Summer Donor Update. Your support helps us reach ever higher Third Avenue South Minneapolis, MN 55404

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1 2400 Third Avenue South Minneapolis, MN non- profit org u.s. postage PAID twin cities, mn permit no. 504 Summer Donor Update Your support helps us reach ever higher FY16_donor_summer.indd 1

2 Summer Donor Update Your support helps us reach ever higher 2015 Numeric Press Limited. Minneapolis MN. All Rights Reserved. Artist: Mark Herman FY16_donor_summer.indd 2

3 REPORT TO DONORS 2016 SUMMER HIGHLIGHTS What a Season! What an Anniversary! CTC s successful 50th Anniversary Season has been our most ambitious to date. At the close of this whirlwind season of 7 acclaimed productions and 5 world premieres, we sat down with CTC Artistic Director Peter C. Brosius to reflect on the accomplishments of this landmark season and look forward to excitement in store for our 51st. Children s Theatre Company: Was there a standout moment in the 50th Season? Peter Brosius: The fact that we commissioned, workshopped, and then fully produced 5 world premieres is exceptional! I couldn t be prouder of any of them. Each of these shows accomplished something rather unique and extraordinary. It was moving to watch the local community s response to Akeelah and the Bee with its messages about the power of education and the power of one individual to transform a community. These characters faced extremely difficult circumstances, including the loss of a father and a neighborhood beset by gun violence, and together they found a path to build individual and collective strength. The fierceness and originality of our production of The Jungle Book was powerful. Mowgli became a full character for once, and the show explored what it meant to try and find your way when you don t feel you fit in. It was an honor to bring Ezra Jack Keats child-centered and deeply empathetic views to the stage. He is an extraordinary artist with insights into the minds and behaviors of young people. Together, the actors on stage and world-renowned shadow puppet artist Fabrizio Montecchi created a piece that truly honors childhood and the neighborhood. The wholly new musical inspired by Jeff Kinney s wildly popular books, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, was an incredible collaboration with Kevin McCollum and Fox Stage Productions. It was a joy and a pleasure to find the heart and the humor in the relationship between Greg and Rowley, and to work closely with Jeff to bring his characters to life. FY16_donor_summer.indd 3

4 CTC: What did you learn this past season? PB: We learned that non-narrative work like our preschool show Animal Dance can be really successful. Much of our work has been adapted from books. I was inspired by many of our colleagues in Europe, where non-narrative pieces are more common, to do a piece that was more abstract. The result was Animal Dance, which was one of our highest-attended and best-selling preschool shows. We learned that a piece that is a series of duets about the power of dance, rather than a story, could hold an audience. CTC: What are you most excited for in the next season? PB: The new works we re premiering this season are both unique and exciting. It is always a great pleasure to have Naomi Iizuka s work on our stage, and we re looking forward to bringing her mythical story of Boom, the son of Thunder, to life in The Last Firefly. She is one of the greatest writers in the United States. Her work is poetic, political, and insanely comic. It s epic and classical and completely modern at the same time. I don t know anyone who does what she does with her grace. Her voice is clean and singular, moving and intense, and surprisingly funny. Iizuka s The Last Firefly embodies all of this, and I m thrilled to have her work back at CTC. I m equally thrilled to have Dr. Seuss The Sneetches on our stage. Playwright Philip Dawkins has done a brilliant job of creating many real characters from a story that only has one. He s also had to create two worlds for the Star Bellies and the Plain Bellies. To do so, he invented history and social structures. He had to create rivalries and friendships, he had to establish rules and cross boundaries, and he had to imagine an entire cosmology and political structure. I think he s done a terrific job, and the music from composer David Mallamud is incredibly complex and dense. I m excited to share this latest Dr. Seuss tale with audiences. We re bringing back some classic favorites this year, too. Every time a show returns to our stage, we look for ways to improve it. We re working on both the music and the choreography for Cinderella to try to find new ways to increase the audience participation and the surprise of this energetic show. It s fun to think about how to change the show while keeping and actually deepening the core story. We re working on a number of fronts to make that stronger and better, and that is exciting. Donor Lunch with Acting Company At this favorite event, donors and friends of CTC joined Managing Director Kim Motes, resident Acting Company members, and Performing Apprentices for lunch and discussion this past June. This annual event brings together CTC veterans, like Company Member Gerry Drake, who has been with the theatre since 1965, and CTC s Performing Apprentices China Brickey and Jon Jamison, who recently completed a year-long educational practicum at CTC. Your generosity enables CTC to be one of the last regional theatres to maintain a resident Acting Company, and you provide support for our nationally recognized Performing Apprenticeship Program. Thank you, and we hope to see you at next year s luncheon! FY16_donor_summer.indd 4

