STC Sends Young Company To Spain

The Shakespeare Theatre Company, recipient of the 2012 Regional Theatre Tony Award, will send its resident teen acting ensemble, Young Company, to the InterNational Youth Theatre Festival in Parla, Spain from July 6-13, 2013. This group of 14 Washington metropolitan area teens in grades 9-12 were invited to perform in the festival alongside youth theatre troupes from across Spain. Young Company will close the festival by staging two performances of their production of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet .

STC's Young Company will be the first international troupe to ever perform at the InterNational Youth Theatre Festival. The Young Company of Parla Theatre has traveled to the United States twice since 2009, performing the play Fuenta Ovejuna at STC's Lansburgh Theatre and, two years later, a production of Numancia at GALA Hispanic Theatre. Since their engagements in Washington, D.C., Parla's company has sought out ways to reciprocate this exchange of artistic, educational and cultural ideas.

Since its founding in 2012, members of Young Company have come from D.C., Maryland and Virginia to engage in a year-long classical acting intensive course. Young Company training, which takes place four days per week, includes movement, text analysis, voice/speech, scene study, stage combat and characterization. STC's Education department selected this first year's acting class according to their preparation and commitment to the program. "We were looking for articulate, mature, promising teens who could commit to such a rigorous schedule - knowing that they would have to forsake all other afterschool commitments to participate," said Dat Ngo, STC's Associate Director of Education.

Applicants to Young Company were asked to both audition and apply to the program, answering questions about their goals and role models. The selected students stood out for their ability to make clear acting choices and, when challenged, to defend their choices and take and incorporate feedback. STC also sought out serious teens who had either exhausted their school program options or did not have resources available to them through school. In its first year, the program was offered to students free of cost, including tickets to an entire season of productions and special events. Moving forward, scholarships will be made available to allow exceptional members to participate.

Samantha K. Wyer, STC's Director of Education, outlined the importance of Young Company to STC's overall mission. "Education is a vital component of Michael Kahn's vision for STC, so it is imperative that as a premier classical theatre company, we develop this unique training program to share our great resources and acumen with rising young actors," Wyer said. "We will continue to offer scholarship assistance to selected high school students who have the drive and dedication to study Shakespeare in this remarkable program, regardless of his or her financial limitations."

Ngo commended the students for their artistic progress during the past year. "We have an overwhelming source of inspiration in these gifted young artists who've given over a year of their life to train with us, on top of the demands of their homes and schools. It's amazing that their work will be received by an international audience as their hard work and dedication is so deserving of such an incredible opportunity."

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