Arena Stage to Host Voices of Now Festival in May

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater will host the Voices of Now Festival, a four-day event featuring original works of theater written and performed by 10 different youth ensembles. The festival will bring together more than 100 artists, ages 11-18, from D.C., Maryland and Virginia who have been working with professional th eater artists from Arena Stage to devise original one-act plays. This year's festival will also feature a special video presentation of work devised by young adults from Bosnia, Croatia, Slovenia, Macedonia and Albania as part of a September 2015 trip that sent three Arena Stage teaching artists to Zagreb, Croatia. The 2016 ensembles will come together May 18-21, 2016 to perform and discuss their work in the Arlene and Robert Kogod Cradle at the Mead Center. Please see below for the full event schedule.

Currently in its 13th year, Voices of Now (VON) is an internationally renowned, yearlong drama program that works with ensembles of middle, high school and adult artists to devise autobiographical theater pieces. Each ensemble's play poses challenging social questions relevant to the artists' communities and investigates those questions by recounting the artists' personal stories. This year's plays examine topics including issues of race and ethnicity, self-identification, mental health and illness, heroes and role models, adjusting to a new culture, risk-taking, the magnitude of our actions and implications of language used surrounding grief and death. All performances will be followed by a talkback.

"Voices of Now is a unique program with a profound impact. These young people really dive into difficult topics and controversial terrain in order to find understanding-of each other and of the world," shares Artistic Director Molly Smith. "It's amazing to witness. The truth that these students find is remarkable, and there is no better way to find these truths than through theater. Arena is fortunate to be able to help these voices be heard."

This year's program features a new ensemble at South County Middle School in Fairfax, VA, as well as the second year of the Key World Ensemble at Key Middle School, which was formed to explore the experience of ELL (English Language Learner) students in Fairfax, VA.

VON formed its first partnership 13 years ago with Jefferson Middle School Academy in Southwest D.C. Several Fairfax County Public Schools will again take part in the festival, including Glasgow Middle School, Key Middle School and Robinson Secondary School. Returning for its sixth year is an ensemble in partnership with the Wendt Center for Loss and Healing, which is made up of young artists who have experienced the death of a loved one.

Additional ensembles include the Mead Ensemble, a program located at the Mead Center that is designed for students in grades 7-11 interested in devised theater, but don't have a VON program at their school, as well as the Mentor Ensemble, which is made up of alumni from previous ensembles whose role is to mentor the younger artists in the program. For the past six years, the Mead and Mentor Ensembles have performed at the Youth Summit as part of Atlas Performing Arts Center's Intersections Festival, which highlights the intersection of art and the real world. The Advocacy Ensemble, which is made up of emerging artists who are interested in using theater as a tool for advocacy, includes participants from throughout the D.C.-metro area.

2016 Voices of Now Festival Schedule
All performances take place in the Arlene and Robert Kogod Cradle in the Mead Center, 1101 Sixth St., S.W.

Wednesday, May 18-7:30 p.m.
Chain Reaction by the Mentor Ensemble
Now You See Me by the Advocacy Ensemble
Free Fall by the Jefferson Academy Ensemble

Thursday, May 19-7:30 p.m.
Upside Down by the Key Middle School Ensemble
Culture Shock by the Key World Ensemble
Now You See Me by the Advocacy Ensemble

Friday, May 20-7:30 p.m.
Equal Sign by the Glasgow Middle School Ensemble
Prize Fight by the South County Middle School Ensemble
Book Mark by the Wendt Center Ensemble

Saturday, May 21-7:30 p.m.
Action Figure by the Robinson Secondary School Ensemble
Shelter by the Mead Ensemble
Chain Reaction by the Mentor Ensemble

TICKETS: Tickets for the Voices of Now Festival are FREE, though reservations are required through the Arena Stage Sales Office at 202-488-3300 or at http://tickets.arenastage.org/single/psDetail.aspx?psn=22484.

Voices of Now was designed by Arena Stage's Director of Education Ashley Forman. In addition to performing at Arena Stage, ensembles perform throughout their own communities. Past ensembles have performed at Atlas Performing Arts Center's Intersections Festival, Imagination Stage, American Alliance for Theatre and Education's National Conference, Association of Theatre in Higher Education Conference, 2013 International AIDS Conference and the Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage.

Voices of Now International: Following a successful partnership with the U.S. Department of State in 2012, which sent four teaching artists from Arena Stage's Community Engagement (CE) department to India, VON continued its international expansion with three additional partnerships during the 2013/14 season. In December 2013, four staff members traveled to Zagreb, Croatia to create a play with young adults with physical disabilities. In January 2014, all nine staff members of the Arena Stage CE team traveled to Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai and Hyderabad, India to create original plays based on the lives of the local participants and inspired by the cities in which they took place. In June 2014, the United States Embassy in Lima, Peru brought two CE staff members to partner with Arena y Esteras, a local organization comprised of artists, educators and leaders committed to using art as a tool to contribute to human development and social transformation. In September 2015, three CE staff members returned to Zagreb, in partnership with the U.S. Embassies in Zagreb, Croatia and Ljubljana, Slovenia, to create a unique theater piece with young adults from vulnerable communities across the region.

For more information on Voices of Now, visit arenastage.org/education/voices-of-now.

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