Stay connected to the content and conversations of the Tour without leaving the comfort of home!
Understanding the continued significance of virtual engagement when there are numerous U.S. cities with active TYA communities and travel may not be feasible for all during the on-going pandemic, the TYA/USA on Tour Virtual Pass ensured our community was part of the national conversation!
TYA/USA on Tour Virtual Pass holders had access to:
– Streaming of the recorded keynotes from each event location
– On-demand digital versions of shows presented by each host organization and
– Participation in field-wide, interactive webinar conversations following each of the in-person events
Keynote Speakers & Webinar Panelists
TYA/USA on Tour Virtual Pass holders streamed the recorded keynotes from the three TYA/USA on Tour locations via a password-protected page. The access password and notifications when performances became available to watch was sent to Virtual Pass holders by email.
Additionally, Virtual Pass holders participated in Zoom webinars following each of the in-person events featuring a variety of in-person attendee perspectives in conversation.
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Idris Goodwin - Seattle Children's Theatre (October 20)
Seattle Children's Theatre Artistic Director • Playwright • Breakbeat Poet
Idris Goodwin is an award-winning storyteller for multiple generations. An accomplished playwright, breakbeat poet, content creator and arts champion, Goodwin is recognized as a culture bearer who celebrates community values and cultivates histories with care. Idris is the author of over 60 original plays ranging from his Hip Hop inspired breakbeat series to historical dramas to works for young audiences. Titles such as And In This Corner Cassius Clay, How We Got On, Hype Man: A Break Beat Play, This is Modern Art and the ground breaking Free Play: open source scripts for an antiracist tomorrow, are widely produced across the country by a diverse mix of professional and academic venues. Driven by a passion for cultural impact and civic engagement, Idris currently serves as Artistic Director of Seattle Children’s Theater. Prior to this he was Executive Director of The Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center at Colorado College, where he also taught as a professor in The Department of Theater and Dance. Previous to this Idris led StageOne Family Theatre in Louisville, Kentucky as Producing Artistic Director. Idris is Board President of Theater For Young Audiences/USA and also serves on the board at Children’s Theater Foundation Association. In addition to Idris’s work in theater he’s created original content for and/or appeared on Nickelodeon, HBO Def Poetry, Sesame Street, NPR, BBC Radio, and the Discovery Channel. “Your House is Not Just A House,” his first picture book, will be published by Harper Collins in 2024. Find him at www.idrisgoodwin.com and on across all the socials.
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Shavonne Coleman - Seattle Children's Theatre (October 20)
Educator & "Your Name is a Song" Playwright
Shavonne Coleman (she/they) is a fabulist, facilitator, teaching/performing artist, writer, director, and cultivator of connection and community. Shavonne is from Detroit and is currently utilizing her passion and deep belief in the power of theatre as a catalyst for social change as the Assistant Director for Transformative Learning in the Center for Teaching and Learning at The University of Texas at Austin. She has an MFA from Eastern Michigan University for Applied Drama/Theatre for the Young where she had the amazing opportunity to travel to S. Korea to direct a Youth Theatre performance at the Zoom Theatre in Seoul. In recent years Ms. Coleman was the Assistant Director of Acting at Mosaic Youth Theatre of Detroit developing their Mosaic Empowerment Experience Project in multiple Detroit middle schools. From 2017-2018 she returned to her alma mater Grand Valley State University (BA ’07) as a Visiting Professor in the Theatre Department where she also was the co-advisor for ReACT! an interpersonal violence peer-education theatre troupe and was awarded the 2018 TYA Emerging Leadership award to research the historical impact of people of color in the field of Theatre for Young Audiences. She later went on to publish multiple articles as a staff writer for TYA magazine. Arriving in Austin, TX in September of 2018 she became the Theatre for Dialogue Specialist and a Lecturer in Theatre and Dance here at the University of Texas at Austin where she was one of the 2019-2020 Faculty Innovation Center Undergraduate Teaching Award Grant recipients for her work on campus. Shavonne was one of the 2021-2022 Donald H. Wulff Diversity Fellowship (POD Network) recipients and is currently over the moon with the honor of being the 2022 Anne Flagg Multicultural Award (AATE) recipient as she continues to explore the use of drama and theatre methodologies as effective practices to cultivate educational justice, equitable pedagogical experiences, and accessible learning environments. Shavonne, through her many experiences like being part of the Artistic Advisory Circle at Seattle Children’s Theatre, hopes to continue to build community, get learn’d up, and grow up to one day be an ARTivist.
