The 2011 Montblanc Young Writers Project

25 Oct 2011, 5:31 PM by frank, Urban Arts Master Classes

On October 23rd, seven former Urban Arts Partnership playwriting students came together in the spirit of friendly competition to participate in the 2011 Montblanc Young Writers Contest, the winner of which becomes the sixth writer for The 24 Hour Plays on Broadway on November 14th. The students met at the new Urban Arts office early Sunday morning and had a quick discussion and pep talk with acclaimed playwright Lucy Thurber, where she explained her career and inspirations, as well as what the writers will be faced with in the upcoming day.

Once the seven alumni settled in with the task of writing a 5-7 minute play in the next 6 hours, Academy playwriting teacher and working New York City playwright Zac Kline was on hand for mentoring and overseeing the new drafts coming through. After a long day of writing, deleting, revising and finalizing, seven new short plays were printed to paper:

-The Warning by Diogenes Martinez featured a sister attempting to sabotage her sibling’s date when she realizes that she will be going out with her ex.

-Anuradha Golder wrote Domino, a play about two activists attempting to sway a friend for one of their causes.

-Dial ‘M’ for Crazy had two mental patients; one a grown woman who acts out like a 10 year old and another who fears the letter ‘M’, being counseled by a new therapist. Written by Maynor Alas.

-Audasia Glenn’s play about three sorority sisters attempting to escape from a cabin in the woods was titled Sadistic Sophistication.

-Three ‘criminals’ doing community service discuss their crimes and what they can do to improve their lives in Emmanuel Minaya’s Everybody’s Dirty Laundry.

-Stuck in the Middle With You placed two strangers with a mutual friends at odds with one another until they discover they have crossed paths before. By Clevins Browne.

-A Devil's Contract brought a lovesick man to hell in order to retrieve his soul from the devil and her hype man. Written by Anthony Naranjo.

Monday afternoon brought the writers, actors and directors together at The National Arts Club for a brief 2-hour rehearsal before the final reading. Lake Bell, Bryan Greenberg and Victor Rusuk of How To Make It In America lent their time and talent to read for two of the plays, and Michael Kenneth Williams of The Wire and Boardwalk Empire gave his talent to two others.

After all the impressive, hilarious and touching plays were read, the 12-person panel (which included Montblanc North America CEO Jan-Patrick Schmitz and last years Young Writers Project winner Elizabeth Cruz Cortes) retreated for a difficult decision. After a tough vote, Anthony Naranjo and his play A Devil's Contract were selected, and this November Anthony will be making his Broadway debut at the 10th Annual The 24 Hour Plays on Broadway.  Congratulations!

Life Stories Acting Students Perform Original Plays Created by Playwriting Students

02 Aug 2011, 5:09 PM by frank, Life Stories

Students in the Life Stories Youth Ensemble recently performed at the Lucille Lortel Theater to debut seven new original plays created by their peers in the Naranjo-Golder Playwriting program.  Developed during the winter and spring through the advanced playwriting program, these new works represent the unique voices of our young playwrights.  The plays explored a wide range of themes, including love and relationships, family struggles, mental illness and issues around identity.  We are proud of all the hard work of the playwrights and the actors to bring to these works to the stage for an audience for the first time.   

To view more photos from the performance, please check out the

Rated (R)eal - Life Stories and Playwriting album on Facebook.

THE NEW GROUP and URBAN ARTS PARTNERSHIP present

Rated (R)eal

DIRECTED BY: IAN MORGAN AND JULIA GROB

TWO SIDED GIRL
By Petra Wimer
Mercedes Alvarez…………………………………………………………………Sam
Devin Mojica…………………………………………………………………………Andre
Kayla Robinson………………………………………………………………………Idesebal

BROKEN
By Sarwat Siddiqui
Jorge Garzon………………………………………………………………………Yasser
Genesis Urena……………………………………………………………………Janine
Petra Wimer………………………………………………………………………Aqsa

FINAL ROUND
By Lorenzo Jackson
Isaiah Alicea………………………………………………………………………Justin
Stephanie Diaz……………………………………………………………………Yvette
Devin Mojica………………………………………………………………………Derrick

PANICA
By Anthony Naranjo
Isaiah Alicea…………………………………………………………………………Johnny
Maxine Batchler…………………………………………………………………Conner
Lorenzo Jackson……………………………………………………………………Jack

MIRACLES
By Anurahda Golder
Sydney White…………………………………………………………………Laura
Hannah Dahm…………………………………………………………………Nurse
Anthony Naranjo……………………………………………………………Javier

