Friday, November 18, 2022 9:00 am – 9:20 am

Registration & Check-In

Friday, November 18, 2022 9:20 am – 9:30 am

Welcome Remarks- Executive Director Sara Morgulis

Friday, November 18, 2022 9:30 am – 10:15 am

Keynote - Greg Reiner & Nancy Daugherty

Greg Reiner joined the NEA as the director of theater and musical theater starting in September 2015. Reiner manages NEA grantmaking in theater and musical theater and represents the agency to the field.

Most recently, Reiner was executive director of Classic Stage Company in New York City, where he launched CSC’s Musical Theater Initiative, the organization’s largest fundraising campaign, and implemented new education programs such as a Teen Council and a Shakespeare scene and monologue competition. Prior to that, Reiner was founding executive director of Tectonic Theater Project in New York City, where he received a Tony nomination for Best Play as one of the producers of 33 Variations. At Tectonic, Reiner also designed and managed the simultaneous opening of The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later in 150 theaters in all 50 states, DC, and eight countries, on the same night, with livestreaming and social media outreach. Reiner has also served as managing director at The Actors’ Gang in Culver City, California, and at the Shakespeare Festival/LA.

Reiner received his bachelor’s degree in communications from Loyola Marymount University in 1998.

Nancy Daugherty has been an Arts Education Specialist for the National Endowment for the Arts since June 2000 and is currently serving as the Arts Education Team Lead. She has works with applicants in the disciplines of dance, literature, theater and musical theater. Daugherty also works with state arts agency arts education managers helping design an annual professional development institute through the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies and serves on the Advisory Committee of the Arts Education Partnership. From 2004 through 2007 she managed the agency’s Summer Schools in the Arts program, a national initiative designed to assess student learning and offer potential models of rigorous, standards-based arts education. Prior to her federal service she was the Arts Education Coordinator for the West Virginia Commission on the Arts where she managed the Governor’s Task Force on Arts in Basic Education. She has served as a facilitator, presenter, consultant, panelist and conference planner for many state and national arts organizations. She attended Warren Wilson College in Swannanoa, NC and is a graduate of West Virginia University.

Friday, November 18, 2022 10:30 am – 12:00 pm

"Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed: The Rock Experience" Performance

Based on the book Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed by Mo Willems
Published by Hyperion Books for Children
Script and Lyrics by Mo Willems
Music by Deborah Wicks la Puma
Directed by  Kathryn Chase Bryer
November 16, 2022 – January 8, 2023

Best for ages 4 – 10

When clothing suddenly falls from the sky, Wilbur J. Mole Rat stuns the colony with his decision to get dressed! In a community where baring is caring and skin is in, can Wilbur find the courage to march to the beat of his own drum? Or better yet, rock to the rhythm of his own electric guitar? Mo Willem’s beloved picture book explores what can happen when we have the courage to be ourselves.

Friday, November 18, 2022 12:00 pm – 1:30 pm

Lunch on Your Own

Friday, November 18, 2022 1:30 pm – 2:30 pm

Breakout Session #1

Attendees will select from one of three Breakout Sessions offered during the block.

Speak Up, Act Out and Break Out
with Christopher Totten, Courtney J. Boddie, & ChelseaDee Harrison

In what ways can we authentically diversify organizational programming to amplify young people’s voices? What does it mean to activate social justice in programming through theater-based practices? These questions and more lie at the heart of this session inspired by the New Victory’s recent partnership with The Lillys and The 24 Hour Plays—Speak Up, Act Out: Inspired by The Lorraine Hansberry Initiative—aimed at encouraging young students to become playwrights, editors and co-directors. Inspired by the art and activism of playwright Lorraine Hansberry, student writers submitted original monologues about social topics that were important to them and the lives of young people. Each student then co-directed their piece with a professional director and professional actor. This session will share more about the model itself and in what ways it is a departure from New Victory’s foundational Education programming to encourage participants to explore ways of expanding their own programming and center young people’s voices using TYA and theater-based practices. Participants will have time to explore what it means to move beyond the proverbial box. They will brainstorm and conceptualize meaningful new ways to leverage internal skill sets, consider new partnerships, root creative ventures in an organization’s core values and create myriad pathways to new community-centered programming that inspires a new generation of young artists.

