MTC's STARGATE THEATRE: A DEFINING ACT Airs on THIRTEEN Tonight

Founded by the Manhattan Theatre Club, the Stargate Theatre Company immerses court-involved youth in the theater arts as a mechanism for coping with and overcoming negative factors in their lives. During the summer of 2015, company members composed, rehearsed, and performed an original play, Deeper Than Skin.

STARGATE THEATRE: A DEFINING ACT to Air on Thirteen 2/19 - premiering on Saturday, February 6 at 4 p.m. on WLIW21 and tonight, February 19 at 10 p.m. on THIRTEEN - follows these young men from auditions to the final performance of their play at Manhattan Theater Club's Off-Broadway home at New York City Center's Stage II theater.

Watch a preview clip below:

Through interviews with the company members, all of whom have experienced varying degrees of involvement with the juvenile justice system, as well as the teaching artists and professionals who lead them, Stargate Theatre: A Defining Act chronicles the company members as they build strong relationships and become witnesses to each other's stories and lives.

The film also highlights how the company members' personal writings become the basis for their play, which tackles issues such as identity, family, community, racism, and injustice, as well as their attitudes toward law enforcement and their dreams for the future.

Stargate Theatre: A Defining Act is presented as part of the "Chasing the Dream" multi-platform public media initiative on poverty and opportunity in America.

After the initial broadcast, the full film will be available for online streaming at wliw.org and thirteen.org.

Stargate Theatre: A Defining Act is a production of WLIW LLC in association with WNET. WNET is the parent company of THIRTEEN and WLIW21, New York's public television stations and operator of NJTV.

Ally Gimbel is producer. Mary Lockhart is director. Diane Masciale is executive producer. John Servidio is executive in charge.

Major funding for Stargate Theatre: A Defining Act is provided by Sharon R. Sullivan, with additional funding from Jean Dubinsky Appleton Estate, the JPB Foundation and the Ford Foundation.

Photo Credit: ©2015 WLIW LLC/ Phoebe Snyder

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