"When it comes to accessing a quality education, not all children are treated equally.
Rising Youth Theatre invites youth ages 12 – 20 and professional adult artists to apply to be part of its season-long artistic project in partnership with the ACLU’s #Demand2Learn Campaign. This project will explore the education system – in Arizona and across the United States – and the ways these systems can support or fail the young people in our community.
The project will start in the fall with weekly workshops, dialogue, and creative exploration – a small group of youth and adults will explore big ideas and begin to develop theatrical content. In the spring, we will build on this work with a full cast and crew, developing a full original play around these ideas. Like all of Rising Youth Theatre’s work, this project will not take place in a traditional theatre venue, but will explore the ways placing site-specific theatre in surprising places can engage new audiences.
This project is in partnership with ACLU’S #Demand2Learn Campaign, focused on eliminating practices that disproportionately push children out of school or prevent them from enrolling. Rising Youth Artists will work directly with organizers from the campaign to learn advocacy strategies, and build a piece of artwork through which young people advocate for themselves and their peers.
PARTICIPATION IN THE PROJECT INCLUDES:
•Weekly workshops / community meetings starting September 21, 2017 and continuing through February 2018. These meetings are held every Thursday and occasional Saturdays (see full schedule at
www.risingyouththeatre.org/rytblog)
•Attending community events related to the project and the campaign throughout the fall
•Working in some capacity as part of the full theatrical production (performer, designer, technician, etc.) in April 2018. This will include regular rehearsals and meetings throughout March and April.
•Bringing your creative energy, advocacy, and willingness to both learn and share expertise to the ensemble