New Directions for Digital Theatre Post-COVID (Imagination Stage Host Breakout Session)
with Janet Stanford, David Sabel, & Helen Tovey

The pandemic challenged our young audiences in their social/emotional development and prompted theatre companies to utilize digital media in new ways in order to reach and engage them during lockdown. What are the takeaways from the field’s experimentation? Is there an opportunity to engage neglected audiences in rural and under-served parts of the country through digital means, and is there a demand for digital theatre or new forms of digital creation going forwards? What are the different strategies required for creating and distributing children’s digital theatre at different scales? Join this conversation with Imagination Stage Artistic Director Janet Stanford; David Sabel, a freelance film and theatre producer who created NT Live at the National Theatre in London and recently produced Romeo and Juliet, a hybrid theatrical film for PBS; and Helen Tovey, Co-Executive Director of the Unicorn Theatre in London – the UK’s leading theatre for children, producing a year-round program of new works for ages 0 – 13.

Integrating Consent-Forward Practices into Classrooms and Rehearsals
with Madeline Geier

How can consent-forward principles apply to our learning and rehearsal experiences for young people? Considering early childhood through high school participants and multi-generational groups, participants will be invited to explore ways to center consent within their facilitation styles. With multiple options for engagement, participants will gain familiarity with language and exercises to foster a culture of consent in the environments they facilitate. Activities shared will include options for modifying common activities as well as exercises specific to honoring body autonomy and navigating boundaries for both large groups and partner work.

Friday, November 18, 2022 2:45 pm – 3:45 pm

Breakout Session #2

Attendees will select from one of three Breakout Sessions offered during the block.

Trauma Informed Arts Learning: Spotlight on Theatre for Change (Imagination Stage Host Breakout Session)
with Joanne Seelig Lamparter, Triza Cox, & Hilda Lee Tijerina

Join the Theatre for Change team at Imagination Stage and learn the techniques that shaped our three core programs in Theatre for Change: Óyeme (programmed with refugee youth), Voices Beyond Bars (programmed with incarcerated youth) and Youth/Police Partnership (programming with DC youth and officers). This hands-on workshop will allow participants to walk away with some key activities to allow youth to open up, bond with others and take ownership in their identity and stories while promoting social justice. It will also provide some logistical and practical considerations including: staffing and teacher training, self-care, and partnership management techniques.

Revealing History Through Hyperlocal Theater
with Peter Musante

In this participatory workshop, UP CLOSE Projects Founding Artistic Producer Peter Musante will walk participants through the creation of the UP CLOSE Festival, (2018-2020 at New Ohio Theatre in NYC’s West Village) offering techniques for combining immersive storytelling with civic engagement. Workshop participants will be invited to consider the multilayered histories of their own local cultural institutions and work through strategies, both creative and curatorial, to make them as accessible to the public as possible. Workshop participants will apply this model of local collaboration to their own contexts, inventing opportunities to engage audiences of all ages and abilities in thought-provoking civic experiences that are deeply connected to public space.

Alternative Approaches to Funding and Philanthropy in Social Justice TYA
with Suzan Zeder, Michael M. Wood, Hy Hetherington, Sharnita C. Johnson, Miriam Gonzales, & Sarah Bellamy

A roundtable interactive discussion bringing together a visionary theatre administrator, an independent artist, an expert in grantsmanship, and two corporate philanthropists to explore alternative approaches to making and supporting socially engaged work for young people. Since the turn of the century, traditional models of philanthropy, commissioning, creating and developing  new work have been entrenched in essentially top-down hierarchical models where power and artistic control are posited with those who hold the purse strings and sign the contracts. Participants will explore how alternative fundraising approaches, creative partnerships and new developmental practices can work together to create ecosystems of sustained support for artists and organizations in Theatre for Young Audiences. How can we envision a philanthropy of hope and healing fueled by the power of live performance, the acumen of business and the values of social activism to support TYA now and into the future?

Friday, November 18, 2022 4:00 pm – 5:15 pm

"10 Seconds" Performance & Post-Show Workshop

10 Seconds
Written by Miriam Gonzales
Directed by LeeAnét Noble

In a world where deeply rooted biases and misperceptions easily take hold, life can often feel unnerving—and can change for better or worse in a blink of an eye, depending on how we see each other. In this play, we see through the eyes of Washington, DC high school students Ray and Jimi, who navigate their young adult worlds and what it means to be young black men in the city.  Ray tells the story of a day that he and Jimi will never forget, sharing not only their perspectives, but also the views of the police they encounter. Imagination Stage commissioned playwright Miriam Gonzales to write this play, which is part of its Theatre for Change programming and based on two years of workshops with DC police officers and young people ages 12-18.

Friday, November 18, 2022 5:15 pm – 6:00 pm

Reception / After Party

Light refreshments included!