MCC Receives Grant to Expand Youth Company

Based on the ongoing success of the MCC Theater Youth Company over the past 12 years, MCC Theater has received a $25,000 grant from The Emily Davie and Joseph S. Kornfeld Foundation to launch a 2-year pilot program aimed at working with students from the George Washington High School Campus in Washington Heights.

MCC Theater intends for this pilot program to give way to future satellite companies around the five boroughs, creating a city-wide network of high school ensembles connected by a common mission of providing teens with a safe, artistic environment in which their voices are heard and celebrated. The Youth Company at George Washington Campus had its first orientation on December 5, 2011 and will run until the end of the school year. The pilot will resume its year-long program in September 2012 for the 2012-2013 school year.

In addition, the Youth Company has received a $90,000 Theater Subdistrict Council grant which will enable MCC Theater to expand and strengthen their ongoing efforts. The grant, which is awarded to 10 organizations annually for various projects that foster the creation of new theatrical work and audience development, will increase the production value and length of the Youth Company’s thriving outreach programs. Additional funding for the expansion of MCC’s education programs is provided by Harold Newman, an MCC board member (and graduate of George Washington High School) who, since 2005, continues to fund an in-school partnership between MCC and HS for Media and Communications.

The MCC Theater Youth Company, a free after-school program for under-served city youth interested in learning playwriting and acting from theater professionals, is one of the outstanding and dynamic efforts of the MCC Education & Outreach Department. Robert LuPone, one of MCC Theater’s founding Artistic Directors said, “We are endlessly grateful to The Emily Davie and Joseph S. Kornfeld Foundation and the Theater Subdistrict Council. Their generosity will allow us to implement our plans to enrich what is already highly effective programming. It’s especially gratifying to begin our expansion efforts at George Washington High School, given our long and fruitful partnership, and within the Youth Company, given the success of all of the students who’ve gone through the program over the years. Each year we are in awe of what we see these students create when they are given the means and the support. We are eager to bring stronger programs to even more students and are overjoyed to have received both grants to enable the process.”

For more information on the MCC Theater Youth Company, please contact Alex Sarian, Director of Education and Outreach at asarian@mcctheater.org or by calling 212-727-7722 x 222.

For more information on MCC Theater visit www.mcctheater.org.