GLOBALSTAGE RELEASES ITS FIRST CHILDREN'S THEATRE VIDEO

January 12, 1998, San Francisco, CA - In the first attempt by a company to film live professional theatre productions, and then produce home videos out of them for the children's market, GLOBALSTAGE PRODUCTIONS, INC. realizes it's going out on a limb. But founder Lizbeth Pratt says there's a demand for such a product and relishes the idea of filming it, "Everyone loves theatre. And everyone wants their children to attend live theatre. But the problem is that there aren't many great professional productions available for youth. Through our videos every child can now have access to the best theatre available."

Since April 1997, Pratt and the GLOBALSTAGE staff of six, have searched for the finest professional theatre in the world. They have six plays scheduled to be filmed for their inaugural season. Two productions have been completed. The company will release a new video every other month to subscribers. The plays are filmed and edited by a BBC crew under the direction of Ms. J Clements. "People told me that filming live theatre couldn't be done very well, so I hired the best production crew and director I could find," said Ms. Pratt. "And, I believe we proved the skeptics to be wrong. Viewers of our first video will be quite amazed at what J and the BBC crew created. It's a rather intriguing hybrid of a live performance and a movie."

The first video was released to subscribers December 15th. The video is Frankenstein, adapted by Nick DiMartino from Mary Shelley's 19th century novel, and performed by Stage One of Louisville, Kentucky. Dr. Elizabeth McNamer, a noted professor provides literary, historical, and cultural commentary on the video with her eleven-year-old sidekick, Preston Blakeley, the founder's son. "Since Preston travels wherever I go, I thought it would be fun to include him in the business. He approves all the plays before we sign the contracts for taping, and he appears on each tape with Elizabeth." The series is designed for kids 7 to 14 years old.

GLOBALSTAGE videos also take the viewer behing-the-scenes to examine how the theatre works. In Frankenstein, they visit the prop designer to learn how a fake arm that was to be attached to the monster, was animated on stage. Future videos will contain interviews with actors, writers, directors and theatrical designers. The video also comes with a booklet written by Professor McNamer.

Productions from Antwerp, Amsterdam, and Edinburgh will be included in the 1998 series. Families can order the videos by calling Globalstage's toll-free number, 1.888.324.5623, or through the web site at www.globalstage.net. Subscribers receive the six videos in the series for $22.50 each plus shipping. Or individual tapes can be purchased for $27 each plus shipping.