Effective boards, working harmoniously with staff, ensure the organization’s well-being and mission advancement. This session provides a novel approach to identifying, engaging, and nurturing board members. We suggest that excellent, entrepreneurial boards are the result of a careful process likened to the dating-to-marriage journey: find a match, effective dating, the proposal, marry, and stay happily married. And, if divorce is inevitable, how to finesse that for the good of the organization.

How can you enhance any family event with circus? How can you activate your venue in order to attract, inspire, and grow your family audience? How can your lobby, your café, your garden, even your cinema be transformed into a live performance and engagement opportunity? Hear from a panel of experts who have real-world experience using circus in creative and unusual ways to create unique interactive experiences for children and their families.

Chaired by Mateo Hernandez, MFA Candidate at University of Texas, Austin

– Jess Kaufman,  “The Case for Devising: Inclusion, Equity, and the State of Devised TYA in the United States”
– Michael Haverty, “A Bridge of Strings; Antiracist Puppet Theatre and White Families’ Racial Socialization”
– Rosarito Rodriguez-Gonzalez, “Álvaro Saar Ríos: Original Works and Adaptations for Multicultural Young Audiences”
– Jack Romans, “Making Space: Reflections on Multicultural Collaborative Spaces in Participatory TYA”

In the first part of the session, researchers will deliver short paper presentations on their projects. In the second part, researchers will work with attendees in small groups to address a specific research challenge or question of relevance to their project.

Join Threshold (AU) and Filament Theatre (US) for an in-process exploration of how to co-produce internationally. The panelists will share tools, methods, and strategies on how two small theatre companies can make a big impact on the other side of the world. Using their current co-production, Threshold’s RAIN: for babies and the carers, as a case study, the presenters will share with attendees all of the challenges, joys, and successes of co-producing internationally.

Get the inside scoop of the formation of the TYA Tour Development Collective, a new group of venues working together and pooling resources to help fund new US-based touring work for school and family audiences. Panelists will share the inspiration for the group, organization learnings from the first year, and plans for the future. Ideal for venues, artists, and anyone looking to learn about partnerships and funding models

The Last Martyr by Malik Work,
Directed by Alina Collins Maldonado.

This new hip-hop theatre piece is inspired by written work from incarcerated students in our Voices Beyond Bars program. It was developed in and commissioned by Imagination Stage’s Theatre for Change program and is intended for teen audiences. The piece infuses verse, hip hop music, and lyrical moments throughout the script. Our main character, Najad Washington, experiences the loss of his girlfriend due to gun violence, which is a part of gang retaliation. He is faced with the difficult choice of rejoining a gang or making a positive change in his community. The sound design and music composition is by DC-based hip hop artist and D.J., Nick Hernandez.

Examining Emerson College’s Fall 2024 TYA production and the educational and audience engagement surrounding it, this interactive session explores how to develop a peer-to-peer support model for TYA programming on college campuses. Guided by the graduate student dramaturg, graduate student education directors, and the college instructor of the TYA course, session participants will understand the unique peer-to-peer model used to build educational resources, design lobby engagement, and develop a relaxed performance for EDWARD TULANE.

Akomawt Educational Initiative, a majority Native-owned organization dedicated to furthering knowledge of Native America and Indigenous culture through innovative learning approaches, and Portland Ovations, a 93-year-old historically white live performance non-profit, have engaged in long-term collaboration since 2020, when we conceived of our first co-produced project, Wabanaki Stories. This session explores strategies for creating and maintaining long-term, equitable co-producing partnerships from our experience, examining the process from conception to evaluation and assessment and supporting through sustainable funding.

Participating in performance activates our minds as our brain fires connections between what we are playing and lived experiences. Using tenets of trauma-informed practice, we’ll explore why it’s important to proactively help our brains and bodies decide what should be left on the stage, and what to carry forward. We’ll also engage with these concepts in practice together through three sample tools that can be used before, during, and after all kinds of theatrical play.

During the 2023-2024 school year, Imagination Stage collaborated with WolfBrown to elevate data collection strategies, building a consent-based program evaluation. Rooted in stakeholder feedback, the evaluation supports IStage’s reporting and programming needs as well as the needs of its newcomer communities.In this session, both organizations will share how the co-developed data collection process continues to help IStage cultivate a trauma-informed program where students are encouraged to become active partners in their own educational experience.

How can artistic excellence and inclusive practices support each other in a creative process? This interactive session will unpack the art of creating inclusive theatre productions, from production meetings, and the rehearsal process, through the entire run of the production and beyond. Workshop participants will get a look inside the creation of the musical Just Ask! world premiered at the Coterie Theatre, and leave with hands-on strategies to make their own practice inclusive and neurodiverse.

In this session, Professor, Chair, and Artistic Director of Miami University’s Department of Theatre, Dr. Matt Omasta will provide an interactive overview of the 2024 State of the Field report. He will highlight TYA Theatre Leader’s perspectives on a range of artistic issues, as well as current practices in education departments.

“Round and Round— A Circle of Love! If everybody’s in; If everybody spins; Everybody wins!” ~ THE HULA-HOOPIN’ QUEEN. Join award-winning playwright Gloria Bond Clunie and producers from Childsplay and Imagination Stage as they unpack the journey from conception of a new TYA adaptation to its successful premiere at both theaters. Playwrights, producers and theatre artists will gain practical tools and strategies for creating a powerful ’circle of love’ to guide your co-production journey.

