Children's Theatre Company Launches OurSpace: Laboratory for Teen Directors

Children's Theatre Company (CTC) is thrilled to announce the introduction of OurSpace: an intensive laboratory experience for teen directors. Designed to support CTC's mission to inspire new generations of theatre professionals, OurSpace is a unique opportunity for a select group of student directors to produce a production of their choice-designed, stage managed and performed entirely by teens-with the professional support of CTC.

Beginning Dec. 3 and continuing through Dec. 19, Gimme Shelter, Razia's Shadow and Incentive for Christmas, directed by 17-year old Maria Janasz, 16-year old Thea Sass-Ainsworth and Dylan Frederick, respectively, will be performed in CTC's McGuire Performance Space, within CTC.

I hope you will consider including CTC's OurSpace program, and the teens who are involved, in your upcoming media coverage. Story ideas may include:
· A profile of one or more of the three teen directors selected for the program

· A preview of the selected performance pieces along with the teens' rationale and vision for their selections

· A feature story about the OurSpace program, how it works and how CTC staff support the youth directors

· An overview of CTC's teen programming, including the OurSpace program and Teen Seen Council, an active group of CTC youth who provide input and feedback on teen programming plans-including selecting at least one teen production per season (the highly-acclaimed Mayhem Poets was a Teen Seen selection).

A brief summary of each of the teen productions follows (a full performance schedule is attached). For more details, to talk with the teen directors or CTC staff, please contact me at 612/872-5110. Review opportunities exist, although we are encouraging an educational approach by asking reviewers to meet informally with the directors to provide verbal feedback (vs. a written review for public attention).

Gimme Shelter, directed by Maria Janasz (a student at Southwest High)
Gimme Shelter, a trilogy of one-act plays by Barrie Keefe, is a provocative, dark comedy about defying authority and learning to exert one's true potential.
Maria Janasz has experience in lighting, stage management, acting and technical directing. She has been involved in productions of Joseph & the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Much Ado About Nothing, Grease, Dracula, Monty Python's Flying Circus and McBike: the Musical.

Razia's Shadow, directed by Thea Sass-Ainsworth (a student at the Perpich Center)
Razia's Shadow tells the story of a world divided in two by the selfish acts of a powerful and egotistical angel. Written as a concept album by the band Forgive Durden, Razia's Shadow is an original view of the story of Genesis, told through 13 musical compositions that meld classical instrumentals and modern vocals.
Thea Sass-Ainsworth has been in several musical theatre productions, including Fiddle on the Roof, Bye Bye Birdie and Oliver! She played the female lead in West Side Story, Oklahoma and The King and I.

Incentive for Christmas, directed by Dylan Frederick
An original work by Dylan Frederick, Incentive for Christmas tells the tale of a couple torn apart by the Iraq War and their yearnings for fame and children.

Ticket information is available online at www.childrenstheatre.org or at the CTC Box Office at 612/874-0400.