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Tiffany Maltos - Seattle Children's Theatre (October 20)
Seattle Children's Theatre Associate Director of Education and Engagement
Tiffany Maltos (she/her) is the Associate Director of Education and Engagement at Seattle Children’s Theatre, a former Staff Writer for TYA Today, and a founding member of the BIPOC in TYA Advisory Board. She graduated from Bowdoin College in 2011 with a degree in Interdisciplinary English/Theatre and focus on Theatre for Young Audiences. She received her Teaching Certificate in 2012 and taught in a high school before beginning her career in theatre. Tiffany was an SCT Drama School Teaching Artist Intern in 2013 before returning to her hometown of San Antonio, TX, where she was the Education Department Manager at The Magik Theatre and a teaching artist for The Classic Theatre. Upon moving to the Pacific Northwest, Tiffany served as a board member for Theatre Puget Sound from 2017 – 2020 and is a current trustee of the TYA/USA Board.
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Marc Brown - First Stage (November 4)
Author & Illustrator of the "Arthur" series
Marc Brown is the author and illustrator of the bestselling Arthur series and executive producer of ARTHUR on PBS. The show has won seven Emmys, the Peabody Award, The 2019 Television Critics Award and is now the longest running children’s animated show in history. The Arthur books have sold more than 75 million copies and the show is seen by children all around the world. He is currently working on HOP, a new animated preschool television series and two other television productions based on book collaborations with R.L. Stine.
“When my three sisters and I were growing up near Erie, Pennsylvania, our grandmother Thora told us the most wonderful stories anytime we wanted them. Back then I never dreamed I would grow up to tell stories of my own,” says Marc Brown. “But when my first son, Tolon, was born, I started telling him stories every night before he went to sleep. Most of the stories were about animals. One night our story was about an aardvark who hated his nose. The aardvark, of course, was named Arthur, and that story became Arthur’s Nose, the first book in the Arthur Adventure series.”
What began as a simple family ritual soon grew into a full-time profession for Marc Brown. Trained at the Cleveland Art Institute, he went on to create more than one hundred and thirty picture books for children. Before his current success, Marc worked at many jobs, including stints as a truck driver, soda jerk, actor, chicken farmer, television art director, short order cook, and college professor.
Marc is married to psychologist and artist, Laurie Krasny Brown. They have collaborated on the bestselling Dino Life Guides for Families and divide their time between New York City and a small farm on Martha’s Vineyard. They have three grown children and two cats on dietary restrictions.
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Greg Reiner - Imagination Stage (November 18)
Director of Theater and Musical Theater - National Endowment for the Arts
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.
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Nancy Daugherty - Imagination Stage (November 18)
Arts Education Specialist - National Endowment for the Arts
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.
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Brodrick Ryans
TYA/USA on Tour @ Seattle Children's Theatre - Webinar Panelist
Brodrick Ryans (he/him) is a Seattle based musical theatre artist, director, teaching artists and the founder/host of Timeout w/Brodrick. Most recently Brodrick just finished his 20-21 Emerging Leaders in Theatre for Young Audiences Fellowship with TYA/USA. He also worked on the education materials for A Kids Play About Racism, Voices of Change and Creative Drama for Mental Wellness for Middle and High Schools, while serving as a teaching artists and the Education Coordinator for Seattle Children’s Theatre. “I am really excited about being back in space and working with students at SCT. I feel that it is my job as an educator to help students unlock the gifts and abilities that are already there, and teach them to move in space completely as themselves.” Follow Brodrick on Instagram @brodrickryans and @timeoutbrodrick.
