We added three new staff members in January, and three more in August, invited three new members to join the Board in the fall, created two new Youth & Community Programs shows, revived Voices From the Edge, mounted our first Apprentice Showcase, and held two special events. We will round out the year with a co-production with Banana Boat Productions in December, and performances of Macbeth for school audiences through the end of the year.
We spent the spring planning for an ambitious fall, with October (Fundraising for the Arts Month) as the focus of activities for increasing our visibility and reminding folks that we are still going strong. On June 27th, we celebrated our official 15th Birthday (the date of our formal incorporation) with an Open House attended by long-time friends and new colleagues.
We were extremely fortunate to have had a design intern with us from May-August (Rebecca Chiappone), and she created an incredible 15-year timeline for the event-an installation that has received great feedback and which will be replicated on our Web site in the coming months! In the week prior to the Open House, we mounted the first Apprentice Showcase-the successful culmination of the first year of the Apprentice Program.
In July, we premiered The Adventures of Rubbish in the Hood, a new World Voices play written by long-time NPT associate Rick Balian and funded by the City Parks Foundation. The show performed Saturdays in Brooklyn's Nostrand Avenue Playground throughout July, and we gave a free performance to the Friends of Morningside Park in September for their Common Ground Festival.
The second year of the Apprentice Program began on September 15th, the same day we premiered The Fall From Paradise as part of the (re)Cycle Play Festival at Socrates Sculpture Park in Queens! An adaptation by our colleague John Hudson of a medieval York Cycle Play, Fall gave a repeat performance at our Fall Fundraiser on October 11th as one of four performance samples introducing guests to our work. The Fundraiser was also a great success. Our $16 admission (to launch our 16th Season) raised over $1,000! Thanks to all who attended and sent checks! Additionally, our NYSCA and DCA grants nearly doubled in 2007.
We finished October with a successful revival of our Voices From the Edge Festival, showcasing new works by three talented African American writers (Keline Adams, Jackie Alexander and Melissa Maxwell), and supported by a small grant from the Puffin Foundation. We also began the final rehearsals for Macbeth in anticipation of our first performance for school audiences on November 20th at Harlem Stage. We will then take the show to public schools at Kingsborough Community College and the Institute for Collaborative Education in December, and offer two performances at the Players Theatre to bring together small groups of students whose schools cannot book an assembly program.
To find out more about these programs and what's coming next, read on....
After 2 years with no mainstage productions, New Perspectives Theatre (NPT) is making up for lost time! In December, we will mount a co-production with Banana Boat Productions (BBP) of The Ritual: or Friday Morning, First Period by Trinidadian playwright Zeno Constance.
The play tells the story of a group of high school girls who deal with their friend's unintended pregnancy while coping with extreme poverty and a system that has failed them. The play is highly stylized-each actor plays one of the girls as well as a number of adults -from parents to boyfriends, and even members of the judicial system. Though the play was written in the late 80s, its themes remain extremely relevant when we look at the devastating circumstances under which so many young people around the world are forced to exist.
BBP was established in 1997 with the aim of creating theatrical experiences of specific interest to the English-speaking Caribbean community of the New York metropolitan area. NPT is partnering with BBP on this production in furtherance of our own mission to produce works that provide room for unheard voices, and that can bring a "new perspective" to our audiences. Directed by Melody Brooks, the production will utilize the talents of two young women who have been integral to NPT's Youth & Community Programs this year: Shykia Fields (who is appearing in our school production of Macbeth and recently appeared in the new World Voices play The Adventure of Rubbish in the Hood as well as The Fall From Paradise for the (re)Cycle Plays Festival) and Yolanda Griffith (Rubbish). Newcomers to NPT Heather-Sky McField, Omrae Smith, and Esther Bigord also join the cast. Merlina Rich, Artistic Director of BBP, is assistant director and dialect coach.
The play will run from December 5th through the 15th, Wednesday-Saturday at 8:00pm, at New Perspectives Theatre Company, 456 West 37th Street. This is the first time we are using our studio space for a full production. Seating is limited and reservations are strongly recommended. Tickets are $15/TDF accepted. Because of the subject of this play and the potential positive impact we hope it can have, we are offering a special $7.50 ticket price for high school students. For reservations: 212-630-9945 or contact@newperspectivestheatre.org.
There's a chill in the air, night comes quickly, and New Perspectives Theatre (NPT) is deep into rehearsals for Macbeth. This winter, NPT is again offering its acclaimed 90-minute version of the show for school audiences. The production employs all the craft you have come to expect from NPT: interactive & immediate performances, a diverse cast, and rigorous attention to text and historical analysis. We are proud to produce this program and to take it into the larger community.
Because of renewed financial support from our donors and friends, we are able to offer a free performance of Macbeth to an NYC school this year. On the recommendation of Paul King, director of Theatre Programs for the NYC DOE, the
300 Middle and High School students of the Institute for Collaborative Education in Manhattan will have the opportunity to experience Macbeth. The cast and NPT staff couldn't be more excited.
We are already booking performances for the Spring semester in which we will present Romeo & Juliet, Shakespeare Made Simple, and our World Voices favorite Steal Away: The Living History of Harriet Tubman. If you are interested in hosting a school or community performance please contact us at contact@newperspectivestheatre.org and put "Youth Performance" in the subject line. We are available for performances in all Five Boroughs as well as the Tri-State Area.
You can ear-mark any donations made to the company to your favorite program. Why not directly support programs that bring the arts to young people? $100 sends ten under-served students to a performance of Macbeth!
