Opening A Door to International Discovery, On Stage and Off

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“What is it like for you to act in a country so far away from your home?” an elementary school student asks the performer on stage, leaning forward in his chair. As the moderator for a post-performance talk-back of Stella Den Haag’s Rumplestiltskin, I was struck by the sincerity of the question, and the dialogue between artist and audience that followed. As I listened to the Dutch actors respond about their personal experiences performing abroad, I realized that the impact of international performance presented to a New York audience extends far beyond the content of the show. Don’t get me wrong, the latest international offerings at The New Victory from the Netherlands, the Zoem New Dutch Theater festival, represent some of the most exciting performances for young audiences in the world, offering imaginative storytelling and demonstrating innovation in both content and form. But in addition to the actual show, the international exchange that occurs between a New York City student and a foreign performer is an incredibly valuable educational and cultural experience in itself. These moments offer students a window outside of their neighborhood and a glimpse into the lives of people from around the globe, expanding their world view and breaking down barriers of language and cultural difference.

One of a Kind Photo: Eyal Landesman

Sometimes, the content of the actual performance allows the audience to understand the experiences of a different culture. A few years ago, Nephesh Theater’s One of a Kind told the often overlooked story of Ethiopian Jews and their struggle to find freedom by emigrating to Israel. The show was performed by actors who experienced this trial first-hand, adding personal meaning to the show. Both at the theater and during in-classroom workshops, the show struck a personal chord for students who made connections between the performance and their families' histories. During a reflection in a workshop, one student shared that the main character’s journey reminded him of his own grandparent’s struggle during the Holocaust. For a group of students at MS 324, the show sparked an unexpected sharing of personal stories of immigration in their own lives and the lives of their families, and their teacher was struck by their honesty and openness.

During the following season, Dodgy Clutch’s Elephant offered an African folktale performed by a cast of South African and British performers. The show was a mash-up of cultures and artistic forms that allowed the audience to experience the show on two levels: the emotional story and artistry of the performance and the cultural blending within the acting company. The student response at Manhattan International High School was particularly overwhelming. As a school that draws students from literally around the globe, and with many of its students brand new to the country, Manhattan International is a melting pot where students from diverse backgrounds collaborate. Not only were the students excited by the representation of African culture on a stage on 42nd Street, but the show’s creative team embodied the type of cultural exchange that is inherent in their school community. This experience inspired the students at Manhattan International to create a performance at the end of the year that reflected their own cultures and lives.

Untapped!

These profound connections don’t only happen around performances with strong narratives. Often the most exciting interactions happen without the need for language. While watching Untapped!, New York City students watched as an art form that originated in New York (hip-hop) was reinterpreted by Australian performers from the other side of the globe. The students not only had a blast at the show but recognized that a local art form had migrated all the way around the world and made it back to New York for this performance. In the multi-cultural landscape of New York City, these international associations are not always a foreign experience for our students, but rather a chance for recognition and reunion. During a recent talkback after Cirque Shanghai’s BAI XI, the performers were shocked when an entire section of the audience understood their native language of Mandarin, and they could communicate with these students without the translator. The students were so excited to speak directly to the performers and see their cultural history represented on stage.

Wuthering Heights, Restless Souls Photo: Joep Lennarts

Challenges can arise from cultural differences, especially in content, when bringing work from a different country to the United States. The cultural views on childhood and what young people can and should be exposed to in regards to their entertainment vary immensely from country to country. However, pushing these boundaries allows students to have rich cultural interactions and gain new perspectives. Navigating those waters can sometimes be tricky, and The New Victory Programming department often has to negotiate the integrity of the performance and the cultural views of the public and school audience. It can take bravery and belief in the sophistication of young people to weather the potential storm of criticism over presenting work with sensitive themes and content (like Wuthering Heights, Restless Souls by Theater Artemis). Touring artists allow our children to become citizens of the world and participate in a global conversation.

In our travels to scout work all over the world, it is clear that artists from the US are not as frequently represented at international conferences and festivals as one might hope. While funding is a constant obstacle, it is important for our community to understand the value of art as a vehicle for cultural exchange -  and do what we can to ensure that local artists are also bringing their work to young people in other countries. At the same time, international artists are struggling for funding in the realities of the economic climate and are having a harder time getting visas to perform in the US. How can we ensure that international exchange remains a vibrant and thriving part of our cultural ecosystem? “I want to travel the world like you,” remarks the student at the end of the talk-back with the Dutch performers, making me realize how important it is to keep this door open.

