YOUTH ARTS CORPS Present 'THE WEST SIDE STORY PROJECT' 11/6

Prince Music Theater's YOUTH ARTS CORPS performs The West Side Story Project; music & dance from West Side Story, with original spoken word by Area youth.

This performance will run Nov 6, 7, 8 & 9 on the Gisela & Dennis Alter Main Stage at the Prince.
On Nov. 6 only, there will be an appearance by John Bulack of PHRESH SELECT of America's Best Dance Crew. The West Side Story Project will feature Riveting dance from jazz to hip-hop.

Six performances only:    Nov 6, 7, 8 & 9 (2 school matinees)

Philadelphia, PA - Seventy members of the Prince Music Theater's Youth Arts Corps - performers, musicians, stage crew, and front of house staff ages 13-18 will make their voices heard. Weaving together songs from West Side Story, (music by Leonard Bernstein, Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim) with original poems and spoken word, this fully staged production features a cast of singers, dancers and musicians from 20 Delaware Valley schools. The Opening Night Celebration will feature special festivities on Friday, November 7,  at 7 PM. There will be additional performances on Saturday, November 8, at 7 PM, and Sunday at 3 PM. There are two school matinees November 6 & 7 with a few remaining seats.

Tickets are $15 for adults and $7 for youth under 14, and all proceeds support the Youth Arts Corps program, empowering youth to write new endings for their lives through disciplined participation in the arts.  For tickets and information please call 215 569-9700 or visit www.princemusictheater.org.

"The arts can save lives," commented one young participant.  "You can't just tell people to give up guns and violence, or to stop doing drugs- you have to give them something to turn towards.  There are so few places for us to have a voice.  To be who you are. "  Another said "Adults can't solve it without us.  They need to listen to us. We need to listen to each other. "

Work on this project began in the late spring and continued through the summer of 2008, supported by a leadership gift from the Albert M. Greenfield Foundation. Additional support came from Commerce Bank through the TD Banknorth Charitable Foundation.

During the Prince Summer Studio, the young people explored the 1957 landmark musical West Side Story and music by Duke Ellington, Fats Waller, and others. They learned the music and history of this piece about gang warfare between Italians and Puerto Ricans, and discussed its connections to their daily reality and the many recent killings and gun incidents in Philadelphia.  As they worked, participants wrote their own personal monologues and poems about violence and gangs and peer pressure. Through this material they expressed their own feelings and talked to each other.  Their work, their questions, their interpretations of the original musical material all fuel the production that has emerged from the process.  

First performances offered this summer at the Prince Music Theater Summer Studio were so inspiring and extraordinary that a Mainstage production seemed imperative.

The Youth Arts Corps-Youth Arts in Action Program is led by a team of passionate advocates for youth who are seasoned educators and theater professionals,  including Carolyn Sims-Nesmith (Education/ Artistic Director of Youth Arts in Action Rainbow Connection), Director Zuhairah McGill (First World Theatre Ensemble), Musical Director Charlene Angelini (Musical Director Thoroughly Modern Millie Kelsey Theatre), Musician/Arranger Collin Maier (Music Director, The World Goes Round, Prince Music Theater) Choreographers Antoinette Coward-Gilmore (CEO / Artistic Director Danse4Nia Repertory Ensemble), Clyde Evans (Creator, From Tha Hip, Teacher of Phresh Select, Founder Chosen Dance Company).  The Youth Arts Corps will be touring to 20 public schools in the region following these performances.

"We are deeply grateful to the Albert M. Greenfield Foundation and to the TDBank North Charitable Foundation  for investing in youth and making this project possible," commented Carolyn Sims-Nesmith, Education Director.

 Making a special guest appearance at the performance on Thursday, November 6 is star dancer John Bulack, star of  Phresh Select, the Philadelphia hip-hop-with-soul dance team recently seen on America's Best Dance Crew.  Several  Phresh Select dancers trained with Clyde Evans, and three starred in the Prince Music Theater's recent premiere of From tha Hip, by Clyde Evans, Charles Patierno, Michael Taylor (TuPhace) and the Subliminal Orphans.

Youth Arts Corps Members are students from the following schools as well as home-schoolers:
Bache-Martin Middle School             
Philadelphia High School for Girls
Bala Cynwyd Middle School             
Philadelphia Military Academy at Leeds
Beeber Middle School
Robeson High School
Ben Franklin High School                 
School of the Future
Central High School                          
The Academy at Palumbo
Friends Select School                                   
The Shipley School
Harriton High School             
Triton Regional High School
Highland Regional High School                    
University City High School
Independence Charter School                      
Washington Township High School
Lower Merion High School                
West Philadelphia High School
Manheim Township HS                     
Woodlynde School
Mastery Charter School                    
Mount Saint Joseph Academy                       
Overbrook High School                     
Parkway North                      
Parkway West High School               
Pennsauken High School
Philadelphia High School for Creative and Performing Arts

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