THERAPIST
By Jorge Garzon
Sydney White………………………………………………………………………Lisa
Hannah Dahm………………………………………………………………………Stacey

OH COMMITMENT
By Genesis Urena
Haskiri Velazquez…………………………………………………………………Cassie
Stanley Mercedes…………………………………………………………………Father
Anthony Naranjo.…………………………………………………………………Aiden

Life Stories Summer Program Kicks off with 24 Hour Plays

14 Jul 2011, 4:41 PM by frank, Urban Arts Master Classes

This marks the 4th summer of implementing The 24 Hour Plays Off-Broadway at the end of the Life Stories academic year and beginning of the summer intensive, so that the year-long students are able to showcase their creativity, professionalism, and the skills they have learned during their residency and to welcome and assimilate new students into the ensemble.

The creative process for The 24 Hours Plays Off-Broadway began at 10am on Saturday, July 9 when a group of 4 writers (former UAP playwriting students), 17 actors (new & longstanding members), assistant directors & education professionals gathered at Theater Row.

The program kicked off with an orientation -each participant brought a prop, a costume element and shared their special skills sets, their stage dreams and inspired ideas to help inform the writing process.  After a collaborative character generating workshop, each writer was tasked with composing a 10-minute play by the end of the day with the guidance of professional playwrights. The acting students finished the day by engaging in acting games, ensemble building exercises and a 24 Hour Play Improvisation workshop.

Sunday morning, the guest directors joined the cast and crew at 10 AM. Over the next nine hours, the plays were blocked, staged and rehearsed. Our poet, UAP graduate Clevins Browne, arrived at 5pm to watch the rehearsals and pen 4 original poems to introduce each of the plays. At 7pm families and friends packed The Studio theater in Theater Row to see the culmination of all of the students hard work!

CAST & CREW

STARVED FOR FAME
Written by Audasia Glenn
Directed by Sarah Bisman & April Hernandez-Castillo

Maxine Batchler…………………………………………………Anna
Anthony Naranjo………………………………………………….Jeremy
Hannah Turner…………………………………………………..Jayne
Sydney White………………………………………………………Lauren

THE GREAT NINJA STEFFY
Written and Assistant Directed by Emmanuel Minaya
Directed by Paul Calderon

Vincent Castillo…………………………………………….……Tak
Lorenzo Jackson……………………………………………….…. Ryan
Petra Wimer …………………………………..……………….….Lu Lu
Genesis Urena……………………………………………………. Steffy

RETIRED SUPERHEROES
Written and Assistant Directed by Elizabeth Cruz-Cortes
Directed by Marie Masters

Mercedes Alvarez………………………………….……………….Isabel
Stephanie Diaz………………………………………………..……Jewels
Jorge Garzon…………………………………………..…………Hugo
Kayla Robinson……………………………………………………….Red Head
Haskiri Valazquez……………………………..………………..Bay

THE BALLAD DEL JINGO
Written by Maynor Alas
Directed by Chris Eigeman
Assistant Director Frank Turiano

Stanley Mercedes.…………………………………………………Santos
Devin Mojica………………………………………………………Francis
Dio Martinez…………………………………………………..Alejandro(AFR)
Isaiah Alicea………………………………………………………Dan Longhorns

****Poetry by Clevins Browne****

PRODUCTION CREW
Playwriting Teacher/Dramaturge…………………………………………….Zac Kline
Technical Director………………………………………………………….....Matthew Klein
New Group Associate Artistic Director………….………………………...…Ian Morgan
New Group Development ……………………………………………………James Gittins
Life Stories Teaching Artist/Director………………………………………...Julia Grob
Life Stories Associate Director………………………………………………..Frank Turiano
Urban Arts Partnership Artistic Board Chair…………………………………Rosie Perez
Urban Arts Partnership Special Projects Director…….……………………..Anna Strout

Special Thanks: Sarah Bisman, Philip Courtney, Tina Fallon, Jan-Patrick Schmitz, Atissa Tadjadod
 

Advanced Playwriting Program Hard at Work on Original Plays

06 May 2011, 11:41 AM by keith, High School

The Advanced Playwriting program is now in its second year, with 9 students from 5 different NYC schools currently participating.  Led by teaching artist Katy Rubin, students have been meeting weekly after school at the UAP offices since January to each develop their own 10-15 minute original play.  After intensive work shopping, the plays will be staged and performed by Life Stories theatre students over a 3 week intensive directing program at the New Group in July, and then will be performed in early August at the Acorn Theater.

