StageRight A CITYstage Publication
Spring 2016
THE ROAD TO SOMBRELLU How one playwright and dozens of students created a new play like no other. THE WOW IN WOMEN Celebrating the women who are shaping the CITYstage landscape. PATRONS AT PLAY CITYstage supporters are getting their stage on.
Vol. 1, Issue 2.
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Table of Contents SPRING 2016
LETTER FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
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THE ROAD TO SOMBRELLU How one playwright and dozens of students at different sites created a new play like no other.
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THE WOW IN WOMEN 11 Celebrating the women who are shaping the CITYstage landscape. PATRONS AT PLAY CITYstage supporters are getting their STAGE on.
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Letter from the Executive Director EMILI DANZ One of the most unexpected joys I have discovered through CITYstage is witnessing moments where our students become our teachers. Not necessarily in the formal or literal sense, but in the subtler, vulnerable moments where students realize they are ready to share their voice. In a recent group circle, I asked the students how their performing arts classes over the last year could help them “perform” better in their dream job. 14 year old Vanessa slowly raised her hand and took a thoughtful pause before she began to speak: “I want to become an ER surgeon when I grow up. I think that my experience in the theatre games class will help me in that career.” Intrigued by her creative thinking, but skeptical how these ideas related, I asked her to elaborate. She continued by explaining, “Theatre games and improvisation is all about thinking on your feet. Just when you think a scene is heading in a certain direction, another person might go a completely different way. I learned to trust my instincts, say ‘Yes’, and feel ok taking risks. CITYstage taught me that it is ok to take risks when you are supported by the people around you. In surgery, especially in an ER, you may have a plan when you go into surgery but a lot of things can change. You have to be able to trust your instincts, think on your feet and sometimes take risks that can feel really scary. Now I feel like I will be able to do that better because of our theatre games class.” A smile spread across my face as I let this brilliant overlapping of ideas sink in. I knew that these classes would help them build confidence and public-speaking skills, but she had just taught me a far deeper correlation between theses two ideas. It is common for the performing arts to be simplified as “fun and games” or “cute,” but as Vanessa demonstrated so clearly, the outcomes of these fun, artistic games are far more profound. She helped reconfirm the importance of the arts and why it is vital that all of our youth have an equal opportunity to experience it. I encourage you all to take a moment to listen a little closer to our youth…see what you can learn from them, for they can be our greatest teachers.
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THE ROAD TO
Sombrellu The existence of a playwright is inherently romantic. It’s easy to imagine a lone wolf gazing out the window of a cottage in the mountains as the words make their way to the page. With nothing but the sound of wind and wildlife in the distance, one can envision a peaceful place for creativity, yet it’s difficult to imagine stories of inner-city America being born from such a perch. Idyllic as it sounds, this is not often the life of a modern day, urban playwright. This year CITYstage embarked on a new venture, a student-professional playwriting partnership designed to link an active creator of new theatrical works, with several students at CITYstage sites throughout South Los Angeles. Students would collaborate by contributing ideas that would become the key framework for the play, and then ultimately 4
star in the handcrafted production they helped to initiate. And so, with a playwright at the ready and dozens of students at CITYstage sites around L.A. eager to contribute, we went to work.
Then came the day of the “blue sky” brainstorming session, a style of idea cultivation that leaves the word “no” at the door in favor of the more theatre improv friendly “yes, if” approach. Students at
“writing a story about a journey and self-discovery, also demands a similar journey towards selfdiscovery on the part of the writer” This creative process started not with unbridled ideas, but rather, with structure. A classic “voyage and return” storyline was selected in which a character, or group of characters, would leave home, travel to a foreign land, overcome a series of obstacles, and return home having learned something of value. A collection of prompts were then created to help guide students towards creative self-discovery with these parameters in mind.
the CITYstage Leadership Academy filed into the classroom bright and early on a Saturday morning to find tables covered with an array of colored post-it note pads, pens, and giant sheets paper. Over the course of 3 hours and many rounds of brainstorming exercises, the students generated ideas that became the names and identities of the characters in the play, as well as the plot points that would later make their way into the show.
This is the part of the story where reality and fantasy start to blur, because writing a story about a journey and self-discovery, also demands a similar journey towards self-discovery on the part of the writer. Like a new person you’ve met for the first time at work, it takes time to understand who the new person is, what you’ll talk about by the water cooler, whether they’ll care if you get dumped, and how your relationship will develop over time. And so the tall order of combining a sea of ideas from 30+ students at multiple school sites into cohesive characters began. Through reading and review of the student’s illustrations
and trait suggestions, it became clear who Harold was, and what he saw in Jake. By wading through piles of post-it notes, Jake’s deepest darkest secrets started to emerge, as did her ability to overcome her past and stand up to Brad. And Brad, the school football star, began to emerge with depth in a way that even Annie, the intellectual and feminist a heart, could appreciate. These four main characters came to embody the personalities, hopes, dreams, fears, insecurities, and dislikes of the students who created them. And the journey that made it’s way to the page became just as much of a journey for Harold, Jake, Brad, and
Annie as it would become for the students who ultimately played them on the stage. Over the following month, as the play was being written, it was time to prepare the students for onstage work. After 8 weeks of acting and improv classes, students attended an audition workshop where they learned how to present themselves with professionalism and confidence. Slowly, the vision started to come together. Abstract ideas started to take on a physical form as the play was finished, the cast list was taped onto the wall, scripts were distributed, and rehearsals began.
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For anyone who has ever experienced performing in a stage show, the impact of the experience is long lasting. The focus, discipline, vulnerability, and long hours required to bring a story to life onstage are unmatched by most other endeavours. Memorizing several scenes
way that sports can’t quite match. And remembering blocking and choreography for an entire show is a team effort that makes a group science experiment look like child’s play. There’s something about the performing arts that stretches a person further
“positive and supportive sentiments are difficult to accept until you actually feel what it feels like to conquor the stage.” of dialog demands something different of you than casually completing weekly math homework. Opening oneself up to portray a person other than yourself requires letting go of insecurities and fears in a
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than many traditional academic subjects and leaves one feeling as if he or she can do anything. And for high school students who have had few opportunities in the arts throughout their childhoods, who grew up in
schools where expectations were set a bit lower than schools on the other side of the city, who had never been to a theatre to see a play before -- for them the experience was tenfold. There was no way to coast through the play. Doing “C” calibur work wasn’t going to fly. No shortcut was going to change the fact that on May 21st, they would be performing this play, on a stage, for their friends, family, and strangers. That level of pressure got the best of some students. Fears took over, and the follow through did not happen. Others rose to the occasion early on and found a desire to succeed inside of them that we’d never seen from them before. And the vast majority of students
fell somewhere in between those two extremes. Every day of rehearsal illuminated new fears to overcome, and some students felt like they were holding their heads just above the water, one wave of anxiety away from taking the easy path and just getting out of the pool. On the other side of the table, seeing these struggles fueled us to be better
teachers, better directors, and better administrators. Rehearsals became 50% rehearsal and 50% counseling sessions. But it’s easy to sit on our side of the table and say “you’ll look back and be so glad you did this,” or “we chose you because we KNOW you can do this.” But connecting those dots for a high school student who has coasted by on mediocrity their entire life, who
created a comfort zone in the world of not failing but not really succeeding either, connecting those dots isn’t easy. Those positive and supportive sentiments are difficult to accept until you actually feel what it feels like to conquer the stage. For some students our only hope was that they would hold out long enough to see the finish line and feel that for themselves. 7
On the morning of May 21st, students got up early and headed to the theatre. With a restless night worrying about the unknowns behind them, they walked in filled with excitement and uncertainty. But then something amazing happened. As the house lights came down, and the stage lights came up, a shift occurred. Students who had spent the last month of rehearsals reluctantly reading lines of dialog through a lens of “I’m too cool for this,” suddenly started delivering lines as their character. Comfort zones started to dissolve and the characters on the page came to life. By the end of the show the stage was filled with a team of students, taking bows, hand in hand, with huge smiles on their faces. Students who only days prior to the
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show were considering not showing up because they didn’t want to embarrass themselves, were beaming as strangers came up to them and praised their performance. Students who spent an entire year
ing with students in South L.A. to write a play. It was only partly about producing a fun and entertaining show. It was only partly about having something to show for a semester of classes and grant money
“As the house lights came down, and the stage lights came up, a shift occured.” with looks of disgust on their faces when asked by teachers to take their backpack off during class were snapping selfies with their show program, pointing to their name, and personally thanking the same staff members they refused to even take their backpacks off for just days prior. The road to Sombrellu was only partly about collaborat-
well spent. But it had everything to do with that last second of the show, when the world got a little bit bigger for about 30 students who, at that moment, realized that yes, they can, and they were glad they did. Visit www.lacitystage.org to read the play, Sombrellu.
