The Outsiders Educational Initiative The Stay Gold Project Will Hit the Road With the Tony-Winning Musical

Broadway's The Outsiders' educational initiative, The Stay Gold Project, is hitting the road along with the Tony-winning musical's national tour.

The initiative will work with public schools across the country to ensure the tour is accessible and inclusive for students. Since the program began on Broadway in 2024, The Stay Gold Project has provided more than 1,800 tickets to middle and high school students in the New York City Public School system, at no cost. Now, the endeavor will provide thousands more from coast to coast.

The Stay Gold Project is funded in partnership between the show, individual donors, and corporate sponsorships. For the tour, the project will be sponsored by SONIC Drive-In and the SONIC Foundation as its first national sponsor. The fast food chain has committed to providing funding for 2,500 student tickets across select U.S. cities. Since 2009, the eatery has donated more than $30 million to support students and local classrooms, making it one of the largest programs supporting public education in the U.S. Free educational resources about the show will be available to educators and young people and designed to tie into middle and high school curriculums.

Published in 1967, The Outsiders was written by a then 15-year-old Susie Hinton who was inspired by her fellow classmates and what they were going through as teenagers growing up in Tulsa, OK. Over 50 years later, The Outsiders has sold close to 20 million copies and is a vital part of curriculums in schools around the world, translated into more than 30 different languages. The Outsiders is also credited with creating the Young Adult genre as we know it today.

Led by director Danya Taymor, and set in 1967 Tulsa, Oklahoma, The Outsiders follows Ponyboy Curtis, Johnny Cade, and their chosen family of "outsiders," who are in a fight for survival and a quest for purpose in a world that may never accept them. The musical opened on Broadway April 11 at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre.

The Outsiders received 12 Tony nominations, including nods for Brody Grant, Sky Lakota-Lynch, and Joshua Boone. The Outsiders features a book by Adam Rapp with Justin Levine and music and lyrics by Jamestown Revival (Jonathan Clay and Zach Chance) and Levine. The Broadway production features music supervision, arrangements, and orchestrations by Levine; choreography by Rick Kuperman and Jeff Kuperman; scenic design by AMP featuring Tatiana Kahvegian; costume design by Sarafina Bush; lighting design by Brian MacDevitt; sound design by Cody Spencer; and projection design by Hana Kim.