5 A look back at our 50th Anniversary Season Governor Mark Dayton issued a proclamation that 49% of the performers on our stage this year were actors of color CTC Actors is officially Children s Theatre Company Day in Minnesota 49% PoC 5x WORLD PREMIERES On average 68k students attended a Student Matinee for $4 10 per ticket We welcomed over 300k people through our doors for performances, education, events, and access programs We welcomed over 10k people in our community through two large, free events: More than 10,000 people attended a performance for $5 per ticket through the ACT Pass program making theatre affordable for low income families The Season Opener at Target Field CTC piloted Creative Play Workshops, a new trauma-informed curriculum that included 50 sessions with 7 early childhood programs, such as the Greater Minneapolis Crisis Nursery and People Serving People and the Be Inspired! All Access Celebration FY16_donor_summer.indd 5

6 Los Angeles & Chicago CTC NATIONALLY Washington DC Seedfolks, a production created through our Threshold new play development program toured to the Chicago Children s Theatre and the Wallis Annenberg Center for Performing Arts in Los Angeles New York City & Los Angeles APRIL 2016 THEATRE COMMUNICATIONS GROUP The Complete Text: David Rabe s GOOD FOR OTTO Theatre for Young Audiences: The Kids Are All Right How TODD HAIMES Built the Roundabout Empire PLUS: A. Rey Pamatmat, Ann Carlson, Freddie Ashley CTC s Akeelah and the Bee was featured on the cover of American Theatre Magazine and Diary of a Wimpy Kid the Musical was featured in The New York Times, and The Boston Globe Akeelah and the Bee transferred to Arena Stage in November CTC began a new partnership with Broadway producer Kevin McCollum and helped launch Fox s new theatrical arm, Fox Stage Productions was selected to participate in New Visions/New Voices Workshop CTC entered its third year of our partnership with Howard University through the Arts Administration Fellowship Program WHAT AN ANNIVERSARY! Thank you for celebrating with us! FY16_donor_summer.indd 6

7 Introducing: Raegan Henderson CTC s new Howard University Arts Administration Fellow Howard University, located in Washington, D.C. is one of the nation s top historically black universities, and its theatre department is internationally acclaimed. Each year Howard University s Theatre Arts Administration Department hand picks a promising graduate to come to Minneapolis for a yearlong fellowship. Raegan Henderson, the third Fellow in this program, expounded on her view of theatre s role in creating inclusive spaces as we got to know her before she begins her position in mid-august. After four years at Howard University, Raegan was confident that she wanted to participate in the fellowship program. She reflected, With my own personal interest in arts education for youth art, I knew CTC would be an amazing place for me to grow and learn. Theatre has been, and always will be, a safe, limitless, expressive space for people to create. Raegan comes to CTC with abundant experience both on and off the stage. When she was three years old, while her parents slept through a performance of The Lion King, she was mesmerized by the spectacle onstage. The experience stayed with her, inspiring her to take part in all aspects of her high school s and college s theatre programs. She s embraced every facet of theatre, serving as everything from lead actress to stage manager, lighting designer to event planner. She strongly believes that, Theatre has been, and always will be, a safe, limitless, expressive space for people to create. When asked about the area of theatre administration she s most drawn to, Raegan is quick to mention her enthusiasm for fundraising and development. She worked in the grants department of the D.C. Commission on Arts and Humanities during her time at Howard and aspires to one day start her own nonprofit, so she s looking forward to learning how CTC s development department works. Crossing Bridges Festival This May CTC played host to a series of performances that were a bit different from our usual fare. The performances were free of charge; the scenery was mainly constructed from fabric, cardboard, and duct tape, and the actors were elementary school students with no formal theatrical training. The Crossing Bridges Festival is a celebration of a year of classroom and student growth. CTC s Bridges programming uses dramatic storytelling, creative writing, group discussions, and other classroom activities to break down stereotypes and improve reading and writing skills. CTC teaching artists visit classrooms in diverse schools, encouraging students to question traditional narratives and assumptions both in stories and in the world around them. simply wouldn t be complete without the presence of a huge black dog on stage so they worked with a scenic artist to build an enormous, movable dog puppet big enough to fit three students inside. CTC s annual Crossing Bridges Festival is free and open to the public. CTC s Bridges program is funded through the Education Matters Fund. At the close of the 31-week program, students chose stories from the Bridges curriculum to bring to life on stage. Working with teaching artists and visiting scenic artists, students constructed performances from top to bottom, including designing and fashioning their own costumes and scenery using imagination, creativity, and quite a bit of duct tape. One ambitious class at Moreland Arts and Health Sciences Magnet decided that their performance Cover: TAT photo by Dan Norman. Inside Cover: Ricky Falbo in Diary of a Wimpy Kid the Musical by Dan Norman. Photo of Artistic Director Peter C. Brosius by Kaitlin Randolph. Photos of Johannah Easley in Akeelah and the Bee, Eric Sharp in The Jungle Book, Autumn Ness and Ricky Falbo in Diary of a Wimpy Kid the Musical, Ann Carlson in Animal Dance, and Dean Holt and Autumn Ness in Cinderella by Dan Norman. Photo of Acting Company Lunch by Tom Kachelmacher. Center Spread: Cast of Diary of a Wimpy Kid the Musical, cast of The Jungle Book, cast of Akeelah and the Bee, Ann Carlson in Animal Dance, Mikell Sapp in The Snow Day and Other Stories by Ezra Jack Keats by Dan Norman. Photo of the Season Opener at Target Field by Kaitlin Randolph; photos of Be Inspired! All Access Celebration, and Sonja Parks in Seedfolks by Dan Norman. Photo of cast members at the opening night for Akeelah and the Bee at Arena Stage by Cameron Whitman. Photo of Raegan Henderson by Kaitlin Randolph. Photo of CTC s 2016 Crossing Bridges Festival by Bruce Silcox. FY16_donor_summer.indd 7