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The
WOW in WOMEN By: Kristen Rea
Perspective is a funny thing. From a plane, human civilization looks like an ant farm, yet from an ant farm, humans seem to touch the sky. Breakups never hurt quite like the first high school heartbreak, yet to a 90-year-old, a 40-year-old divorcee has all the time in the world to get back on her feet. And while our geography, age, and upbringing shape our perspective a great deal, perhaps nothing has done as much to shift our perspective as the passage of time. And so we honor one such perspective that has shifted year by year thanks to the courageous fight of women and men around the world; the role of women in the world. When we sit down on the level of the students we teach every day, it’s breathtaking to see how strikingly different their view is. Unlike the Gen X and early Gen Y generations who still got a healthy does of their parents’ longing for the good old days of the 40’s, 50’s, and 60’s, teens today see a
blank canvas. Their options are no longer limited to Mom, Teacher, Receptionist or Nurse. And while many women (and men) still enter those crucial roles, today they do so out of free will and a desire to serve others in those fields, not because of a glass ceiling. While our students in South L.A. are certainly still under the pressure of other socioeconomic and societal obstacles, being a woman just doesn’t feel like that much of a barrier to them. It’s no surprise then that we’ve seen CITYstage alumni go on to earn degrees from colleges and universities across the country, often in fields traditionally dominated by men like criminal justice and engineering. Their blue sky perspective is somehow more blue than the sky their parents grew up under. This constant inspiration from our own students and others of their generation, like the courageous Malala Yousafzai, has lead us to realize how many women have made the very mission of CITYstage possible. 11
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THE WOMEN BEHIND THE FUNDING In the spirit of female empowerment, it is only fitting that one of the most transformative grants received by CITYstage this past year came from a team of extraordinary women. Women Helping Youth Foundation is a decade-old women’s philanthropic organization established to help children in need in the greater Los Angeles area. Under the watchful eye and guidance of the foundation’s three strong female founders, Women Helping Youth (WHY) cultivates a network of likeminded, community oriented women who collectively support the foundation and actively review annual grant applications from organizations throughout Los Angeles. For CITYstage, receiving the $14,300 grant from WHY was pivotal for the organization. The award enabled CITYstage to acquire a complete, and authentic set of handmade African drums, as well as diverse set of Latin percussion instruments, twenty guitars, and two mobile music production stations. But the impact of WHY goes far deeper than the acquisition of physical goods. As an organization, CITYstage has proudly joined the esteemed WHY family,
and the gift has allowed us to bring on a team of new teachers who have quickly become some of our most passionate and dedicated Teaching Artists. Without the support of WHY, CITYstage students would not have had the opportunity to learn African Drumming first hand from James Waterman, a local percussionist with an MFA in World Percussion who studied traditional drumming in Ghana and West Africa. Without the support of WHY, CITYstage students would not have created an original song with Efa Etoroma, an on-the-rise drummer and instructor at the Musician’s Institute. And without the support of WHY, CITYstage students would not have had the opportunity to play guitar alongside guitarist John Storie, a founding member of the New West Guitar ensemble who performs regularly with jazz acts like Jeff Goldblum and the Mildred Snitzer Orchestra. Not only has this particular grant been a game changer for the organization, but the women who bestowed the gift have become role models to the staff and students of CITYstage in a way that most grant committees never do.
