For Immediate Release

Date:  September 26, 2006

BLOOMSBURG—Children’s entertainer Thaddeus Rex will bring his high-energy show to area elementary students during the week of Oct. 2, presented by Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania’s Celebrity Artist Series and sponsored by the Berwick Health and Wellness Fund of the Central Susquehanna Community Foundation.

In his shows, T-Rex combines comedy and music to get kids excited about the power of reading. He’ll perform his mix of songs, storytelling and audience participation for students at the following elementary schools: 

Monday, Oct. 2 - L.R. Appleman Elementary School, Benton, and St. Columbia Elementary School, Bloomsburg.

Tuesday, Oct. 3 - Central Columbia Elementary School, Bloomsburg, and G.C. Hartman Elementary Center, Catawissa.

Wednesday, Oct. 4 - Nescopeck Elementary School, Nescopeck, and Fourteenth Street Elementary School, Berwick.

Thursday, Oct. 5 - Salem Elementary School and Orange Street Elementary School, both in Berwick.

A PBS veteran and acoustic rock musician, T-Rex promotes reading with original songs. He left the Emmy Award-winning PBS kids show, “The Friday Zone,” three years ago to develop his concert career. He makes more than 200 appearances each year at venues such as New York City Parks Foundation, the Columbus Metropolitan Summer Reading Program and children’s museums in Indianapolis, Atlanta and New Orleans.

T-Rex counts among his influences country singer Johnny Cash, comedy troupe Monty Python and authors Dr. Seuss and Roald Dahl, who wrote “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” and “James and the Giant Peach.” His CD, “Martian Television Invasion,” features tunes that encourage imaginative play and the joys of reading; his second CD, “We Wanna Rock,” will be released in November. 

T-Rex will travel throughout the Bloomsburg/Berwick area accompanied by Kozmo, mascot for Knoebels Amusement Resort.

Bloomsburg University is one of 14 universities in the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education. The university serves approximately 8,000 students, offering comprehensive programs of study in the colleges of Professional Studies, Business, Liberal Arts and Science and Technology.

The Berwick Health and Wellness Fund is the original and largest fund of the Central Susquehanna Community Foundation. Its purpose is to improve the health and wellness of residents and communities of eastern Columbia and western Luzerne counties. www.csgiving.org.

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Note to editors/reporters: T-Rex’s programs emphasize the importance of reading while incorporating audience participation, as shown in his video at www.thaddeusrex.com. If you are interested in covering one of his performances, his itinerary is available from Liza Benedict, communications director, lbenedict@bloomu.edu, (570) 389-4043, or Bonnie Martin, writer/editor, bmartin@bloomu.edu, (570) 389-5134.