TADA! Youth Theater Presents THE HISTORY MYSTERY

TADA! YOUTH THEATER has announced the production of THE HISTORY MYSTERY. Book by Janine Nina Trevens, music by Eric Rockwell, and lyrics by Margaret Rose, THE HISTORY MYSTERY will be directed by Janine Nina Trevens. The limited engagement will be at TADA! Youth Theater (15 West 28th St. 2nd Fl. New York, NY 10001). Performances begin Friday, January 20 and continue through Sunday, February 19. 

THE HISTORY MYSTERY is a musical time travel adventure--Meet Martin Luther King Jr., Eleanor Roosevelt, the Wright Brothers and other characters when they were children. Imagine how events from their childhoods could have shaped them into the adults they became – the adults who helped to form the world, as we know it today.

The production stars members of TADA!’s Resident Youth Ensemble; talented kids between the ages of 8 and 18 from the NYC area who participate in this FREE year-round youth development program. They are:

Alex Costello (Paramus, NJ, 11 years old)
Amanda Prescod (Brooklyn, NY, 13 years old)
Annalee Tai (New York, NY, 13 years old)
Austin Tipograph (New York, NY, 15 years old)
Brian Ward (Brooklyn, NY, 14 years old)
Brooklyn Fuentas (Brooklyn, NY, 9 years old)
Ceanna Bryant (New York, NY, 13 years old)
Chloe Pae (New York, NY, 10 years old)
Clara Kim (Flushing, NY, 11 years old)
Danielle Palmer (Bronx, NY, 12 years old)
Derek Johnson (Brooklyn, NY, 10 years old)
Diana Kagan (Great Neck, NY, 10 years old)
Donna Falzon (Astoria, NY, 17 years old)
Elsa Chung (Bronx, NY, 10 years old)
Jaden Dudley (New York, NY, 10 years old)
Jennifer Wais (New York, NY, 17 years old)
Kaitlyn Pohly (New York, NY, 8 years old)
Maddie Rubin (New York, NY, 12 years old)
Maddy Abrahams (New York, NY, 13 years old)
Martin Lewis (Staten Island, NY, 16 years old)
Milo Bernfield-Millman (New York, NY, 13 years old)
Molly Grub (New York, NY, 11 years old)
Nataki Purvis (Brooklyn, NY, 15 years old)
Nathan Love (Brooklyn, NY, 9 years old)
Nicole Zivkovic (Forest Hills, NY, 13 years old)
Romello Rodriguez (Bronx, NY, 14 years old)
Samantha Pohly (New York, NY, 11 years old)
Santiago Parra (New York, NY, 10 years old)
Shanya Thomas (New York, NY, 10 years old)
Sophie Smith-Brady (New York, NY, 12 years old)
Subiya Mboya (Hackensack, NJ, 11 years old)
Tristan Hickey (New York, NY, 13 years old)
Tyrek Haynes (New York, NY, 13 years old)

The production features choreography by Associate Artistic Director Joanna Greer, musical direction by Jim Colleran, scenic and lighting design by Steve O’Shea, costume design by Virginia Monte and projections designed by Norman Franklin.

THE HISTORY MYSTERY plays the following regular schedule:

Saturdays at 2pm & 4pm
Sundays at 2pm & 4pm

Additional Performances:
Friday, January 20 and Friday, February 17 at 7 pm
Wednesday, February 8 at 10 am & 12 pm

Tickets are $25 for adults, $15 for students; Limited cheap tickets (also available for every performance) are $20 for adults and $8 for children and are available first come, first serve. Tickets are now available online at www.tadatheater.com/currentseason.asp. Tickets may also be purchased in-person a half hour prior to performance. Non-Profit Group rates start at $6 per child for groups of 20+; birthday party packages are also available.

Running Time: approximately 60 minutes

Website: www.tadatheater.com

Upcoming from TADA!

Musical Theater classes & camps on sale now.

Mainstage Musicals:
Up To You April 27 – May 20. Who has the most school spirit? Who will rule the school in 1977? Will it be the cheerleaders, the jocks, the drama freaks, the nerds, or the brains? Don’t miss this, like, way cool musical... Be there or be square! Book and Music by Eric Rockwell, lyrics by JoAnne Bogart

Everything About School (Almost) July 12 – August 4. Follow 8 kids from elementary school through high school graduation in a comic look at how friendships are built and memories are made. Conceived by Eric Rockwell. Music and Lyrics by Brad Alexander, Daniel Aquisto, Gary Bagley, Deirdre Broderick, Helen Chayefsky, Richard Chiarappa, Van Dean, David Ganon, Keith Gordon, Bruce Keisling, Jim Lochner, Dan Shore, Shawn Sturnick, Eddie Sugarman, Eric Rockwell, and Margaret Rose.

