NEW VISIONS/NEW VOICES 2020 Festival Announced!

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts announces the biennial festival New Visions/New Voices from May 15-17, 2020, marking the 16th showcase of this industry workshop. Dedicated to the development of new plays and musicals for young people and their families, this innovative series pioneers a unique and vital forum for the field of Theater for Young Audiences (TYA).

New Visions/New Voices 2020 will present six new works by American Playwrights, selected from theater companies based in Chicago, IL; Kansas City, MO; Oakland, CA; Omaha, NE; Seattle, WA; and Tempe, AZ:

• The Boy Who Kissed the Sky by Idris Goodwin, directed by Tim Bond-Seattle Children's Theatre; Seattle, WA
• Farewell Opportunity by Georgette Kelly, directed by Julie Ritchey-Filament Theatre; Chicago, IL
• Only One Day a Year by Michelle Tyrene Johnson, directed by Nedra Dixon-The Coterie Theatre; Kansas City, MO
• Selena Maria Sings by Miriam Gonzales with music by Daniel French, directed by Melissa Crespo-Childsplay; Tempe, AZ
• this is what I chose no I'm not sorry and yes if you'd ask I'd do it again by Daria Miyeko Marinelli, directed by Will Kiley-Jackalope Theatre Company; Chicago, IL
• What Do You Do With An Idea, the Musical with book and lyrics by Adam Tobin and music by Deborah Wicks La Puma, directed by Nina Meehan, and adapted from the book by Kobi Yamada-Bay Area Children's Theatre; Oakland, CA

The festival will also include Project Pride Players' United We Shout: Queer Youth Revolution!, a collaboration between queer youth theater troupes in Omaha, NE and Kansas City, MO, directed by Brian Guehring/Carina DuMarce (Omaha) and Amanda Kibler/Aniseto Herrera (Kansas City).

For the fourth time, the festival's Translation Project will workshop an unproduced English version of a previously successful script originally written and produced in another language. The New Visions/New Voices 2020 play will be Ineż Was Perf(ect) by Simone Spiteri of Marsaxlokk, Malta.

This year, New Visions/New Voices will partner with Theatre for Young Audiences/USA, the national organization for TYA in the United States, amplifying the impact of the event by co-hosting the 2020 TYA/USA National Festival and Conference. This landmark event, which will begin on May 14, will add full performances, keynote speakers, breakout sessions, and other special events to the New Visions/New Voices programming (details to be announced in the coming months). The partnership marks the 20-year anniversary of the joint festival presented at the Kennedy Center in 2000, which was arguably the most significant gathering of the TYA field in a generation.

"We are delighted to be partnering with TYA/USA on this year's festival," says Mario Rossero, Kennedy Center Senior Vice President of Education. "This impactful collaboration demonstrates not only the Kennedy Center's support of new work development, but also our strong commitment to the field of theater for young audiences - doubling down on the festival nature of this convening and creating, with TYA/USA, an essential four-day gathering for the field across the campus, including our new REACH expansion."

The New Visions/New Voices 2020 artists bring to the stage stories and characters that highlight young people in search of their most true selves. In a variety of highly theatrical styles involving music, science, history, whimsy, and magical realism, these plays empower young people and their imaginations with a particular emphasis on the voicing of identity.

From its inception in 1991 through the upcoming 2020 festival, New Visions/New Voices will have assisted in the development of 119 new plays, musicals, and operas from 102 playwrights and 39 composers working with 64 U.S. and 13 international theater companies. This year's festival will continue this critical field-amplifying effort to expand opportunities for high-quality performance experiences for young people, facilitating the development of productions by a variety of both emerging and world-class writing teams, directors, and organizations.

"As 2019 comes to a close, theater professionals from across the country (and ever-increasingly, around the world) are preparing for their biennial pilgrimage to that mecca of new plays for children and families, New Visions/New Voices," says Rives Collins, Chair of the Department of Theatre at Northwestern University. "For nearly 30 years, this program has been at the vanguard of the field, helping nurture an astonishing body of new plays that has indelibly changed TYA. Through partnerships with writers, directors, and national and international producing organizations, New Visions/New Voices ensures that these new works will live and breathe on the stage, opening hearts and expanding consciousness."