8 Peter C. Brosius Receives Prestigious Award Each year, the American Alliance for Theatre and Education (AATE) honors innovative, high quality work that advances the field of theatre for young audiences. AATE is dedicated to transforming communities by promoting theatre for young audiences (TYA) and increasing access to theatre experiences. They envision a time when the full spectrum of theatre arts becomes a pervasive part of our landscape. Recipients of AATE Awards have made significant contributions to the theatre community and are widely recognized as creators of outstanding work. Children s Theatre Company (CTC) is proud to announce that Artistic Director Peter C. Brosius has received AATE s 2016 Sara Spencer Artistic Achievement Award, which acknowledges an individual who has accomplished meritorious achievement in the field of theatre for young audiences and whose body of work is extensive and widely commended. Brosius was recommended for the award by Teresa Eyring, Executive Director of Theatre Communications Group; Barry Kornhauser, a playwright of Reeling, Madeline and the Gypsies, and Balloonacy at CTC and an eminent figure in TYA; and G.W. Mercier, an award-winning set, puppet, and costume designer who has worked with CTC on Alice in Wonderland and Bert and Ernie Goodnight! and collaborated with Brosius on Finding Nemo at Disney World s Animal Kingdom. Mercier lauds Brosius as outstanding in his passion to create exceptional theatre that is in no way reduced or simplified because it is for a young audience and notes, I have seen countless young imaginations transformed due to Peter s respect for them and passion for making good theatre. Read more about this award on our website at childrenstheatre.org/about-us/newsfeed Upcoming Donor Events We re hosting a number of exclusive events at the theatre over the next few months, and we hope that you will join us. For questions or to RSVP, please contact Tom Kachelmacher at tomk@childrenstheatre.org or Oh! The To-Do You ll Do! Curtain Call Ball Saturday, September 10, 2016, 5:30pm- midnight CHILDREN S THEATRE COMPANY presents It s almost time for a celebration so grand Where you ll certainly want to be on hand! Imagine a whimsical evening filled with delight Get ready to experience a fabulous night It s time for the Curtain Call Ball! $500 Curtain Call Ball ticket* includes: Complimentary valet parking Tasty hors d oeuvres, desserts, and cocktails Formal dinner Cabaret performance Silent and live auctions Energetic after-party, with dancing till midnight! *$400 of this ticket is tax deductible. In an earlier version of this news letter the tax deductable value was incorrectly listed as $350. We apologize for any confusion. The Last Firefly Tech/Tour Sunday, September 25, 2016 For Donors $250+ Have you ever wanted to spend some time in the clouds? Join us for a technical rehearsal of the world premiere of The Last Firefly, an epic story about the adventures of Boom, the son of Thunder. We ll take you behind the scenes to explore the theatrical tricks that create Boom s mythical world. 5:30 6:45 9:00 WHOOP THAT DO COCKTAILS, HORS D OEUVRES & SILENT AUCTION A FINE TIME FORMAL DINNER, CABARET & LIVE AUCTION LATER GETS GREATER DANCING, DESSERT, GAMES & MORE! KNOCK YOUR SOX OFF WATCH YOUR MAIL IN JULY FOR YOUR INVITATION MISS IT AND IT S BOO-HOO FOR YOU! CHILDRENSTHEATRE.ORG 2016 CURTAIN CALL BALL SEPTEMBER TWO THOUSAND SIXTEEN10 OH! THE TO-DO YOU LL DO! CJOHNSON@CHILDRENSTHEATRE.ORG FY16_donor_summer.indd 8