MISSION | Young Shakespeareans

To unleash the potential of schoolchildren in underserved communities through the exploration and performance of Shakespeare’s timeless works.

We provide exciting and challenging programs proven to build their confidence, inspire their curiosity, embolden their ambitions, empower their futures, and attract positive attention to their communities.

OUR MISSION

OUR VISION

A learning community employing theatre arts to maximize children's academic, social, and aesthetic potential;

Program delivery onsite at neighborhood schools leading to increased family access, student attendance, and neighborhood commitment and pride;

Increased student compassion, self-awareness, and social-emotional literacy through analysis and understanding of dramatic literature and universal themes;

Cooperative participation of students, parents, faculty, administrators, and neighbors of all ages and socio-economic groups;

Increased Corporate and Institutional attention and investment in our inner-city communities;

Public commitment supporting high expectations for all children, regardless of ethnicity, origin, native language, or income level.

To view our Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Policy, please click here.

OUR HISTORY

"The streets are waiting for our kids."

We hear this too often from too many in Los Angeles' inner-city neighborhoods that are disproportionately impacted by poverty, homelessness, and gang violence.

In 2010, our Founder witnessed how just 12 weeks of Theatre Arts at Nevin Avenue Elementary School in South Los Angeles produced an inspired performance of "A Midsummer Night's Dream", drastically transforming a group of 4th+5th graders, their school, and their entire neighborhood. It was stunning and unmistakable.

The program clearly brought value for the children, anchored and lifted the neighborhood. Realizing the potential to also attract support for South Los Angeles from the broader community, our Founder developed and piloted a curriculum to provide early and formative intervention, raise students’ awareness of their innate talents, and create a positive peer community where they could safely explore their potential and expand their sense of possibility.

In 2017, Nevin was joined by West Vernon Avenue Elementary School, and in 2019 when alumni from both found themselves together at John Adams Middle School, they lobbied their Principal to bring the Program there. That year also brought specialty workshops in Stage Action that would eventually become "Shakespearean Sports".

2020 pandemic lock-downs demanded a quick, agile pivot to online program delivery that culminated in a Zoomie of "Romeo & Juliet".

2021 saw Live-Streams of students performing from their homes on Unified Virtual Stages with Scenics (created by fellow students) wearing illustrated virtual costumes (also created by fellow students and animated by a volunteer team of Snap Official Lens Creators from across the globe).

2022 yielded two productions of "Macbeth" - a Middle School Zoomie in English with Spanish supertitles, and a Short Film created by a team of masked students from 3 different High Schools pantomiming to text they recorded.

Finally back on site in Spring 2023, a Production Design Team of TYS High School Alumni was hired to design a new production for West Vernon Avenue 4th & 5th graders' performances of "A Midsummer Night's Dream". They chose to create a soundtrack, scenics, and costumes evoking 1920's Post-Revolutionary Mexico that celebrated their families' culture and heritage.