While at the Kennedy Center, selected playwrights, directors, music directors, composers, and Equity actors work collaboratively in a weeklong rehearsal setting to develop their projects. After revisions, rewrites, and rehearsals of the new plays and musicals, the works are presented as rehearsed readings during a three-day national festival for theater professionals, educators, and others interested in the field, which will include discussions, conversations, and other events.

A full listing of New Visions/New Voices 2020 programming can be found on the following pages.

New Visions/New Voices 2020

THE BOY WHO KISSED THE SKY

Seattle Children's Theatre, Seattle WA

This highly theatrical play by Idris Goodwin amplifies the extraordinary young life of Jimi Hendrix, one of the most influential artists of all time. Shaped by his Seattle community, young Jimi conjures creativity in the most surprising of places. Directed by Tim Bond, this story told through music, daring imagination, and a smattering of science fiction, asks us to dream louder when it matters most.

FAREWELL OPPORTUNITY

Filament Theatre, Chicago, IL

In June 2018, Halley visits the NASA Jet Propulsion Lab and meets the Opportunity Mars rover. The two have something in common: a curious spirit and a shortened life-expectancy. Halley and the NASA scientist in charge of the Mars mission find themselves transformed by an unlikely friendship-with each other, and with a rolling robot millions of miles away. With poetic language and magical realism, playwright Georgette Kelly explores the question "How do you keep on roving when you-or someone you love-faces a dust storm that threatens to block out the sun?" Directed by Julie Ritchey, Farewell Opportunity is being developed in partnership with staff and families at the Crescent Cove Respite and Hospice Center for Kids.

INEŻ KIENET PERF(ETTA) [INEŻ WAS PERF(ECT)]

The Translation Project, Malta

Ineż is fourteen. A Perf ... short for "perfect": the ultimate label to aspire to. If you're fourteen, that is. Ineż is popular, beautiful, sassy, rebellious, a saint, a social media queen.

Ineż goes missing.

Everyone in her small community becomes judge and jury. And while she certainly wasn't perfect ... everyone wanted her to be, in one way or another, their own definition of perfection. Written by Simone Spiteri and directed by Karin Serres, the play asks: what happens when being nothing but perfect is the only option and expectation?

ONLY ONE DAY A YEAR

The Coterie Theatre, Kansas City, MO

During the Jim Crow-era of racial segregation, it was perfectly legal for Kansas City, Missouri's most popular amusement park to limit admission to black patrons to only one day a year. In this play, we see teenage Rose James, in the early 1960s, use smarts, determination, and a little bit of magic to try to defeat this policy, plus fight to grant her little brother's wish of getting to ride the Fairyland Park rollercoaster on his actual birthday. In contemporary times, we see Rose's teenage granddaughter Ella use her spirited nature, talent, and inherited magic to stand up to bullies at the school administration level. Written by Michelle Tyrene Johnson and directed by Nedra Dixon, the play offers the invitation to see how, regardless of time or outcome, discrimination can be battled by tapping into love, a sense of empowerment, and actual black girl magic.

SELENA MARIA SINGS

Childsplay, Tempe, AZ

Selena Maria is a 14-year-old indie songwriter. With a unique style and a sophisticated fusion of sounds, she composes music on her laptop wherever and whenever she finds inspiration. But Selena Maria lives in the shadow of a big legacy: her namesake and her mother's favorite superstar Tejana singer, Selena Quintanilla. When tragedy strikes her family, taking away the one person who truly appreciates her musical voice, Selena Maria must learn to navigate a new town, a newly evolving relationship with her grief-stricken mother, and a new and rising fear: what if her true self isn't enough? Written by Miriam Gonzales with original music by Daniel French and directed by Melissa Crespo, this vibrant and deeply moving play takes us on a journey of loss, perseverance, and love.

this is what I chose no I'm not sorry and yes if you'd ask I'd do it again

Jackalope Theatre Company, Chicago, IL

Even after William's death, high school life has trudged on. But when Sara starts planning an "Alive Together" assembly to honor William, his sister Vivian finally takes a stand and ask/demands Sara to cancel the event. Does it matter that William and Sara were "a thing" or that Sara may also use the event on her college applications? With the piece's narrative changing based on the audience's choices, Will Kiley directs Daria Miyeko Marinelli's modular play which explores: who has ownership over a tragedy? And what course of action is best in the aftermath?

