Magis Theatre Company Inc

Programs: Outreach training - this year saw great expansion of magis theatre's outreach program with new residencies and involvement in programs sponsored by partner organizations. This was the first year that magis theatre company was invited to perform and teach at a school outside the new york area. Boston college invited magis to do a week residency with the theatre department, and present our stage work to the university community and the general public. In a lecture demonstration format that explored the inherently spiritual character of the art of theatre, magis explored various works from our repertoire of productions (shakuntala, the great divorce) and investigated some works we have been developing through our workshop productions (life is a dream. ) although we performed during a major snowstorm, there were still approximately 90-100 people in attendance, and the event was covered by the university media. The presentation continues to be included in their "webcasts on-demand" on the university website, reaching an even wider audience. During the week, magis artists led discussions and taught workshops at boston college for the theatre department and in the school of theology and ministry, reaching about 70 students and faculty who participated. Magis also teamed with boys club of new york at their harriman club house in the hopes of reinstating a drama program at that venue. Three magis actors held an introductory workshop, met weekly with the boys, and directed a short play in their holiday programming. The nature of boys club is that the activities are on a drop-in basis. Some students came to the workshop and participated in the weekly sessions even though other activities prevented them from being a part of our final showing. Our total reach was about 40 students with a core group of about 10 students participating in the final presentation of a native american folk-tale "the long winter". Two magis artists also were involved in directing a group of students at the washington heights ym&ywha. Drawing from 17 different high schools and junior high schools, the students performed a musical theatre piece entitled "sosua: dare to dane together" conceived by victoria neznansky and with music by award winning composer and longtime magis collaborator elizabeth swados. They performed at special events and museums in new york city and were invited as part of the special programming for the united nations international day of remembrance for victims of the holocaust.

student actor training institute (sati) - this program requires many hours of donated time by magis company members who run this after-school program at notre dame school of manhattan, where we have been in residence since 2005. Even with our new initiatives outside the school, magis continued to commit time and energy to the student population in our local community at notre dame. For the past six years, magis has worked with girls and boys in sati making this program available to any student from any school in the new york archdiocese. This past year we have continued this extremely successful program with a new group of actors. We worked also hosted students from xavier high school, cardinal hayes high school, and st. Jean baptise high school, enriching the notre dame community by sharing time and talent with these other students. Magis also directed notre dame students in a special adaptation of charles dickens' "a christmas carol" as part of the school's 100th anniversary year. Each year we invite guest artists to work with our sati students. We have received praise from students, parents, school officials, and industry professionals about our program. This program also helps students decide if a career in the theatre is right for them. It offers information and experience to help these young artists make career decisions intelligently, and with a support structure that does not exist for them outside the school system. We consider our successes equally when a student chooses to pursue theirart, and when they decide that the realities of the business are too exacting for them and they can make an informed and prudent decision based on experience rather than on dreams. That being said, we encourage our students to dream big and risk even bigger. Two of our successes this year are a first year non-native english speaking student who expressed a desire to improve her diction and ability to speak in front of larger groups, and another student who wanted to overcome the shyness she associated with her disability.

"workshop wednesday" project - magis theatre volunteers provide regularly scheduled free programming for our local community. Over the past year magis presented staged readings and performances of eight classical works and five new plays in development. In addition we offered support programming in our training methods to round out our season of over a dozen fully sponsored free events to our public. Over the course of the year our "workshop wednesdays" were enjoyed by hundreds of viewers in total, helped in the development of scripts that will be used in our expanded educational outreach, and created a space where audiences could have their voice and opinion heard in shaping new works. It acted as a laboratory for five young directors to try their ideas in front of an audience. It created a new audience community who came back regularly and brought new people with them each time. It provided a place were the actors of the company and our invited artists could have more freedom to explore and develop their art free of the constraints and limits that a commercial production imposes. One performance helped collect donations for the victims of the earthquake/tsunami in japan. We have found that this program is essential to fostering new works and new talent, building a sense of a local artistic community within the wider new york community, and building bridges between the theatre company, the school where we hold our work sessions, and the local neighborhood.