it would be, but if we go back to that field trip research study, what we found quantitatively…is that people who experience art, who experience theater, are tolerant, empathetic, understanding, conscientious people, who are able to work and grow as a community and lift each other up rather than tear each other down.”

Are you a teacher ready to engage your students with arts integration, grow their reading brains, and expand their hearts and minds? Head over to the free online learning platform Cox Campus. Engage with the training course, experience a streamed Alliance Theatre show with your students, and create a lasting impact in your classroom.

New Alliance Theatre Arts Integration content launching on Cox Campus Fall 2026.

Listen to the full episode: