Announcing the cast lists for the 57th Teenage Drama Workshop!

Auditions have wrapped and the shows have been cast! Below are the cast lists for the 2014

Teenage Drama Workshop productions:

Joining the Spectrum orientation

Joining the Spectrum 

***more cast members to be added, coming soon!***

Janelle Avila

Laura McDermott

Rachel Saporito

Madison McCobb

Cameron Maitre

Henry Parker-Elder

Joey Nadler

Megan Phung

Danielle Bray

Nathan Anderson

Cirque des Pirates audition

Cirque des Pirates

Ben	Mateo Gonzales
Ethel	Savannah Ludwig
Amelia	Alia Martinez
Capt. Tea	Arthur Parian
Capt. Weirdbeard	Patrick Fitzsimmons
Capt. Hook	Jordan Haddad
Capt. Mary Read Aloud	Sarah Sperling
Capt. Anne Bonny Voyage	Ariana George
Capt. Silver Longjohns	Sara Renner
	Julia Lester
Pirate Queen	Rosey Murrah
Little Pirate	Larissa Heatley
Jolly Rogers	Dylan Halsted
Double-Patch Pete	Garrett Knoller
Pat	Nick DeJohn
Vanna	Olivia Riddle
Backup Mermaids	Emma Aaronson
	Samantha Fabisch
	JoyAnne Tracy
Ensemble	Alexandra Barnum
	Taylor Bass
	Maya Escobar
	Rebecca Gottbetter
	Danny Halsted
	Adam Jacobsen
	Jennifer McNabb
	Talya Nathanson
	Samantha Raskin
	Haller Rice
	Michael Smith
	Eliana Sternin
	Shayna Sternin
	Pasha Wynant

Beauty and the Beast audition

Beauty and the Beast

Belle: Lyrisa Leininger

Beast: Michael Dager

Gaston: Canaan Smith

Mrs. Potts: Kaitlyn Rickaby

Chip: Danielle Efrat

Cogsworth: Griffen Hamilton

LeFeu: Mikey Fabisch

Lumiere: Will Riddle

Maurice: Noah Gephardt-Canada

Wardrobe: Haley Perkins

Monsieur D’Arque: Colin Mika

Monsieur De la Nuit : Noah Finn

Babette: Jessica Bell

Silly Girls

Liana Leininger

Melanie Besnilian

Emilie Besnilian

Madison Esmailbeigi

Chelsea Rifkin

Renee Melkonian

Taylor Carlson

Elizabeth Lloyd

         

Ensemble

Liliana	Magnanimo
Sierra	Heimlich
Olivia	Dalton
Sophia	Donner
Megan	Ehrenberg
Spencer	Ehrenberg
Willow	Islas
Mackenzie	Rickaby
Tiana	Sandberg
Maya	Hale
James	Johnston
Tom	Johnston
Marisela	Venolia
Maya	Efrat
Allie	George
Jennifer	Torres
Kali	Hale
Heather	Briganti
Sarah	Covault

Countdown to Meet & Greet and Production Sneak Peek

It's just five days until our annual Meet & Greet, and we are so excited! 

We can't wait to see everyone.

The event will take place this Sunday, April 27th, from 1:00 pm - 3:00 pm, in Nordhoff Hall on the Cal State Northridge Campus. We will be in the Campus Theatre. (Those who have been to the Meet & Greet in the past, do take note that we are in a different room this time!) For directions, please click on the "Map of CSUN" link on the right side of this page.

This a fun event that gives TADW families, both new and returning, a chance to meet other students, as well as TADW faculty and staff. We will answer any questions you have about the program, and the directors and designers of our shows will be there to give everyone some insight into their visions for the productions. We welcome anyone enrolled or just interested in TADW at this event, parents and students alike.

We hope to see you there!

In other news, development of this summer's productions is going swimmingly. 

Our production staff has met to finalize scripts and mull over designs for sets, lights, and costumes. This summer's shows are going to be fantastic!

TADW staff in deep discussion during a March production meeting

Set designer Kyle Wilson shows off designs for Beauty and the Beast

A preview of a set design for Beauty and the Beast

Chris Halsted dazzles the TADW staff with his musical stylings at a Cirque des Pirates production meeting. Arrr!

At TADW we take our jobs very seriously.

TADW staff cracking up at a reading of Cirque des Pirates

Set designer Carlo Maghirang discusses his vision for the Cirque des Pirates set.

Last Chance for Enrollment Discount + Meet & Greet Announcement

As we make our way through winter, spaces have been filling up for this summer's Teenage Drama Workshop. We've got over 50 students enrolled to far, which is a great start, but there is still room for more students. Our early enrollment discount of $200 off tuition ends on March 1st, so if you or someone you know is interested in participating in TADW this summer, now is the time to sign up!

Enrollment can be done online at http://www.csun.edu/tadw/application.html.

Additionally, please mark your calendars:

We will hold out annual TADW Meet & Greet on the CSUN campus on Sunday, April 27th, from 1:00 - 3:00 PM. 
This is a fun event that gives TADW families both new and returning a chance to meet other students, as well as TADW faculty and staff. We will answer any questions you have about the program, and the directors and designers of our shows will be there to give everyone some insight into their visions for the productions. We welcome anyone enrolled or interested in TADW at this event, parents and students alike. We hope to see you there!

Looking forward to TADW 2014

Happy New Year, everyone!

The holidays have been celebrated, the Spring semester is beginning, and we at the Teenage Drama Workshop are already working hard to prepare for this summer’s productions. We are happy to share that we have already sold out one performance to a camp! The TADW staff has had several production meetings to develop our 2014 program.

