Lincoln Center Theater
150 W. 65th StreetNew YorkNY10023
212-362-7600212-873-0761

Program: Open Stages--The Urban Ensemble Year Started: 1992 Focus: Theater Youth Served: 20 Ages: 16-21 Budget: $34,000 The Urban Ensemble provides a series of multigenerational theater workshops on cultural and social differences. The workshops are designed to engage New York residents whose interests normally are not met by mainstream cultural institutions: public housing residents, teen parents, juvenile delinquents and homeless families. About one-half of the participants are youth. The program uses theater to explore issues of violence, safety and identity. Students from New York University's Tisch School and AmeriCorps volunteers facilitate weekly, 3-hour workshops that include writing exercises, theater games, photography and discussions. Participants are invited to continue as long as they wish. Participants attend plays at The Public Theater and Lincoln Center Theater. Workshops take place October through May and are held on a rotating basis at the Lincoln Center Theater, The Public Theater or the Tisch School. "Participants are feeling a level of respect theyÌve never received before, from actors, theater directors and arts students. Many of the participants who are no longer referred to the program by social service agencies come back on their own because they enjoyed the program so much," reports Education Program Coordinator Willa J. Taylor.