EDUCATING ARIZONA

THE WASSERSTEIN PROJECT: Sharing the Adventure

“This was truly an amazing experience that I am going to hold on to forever!  I was able to see shows that I never thought I would be able to see, meet people I would never have met in my entire life and see many different venues of performances that were all different but still amazing.  Taking part in the Wasserstein Project was one of the best things that has ever happened to me and I wish I could repay ATC with more than just words, but all I can say is thank you from the bottom of my heart for making a dream come true.”
Caleb T. Willow
Wasserstein 2005 - Phoenix

Arizona Theatre Company is always looking for new ways to expand the young and impressionable mind.  Its programming for youth reaches out to audiences statewide to connect students with the adventure of theatre. ATC’s Wasserstein Project brings the excitement of live performance to eighty high school students this spring, many who have never seen a live show before.  These performances are not just of theatre, but include music, dance, and performance art.  As seen in the on-line journals they keep, these young lives are touched forever by the enchantment of live entertainment. ATC hopes that they will continue this new-found fondness of the performing arts for the rest of their lives.

The Wasserstein Project takes high school students to see a variety of professional performing arts events in Phoenix and Tucson.  Over the past eight years, one hundred ninety-five students who had never experienced professional theatre before have seen a total of ninety-one performances.  The project is named after playwright Wendy Wasserstein, whose Open Doors program conducts a similar program in New York City.  In keeping with Ms. Wasserstein’s original model, many students chosen have not had any previous access to professional theatre and are not aspiring to be artists. The students chosen truly represent our community, bringing together a diverse mix of cultures and gender.

This season, The Wasserstein Project will bring the joy of performing arts to more students than ever.  Due to generous support from the Stanley Leeds Foundation and the Scottsdale League for the Arts, sixty students from the Phoenix metropolitan area as well as eighteen students from Tucson will be afforded the opportunity to see seven performing arts events. 

In Phoenix, students will see seven of the following performances:

• The Pajama Game - Arizona Theatre Company
• The Peking Acrobats - Scottsdale Center for the Arts
• Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - Arizona Theatre Company
• Don Quixote - Ballet Arizona
• Hubbard Street Dance Theatre - Scottsdale Center for the Arts
• Made in the U.S.A - Center Dance Ensemble
• The Magic Flute - Arizona Opera
• The Color Purple - ASU Gammage
• The Piano Men - Phoenix Symphony
• To Kill a Mockingbird - Arizona Theatre Company
• A Tale of Two Cities - Childsplay
• The Harlem Gospel Choir - West Valley Arts Council
• Sweeney Todd - ASU Gammage

In Tucson, students will see the following performances:

• Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - Arizona Theatre Company
• Giselle - St. Petersburg Ballet Theatre
• The Magic Flute - Arizona Opera
• To Kill a Mockingbird - Arizona Theatre Company
• Titus Andronicus - Arizona Repertory Theatre
• School of the Americas - Borderlands Theater
• Urinetown - Arizona Repertory Theatre

The schedule of shows varies from the opera to fresh Broadway productions and from modern dance to classic theatre.  After attending each performance, the students meet with education staff members Sara Bernstein, Alison C.Terry, and Jana Contario.  In addition, numerous guest artists from various ATC productions will lead active discussions.   The students also participate in exhilarating backstage tours of the Arizona Theatre Company’s stages. While engaging in lively conversation and debate in a comfortable environment that allows for the students to express their thoughts and opinions, each student brings a new idea and energy to the discussion and their insights into each show are truthful and honest.  

Arizona Theatre Company hopes to provide students with opportunities to experience new adventures and to encourage a new generation of theatregoers.  ATC hopes that The Wasserstein Project is just the beginning of a lifetime of theatrical joy for each of these students.  ATC is proud to work with community partners Scottsdale Center for the Arts, Arizona Opera, and Ballet Arizona who provide free or reduced price tickets. Due to these generous community members, The Wasserstein Project will continue to enrich young lives in 2008 and beyond.

I wish to congratulate our group on the miraculous strides we have all taken to find a better appreciation of theater and art. Each dinner that we spend together is a constant and consistent accumulation of ideas, perceptions, realizations, and amusements."
Breanne Bushu
Wasserstein 2003 - Phoenix