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Khalia Davis
TYA/USA on Tour @ Seattle Children's Theatre - Webinar Panelist
Khalia Davis(she/her) is a multidisciplinary artist and Artistic Director of Bay Area Children’s Theatre where she recently led the world premieres of a kids play about Racism, which brought together over 40 theater producing partners and was viewed on Broadway on Demand nearly 80,000 times during its limited run then became a free resource for educators and their students, and The Imaginaries: An Immersive Musical, an original new work created by the newly-formed BACT Writer’s Room. Directed and devised other new works like the award-nominated world premiere, She Persisted the Musical, based on the popular children’s book by Chelsea Clinton, the off-Broadway world premiere of an original adaptation of Maya Angelou’s I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings with New York City Children’s Theatre, and most recently led the world premiere of Arthur and Friends Make a Musical! based on Arthur, the longest-running animated series on PBS with First Stage. Other prominent theaters include Atlantic Theater Company’s Atlantic for Kids, New York City Children’s Theater, Disney Theatrical Group, Spellbound Theatre and more. As a producer, Ms. Davis has helped organizations reach hundreds of thousands of young people through, interactive “edu-tainment” with the nationally known Story Pirates, generating new digital pre-school content with Spellbound at Home, and a children’s web series chronicling the experiences of a little black puppet girl named Nia living through the COVID-19 pandemic with her personal web-based company, Kids at Heart Productions. Before assuming her new role as Artistic Director, Ms. Davis served as the Director of Inclusion and Education with Brooklyn Children’s Theatre restructuring their children’s musical theater programming through an anti-racism lens. She made her professional theatrical debut at thirteen years old launching a life-long career as a performer splitting her time between California and NYC. Proud board member for TYA/USA, Spellbound Theater, and The Story Pirates. Awards: 2019 Emerging Leader Fellowship-TYA/USA, 2019 NYCCT Leader Fellowship, 2021 Corey Medallion Award-Children’s Theatre Foundation of America. BA in Theater Arts from the University of Southern California www.khaliadavis.com!
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Fran Sillau
TYA/USA on Tour @ First Stage - Webinar Panelist
Fran Sillau serves as the Director of Accessibility at The Rose Theater, where he is leading an expansion of the popular Every Single Child Program (a multi-layered program that serves an average of 35,000 students each year at more than 70 school buildings.) The expansion will develop production and residency programming for students in self-contained special education classrooms in the Omaha area. He also directs mainstage productions at the Rose; some of his credits include Shrek: The Musical, Go,Dog.Go! and the Omaha premiere of Hanna’s Suitcase. He also serves as Executive Artistic Director of Circle Theatre, Omaha’s theater for individuals of all abilities.
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Jeff Frank
TYA/USA on Tour @ First Stage - Webinar Panelist
Jeff Frank As the Artistic Director of First Stage, the third largest professional Theater for Young Audiences in the nation, Jeff is recognized as one of the top directors in the field with an expertise in developing new work for Theater for Young Audiences. First Stage serves young people and families of southeastern Wisconsin through dynamic in school educational programming and their nationally recognized Theater Academy and Young Company training programs. During Jeff’s tenure First Stage has developed numerous new plays including TYA adaptations of THE WIZ, PETER PAN AND WENDY, and in collaboration with Michael Bobbitt and Adventure Theatre MTC – BIG, THE MUSICAL and ELLA ENCHANTED. In addition to presiding over the development of adaptations of THE THIEF LORD, GOSSAMER, GATHERING BLUE, TOM SAWYER, ON THE WINGS OF A MARIPOSA, and THE LEGEND OF ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS – Jeff has strengthened First Stage’s commitment to new, original plays including A MIDNIGHT CRY, DON’T TELL ME I CAN’T FLY, LUCHADORA, TO THE PROMISED LAND, THE SNOW, and ANTARCTICA, WI. Harry Cherkinian (Chicago Theater Beat/Shepherd Express) proclaimed; “Director Jeff Frank … continues to take Milwaukee’s children’s theater company to new levels ….”
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Julie Ritchey
TYA/USA on Tour @ First Stage - Webinar Panelist
Julie Ritchey (she/her) is the co-founder and Artistic Director of Filament Theatre and a Chicago-based theater director and administrator with a primary focus on theater for young and family audiences. Critics describe Julie’s work as a director as “pinpoint” (Chicago Tribune), “captivating” (Chicago Reader) and “incredibly imaginative” (Time Out Chicago). With Filament, Julie created The Van Gogh Cafe, an adaptation of Cynthia Rylant’s book of the same name (staged in Fannie’s Bakery and Cafe with an accompanying a five course meal); a Sherlock Holmes and the Mystery of Portage Park (an original mystery that took the audience on foot and by bicycle throughout the neighborhood in search of clues); The Uncorker of Ocean Bottles (a play in a sandbox); and Forts: Build Your Own Adventure (an audience-driven performance installation).
Julie maintains strong relationships with theater companies in Chicago and nationally, where she focuses primarily on new and emerging work. She sometimes directs plays for grown-up audiences, too. With Boise Contemporary Theater, Julie directed the premiere production of Hansol Jung’s No More Sad Things (World Premiere), With Love and a Major Organ, Every Brilliant Thing, The Storm in the Barn, Narwhal! Unicorn of the Sea (World Premiere), and An Iliad (Idaho tour). Additionally, Julie co-founded the hugely successful children’s theatre program at the Summer Theatre of New Canaan. Julie received a Bachelor of Science in Performance Studies from Northwestern University. She lives in Chicago with her husband (Grammy Award-winning musician Timothy Munro) and their delicious toddler (Ellis).