For more on Zoem New Dutch Theater, check out Dennis Meyer's blog posts on the state of theater for young audiences in the Netherlands.

Jonathan Shmidt is the Assistant Director of Education at The New Victory Theater. He manages the New Victory Education Partnership Program, which provides 30,000 students with access to school-time performances and in-classroom workshops. Jonathan is on the adjunct faculty for the Program in Educational Theatre at New York University. He has collaborated on Theater for Young Audiences initiatives with the Boston Lyric Opera, Theater Offensive and Immediate Medium. Jonathan is the co-founder of YEA: Young Educators in the Arts, a networking group for emerging professionals in Arts Education. He holds a Masters Degree in Educational Theatre from New York University. @jshmidt

Reflections on TEDxBroadway

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As a member of the audience for TEDxBroadway on Monday, I was eager to hear the diverse roster of speakers tackle the question: “What’s the Best that Broadway can be Twenty Years from Now?” For the uninitiated, TEDx events are individually organized conference events based on the TED model of spreading “ideas worth sharing.” Although The New Victory is technically considered an Off-Broadway theater (because it has less than 500 seats), our location makes us very much a part of the vibrant Times Square theater scene. Plus, what could be more important to the future of Broadway than “building the audiences of tomorrow, today,” which is how I often think of the New Victory’s mission. Here are just a few snippets from the conference and my own reflections on them.

A sampling of the theater professionals at TEDxBroadway

Jordan Roth of Jujamcyn Theaters spoke on how Broadway needs to create original work (whether based on source material or not) and celebrate what’s unique about the live experience. In order to remain relevant to young audiences who are growing up with more screens and digital entertainment options than ever before, live theater needs to focus on what it can deliver that no other entertainment medium can.

Regarding original work, I thought about the variety of shows that we present here at The New Victory for kids of a lot of different age groups. Curating a range of high quality, original productions for young people is always a challenge. Our Director of Programming scours the globe looking for the right shows to bring to our stages, and many of them come from Australia, Europe, and the UK. One of my hopes for the future is that more US artists and production companies will make funding, creating, and touring original, sophisticated and challenging work for kids a priority.

Commerce and culture researcher Patricia Martin talked about kids communicating at a “higher frequency” today and our need to adapt in order to cut through all the noise. By now, everyone realizes the importance of gaining a familiarity, vocabulary and comfortability with social media platforms, but I think a lot of arts organizations and brands still forget that once you’re there, you need to be real. Kids are super intuitive, and they are getting wise to marketing tricks at a younger and younger age. Like us, they know if you’re trying to “sell” them and they don’t like it. Remember little Riley who was tired of companies pushing pink toys to girls? Keeping live performance relevant to a digital generation is certainly an ongoing challenge, but if digital screens onstage or audience interaction or Tweet seats make sense for a show, great, but if not, don’t force it. Kids can immediately tell when someone is trying too hard to be cool.

Meeting Wrinkle after White

Meeting Cotton after White

Martin went on to say that despite all the technology, young people yearn for real human connection, and they believe what they can feel. If we want young audiences to believe that theater is still valuable and relevant, we need to get them into our theaters so they can feel it for themselves. Lucky for us, there is something irreplaceable about being in the same room with talent or art. Just think about the mobs that throng a Justin Bieber appearance or the stage door after a Hugh Jackman show. Breathing the same air and sharing the same space with something that you love is as magical in the digital age as it was before, and this doesn’t just apply to tween heartthrobs and movie stars. I’ve seen kids waiting in line to meet the performers after a New Victory show who are as excited and expectant as kids waiting to meet Santa Claus or the President himself. I believe that if kids are exposed to the arts at a young age and experience firsthand the thrill of a shared live performance, they’ll get what makes it great. So, another hope of mine is that the first time a kid sees a show, it’s not just a good experience, but a really great one - great enough to get them hooked and wanting more.

My favorite speaker of the day was Vincent Gassetto, Principal of M.S. 343 in the Bronx, and I know I wasn’t alone, since he was showered with the most applause. I couldn’t have been more encouraged by his interest in partnering with the theater community to expose his students to the experience of live shows and the different types of work in the industry. He invited and challenged Broadway to collaborate with schools to fill the void left by arts education cuts. This is exactly what The New Victory does so well, but we are painfully aware that the demand for our services far exceeds the supply. We have waiting lists for our school matinee performances and always max out the number of Schools we partner with each season.

