Dear Fox,

After a most exciting four-day run of Animal Fables from Aesop, followed by two more weeks of wonderful Fun with Fables school residencies, I can relax for a moment and reflect on the unqualified success of our Fun with Fables program, which took place in November and December. Who would have predicted, when we began putting together this program last spring, that it would be so well received, and that it would touch the lives of so many children and adults in Northwest Ohio and Southeast Michigan? Your participation and cooperation in all aspects of the three-week Fun with Fables project were essential to its success.

With the Children's Theatre Company's magnificent production of Animal Fables from Aesop as a keystone, we built a Fun With Fables program which encompassed a number of activities designed to enhance and expand students' and educators' theater experience. Of the 6,000 students who attended the performance, more than 1250 also participated in our Fun with Fables Theater Vision Days here at the Center. Your presentations of fables and stories to Theater Vision Day participants were very favorably evaluated by students and teachers.

In your From Aesop to Zuni: Storytelling Across the Curriculum Integrated Arts Workshop for educators, 35 participants learned storytelling techniques and methods for incorporating storytelling and writing into their instruction across the curriculum. Providing methods to help teachers transform their teaching through the arts is a key component of the Center's arts education program.

In full- or half-day school residencies, you provided performances and workshops for thousands of children in twelve area schools. All seven Sylvania, Ohio, elementary schools booked full-day Fun with Fables residencies. You also worked in an innercity Toledo Diocesan school, at the Hebrew Academy school, and at the site where all Toledo Public Schools gifted students receive special training. Evaluations from all these residency locations are, again, positive and complimentary.

Working with you in all aspects of the Fun with Fables project was most rewarding and enjoyable. You enthusiastically assisted with planning, from the early stages through the final details, attending meetings here at the Center and sharing ideas long-distance from your Illinois office. When I asked that you design your presentations to complement the performance of Animal Fables from Aesop, you conducted extensive research on fables and related subjects, and created programs specific to those topics. You assumed full responsibility for designing your integrated arts workshop for educators and your school residencies, readily accepting suggestions provided by my staff and contributing valuable input concerning the logistics involved in coordinating this extensive program.

During your residency with the Franciscan Center, I could rely on you to competently handle all situations which might arise, especially during your visits to schools, libraries, bookstores, and other venues. You are very personable and professional in your dealings with educators, students, and the general public. Your flexibility and adaptability are qualities which contributed greatly to the overall success of all the Fun with Fables activities in which you participated.

You presented yourself and represented the Franciscan Center in a positive way. You were an effective partner in the Fun with Fables project, serving as an ambassador for the Center, commenting positively on our programs and encouraging your audiences to participate in other offerings at our facility. I feel that a great strength of our educational programming is that the artists with whom we work share our enthusiasm for and dedication to arts education in general and to our programs in particular.

Watching you work with children was especially rewarding for me. You are able to involve young audiences and retain their attention. Students were eager to participate in your presentations and workshops.

Thank you again for your contributions to our Fun with Fables project. It was a pleasure, personally and professionally, to work with you. I look forward to cooperating on additional arts education projects.

Sincerely,

Dr. Julie Horn
Education Director
Franciscan Theater Center
Sylvania, Ohio