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Reji Simon
TYA/USA on Tour @ First Stage - Webinar Panelist
Reji Simon (he/him) is a Chicago based performing artist and has been a Resident Artist at Filament Theatre since 2017. In addition to performing, he is a teacher, producer, and casting director. At the heart of all of his work is community and development. He is committed to developing artists through community building and the deconstruction of barriers meant to keep folks out of art making. Reji has worked as a teaching artist at Filament Theatre, Illinois Caucus for Adolescent Health, and Cleveland Playhouse.
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Rebecca Gerrard
TYA/USA on Tour @ Imagination Stage - Webinar Panelist
Rebecca Gerrard is a Scottish theater maker and producer now based in NYC. She has co-created and toured new theater for young audiences as a devising artist for leading TYA companies in both Scotland and the USA including Starcatchers, Spellbound, Trusty Sidekick and NYCCT. In 2021 she was awarded TYA USA’s Emerging Leader Fellowship and is currently producing two of Spellbound Theatre’s main stage shows Wink and Shakespeare’s Stars, both of which will run at the New Victory Theater in spring 2023.
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Joanne Seelig Lamparter
TYA/USA on Tour @ Imagination Stage - Webinar Panelist
Joanne Seelig Lamparter joined Imagination Stage in 2014. As Artistic Director of Education and Theatre for Change she has led the organization’s school and community partnerships, theatre arts training programs, and the development of new work based on youth voices. Under Joanne’s leadership Imagination Stage’s youth programming has been featured at international festivals, national conferences, at local universities and even on Capitol Hill! An arts educator with over 20 years of experience she has administered programs for Smithsonian, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, The National Building Museum and Capitol Hill Arts Workshop. Joanne has served as a grants panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts, Theatre Communications Group, the U.S. Department of Education, and the Maryland State Arts Council. Joanne currently serves as a theatre education advisor for the PBSKids series, Pinkalicious. She holds a Masters in Arts in Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre from Washington University. Joanne is a proud Board Member of TYAUSA.
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José Casas
TYA/USA on Tour @ Imagination Stage - Webinar Panelist
José Casas is a playwright and Associate Professor who heads the Playwriting Minor in the Department of Theatre & Drama at the University of Michigan. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild as well as a Board Member of Children’s Theatre Foundation of America. He has a BA in Theatre Arts from the University of California, Santa Barbara, a MA in Theatre Arts from California State University, Los Angeles, and a MFA in Playwriting from Arizona State. His plays include la rosa grows beyond the wall, all brown all chingon, aDoBe, a million whispers all at once, the vine, la ofrenda and somebody’s children and Flint. His work has been included in a number of anthologies such as The Bully Plays, Ethnodrama: An Anthology of Reality Theatre, and Theatre for Youth II: More Plays With Mature Themes. His published work includes la ofrenda, 14, somebody’s children, and Palabras del Cielo: An Exploration of Latina/o Theatre for Young Audiences which was awarded the American Alliance of Theatre and Education’s Distinguished Book Award. His plays, la ofrenda and somebody’s children were awarded both the Bonderman National Playwriting Award and the American Alliance of Theatre and Education’s Distinguished Play Award.
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Courtney J. Boddie
TYA/USA on Tour @ Imagination Stage - Webinar Panelist
Courtney J. Boddie, VP, Education & School Engagement, oversees all school-based programming, including, GIVE, an initiative to address equitable engagement in learning environments and Speak Up Act Out: Celebrating Student Voices amplifying student playwrights working alongside professional artists featuring works on social issues. A 2021 Crain’s New York ‘Notable Black Leader and Executive,’ Ms. Boddie is the Creator and Host of Teaching Artistry with Courtney J. Boddie, a monthly podcast and an adjunct professor at NYU.
Featured Performances
TYA/USA on Tour Virtual Pass holders streamed the featured performances from the three TYA/USA on Tour locations via a password-protected page. The access password and notifications when performances became available to watch was be sent to Virtual Pass holders by email.