Annual Auction Event: March 4

Dance-a-Thon: June 2

BIOGRAPHIES

Janine Nina Trevens (Book/Director) Nina co-founded TADA! in 1984 with Linda Reiff. Since that time, she has served as the Artistic Director for all of the works produced by TADA!. She has commissioned over 30 musicals specifically for the company. For TADA! she wrote The History Mystery, The Little House of Cookies and Sweet Sixteen as well as The Perfect Monster and Odd Day Rain with current writing partner, Deirdre Broderick. She directs many of TADA!’s musicals, numerous staged readings, and Ensemble appearances at various locations and events in and around NYC. Nina was selected as one of 10 Parenting Leaders by Parenting Magazine, and she was one of only five women nationally to receive Family Circle’s First Annual Halo Award for women who make a difference. She is proud to have served on funding panels for NYSCA, DCA, ART/NY and TCG.

Eric Rockwell (Music) is a musician, teacher, dramatist and award-winning composer of several critically acclaimed musicals. His work has been produced off-Broadway, regionally, and internationally. A 2004 Drama Desk nominee for best music, Eric composed the score and co-wrote the book to The Musical of Musicals (the Musical!) which, after two years of performances in New York, went on to have success on London’s West End, as well as in regional theatres from coast to coast. Eric was a member of the BMI-Lehman Engle Musical Theatre Workshop, where in addition to creating Musical of Musicals, he developed the score to A Little Princess, which was chosen for both the Dramatists Guild New Musicals Project and the New Tuners Festival at the Chicago Theatre Building. Mr. Rockwell has composed the scores to several musicals for children, including Golly Gee Whiz, a loving satire of the Judy Garland-Mickey Rooney movie musicals of the thirties which was written as a commission for TADA!. The show was featured on Lincoln Center's Reel to Real series, and recently won a National Youth Theatre award for outstanding original musical. Other shows created for young audiences include The Trials of Alice in Wonderland, based on the work of Lewis Carroll and Princess Phooey, a very fractured fairytale. Eric collaborated with several of his colleagues to create Everything About School (Almost), an irreverent buT Loving look at elementary, junior high, and high school. All these shows were originally produced by the TADA! Youth Theater.

For several years, Eric was the resident music director of TADA! and taught theater and music extensively in the New York area. At the Rockwell Music Studio, he offers private instruction in piano and voice. An actor and singer himself, Eric has performed many musical theater and light opera roles in off-Broadway and regional theatres. As a pianist, Mr. Rockwell is in the process of recording the complete canon of 19th century composer Stephen Heller.

As a "serious" composer, Mr. Rockwell made his Carnegie Hall debut with a heartwarming Christmas carol entitled The Annoying Drummer Boy.

MARGARET ROSE (Lyrics) wrote lyrics for TADA!’s Robyn and Roadie’s Super Holiday World, and with composer Eric Rockwell contributed songs to Everything About School (Almost) and Everything About Camp (Almost). Rockwell and Rose are the creators of The Prop Shop (for TADA!’s 10th Anniversary) and Don’t Touch That Dial, and wrote the score for A Little Princess. An alumna of BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theater Workshop, Margaret is currently a freelance writer/director in central Florida.

ABOUT TADA!:

Since 1984, TADA! Youth Theater has been providing young people of all different backgrounds the opportunity to explore and perform musical theater together in an educational, supportive and professional environment. In 2009 with a Special Drama Desk Award for "providing an invaluable contribution to the future of the theater.” TADA! is the only youth theater to have won this prestigious award.

TADA! has also received many other honors and awards including the American Alliance for Theater Education’s Anne Flagg Multicultural Award, Family Circle Magazine’s 1st Annual Halo Award, and more than a dozen National Youth Theatre Awards. Additionally, in 2008 TADA! was honored with a Coming Up Taller Award, our nation’s highest honor for youth development from the President's Committee on the Arts & Humanities.

Every year, TADA! produces: original musical Theater Productions performed by kids for family audiences; a discounted ticket program; free pre-professional training and youth development opportunities through the Resident Youth Ensemble composed of over 80 NYC kids ages 8-18; renowned Arts Education in-school residencies and after-school programs; and theater classes and camps for kids of all ages taught by professional teaching artists and for which need-based financial aid is available.

ABOUT TADA! PRODUCTIONS:
TADA!’s original productions employ professional directors, designers, technicians and musicians who work with a multi-ethnic cast of NYC children (ages 8–18) who are members of the TADA! Resident Youth Ensemble. TADA!’s Alum include Kerry Washington, Josh Peck, Christina Vidal, Mizuo Peck, Jordan Peele and Ricki Lake.

Who: TADA! Youth Theater’s Resident Youth Ensemble
What: The History Mystery
Where: TADA! Youth Theater (15 West 28th St. 2nd Fl. New York, NY 10001).
When: Friday, January 20 - Sunday, February 19
How: Tickets are $25 for adults, $15 for students at www.tadatheater.com/currentseason.asp