As the premier venue for the performing arts in the borough, Queens Theatre in the Park’s (QTP) mission is to provide quality and diverse performing arts activities that are economically and geographically accessible to the 2.2 million residents of the most ethnically diverse county in the nation. At the heart of this mission (and representing approximately one-third of QTP’s operating budget) is service to our youngest constituents in elementary, junior, and high school each year:  public school students and their families borough-wide who represent 160 cultures and speak 140 languages from around the globe. QTP reaches this community through engaging Arts-in-Education (AIE) programming and through an annual series of Kids & Family live theater performances on QTP’s main stage.

 

Taking it CentreStage

QTP produces a rich host of theater education programs that embody the exploration, inquiry, and magic of creating and performing live theater. QTP has offered AIE programming for the past six (6) years in public schools and community Centres throughout the borough, with a particular focus on those students/schools who would not otherwise receive in-depth arts training. What began as a case-by-case response to the most underserved public schools in Queens (many of which have a significant number of students/families with English as a Second Language challenges) has grown into QTP’s CentreStage program.

 

Currently, CentreStage is in 23 schools in communities borough-wide such as Jackson Heights, Flushing, Long Island City, Elmhurst (among others) and in Brooklyn, serving more than 800 students each year. A testament to the need for arts education, as well as its effect, CentreStage has attracted funding from generous institutional and government contributors. Indeed, QTP launched its AIE program with generous funding from the Annenberg Foundation, yet once this grant period concluded, QTP continued its commitment, using this opportunity to grow its AIE programs. Today, this program enjoys tremendous investment of New York City’s Department of Cultural Affairs and the support of its New York City Council Members as well as a small core of corporate and institutional donors.

 

CentreStage is championed by QTP’s Executive Director Jeffrey Rosenstock, managed by the Director of Educational Programming Kevin R. Free and supported by Associate Artistic Director Rob Urbaniti, and a roster of working theater artists/teachers from throughout New York City, who reflect the rich demographic of Queens.

 

Current CentreStage Highlights

During 2007/08 alone, QTP hired 56 professional actors as CentreStage arts faculty to instruct students in interactive artistic and technical skills workshops addressing contemporary and socially relevant themes and issues. Faculty members assisted students in creating, editing, scripting, directing, and before a school wide audience, performing work that reflected their ideas and concerns. Students then performed this work live, transforming participants and audience members alike. In addition, students from each participating school presented their material to the community on QTP’s mainstage.

 

The following are signature CentreStage program initiatives and workshops:

 

• Confidence Through Acting - Aimed at high school age students, through this workshop, QTP’s teaching artists and school faculty members provide eight sessions per month for a total of 40 in-school workshop sessions over the course of a five-month semester. At the start of the workshop, students and faculty work together to select ten-minute monologues that are of personal interest to each student. Students must then memorize these monologues and are provided instruction in physical and vocal choices, the use of inflection, planned emphasis, pre-performance “warm-up,” and performance techniques. The workshop culminates in a showcase performance held in QTP’s newest performance venue – the QTP Cabaret. 

 

• Underage Cabaret – The Underage Cabaret is a six-week program in  that empowers students to write and perform spoken word style poetry in a cabaret setting. Administered by a program director, assistant director, and an additional teaching artist, staff members meet with a maximum of 12 students for each Underage Cabaret program for 12 sessions (2 times/week for 6 weeks). Sessions focus on writing, self-expression, and maintaining one’s creative process, and faculty members encourage participants to explore their thoughts, feelings and beliefs on the page. Participants also receive instruction in performing their work including projection, stage presence, and overcoming stage-fright. Notably, participants learn about careers in the arts as they are taught the basics of promoting a live show, including how to market performances, ticketing, and administering services to meet audience members’ needs. This program expects to be expanded to two additional schools in 2008/2009.

 

• Theater from Scratch – QTP’s newest CentreStage initiative, Theater from Scratch (TS) uses the power of theater arts to reach at-risk youth and juvenile offenders between the ages of 16 – 24 years old. The overall goal of this initiative is to prevent youth incarceration and reduce recidivism in juvenile offenders. In addition, QTP helps to increase the outside community’s interaction with program participants through intensive mentoring and peer-to-peer relationship building grounded in the on stage and back stage world of live theater. During its inaugural 2008/09 year, program mentors and peers will work with 20 youth participants on clearly defined goals of writing/creating new theater work. The initiative will culminate in two public performances for family, friends, peers, and community members at LaGuardia Performing Arts Centre and at Queens Theatre in the Park.

 

• Parents as Arts Partners (PAAP) – Through the PAAP initiative (in collaboration with the Centre for Arts Education), QTP provides Queens-based, PAAP partner public elementary and junior high schools with interactive, in-school theater performance workshops for children and their parents/caregivers. One example of this popular and effective program, during 2007/08, QTP worked with P.S. 213, The Carl Ullman School in Bayside to provide two performance workshops for children in grades K-2 and 3-5, respectively, many of whom do not speak English and, thus, are challenged with ELL (English Language Learner) issues. For the K-2 classes, students and parents created animal masks and were then encouraged to interact with one another through character creation exercises and the physicality of theater performance while embodying their new animal characters. The initiative culminated in students, parents, and faculty members attending QTP’s live school-time performance of Dr. Doolittle.

 

• JHS 185 OnStage – QTP is working throughout the entire 2008-2009 school year with the students from JHS 185 in the after-school hours helping children learn, through exercises and workshops, how to take their ideas to paper and write, edit, script, choreograph (if needed) and perform their point of view for the school community. Vocal and presentations skills to build confidence are also goals of the program. The goal of this year-long program is to enhance the students writing skills, learn how to better express their own thoughts, feelings, and ideas, and improved their performance and public speaking skills. The students will learn to work in a collaborative fashion with their classmates.

 

 

Kids & Family:  Experiencing Live Theater

Serving more than 60,000 children and families from throughout the New York City community, QTP’s Kids & Family programming provides three distinct initiatives including:  Kids Corner, Family Festival, and Young Adults (weekly school-time matinees for junior high and high school groups). Through these initiatives, QTP offers more than 27 events each year that are focused on the interests of diverse students from K – high school and their families. Midweek, matinee, and weekend performances of such artists and shows as Inti Illimani, Broadway for Kids, The Philadelphia Story, Babes in Toyland, and Tom Chapin provide the opportunity for families to share in a live theater performance at QTP. Notably, a great percentage of families that QTP serves are recent immigrants to the U.S. and QTP may be their first experience in attending a live cultural event outside of their own ethnic community. QTP understands the importance of the Kids & Family series as a way to engage this population while at the same time providing an interactive, arts-based forum through which these new Americans can interact with their neighbors in a public gathering space.