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The Boy Who Kissed the Sky
Seattle Children's Theatre - Seattle, WA
The Boy Who Kissed the Sky – SCT Commission and World Premiere
By Idris Goodwin
Directed by Tim Bond
Music by Divinity Roxx and Eugene H. Russell IV10/11/22–11/6/22
Set in the heart of Seattle’s Central District to the rhythms that shaped a generation, The Boy Who Kissed the Sky, is inspired by the early life and influences of Seattle native and musical icon Jimi Hendrix. The early era of rock ‘n roll music sets the stage as a young Black boy conjures his creativity as a budding guitarist. Guided by the spirit of music itself, the boy learns to find harmony inside the challenging noises of his life. Told with vibrant music and daring imagination, this play inspires us to dream big when it matters most.
*Commissioned by SCT in partnership with Alliance Theatre Company, this highly theatrical play by Idris Goodwin and directed by Tim Bond is funded in part by The Kennedy Center’s New Visions, New Voices to support the creation of new plays and musicals for young audiences and families.
Run time: Approx. 60 minutes
Age: Recommended for patrons 8+ -
Arthur and Friends Make a Musical!
First Stage - Milwaukee, WI
ARTHUR AND FRIENDS MAKE A MUSICAL!
Book and Lyrics by John Maclay, Music and Lyrics by Brett Ryback
Adapted from the books and characters created by Marc Brown
Directed and Choreographed by Khalia Davis
Music Direction by Brett RybackOctober 7 – November 6, 2022
Marcus Center’s Todd Wehr Theater
Sponsored by Children’s WisconsinBig things are happening at Lakewood Elementary School! Mr. Ratburn’s class is asked to write and perform a big show for all of Elwood City. Everyone is so excited! Everyone, except for Arthur. What should he do? Arthur feels more nervous as the big performance gets closer and closer. With the help of his family and friends Buster, Brain, Francine, Muffy – and even little sister D.W. – Arthur learns the importance of being his best, unique self. All aboard for an incredibly fun ride with this world premiere musical! Suggested for families with young people ages 5+.
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10 Seconds
Imagination Stage - Bethesda, MD
10 Seconds
Written by Miraim Gonzales
Directed by LeeAnét NobleIn 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 Mriam 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.
Webinar Schedule
Zoom Webinar access information and panelist details was sent to TYA/USA on Tour Virtual Pass holders by email prior to the webinar dates.
Note: Times listed below are in EASTERN Time.
TYA/USA on Tour @ Seattle Children's Theatre - Webinar
On this hour-long webinar, Sara Morgulis (TYA/USA Executive Director) will moderate a conversation featuring four panelists offering different attendee perspectives on the TYA/USA on Tour @ Seattle Children’s Theatre event. Conversation will include sharing around the Seattle event and connecting themes of new work development, crafting partnerships and community-centered programming to panelists’ respective work, and trends of the wider TYA industry.
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Sara Morgulis
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Brodrick Ryans
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Khalia Davis
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Shavonne Coleman
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Idris Goodwin
TYA/USA on Tour @ First Stage - Webinar
On this hour-long webinar, Sara Morgulis (TYA/USA Executive Director) will moderate a conversation featuring four panelists offering different attendee perspectives on the TYA/USA on Tour @ First Stage event. Conversation will include sharing around the Milwaukee event and connecting themes of TYA adaptation, play development, and producing to panelists’ respective work and trends of the wider TYA industry.
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Sara Morgulis
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Fran Sillau
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Jeff Frank
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Julie Ritchey
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Reji Simon
TYA/USA on Tour @ Imagination Stage - Webinar
On this hour-long webinar, Sara Morgulis (TYA/USA Executive Director) will moderate a conversation featuring four panelists offering different attendee perspectives on the TYA/USA on Tour @ Imagination Stage event. Conversation will include sharing around the Bethesda event and connecting themes of activating social justice and community advocacy to panelists’ respective work, and trends of the wider TYA industry.
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Sara Morgulis
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Rebecca Gerrard
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Joanne Seelig Lamparter
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José Casas
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Courtney J. Boddie
Our 2022 TYA/USA on Tour Sponsors
We thank our generous sponsors for their support of the 2022 TYA/USA on Tour series.
• Vivienne M. St. John • Cathy Archer • Catherine von Storch • Ana Romes • Shavonne Coleman • Ellen Conn •
• Khalia Davis • Suzan Zeder • Paige Hernandez • Allison Mui Mitchell • Gayle Sergel Brown •
• Sean-Joseph Choo • Craig Holland • José Casas • Monica Cortes Vharo •