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THE WOMEN THEY CALL “THE BOSS” When looking for female business leaders, what used to be a search for a needle in a haystack has now become a horn of plenty. Though the playing field may not yet be completely level, female business leaders from boardrooms to Main Streets across America have slowly begun to shatter the glass ceiling. One local business owner who has not only served as a business leader in her own community, but also a business supporter of CITYstage and role model to our students is Leanna Lin, owner of the Eagle Rock boutique Leanna Lin’s Wonderland. Here’s Leanna Lin in her own words:
Fashion Illustration class I took at Barnsdall and went for it full force. I left regular high school and journeyed onto the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts, where I specialized in fashion design in the visual arts department. I started my first internship at 17 years old in downtown LA and then moved to NY to study at the Fashion Institute of Technology. After over 15 years of being in the fashion industry, I decided to open my own shop and art gallery!
I created Leanna Lin’s Wonderland to be able to do my own thing. I want to share fabulous artists and designers with people - exposing cute, indie, handmade art + “I grew up fortunate to explore lots of difdesign! Thinking outside the box and workferent things like sports (not my thing, ing with creative people is exciting, along haha), various types of art, gymnastics and with working for myself. It’s important to dance! My Mom was a stay at home mom. bring good things to Eagle Rock. Not only She took us around to our classes as a kid do I live in Eagle Rock, but I’m investing in and we have fond memories of Barnsdall my community.” Art Park. I finally found my calling at a
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THE WOMEN ON THE STAGE While our Teaching Artists are role models in and of themselves, it’s always an exciting day when we get to welcome special guests to the classroom. Through the CITYstage Arts Discovery program, students meet industry professionals through workshops, masterclasses, and field trips. The range of guests runs the gamut from performers to business executives and we’ve been lucky to include a tremendous amount of successful women in the classroom, like Natalie Willes. Natalie was born to dance, so it’s no surprise that her career path lead her to a scholarship at Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre, the Radio City Rockettes, Broadway productions like Movin’ Out, and a number of film and television credits. Natalie is exactly the type of role model that can make a real impact. While she
may not be a household name like the students’ beloved idol Beyoncé, her story is, in a way, far more powerful. She is a shining example of what can happen when you create discipline for yourself, take advantage of the opportunities and privilege you may be afforded, and set tangible goals to make your vision a reality. Her level of success as a dancer is both lofty and admirable, yet also not out of reach for others with her same level of talent and discipline. In a world where many young people in inner-city neighborhoods only see either the available jobs in their immediate vicinity, or the the celebrity culture they see on TV, it’s easy to miss out on the world of opportunity that exists between those two extremes. A place where women are thriving.
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THE WOMEN WHO TEACH Tuesdays are a special day for the students at School on Wheels, an after-school tutoring center for homeless children located in Skid Row. After a day of school they come to the learning center which is lead by the powerful “Miss Allison” who directs the kids with the love and kindness of your favorite babysitter, and the structure of an Army General. But Tuesdays are different from other days at School on Wheels, because Tuesdays they get to sing with CITYstage Teaching Artist, Mia Jones. They look up to “Miss Mia” not just because she has a beautiful voice, and
brings out that warm feeling you get when you sing, but also because Mia symbolizes something every young girl in her class dreams of… being a princess. An accomplished vocalist and actress, Mia’s accomplishments are many, but include the role of Tiana in Disneyland’s newest main stage production, Mickey and the Magical Map. Mia’s career parallels the magic that Disney often keeps alive in children around the world, but it’s rooted in real life success and hard work she puts in every day.
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THE WOMEN BEHIND THE ORGANIZATION Of course, many of these accolades for our amazing female supporters and students are fueled by the team of women who founded the organization, and have lead the charge since 2010. From the organization’s founder, Emili Danz, a woman who opted to leave a life in the professional dance world to inspire LA teens through
the performing arts, to Regina Williams & Peggy Sassi, the founding and current President of the Board of Directors for CITYstage respectively, it’s easy to see why the young women in our programs make such great strides through their participation in the arts.
