We ROCKED the 2010 Summer Showcase!

Congratulations to the members of our ensemble for making our 2010 Summer Showcase a huge success. This Saturday marked the culmination of our 5 week intensive program where our students shared their work at the Vortex.

Our work was centered around themes of teen relationships -- including teens' relationships to technology! Check out some photos from our performance below!

"What Should I Do?"

Addie plays Danielle, torn between her love for Jen
and her feeling that something has changed in her since they
started dating - and not for the better.

DJ plays the role of Ryan - a friend of Danielle's who recognizes
Jenn's behavior as unhealthy and asks his basketball coach for advice.

Olga also plays Danielle -- this monologue piece featured 11 actors playing 3 roles!

"Time to Act Now!"

We found folks with musical talents, so we incorporated a hip-hop piece into the program. This song tells the story of a relationship gone bad and calls teens to action and help peers in unsafe relationships!

Chris plays some pretty sweet phrases on his guitar!

"Labels"

Our students wanted to address some
assumptions adults have about young people.

Tim's character objects to being called a "thug."

Ofelia's character hides her insecurities.

Arturo's character says, "people make assumptions
about me because they only see the negative and not the positive"

These characters take their power back by shedding the labels society
has placed on them and sharing the identities they claim for themselves.

"Town Hall Meeting"



Tasha-Laqua-Lafrita-Quita-Rita Martinez-Chang
(Cassandra) reports live from the town hall meeting.

Kayla plays a local politician lobbying for a law that
would make cell phones illegal for anyone under the age of 18.

These guys aren't buying it!
(from L to R: Esta, Aless, Sam, Gus & Moises)

Grandma (Lina) goes into a tizzy when someone explains "sexting."

If you'd like to see more super-cool photos of this event, please visit TAP's flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/theatreactionproject/sets/72157624489734838/




Stay tuned for info about auditions for our 2010-2011 ensemble!

Summer Youth Ensemble in Full Swing!

Our 2010 summer program is in session! Yay!

A brand new group of students have come into our ensemble. We have been getting to know each other, playing games and talking about issues like sexism in pop culture, bullying, harassment and the ways all kinds of technology affects the social lives of teens.

In this activity, students deconstructed the messages in advertising. We discovered that ads are selling more than a product -- they also sell ideas about what we should aspire to.

Adelai shares her group's thoughts about what this weight loss ad has to say about femininity.

The model in the ad claims that she "was in denial about being a size 7"

implying that women should aspire to be even smaller!

The group decided that the ad is selling the idea that, no matter our size, all women should aspire to be as small as possible.

We're NOT buying it!

Sabina notes the violent tone in this Luis Vuitton ad and raises some big questions.

Why does this ad (that is supposed to be selling a purse) look so much like a crime scene?

Why does the model look beaten up and left for dead?

Why do so many fashion ads depict women as weak, vulnerable, victims???

What does this all say about our society's view of women?

And, how do the ideas in these ads carry over into our relationships???

We use theatre to explore the ways ads like this reflect violence in relationships.

Check out these photos of our ensemble members

performing the AWESOME monologues they wrote:

Kayla takes on the role of Danielle, who is in an abusive

relationship but makes excuses for her partner's behavior.

Olga also steps into Danielle's shoes as she examines bruises on her face --

put there by the guy she is in love with. Should love hurt this much?

DJ takes on the role of a bystander who witnesses Danielle being physically attacked by her boyfriend in the cafeteria at school. He believes that it's wrong for a male to treat a female that way and steps in to stop the violence.

Katie portrays the character of Melissa, Danielle's long time best friend.

She explores the pain of seeing someone she cares about being hurt

by someone who is supposed to love her.

Gus plays a young man who plays sports with Chris, Danielle's abusive boyfriend.

In this speech, he approaches the coach of their sports team about Chris's unacceptable behavior and asks for help.

More coming soon from our new ensemble!

Changing Lives Performs at the SafePlace Field Day

This Saturday the ensemble participated in SafePlace's annual Field Day Fundraiser and Men's Rally for Change. We marched against violence, ate some good food, got some sun and performed one of our plotlines from "Perhaps Tomorrow" in an open air pavilion.

Who are those people?? They must be famous!

Our Ensemble has GREAT family support.

THANK YOU Parents!!!

See some more shots of our fun-filled field day below!

Lots of fun in the sun!

Whaaaa??

rehearsing microphone logistics before we go on

Great Job Ensemble! Keep it up.

Remind your friends about our final performance at the Griffin School! Thursday, May 6 - 7pm. FREE!

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!