CTG Selects Local Teachers for August Wilson In-School Residency

Center Theatre Group has selected four local high school teachers from three different high schools in Los Angeles to participate in the 2017 August Wilson In-School Residency Program. The in-school residency is a semester-long program that provides Title 1 students with an in-depth study of the work of prolific African American playwright August Wilson and provides opportunities for them to discover their own creative voices.

The participating teachers are Damiek Barrow from Washington Preparatory High School in Los Angeles, Melanie Dubose and Juan Perez from East Los Angeles Performing Arts Magnet in Los Angeles and Craig Robinson from Animo Leadership Charter High School in Inglewood.

The four selected teachers will each partner with a Center Theatre Group Teaching Artist as they deliver curriculum related to one of August Wilson's plays during 15 in- class sessions spanning four months. In addition to the in-class sessions, the four teachers will participate in two full-day team building meetings to plan and evaluate the curriculum, practice new skills related to the art form and exchange ideas.

Center Theatre Group's in-school residency is part of the larger August Wilson Program, which also includes the August Wilson Monologue Competition (AWMC). AWMC is an annual monologue competition hosted in cities throughout the country, including Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, New York, Pittsburgh, Seattle, Dallas and Greensboro, North Carolina, and is designed to provide intensive learning opportunities for high school students to study and practice the craft of acting, specifically through monologue performances. Furthermore, the classrooms selected for the in-school residency will attend the August Wilson Monologue Competition Los Angeles Regional Finals at the Mark Taper Forum as part of their residency experience, witnessing the power of theatre as their peers bring August Wilson's characters to life.

"These programs are part of our tradition of nurturing new voices in the American theatre," said Director of Social Strategy, Innovation and Impact Leslie K. Johnson. "They enable students from all walks of life to discover August Wilson's profound and deeply relevant works of art, explore their own creative voices, and learn more about our shared history and themselves."

This is Center Theatre Group's sixth year serving as facilitator of the August Wilson In-School Residency program, as well as the Southern California home to the AWMC.

CTG honors its long-standing relationship with August Wilson through its August Wilson Program, as well as through its continued production of Wilson's work. CTG has presented nine of Wilson's plays, including two world premiere productions of his work. In September/October 2016, Wilson's "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom" had a successful run at the Mark Taper Forum.

Center Theatre Group, one of the nation's preeminent arts and cultural organizations, is Los Angeles' leading nonprofit theatre company, programming seasons at the 736-seat Mark Taper Forum and 1600 to 2000-seat Ahmanson Theatre at The Music Center in Downtown Los Angeles, and the 317-seat Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City. In addition to presenting and producing the broadest range of theatrical entertainment in the country, Center Theatre Group is one of the nation's leading producers of ambitious new works through commissions and world premiere productions and a leader in interactive community engagement and education programs that reach across generations, demographics and circumstance to serve Los Angeles.

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