First Ever TEEN TAKEOVER Performance at CSC, Hosted by NextGen!

NextGen members get to see all of the shows at CSC each season, but their friends and peers haven't always had the same opportunity. So NextGen members worked with the staff at CSC to create a new event: Teen Takeover Performances! 

NextGen members pose on the set of A MAN'S A MAN
following the Teen Takeover Performance.

One Sunday matinee (afternoon) performance of each of CSC's main stage shows this year will have $10 tickets set aside for students ages 13-19. These performances are hosted by NextGen members, who work as box office assistants, passing out tickets; ushers and greeters, welcoming and helping to seat ticket holders; and discussion leaders, planing and facilitating a post-show talkback with the artists for the teens in attendance. 

Our first Teen Takeover performance of the season was Brecht's A MAN'S A MAN, on Sunday January 19 at 3pm. It was a huge success! Members had a blast and their guests enjoyed the performance and talkback, where they were joined by actors Justin Vivian Bond (Widow Begbick), Jason Babinsky (Polly Baker), Allan K. Washington (Ensemble), Ching Valdes-Aran (Mr. Wang), and Christopher Murrah, the assistant director. 

Ballot boxes created by NextGen members for the
Teen Takeover audience to vote for their favorite
theatrical element in A MAN'S A MAN.

Attendees asked questions of the cast such and of each other, with an exit pole designed by NextGen members to find out which theatrical element was the most impressive: acting, lighting, set design, music, or costumes. Here are the results!

1st place: SET! "My favorite is stage design. It becomes a character itself."

2nd place: LIGHTING! "The effects were great! It kept me on my toes the whole time.”

3rd place: ACTING! “The acting was 10 out of 10.”

4th place: MUSIC! "The music and singing was very engaging."

5th place: COSTUMES! "I love the clothes inspired by Indian culture." 

Bummed that you missed our first Teen Takeover performance? Never fear: our next Teen Takeover performance (David Ives' THE HEIR APPARENT) is happening on Sunday, April 6 at 3pm. We can't wait to see you there! 

First Rehearsal for THE TEMPEST

Last week CSC’s Young Company had their first rehearsal for THE TEMPEST, and a few of our NextGen students decided to come check out what a first rehearsal is all about. 

During the rehearsal the director, Jimmy Maize, welcomed the cast, who include third year M.F.A. Acting students at Columbia University, as well as a few alumni of the Columbia Grad Acting Program. He told them about his different ideas for the concept of this production of THE TEMPEST, which will feature a choreographer as well as a projections designer. The production will work hard at attempting to showcase how relevant a lot of the topics in the play can be for today’s audience, and especially for an audience that will be made up by a large majority of teens in New York City. 

Jimmy talked about how all of the different designers will be used to enhance the play, and what they will be focusing on as the play gets into rehearsal. The cast then read through the script, which has been cut down to 90 minutes. 

The NextGen students followed along with the script, and talked about what they already knew about THE TEMPEST going into the read through, and what they were excited to see performed in the production.

The rehearsal ended with talk of how the process would go for the next few weeks, and with the NextGen students thinking about when they wanted to come observe rehearsals in the future, and about their upcoming interviews with the cast and design team. 

NextGen stops by Teaching Artist Training at Columbia University!

This week NextGen students had the opportunity to observe and participate in part of CSC’s training for their teaching artists. The teaching artists consist primarily of current third year grad students at the M.F.A. Acting Program at Columbia University, with a few alumni of the program thrown in. Many of the teaching artists will also be starring in the upcoming Young Company production of The Tempest.

The teaching artists will be training for their positions all week, and the NextGen students observed only a piece of their training. They stopped by for a section of training devoted to sharing different theater games. This part of training required the teaching artists to think of a game they knew, and come up with a way to share the game that was engaging, while still accomplishing the goal of the game. The teaching artists were extremely happy to have the input of NextGen, who were able to test out the games that the teaching artists brought, and give them feedback about how they could improve the game, or improve the way in which it was taught.

The teaching artists also gave each other feedback on their games, and the group together tried to brainstorm ways in which games could be changed to reflect the themes in The Tempest. The students had a blast trying out all the different games, and couldn’t wait to bring some back to their friends, and to have experience with them when The Tempest workshops come to their schools.

Coming up soon is the first TEEN TAKEOVER performance of A MAN’S A MAN, in which the NextGen students will be helping to run the event, look out for them if you are attending! The performance will feature $10 tickets and a talkback with the artists, on Sunday, January 19^th at 3pm at CSC. To book your tickets for TEEN TAKEOVER check out: http://www.classicstage.org/nextgen/ for more information!