The program began with students engaging in exercises designed to help them generate ideas for characters and story ideas for their plays.  They explored character objectives and tactics, and how to create scenes with heightened stakes for the characters.  This in-depth writing process also involves a great deal of peer critique, with students challenging one another to strengthen their plays and ensure that the characters and scenes are true to life.  The group offers one another supportive feedback while also challenging their fellow participants to create the strongest possible work.  Each student also produced a storyboard detailing to plot of their play to help clarify the story they want to tell and how to effectively communicate it to an audience in a short amount of time.  

The group has also participated in a rolling master class series, which also consists of taking students to plays by living playwrights who lead talk backs/tutorials with students after performances.  So far, the students have attended six plays, and they noted that these experiences have helped them gain a deeper understanding of what makes a great play and how to keep the audience engaged.  Overall, these young playwrights have been focusing on developing their own unique voices to bring their authentic personalities and perspectives to their audience.  Stay tuned for more news from this incredibly hard-working group of emerging new voices in theater.

“So far we did a lot of improv exercises to help with character development and objectives, which helps you write dialogue.  The other main focus of the class is conflict.  We worked with character interruptions to bring in different opinions and voices.  What’s really good about this group is that we’re all really into writing and we all bring different perspectives to our feedback.  All the feedback has been really helpful.  It’s a good place to help you make concentrated, focused time to write in a supportive environment.” – Anuradha, 12th grade, Beacon HS

“It’s important personally to me to make time for this class because it’s what I want to do in the future.  I need the practice and performing arts is an incredibly competitive field.  I have an advantage by participating in Urban Arts in being able to know how a play is really written.  It gives us skills for making our plays more real.  We don’t want to write about childish subjects, and the roundtable feedback is so helpful.  I’m writing about one of my greatest fears.  My play is about someone who realizes that someone he loves is actually a figment of his imagination.” – Anthony, 12th grade, Beacon HS        

“I like this class because I like creative writing, but I don’t like writing without a purpose.  I know there’s an end product I’m working toward, and I look forward to having my work read.  The best part of the class is being able to get feedback from other playwrights.  It’s been a real big skill booster.  The program allows teens to write about things that are about real life stuff.” – Genesis, 11th grade, KAPP International HS

Life Stories Students Visit MS 286's Drama Club for a Master Class

01 Apr 2011, 11:11 AM by keith, Middle School

This week two high school students from Life Stories (UAP's advanced theater program) visited the after school drama club at MS 286 in Harlem.  They performed a scene they recently performed as part of the Rebel Verses Festival, and talked to students about their acting techniques and how they became interested in theater.  The group analyzed and discussed the scene, and then the Life Stories students led the drama club through some of their favorite theater warm-up exercises. 

“It felt good to work with younger actors, and I want to do it more.  I want to help them become better actors.  The advice I would give to younger actors is to try to really believe that you’re the character you’re playing and to watch TV and movies with good acting to analyze what the actors do and try to figure out how they did it.” – Wilmar, 12th grade, Life Stories  

“I thought it was pretty cool for high school students to come to talk to us about acting.  I thought their scene was well-written and well-played.” – Janell, 7th grade, MS 286

“It was fun and made me smile to see how young they’re starting.  That’s how it was for me.  I knew it was what I wanted to do when I was their age.  They were mature in handling our scene.  They analyzed the scene and they understood it.  I loved it.” – Mercedes, 12th grade, Life Stories

Led by teaching artist Brendan Boland, the drama club students have been working on an original adaptation of Euripedes' classical Greek Tragedy Iphigenia in Aulis.  They analyzed and discussed the characters and plot of the play, and then wrote their own original scenes re-telling the story in their own langauge.  From there, the project has morphed into a video "mockumentary" where students will portray reporters broadcasting the events of the play.  

“We have been working on a play based on a Greek play that’s going to be a movie.  We revised our lines and we get to write our own words to make a new script.” – Sapphire, 6th grade, MS 286

“I like to express myself in every way I can.  I feel free when I act.” – Mikaela, 6th grade, MS 286

“I like how when you act you can express yourself how you want to and you can be someone else.” – Imani, 6th grade, MS 286

“Acting is fun because you don’t have to write a lot and you can focus on what you’re doing in the moment.  I want to get better at learning to appreciate what other actors are doing.” – Shirley, 6th grade, MS 286