UNITED WE SHOUT: QUEER YOUTH REVOLUTION!

Project Pride Players, Omaha, NE and Kansas City, MO

This Project Pride and Pride Players joint production is a collaboration between queer youth theater troupes in Omaha, NE and Kansas City, MO. Both troupes give voice to their LGBTQ and straight allied teens by creating annual shows through improv, dance, poetry, and visual art in order to open lines of communication between races, genders, and generations. This brand-new production, directed by Brian Guehring/Carina DuMarce (Omaha) and Amanda Kibler/Aniseto Herrera (Kansas City) will interweave a mash-up of scenes from the shows created by each company and will be performed by teens from both troupes. United We Shout will reflect the activism, diversity, humor, intelligence, and empathy that these inspiring young people hope to see in the world.

WHAT DO YOU DO WITH AN IDEA, THE MUSICAL

Bay Area Children's Theatre, Oakland, CA

Yumi is BORED. The kind of bored where everything loses its color, that just lasts forever....UNTIL...an idea pops into Yumi's life. At first Yumi doesn't know what to do with Idea. Yumi tries to hide Idea in the forest. Yumi takes Idea home and feeds it. Idea grows. But, the World Famous Critic has nothing nice to say about Idea. And Yumi is convinced that maybe Critic is correct and his idea isn't any good. But through the power of play and imagination, Yumi and Idea find their voices and grow in ways they could never have imagined. With book and lyrics by Adam Tobin, music by Deborah Wicks La Puma, and direction by Nina Meehan, this musical adaptation of the book by Kobi Yamada will delight dreamers and skeptics alike.

Alternate:

THE GIRL WHO BECAME LEGEND

Zach Theatre, Austin, TX

Script by Sarah Saltwick; conceived by Nat Miller and Sarah Saltwick; lyrics by Nat Miller, Amanda Serra, Will Clifton, and Sarah Saltwick.

Translation Project Alternate:

THE STALLARUS

By Katarzya Mazur-Lejman, Poland

About Education At the Kennedy Center

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts sets a national standard for arts learning. Working through model programs and a nationwide network of partners, the nation's cultural center harnesses the power of the arts to address education challenges, accelerate best practices, and uplift citizen artists. Across all its programs, the Kennedy Center is committed to increasing accessible, inclusive opportunities for people of all ages and backgrounds to participate in, learn about, and learn through the arts. New York Times best-selling author and illustrator Mo Willems serves as the Center's first-ever Education Artist-in-Residence. Throughout his two-year residency, Willems will invite kids and former kids into the creative process with original productions and hands-on, interactive moments.

Highlights of the 2019-2020 season include the 51st annual Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival, which impacts thousands of college-aged theater students across the country; two Kennedy Center world premiere commissions comprising of Education Artist-in-Residence Mo Willems's Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! (The Musical), and Kid Prince and Pablo; the 5th year of the DC Public Schools Performing Arts Festival at the Kennedy Center; and New Visions/New Voices, the biannual festival dedicated to the development of new plays and musicals for young people and their families. On September 7, 2019, the Kennedy Center opened the REACH, an immersive arts and learning center with significant space and programming for arts education.

As an essential component of the living memorial to President Kennedy, the Center's Education programs utilize the arts to embrace President Kennedy's ideals of service, justice, freedom, courage, and gratitude. By cultivating the citizen artist in everyone, the Kennedy Center brings the arts and creativity to the center of our lives. For more information, please visit kennedy-center.org/education/.

Funding Credits

Bank of America is the Presenting Sponsor of Performances for Young Audiences.

Additional support for New Visions/New Voices 2020 is provided by

A. James & Alice B. Clark Foundation; The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation; Paul M. Angell Family Foundation; Anne and Chris Reyes; and the U.S. Department of Education.

Funding for Access and Accommodation Programs at the Kennedy Center is provided by the U.S. Department of Education.

Major support for educational programs at the Kennedy Center is provided by
David M. Rubenstein through the Rubenstein Arts Access Program.

Discover the Kennedy Center on social media:

@KenCenTYA

#NVNV2020

#KennedyCenter

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PRESS Contact INFORMATION

Brendan Padgett New Visions Hotline: (202) 416-8830

(202) 416-8004 kctya@kennedy-center.org

BEPadgett@kennedy-center.org kennedy-center.org/education/nvnv.html

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