The 52nd Street Project
 One Slight Hitchhiker by Michael Bernard with mayleen Cancel and Jane Bodle. |
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Photo:
Wei Ng
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Eighteen years later, the project that Reale created to give children the experience of success through writing and putting on plays is credited by New York City Commissioner of Cultural Affairs Schuyler G. Chapin with making a difference day by day in the lives of children. "By creating a comfortable environment where they feel welcome and safe, and by adding to that environment scores of theater artists to engage, mentor, humor and inspire them, the Project has provided for hundreds of children a home in which to be creative, to learn theater craft, to learn to love the written and spoken word, and to develop and grow as people...."
The Project provides a host of programs that deliver attention and training from volunteer playwrights, directors, and actors, many of whose names grace Broadway marquees or run above titles on Hollywood films. Every summer, for example, two groups of ten youngsters go to the country or seashore for a week of "One-on-Ones." Each child is paired with an adult theater professional who writes a theater piece for him or her to perform together back in New York City. Each youngster is the "star" of his or her own play. Similarly, in the "Two-on-Twos" an adult playwright creates a play, but this time for two experienced Project participants to perform together. In addition, children are taught playwriting and their plays are regularly produced throughout the Project's season. All productions are performed at donated Off-Broadway theaters and are free to the public. The most recent addition to The 52nd Street Project's repertoire is a one-on-one, child-and-adult mentoring program to improve children's academic performance.
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52nd Street Project 500 West 52nd Street New York, NY 10019 Phone: 212-333-5252 Fax: 212-333-5598 E-Mail: sheehy@52project.org URL: http://www.52project.org Focus: Theater Number Participating: 102 Ages: 9-17 Annual Budget: $566,000 "I have seen the joy in their eyes and have heard it in their voices and I have watched them take a bow and come up taller." Willie Reale Founder and Artistic Director, The 52nd Street Project |