Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Watts Village Theater Company receives American Theatre Wing's National Theatre Comp Grant (LA)


In the same manner that a Quinceañera signifies stepping into adulthood, the 15th anniversary of Watts Village Theater Company (WVTC) signifies our coming of age. WVTC is taking a step onto the national stage; this year, we are honored to receive the American Theatre Wing’s National Theatre Company Grant, recognizing the top 10 most promising small theatre companies in the country. This May we celebrated WVTC Coming of Age at the California African American Museum, honoring Rosie Lee Hooks (Watts Towers Arts Center) and Clifton Johnson (Union Bank, Magic Johnson Foundation, Watts/Willowbrook Boys and Girls Club) as our Community Towers.

WVTC has also received national attention from organizations such as the National Endowment for the Arts, James Irvine Foundation, Plum Foundation, Bank of America and now the American Theatre Wing. Thanks to your support, we are pleased to announce our most ambitious season ever in 2012, including a staged reading ofThe Riot/Rebellion based on interviews of eye-witnesses of the 1965 Watts Riots, a red-carpet world-premiere documentary of Meet Me @Metro, Josephina Lopez’s Simply Maria in collaboration with Animo Watts Charter High School, Meet Me @Metro: Uncovering Los Angeles’ Hidden Treasures in East LA, and our signature play development series Black Words on White Pages. Moving ahead, we are pleased to welcome David Guerra, our new Associate Artistic Director, and our newest board members, Farid Ben Amor, Stephen Wang, Karen Lascaris and Julie Siegel. We look forward to introducing all of our new family to you more fully in the newest edition of our newsletter, Watts Up, coming soon.

As we enter our new season, we plan not only to continue providing job opportunities for members of the local community, but also to build on our commitment to provide quality arts education to Watts’ youth. With your support, we will achieve our goal of doubling our individual donor contributions this year. To contribute, click on this link:
Or send a check to "Watts Village Theater Company" at:
Watts Village Theater Company
PO Box 72715
Los Angeles, CA 90002
Happy Holidays and see you soon in Watts,
David Mack
Managing Director, WVTC
david@wattsvillagetheatercompany.com
661-802-1546

Please click post's title to visit website.
Guillermo Avilés-Rodríguez, Artistic Director
David Guerra, Associate Artistic Director

Board of Directors:

Farid Ben Amor, Warner Brothers
David Catanzarite,
Palm Springs High School Performing
Arts Academy
Raquel Cinat,
California Emerging Technologies Fund
Karen Lascaris,
Lascaris Design
Lynn Manning (Chair),
Independent Theatre Artist
Judith Moreland (
Vice-Chair, Secretary),
UCLA
Julie Siegel,
Santa Monica Malibu Unified School District
Leslie Tamaribuchi (Treasurer),
CalArts
Stephen Wang,
Xenon Development
Advisory Board:
Chris Anthony, LA Shakespeare Center
Ricardo Antonio Chavira, Actor, Desperate Housewives
Victor de la Cruz, Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP
Rosie Lee Hooks, Watts Towers Arts Center
Clifton Johnson, Union Bank
Michael Manigault, Bank of America
Robert McCobb, PhD, The Christian Food Center
Debra Piver, Center Theatre Group
Bill Rauch*, Oregon Shakespeare Festival
* emeritus

Legacy Council:
Leo Briones, Centaur North Strategic Communications
Gregory Burks, Youth Opportunity Movement LA
Dolores Chavez, Inner-City Arts
Ernest Dillihay, ACE, LLC
Fred Fate, LA Theater Academy, LA City College
Michael John Garcés, Cornerstone Theater Company

Watts Village Theater Company @ the Watts Towers Arts Center
1727 E 107th St | Los Angeles, CA 90002

Please click the post's title to visit website.
Originally found on LinkedIn's American Theatre Group.

Saturday, December 17, 2011

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Disney Musicals in Schools (Nashville)

Industry overview by Jaz Dorsey

Nashville has been chosen as the first city outside of New York to participate in Disney Theatrical Group's "Disney Musicals in Schools" program and here's how it happened.

As a presenter of Broadway tours, TPAC works with The Broadway League and this year, at the Broadway League's Spring Road Conference, Disney announced that they were looking to take this program, after 2 years in NYC, "on the road" to other cities across the country.

TPAC Executive Vice President for Education and Outreach, Roberta Ciuffo-West, threw TPAC's hat in to the ring. For those of you who do not know her, Roberta is a native of Long Island, an NYU grad twice and a former Director of Education and Outreach for Juilliard, among other amazing accomplishments.

It turned out that Nashville was the ideal proving ground for the program.

For one thing, two of Disney's key players on the project now call Nashville home: Bryan Louiselle, who has adapted, arranged and orchestrated the music for the 30 minute KIDS versions of the Disney musicals used in the program, and Lori Casteel, who is the vocal coach for the accompaniment and guide vocal CDs which are included among the support materials for each title.

