10/2/2025
Education and Outreach / Inside the Theater
“Asking for help doesn’t mean you aren’t strong.”
That’s one of the poignant messages in Maddi’s Fridge, a children’s book brought to life by a touring theater company earlier this month to kick off The Smith Center’s 2025-2026 student matinee program.
Every year, the nonprofit performing arts center welcomes busloads of local students to its campus for free student matinees – part of The Smith Center’s central mission of providing arts access and education to children across Nevada. Last school year alone, more than 42,000 students and teachers participated in student matinees here.
Maddi’s Fridge got the program’s latest season off to a rousing start, as a talented cast of three from Childsplay – a nonprofit theater group based on Tempe, Arizona – took author Lois Brandt’s 2014 book about food insecurity to the Reynolds Hall stage in front of students from 60 area elementary schools.
The story follows best friends Sofia and Maddi, the latter of whom never seems to have food in her fridge or snacks in her backpack. Sofia realizes why and attempts to help, imparting important lessons about poverty and hunger in the process, mixed with some lighter moments involving a dinner dish created for the story.
“Are cheesy pizza bombs real?” one student asked during a Q&A with the actors afterwards. And it turns out they can be, as the cast directed the crowd to a special recipe for them at the website maddisfridge.com.
The Smith Center’s 2025-2026 student matinee season will continue soon with productions such as Havana Hop in November; Chicka Chicka Boom Boom: The Musical in January; The Great Race in February; and DLUX Puppets’ Wonderland, based on the classic Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, in April.
“Student matinees are one of our favorite ways to begin introducing students to the wonders of theater and performing arts,” says Melanie Jupp, Vice President for Education and Outreach. “Since opening our doors in 2012, this program has been a core component of The Smith Center’s mission to ensure memorable arts experiences for students throughout our community.”
“If you know of a school you think should get involved in the program, please reach out to that school’s administration to have them contact us to register their interest,” Jupp suggests.