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THE YOUNG WOMEN ON THE MOVE In 2011 Emili Danz founded CITYstage through a pilot dance program at Manual Arts High School. The initial program boasted just a handful students, but the impact has been long lasting. One student who has proven the effectiveness of arts education is Jennifer Vides. Jen joined CITYstage as a shy senior in high school. She had never studied dance, and the experience took her quite a ways outside of her comfort zone. Fast forward to 2016
and Jen can be found leading dozens of men at major construction sites with grace and ease. While much of Jen’s success came from her many years of dedication to academics and a drive to attend USC, her dream school, Jen has become an outspoken advocate for the effectiveness of arts education. It was in dance class that Jenn claims to have found a way to take chances, find confidence, and take charge of her life.
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THE WOMEN OF THE FUTURE Jiselle is a Sophomore at Pathways Community School, a CITYstage partner site in South Los Angeles. For the past two years, the CITYstage team has had the good fortune of teaching Jiselle both as a student in singing and dance classes after school, as well as the CITYstage Leadership Academy. Jiselle has a powerful maturity that sets her apart from your typical high school sophomore. She has a quiet comfort with adults and an eagerness to help that is rare in people her age. Looking for a challenging behind-the-scenes role in the spring play, Jiselle jumped on the opportunity to serve as the production stage manager. With no background in stage management or theatrical productions, Jiselle dove in head first on day one. Her Stage Manager binder in hand, Jiselle has proven her capacity as a leader amongst
her peers, despite the many challenges that come with leading others her own age. While watching Jiselle in action, it’s easy to see her ten years from now, a college graduate making quick strides in her career. Having met her mother, it’s easy to understand where Jiselle gets this drive. Jiselle’s mother doesn’t mince words when it comes to the expectations she has for her daughter. While many of us had mothers who pushed us to be our best, Jiselle’s mom stands out from the pack for her certainty in Jiselle’s future. In a world where we are constantly reminded that our actions affect others, it’s easy to see a beautiful life lesson in the story of Jiselle and we look forward to seeing her continue to blossom into adulthood through her participation in the performing arts.
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W
e all know the drill. You get dressed to impress for a classy event to support a great cause. A wonderful evening of entertainment and toasts make those events ones not to miss. But what if, just once, you could show up to a fundraiser in tennis shoes and sweats. What if, instead of a fancy dinner, you got a taste of the cause you were supporting? What if you got to let your hair down, be yourself, have fun, meet new people, and still raise money for a great cause in the process? This year we made that “what if� a reality and created Patrons at Play, a new CITYstage event series that brings our Teaching Artists and classes directly to supporters with tailored classes in the same performing arts disciplines our students experience every day. 27
Our first Patrons at Play event on January 16th brought two dozen supporters into the dance studio with G Madison, a renowned hip-hop and Latin dancer known for empowering students to let go of insecurities and find confidence through dance. If you’re finding it difficult to imagine a room full of successful professionals getting down to a sick beat -- you’re not alone. Most of the attendees, including brave mem-
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bers of the CITYstage board of directors, stepped far out of their comfort zone and put their faith in G in the name of philanthropy. But just like our students who risk the repercussions of school-yard judgement everytime they try something new, the donors were reminded of the fruits of that risk, the joy that comes along with dance, overcoming a common obstacle, and that warm fuzzy feeling you get when you suc-
ceed at something that felt out of reach even just an hour prior. By the end of the class, the room full of initially reluctant donors were stepping out on the dance floor with a newfound level of confidence that radiated from their sneakers to their sweatbands. In May, Patrons at Play took supporters to an entirely different world; the world of African Drumming. CITYstage Teaching Artist
James Waterman, an instructor who has traveled the world to become a specialist in World Percussion, took the lead and created a night to be remembered. Attendees came together to learn Djembe technique and perform a traditional West
African song on the same hand carved instruments our students play. The results were a rousing performance that could be heard a mile away, with the same smiles and intensity we see from students who’ve been lucky to learn from James.
Join us this year as we continue the Patrons at Play event series. Details can be found online at www.lacitystage.org.
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