Principal Gassetto acknowledged that putting his entire school on buses and driving down to Times Square to see Spiderman on matinee day was a lot of work, but he stressed that it was absolutely worth it. And judging from the reactions of his students, it made a huge impression. My third hope for the future is that every school kid will get a chance to experience great live theater - by the third grade. When I first had this thought, I was just referring to NYC kids, but actually, I mean EVERY kid. I know that’s a lot of kids and a lot of tickets, but it’s my vision of 2032, so why not dream big?

Lilaia Kairis is the Director of Digital Services. She is responsible for strengthening customer relations at The New 42nd Street through the use of enterprise software, internet strategy and other digital technologies. A member of the staff since 2000, prior roles at The New 42 have included Project Manager for the organization's Tessitura implementation and its subsequent website integration and Director of Member Services in the Ticket Services department. A graduate of Rutgers University, Lilaia also worked for many years at the State Theatre in New Brunswick, NJ, where she served in several capacities, including Sales and Promotions Manager and Assistant Director of Marketing. Her trending topics include: babies who won’t sleep, hypoallergenic cats, and homemade lasagna. @lilaia 

Go Dutch: The Ultimate Zoem Book List by Kidsmomo

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We have invited Kidsmomo, an independent website for readers ages 8-13, to guest blog this season. Look for their posts to extend and enrich your families’ experiences with the literary works adapted for the stage.

What do the following have in common: a little man who keeps his name a secret, an old woman who carries shadows in her purse, hands with googly eyes and a super dysfunctional family living on the Moors? They all took to The New Victory stage earlier this month as part of the Zoem New Dutch Theater festival!

After seeing Rumplestiltskin, Miss Ophelia, Hands Up! and Wuthering Heights and discovering that the land of windmills, clogs and tulips is also home to captivating theater, you’re probably dying to visit the Netherlands yourself. But until you can get there, here’s some recommended reading to extend your experience with these four stories (also good for plane reading as you make your way to Holland!).

Rumplestiltskin

For kids who want to revisit the famous fairy tale, Paul O. Zelinsky’s version is a beautifully rendered and faithful retelling. A Caldecott Honor book, Rumpelstiltskin is full of rich colors, fine details and perhaps the most humorous facial expressions you’ll ever to see on the strange little man!

Baker-Smith's illustrations are incredible.

Miss Ophelia (based on Ophelia's Shadow Theatre)
Younger kids can explore another magical theater in the picture book Leon and the Place Between, written by Angela McAllister and illustrated by Grahame Baker-Smith. In this gorgeous book, a group of kids attend a show full of eye-popping spectacles -- but is the magician really magic, or is it just sleight of hand? Leon is a true believer, and when he’s chosen to participate in the magic act, his short journey to a fantastical otherworld proves that being open to wonder has its rewards!

Older kids can meet more ghosts in the novel Liesl and Po by Lauren Oliver. Like the shadows Miss Ophelia approaches, the ghosts in Liesl and Po are more gentle than frightening. In the story, a young girl befriends a ghost, and together they discover that the ghost is the only one who can make things right for the girl's deceased father's soul. There are quite a few twists and adventures, but ultimately this is a tale of friendship and coming to terms with loss.

Hands Up!
If you were inspired by this show, then you may want to try your hand at creating some wacky productions of your own. (Try your hand -- get it?!) The Klutz line of books provides all the step-by-step tips you need to wow your own audience. In particular, you might want to start with The Klutz Book of Animation or Tricky Video. [Full disclosure: Klutz is part of Scholastic, which is where Karen works, although in a completely separate division. But Karen was a Klutz fan long before she started working at Scholastic, and she thinks you’ll be one too!]

Something different?

Wuthering Heights, Restless Souls
There are many adaptations of Wuthering Heights to choose from, but we recommend you delve into Papercutz’s Classic Illustrated #14: the Wuthering Heights graphic novel. The dramatic saga of Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw is well captured by Rick Geary’s quirky illustrations. The drawn faces look so indignant, you can’t help but chuckle a bit at first -- and then sober up quickly when you’re pulled onto the moors of Wuthering Heights. For a double-dose of Wuthering Heights-inspired works, check out the eclectic song by Kate Bush (the music video also reminds us of Catherine’s ghost!).

Hopefully that’s enough to keep you occupied until you can visit the Netherlands! And when you get there, be sure to send us a postcard!

Nancy Tsai and Karen Wang are the forces behind Kidsmomo.com, an independent website for readers ages 8-13. Kidsmomo covers new and favorite children’s books through podcasts, videos, author interviews, book giveaways, and blog posts, and kids are also invited to submit their own book reviews to share with their peers. Nancy and Karen can be reached at contactus@kidsmomo.com.