In addition to that, the TPAC ArtSmart program, which is around 30 years old, was developed from a program started at Lincoln Center and, again, Nashville was the first city to take that concept beyond NYC.

So this spring, 5 Nashville elementary schools will participate in "Disney Musicals in Schools. The schools are:

Glengary Elementary School
Hattie Cotton STEM Magnet Elementary
Hull-Jackson Montressori Magnet School
Kirkpatrick Elementary Enhanced Option
Percy Priest Elementary School

This will involve 5 teams of 2 teaching artists from TPAC working with teams of teachers at each school. They will train the teachers in the elements of production, the teachers will then produce the shows with input from the teaching artists teams with casts of 3rd & 4th graders, and, on May 17, 2012, the city of Nashville will have the awesome experience of a freeperformance by this first crop of young Nashville actors in TAPC's Jackson Hall. www.tpac.org

Come to Nashville and Go to the Theatre!

Jaz Dorsey
The Nashville Dramaturgy Project

Jazmn47
jazmn47@aol.com

Sunday, December 11, 2011

TUSKEGEE AIRMEN PLAY will have its Broadway Backer's Audition on MONDAY DEC 12th 7PM


"BLACK ANGELS OVER TUSKEGEE" The story of the Tuskegee Airmen set to have Broadway Backers Audition on Monday Dec 12th!!! Original Tuskegee Airmen have confirmed to be present!

Vibrantly energetic and emotionally captivating, Black Angels Over Tuskegee continues to enlighten and educate Off-Broadway audiences after an extended opening of 2 years. The award-winning, historical docudrama is a narrative of six men embarking upon a journey to become the first aviators in the United States Army Air Forces during a tumultuous era of racial segregation and Jim Crow idealism in twentieth century American history. Black Angels Over Tuskegee, which is inspired by true events, is currently showcased at the Actors’ Temple Theatre at 339 W. 47th Street between 8th and 9th Avenues in New York City.

Producers, Investors you are cordially invited to The Black Gents of Hollywood’s Broadway Backer’s Audition of their Off-Broadway hit play Layon Gray's BLACK ANGELS OVER TUSKEGEE. The Black Gents will reserve complimentary tickets under your name for this event. Please R.S.V.P. by Monday afternoon, December 12th, 2011 to thom@theblackgents.com or call 877-814-0553 ext.701 if you are able to attend.

Please click the post's title to visit the play's website.

Friday, December 9, 2011

Blackboard Reading Series

NEXT Blackboard:
Monday, December 12, 2011 7:00pm

COMMUNITY NIGHT
Playwrights bring 10 - 15 pages of work
Actors cold read
Playwrights receive feedback

w/ Playwrights:
Joan Baker
Toccarra Cash
Garlia Cornelia Jones
Franz Reynold
Nathan Yungerberg
... AND YOU....

PLAYWRIGHTS - Interested in being part of Blackboard's 2012 season - submit your play!

ACTORS - RSVP to cold read on this fun night!

*Plays from December's Community Night will help schedule the 2012 season!*

$10 Suggested Donation
~wine served~

RSVP: info@blackboardplays.com

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Saturday, December 3, 2011

Blackboard Reading Series



NEXT Blackboard:

Monday, December 12, 2011 7:00pm

COMMUNITY NIGHT

Playwrights bring 10 - 15 pages of work

Actors cold read

Playwrights receive feedback

w/ Playwrights:

Joan Baker

Garlia Cornelia Jones

Franz Reynold

Nathan Yungerberg

*Plays from December's Community Night will help schedule the 2012 season!*

PLAYWRIGHTS - Interested in being part of Blackboard's 2012 season - submit your play!

ACTORS - RSVP to cold read on this fun night!

$10 Suggested Donation

~wine served~

RSVP: info@blackboardplays.com

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Occupy Wall Street needs playwrights!


Hey you guys.
http://occupywriters.com is the literary arm of the Occupy Wall Street movement, and there's some great stuff on there by the likes of Jonathan Lethem, Lemony Snicket, Ursula K. LeGuin, Douglas Rushkoff, Francine Prose, and many more. They are underrepresented by playwrights and have asked me to reach out to some. Most of the pieces are short, 500-600 words or so, although we've had some in the neighborhood of 1-2k and others that are full articles/essays. Lemony Snicket's is one of the best - funny and pointed without being
lecturing. http://occupywriters.com/works/by-lemony-snicket. Daphne Carr's is an example of personal experience http://occupywriters.com/works/by-daphne-carr. Kiera Feldman occupied "Birthright." http://occupywriters.com/works/by-kiera-feldman. Jules Bukiet did some history. http://occupywriters.com/works/by-melvin-jules-bukiet I went with a syllogism for my piece. Basically, just about anything works. Doesn't have to be long (probably shouldn't be long). We've got a guy closing his bank account. There's poetry and songwriting. No plays so far. Anything you write, please send to me and to occupy.submissions@gmail.com - that way the official email has it archived and I can speed it along as well.
Thanks!!!
Jason Grote
New Dramatists
jasongrote@gmail.com