Changing Lives Students Shine at TAP's Big Kid B-day Bash

Changing Lives Ensemble members Remandra, Southern and Leo came out to participate in Theatre Action Project's Big Kid Birthday Bash fundraiser earlier this month.

Cake walks! Photo Booths! Games! Funny Hats!

Here Southern and Leo are pictured with Carla Jackson at the Allan House, where TAPpers transformed the historic home into a Carnival for supporters of the organization.

Thanks to our ensemble members for joining us at this event and speaking about their experience within the Changing Lives program!

For more info about the fundraiser, please check out Michael Barnes'

blog:http://www.austin360.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/outandabout/entries/2010/03/07/taps_big_kids_p.html?cxntfid=blogs_out_about?cxtype=rss_events

Stand Up! Speak Out! Event @ University of Texas

This week the Changing Lives Youth Theatre Ensemble took to the stage at the University of Texas Lab Theatre for a joint performance with Voices Against Violence. Special thanks & a big shout out to Megan Alrutz, professor in the Drama & Theater for Youth MFA program for arranging the event!

CLYTE students during the talkback

The evening centered around both organizations' use of theatre for dialogue to address issues of interpersonal violence, imbalances of power in relationships and manipulation of technology.

Program Directors: Lynn (VAV), Nitra (CLYTE) and Bonnie (CLYTE)

CLYTE presented "Perhaps Tomorrow" to a college audience for the first time. The audience and performers took a delicious refueling break (thanks to the Department of Theatre & Dance, Drama & Theatre for Youth Program and SafePlace for the pizza, soda and cookies!)

Joe (CLYTE super-volunteer) and Stephanie take pizza VERY seriously

Then, Voices Against Violence presented an interactive scenario that featured -- sexting. It is not a coincidence that both groups chose to focus their performances on the ethics involved with sexting. As the dialogue of the night unfolded, we realized that sexting has become normalized in youth culture. If everybody's sexting, how can it be dangerous?

That's where the drama comes in. When you see a performance, you can safely watch the consequences of this kind of behavior without being at risk. It's also a great way to examine multiple points of view. Theatre can be a great place to think through a problem.

Learn more about our evening of theatre for dialogue in this Daily Texan article:

http://www.dailytexanonline.com/top-stories/students-educate-peers-on-dating-violence-1.2186740

To round it out with some fun, here are some pics of our ensemble.

The featured 'look' of the day was "adorable."

This is what they came up with:

Perhaps Tomorrow Trailer

Check out the trailer for our current touring show, "Perhaps Tomorrow" today!

CLYTE @ the Con Mi Madre Conference!

We are moving along with our touring season and with a month of performances under our belt, we are looking to take March by storm!

If you've been investigating our process, you know that we're not the type of folks who feel like our work is done once the curtain goes up. Touring a show is a great way to further develop our play. By visiting different kinds of audiences, we can see different moments resonate. For our actors, each performance brings new insights into their characters.

Inviting the audience into our process is a great way to create dialogue about the issues we deal with. Recently the ensemble had a performance at the Con Mi Madre Conference. We presented Perhaps Tomorrow . . . to a group of young Latinas and their mothers.

The post-show talkback was very engaging. This was our first audience comprised of mothers & daughters. Con Mi Madre is a bilingual organization and the conference coordinators offered to translate during our talkback. Luckily, we have several bilingual students in our ensemble who were more than happy to answer questions in Spanish and English!

Ensemble members spoke on what it's like to be a good teen ally, reminding the audience that larger movements toward social change can begin with everyday actions. Things that may seem insignificant: saying hello to someone who usually sits isolated at lunchtime, refusing to laugh at a sexist joke or even calling your friends out when they cross a line can be brave first steps against oppressive behavior.

Check out or new pages if you're interested in a summer job or want to catch a Changing Lives Youth Theatre Ensemble performance in your area!

Performance @ HS PALS Conference!

Our ensemble continued our tour by presenting Perhaps Tomorrow at the High School PALS conference this past weekend. We performed for student leaders from all over Texas and had a great time in the process! Check out the onstage and backstage photos below.

Alex, Kristal, Stephanie and Keyla embody the idea of being isolated

and ridiculed by "the herd" in our set of opening images

Alyssa (Stephanie) is pressured to be the perfect friend, soccer player,

student and daughter. Being a teen can be really stressful!

Abe (Leo) seeks advice from

Super-Blogger Lola (Remandra)

"The Herd" watches a confrontation between Abe (Leo),

Michael (Darryl) and Angela (Kristal)

Mean Girls, Sarah (Eliana) and Kathy (Alex) find

unexpected images of their friend Alyssa on MySpace

Alyssa (Stephanie) posts about her problems on

the 'Dear Lola' blog and asks her peers for advice

Angela (Kristal) manipulates her boyfriend Michael (Darryl)

Darryl cheeses out in the wings

Keyla looks thoughtful and fierce as she prepares for her role as Tasha

Courtney listens for her cue offstage

And discovers Nitra sneaking up on her with a flipcam

the sweet, sweet sound of applause!

Interested in learning more about our youth ensemble? Become a "follower" of our blog by clicking the follow button on the right side of the page! Tell your friends to join our online community!

Changing Lives @ the Voices Erupt Event

Our tour has officially begun! We had our kickoff performance at the Voices Erupt Teen Dating Violence Prevention Month Kickoff this week. We performed alongside some fantastic artists and had a great time.

If you'd like to see a clip of our performance, check out the video below.

See www.startstrongaustin.org for more!

Check Out Our Upcoming Performances!!

It's finally that time . . .

We're kicking off the Spring Tour of our new play, "Perhaps Tomorrow. . ." next week.

We'll be appearing at the George Washington Carver Center in East Austin this Monday, February 1st as part of SafePlace's Start Strong event. "Riot the Silence to End the Violence" is a community kickoff for Teen Dating Violence Prevention Month. If you live in the Austin Area, please stop by and check out all the amazing youth groups who use the arts as a force to inform their peers about healthy relationships.

We'll be performing along with other local artists like The Cipher - Austin's Hip-Hop Project, P.U.B.L.I.C. O.F.F.E.N.D.E.R.S., DJ Chicken George, Gidon, and Georgia Napolitano.

Where: Boyd Vance Theatre, George Washington Carver Center

1165 Angelina St., Austin, TX 78702

When: Feb. 1st, 2010 6-8pm

Price: FREE!!

If you'd like to catch the Changing Lives Youth Theatre Ensemble at one of our local tour stops, check out our schedule and pay us a visit. For a list of all the stops on our tour, see our tour flyer below. We'll also be posting reminders about all of our performances, so make sure you click "follow" on the right side of the page to receive the updates!!

Thanks for your interest & support.