About Us

Inspiring and motivating elementary school students since 1999

Shows That Teach is a Los Angeles-based company that specializes in quality school assembly programs.

Our Story

Mark Beckwith started the children’s media company Building Block Entertainment in 1990 by releasing two educational albums of children’s songs. In the mid-1990s (following a glowing review of his recordings in the L.A. Times), Knowledge Adventure contracted Mark to write and produce songs and stories for the internationally popular children’s computer software, Jumpstart.

In 1999, Mark teamed up with the talented Obediah Thomas, and they began performing elementary school assemblies in Southern California as the duo Razzle Bam Boom. The Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Orange County, the Children’s Creative Project in Santa Barbara County, and other teaching artist organizations added Mark and Obediah to their rosters in the early 2000s.

In 2005, the extraordinary performer, Michael “Tuba” Heatherton joined our team. More recently, the fabulous Noelle Reicherts also began performing with our troupe. Shows That Teach” was founded shortly after, with Building Block Entertainment Inc. as the parent company. Our fabulous administrator and school liaison, Heidi Anctil, joined in 2015.

Shows That Teach was started with a single program. Now we offer 12 engaging live assembly shows and six captivating video assemblies.

In 2020, after thousands of school performances, we began the production of 180 daily classroom videos as a series called Start With Heart. These 3-minute streaming videos provide teachers an upbeat way to begin each day with a fun discussion on important topics such as kindness, growth mindset, bullying, social-emotional learning, and more. Our videos have now been viewed daily by thousands of students.

We LOVE what we do for a living!