We have high hopes for next season and look forward to expanding our programs and bringing our performances and workshops to more students than ever before. We are always available and interested in speaking with people who have an interest in supporting our Youth & Community Programs. Please feel free to contact Jenny Greeman, program manager, Youth & Community Programs, at 212-630-9945 with any questions or suggestions.
In August 2006, New Perspectives Theatre (NPT) created our Apprentice Program for young actors looking to sharpen their skills. And in June 2007, NPT produced a very successful Apprentice Showcase to introduce these artists to the New York professional theatre community.
We'd like to extend congratulations to the first graduates of our Apprentice Program: Beth Starkin, Colleen Jasinski, Rachel Benichak and Vanessa Streiff. In December, Bridgid Ryan, Kelly Walton, Michele Richardson, Olivia Roric and Tiffany Esteb will join them - so an early congratulations to those amazing actors as well.
We'd also like to welcome our newest apprentices, Athena Masci, Ben Ballarin, Cynthia Ramos, DeWanda Wise, Jousha Akova and Shirley Chang. Over the next year, they will have the opportunity to work with many esteemed guest artists, gaining valuable skills and techniques including Shakespeare, Commedia, Linklater, Stage Combat, Viewpoints, Autobiographical Writing, Auditioning, Scene Study, Script Analysis and Text Work and Interactive Performance.
Auditions for the next term of the Apprentice Company will be held December 9. Please contact Kerry Watterson at kerrywatersoncasting@gmail.com to schedule an audition. It's technique and training for theatre...without boundaries.
On October 11, we had our Fall Fundraiser, where we presented excerpts from four current productions, including:
- The Fall From Paradise, originally performed at The (re)Cycle Plays in Socrates Sculpture Park
- An excerpt from our upcoming school production of Macbeth
- A scene from The Adventures of Rubbish in the Hood, a World Voices show performed this summer
- A selection from Fever, Melissa Maxwell's one-woman show, which was part of our Voices from the Edge Festival
Guests joined New Perspectives Theatre (NPT) staff and the actors for food, drink, and conversation. With donations still coming in, we've already met our $1,000 fundraising goal for the event. Thank you to all the contributors and actors who donated their services in our effort to raise funds to keep our Youth and Community Programs affordable for all New Yorkers, including providing free performances to those most in need.
In January, we will begin a 6-week residency at the Spoon Theatre (38 West 38th Street @ 5th Avenue) where we will perform Everyday Somewhere Here: Letters from Palestine and Israel, a multi-media work-in-progress by Benji Rogers (last two weeks of January) and The Cherry Orchard (February). Check our Web site in the coming weeks for specific dates and times.
NPT offered one performance of Everyday Somewhere Here as part of Summer Harvest 2005, before we lost our black box theatre. We have been working to get it mounted in a fuller fashion for the last two years, working around our move and Benji's successful singing career, which took him around the world. The play chronicles Benji's personal journey throughout the towns and refugee camps of Palestine, details his conversations with ordinary people on both sides of the Green Line, and distills the tragedy of this epic conflict into a personal testament on behalf of those who are unable to speak to the world for themselves. It is written directly from Benji's email letters home to friends and family, and recordings of his conversations. It has been developed with NPT artistic director, Melody Brooks. The piece is staged environmentally, with photographs, video footage, and a sound track designed to bring the audience as close as possible to the reality of being there. What the play has to share is difficult to comprehend and painful to witness, but at its core, Everyday Somewhere Here is filled with small kindnesses and courtesies and a desperate hope in the continuing humanity of people-against all odds.
In the long term, Everyday Somewhere Here is envisioned as a three-part project, incorporating an audio-visual exhibit, the performance piece and an interactive Web site that will allow Americans from all backgrounds to stay involved with the stories of the people they meet through the play, and to find a way to work for change. The dream is to tour the U.S., and then to perform it back in Israel and Palestine.
In February, we will produce Chekhov's classic, The Cherry Orchard, directed by New Perspectives Theatre (NPT) artistic associate, Kerry Watterson. An important part of our mission is to produce classic plays in a style that reinforces their continuing relevance to contemporary American audiences. Although well-known for our innovative Shakespeare productions, we are equally interested in other playwrights and are using the opportunity afforded by Nicu's Spoon (operators of the Spoon Theatre) to broaden our repertoire. More to come as the production takes shape...
We are in the process of expanding our Board of Directors and have recently added three new members: Crystal Fields-Sam, William Thomas and Stephen Foreht.
Crystal is a vice president at Citigroup and came to us through her sister Shykia Fields, who started with us as an intern and is now an actor in our company and the assistant to our artistic director. Will has been with the company since 1999, originally as an actor and since 2000 as our webmaster. He is a vice president of Digital Media at Visual Concepts, Inc. and will be instrumental in creating a new look for our web site as well as developing more interactive features. Stephen is an attorney with Foreht Last Landau & Katz.
An active Board is integral to the long-term health of any not-for-profit organization, and by enlarging our board, we hope to expand both our funding and programming. We continue to seek new members, so if you are interested in learning more about becoming a board candidate, please contact Catharine Guiher, our general manager.
Also, a special not of thanks to Dale P. Joseph, our Board Chair for the last three years. Dale's unwavering support and presence have been a great boon to NPT, and her wisdom and advice have been crucial in our recent Board development efforts. We also want to congratulate her on her new job as Director of Government Affairs at the United Way of New York City!
New Perspectives Theatre |
456 W 37th St NY, NY 10018 |
212.630.9945 |
http://www.newperspectivestheatre.org/