TV: TADA! Youth Theater Celebrates 30 Years

In this exclusive interview, BroadwayWorld's Adrienne Onofri chats with Janine Nina Trevens, artistic and executive director of TADA! Youth Theater, and composer Eric Rockwell, who has written several of TADA!'s original musicals, including The Trials of Alice in Wonderland, which recently wrapped its run.

TADA! is celebrating its 30th anniversary this season. Since it was cofounded by Trevens in 1984, the company has produced more than 75 mainstage shows and conducted workshops and residencies at dozens of schools around New York City. Jason Robert Brown was a musical director for TADA! in its early years.

Rockwell has been involved with TADA! since the mid-1990s, and in addition to The Trials of Alice in Wonderland, he's written the music and in some cases the book for its shows Golly Gee Whiz!, Up to You, The History Mystery, Everything About School (Almost) and Princess Phooey, which will be this summer's production.

Over the years TADA! has performed in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and at the White House and Carnegie Hall and participated in Pulitzer winner Suzan-Lori Parks' 365 Days/365 Plays project. Trevens has been honored by Parenting and Family Circle magazines, and in 2009 the company received a special Drama Desk Award. In this interview, she and Rockwell talk about all the things that the Drama Desk recognized TADA! for: its high-quality productions, its role in creating new generations of theatergoers and the theatrical training and experience it provides for young people.

Princess Phooey is scheduled to run July 10 through Aug. 1 at TADA!'s theater in the Flatiron District. Visit tadatheater.com for more information.

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