The Performance/Education Connection

In my previous entry, I mentioned  that we were confronted early on with the fact that the county zoning regulations don't list a theatre as an "acceptable use" of warehouse space.  Maybe this will change one day but, for the present, we're occupying the space as a "school of special education".  Please don't think this is some clever stretch of the law.  Everything we do--from our acting classes to our rehearsals to our performance--will be rooted in our mission to train theatre artists and, by a natural extension, the audiences that watch them work.  The name, "1st Stage", came about because we want to be a "first stage" for more than a few of the theatre artists--actors, managers, designers, techs--who leave universities, conservatories and training programs ready to prove their chops but still in need of that essential "learn by doing" step.  If we can give them the time and a platform to "do it for real", surround them with seasoned professionals willing to pass on their real world experiences, and find them an all-too-real critical audience then we will be what we claim to be.  Talent and knowledge have to be honed and there's no better place to do it than under lights.  

And the education component of 1st Stage doesn't stop with professional performance.  We also plan to offer acting classes for teens, adults and even seniors, weekend intensives that connect students to specialists in the theatre world, "talk-backs" and seminars for our audiences that help gain them a fresh sense of the playwright's mind and the performance process, and a summer camp that will give teens with a special interest in the arts an intensely focused and productive experience.

We have a lot on our plate for a start up (or is it upstart!) theatre company but our hearts are in the right place.   We promise to do what we teach and learn as we grow.