Explore strategies to open your doors wider, attract new demographics, and create accessible programs all while boosting revenue through inclusive pricing, discounts, and promotions. Discover practical approaches to balance financial goals with audience growth by ensuring affordability and value, increasing both attendance and earned income.

Chaired by Gillian McNally, Professor of Theatre Education of the School of Theatre and Dance at the University of Northern Colorado

– Thalia R. Goldstein, “Thinking on Stage: The Science of Theatre Education”
– Reba Troxler, “Deeper Engagement with Theater Increases Middle School Students’ Social-Emotional Skills”
– Cory Kennedy Barrow, “Imaginative Immersion: Developing a Theatre of the Mind Pedagogy for an Ever-Changing Educational Landscape”

In the first part of the session, researchers will deliver short paper presentations on their projects. In the second part, researchers will work with attendees in small groups to address a specific research challenge or question of relevance to their project.

In December 2023, “Remember That Time,” a play about a girl who imagines memories with her father serving a life sentence, was performed in a men’s maximum-security prison. This panel explores the journey from the play’s concept to navigating prison security for sets and costumes, to performing for incarcerated men. Panelists will also unveil the comic book adaptation of the play, aimed at raising public awareness about families impacted by the justice system.

Join Becky Baumwoll and Tasha Milkman from Broken Box Mime Theater (NYC) for a participatory workshop on Non-Speaking Teaching Artistry. What happens when we remove spoken language from our teaching practice? Who can it include, and how does it shift our mindset?

In this session, we will experiment with games and exercises taught without language, and then dive into the theory behind the practice. Wordless teaching methods can increase access, enhance impact, and help to build the foundation of a joyful, collaborative group culture. All are welcome to join: classroom teachers, teaching artists, community organizers, speech pathologists, artists, administrators, and everyone in between.

The Last Martyr by Malik Work,
Directed by Alina Collins Maldonado.

This new hip-hop theatre piece is inspired by written work from incarcerated students in our Voices Beyond Bars program. It was developed in and commissioned by Imagination Stage’s Theatre for Change program and is intended for teen audiences. The piece infuses verse, hip hop music, and lyrical moments throughout the script. Our main character, Najad Washington, experiences the loss of his girlfriend due to gun violence, which is a part of gang retaliation. He is faced with the difficult choice of rejoining a gang or making a positive change in his community. The sound design and music composition is by DC-based hip hop artist and D.J., Nick Hernandez.

The mental health needs of young people deserve attention if we hope to move towards a more just, humane society. “Mind Matters” provides a theatre-based, research-backed, integrative approach to helping teenagers develop mental wellness skills to live more resilient lives. By exploring fictional characters and scenarios through script analysis, active discussions, and drama-based pedagogy, youth ages 13+ are empowered to articulate needs, identify support systems, and brainstorm strategies to address mental health issues, all while maintaining a safe aesthetic distance. Join us to learn about this exciting new initiative, created through a partnership between Orlando Family Stage, University of Central Florida Theatre and Psychology programs, and YouthPLAYS. In this interactive workshop, participants will read and respond to a new play, now available in “Pieces of Mind,” the Mind Matters anthology published by YouthPLAYS. Following the play, participants will engage in an active demonstration of Mind Matters’ arts integration curriculum, designed for use in the classroom or rehearsal space. Together, we’ll examine the power and potential of theatre to provide explicit education about mental health topics with teens.

Welcome to an embodied exploration of early childhood, creative research, and play-based performance practices. This workshop investigates a framework for developing Theatre and Dance for the Very Young performances in which artists collaborate with very young children (ages 0-6) and their educators/caregivers as artistic partners in the process. Participants will gain an understanding of this methodology, activate components of the playful devising process, and engage in dialogue about the performance and early childhood sectors.

Chaired by Elizabeth Coen, PhD, Assistant Professor of Theatre Studies at the University of Houston

– Drew Petersen, “Finding Freedom: The Journey of Robert Smalls – Tour Feasibility Study”
– Annebelle Smit, “Empowering Rural Childhoods: Co-Production Models and Non-Traditional Spaces in South African Theatre for Young Audiences”
– Lisa Marie DiLiberto, “Building Neighbourhood Connections: Site-Specific Performance Ethnography with Children”
– Rachel Briley, “A Sensory Friendly TYA Template: Crafting a Model with Disabled Collaborators”

In the first part of the session, researchers will deliver short paper presentations on their projects. In the second part, researchers will work with attendees in small groups to address a specific research challenge or question of relevance to their project.

Explore Alliance Theatre’s EXPAND Childcare Program, a pioneering initiative providing free childcare to artists and arts workers. By offering essential caregiver support, our artists are able to make world-class art on stage and in the classroom while their young children experience arts-integrated learning on-site. This workshop will highlight how this radical approach addresses a crucial industry gap, emphasize the potential impact of advocating for this program nation-wide, and provide customizable templates to develop this program at any theatre.

In this session, Professor, Chair, and Artistic Director of Miami University’s Department of Theatre, Dr. Matt Omasta will provide an interactive overview of the 2024 State of the Field report. He will highlight TYA Theatre Leader’s perspectives on a range of artistic issues, as well as current practices in education departments.

In this session, attendees will engage in community conversations around requested topics that are most pressing and relevant to the needs of the field right now.