TADW staff plotting grand schemes for the 2014 season

And what are these productions, you might ask? 

Good question!

Our 2014 season will include:

Disney’s Beauty and the Beast

Directed by Ray Saar

With Choreography by Candy Sherwin

And Musical Direction by Diane Ketchie

Cirque des Pirates

An original musical comedy by Ronnie Sperling and Chris Halsted

With Choreography by Lindsey Lorenz

Ten Minute Play Festival
With original plays by TADW student playwrights


And we introduce a groundbreaking new production!...

Joining the Spectrum: A Collaborative Play about Inclusion 
Staged by artists from The Miracle Project 
Led by director Elaine Hall and her award winning staff
The play will be created by the students with The Miracle Project team using theatre games, exercises, improvisation, and storytelling techniques to generate the script. Approximately 15 teens with disabilities will partner with 15 non-disabled peers to perform in what promises to be a transformative experience for all.

Along with the new addition of Joining the Spectrum, we have a few other exciting changes in store for the summer of 2014, including:

• An Improv Comedy Night on Thursday, June 26th at 7:00 pm for students in the Improv elective to show off their skills!
• Innovative changes to our annual Ten Minute Play Festival!

We’ve already had a fabulous early enrollment for this coming summer, but we still have room for more students! 

As many of you know, TADW students include not just performers, but technical theatre students as well. This summer we will continue to develop our tech/design program and are always looking for students going into grades 9 and higher to join our excellent tech/design crew. For more information on this program, please see http://www.csun.edu/tadw/images/TADW_TechnicalWorkshop.pdf.

 If you haven’t enrolled yet and would like to join us, you can still take advantage of en early enrollment discount of $200 off tuition if you enroll by March 1, 2014. You can enroll online at www.csun.edu/tadw.

So, are you excited for TADW 2014 yet? Well, you can get a taste of the summer to come at our

Annual Teenage Drama Workshop Meet & Greet

April 27th, 2014

1:00 PM

In the Organ Room of Nordhoff Hall at Cal State Northridge

Come see old friends, and meet new ones!

Find out more about our upcoming productions!

Ask questions! Get answers!

Meet TADW faculty and staff!

We hope you're all as excited about this summer's Teenage Drama Workshop as we are. See you at the Meet & Greet!*

*Please excuse all the exclamation points in this blog post. I can't help it; I really mean them!

Last Chance to see TADW 2013 Productions!

As we reach the end of our sixth and final week of TADW, our productions are about to wrap up. If you haven't yet seen any of shows, Jack and the Beanstalk, Aladdin, and the Ten Minute Play Festival, this is your last chance! Both Aladdin and the Ten Minute Play Festival have final performances on Friday, June 26th, and Jack and the Beanstalk closes the following afternoon. 

In an earlier post we brought you a sneak peek of Jack and the Beanstalk. Here, we present a two-minute taste of Aladdin. This video certainly doesn't cover the entire show, so please come and catch our final performance if you can!

Jack and the Beanstalk Sneak Peek!

If you haven't seen TADW's production of Jack and the Beanstalk yet, you are missing out! Check out this "sneak peek" video to get an idea of what it's all about. The video contains footage from rehearsals and behind the scenes.



Below are a few shots with full lighting, sets, and costumes. It's a beautiful show!
For showtimes and ticket information, please visit our website at http://www.csun.edu/tadw/jackandthebeanstalk.html .

Media Release: TADW's July 20th Special Sensory Friendly Performance of Aladdin

Click the link below to check out the media release for our upcoming special sensory friendly performance of Aladdin, which is, as the article states, "designed to make the theatre experience accessible to children and adults on the autism spectrum."

Click here to read the release : CSUN’s Teenage Drama Workshop Is Offering an Inclusive Theater Experience

Sneak Peek - Jack and the Beanstalk: Meet the Writers/Directors

Curious about the Teenage Drama Workshop's upcoming production of Jack and the Beanstalk? Watch this video to find out what makes this production so unique:

What's going on at TADW: Weeks 1 and 2

This summer's workshop is off to a great start!

As usual, we kicked off the workshop with an empowering Masai Warrior chant - a TADW tradition.

During the first two weeks, the students in the performance track have been learning the basics in their dance, acting, and voice classes:

In their electives, the performance track students have been creating drafts of ten-minute plays, selecting musical theatre pieces to perform, or honing their improvisational acting skills.

The tech/design students have joined the TADW staff on set construction, and are taking classes to help them build their technical and design skills.

Both productions continue to be developed, from the construction of sets, props, and costumes, to the casting of various parts and the staging of scenes.

Travis works on a prop for Jack and the Beanstalk

Aladdin actors Daniel and Haley practice a duet 

TADW staff and tech/design students work together on the Jack and the Beanstalk set

Backstage at the Jack and the Beanstalk rehearsal

Pieces of the Aladdin set await assembly

Looking fierce in Aladdin rehearsal

Assistant Stage Manager Courtney keeps an eye on Aladdin rehearsal

Costume fitting for Jack and the Beanstalk

In addition to our usual activities, on June 27th the Teenage Drama Workshop also hosted a fundraising dinner at Marie Callender's and a special screening of Hello Herman - a new film that centers on the issues of bullying and teen violence. (More to come on that later!)

We look forward to the next several weeks at TADW as the classes become even more challenging and the productions continue to take shape.

P.S.: Have you checked out our YouTube channel lately? TADW has been uploading videos regularly. Check out this one, which showcases the first week of our 2013 season: