The Williamstown Theatre Festival has announced the schedule for Greylock Theatre Project. Now in its 12th year, Greylock Theatre Project is based on the 52nd Street Project in New York City, which has been working with children from the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood for over 20 years.
Started in 1996, Greylock Theatre Project is an educational outreach program that works with children living in the Greylock and Brayton Hill neighborhoods of North Adams to create theatre. In the two programs running this summer, One-on-Ones and Playmaking, children ages 8-14 will work with professional theatre artists to create original works as well as perform 10-minute musicals.
One-on-Ones pairs one child with one professional theatre artist to spend a week rehearsing a 10 minute musical which they then perform together for the community. The performances are on Monday, July 28th at 5 and 8pm in the Directing Studio of the ’62 Center for Theatre and Dance.
In Playmaking children attend a series of eight classes to learn how to write a play. When they have completed the classes, they are paired with a professional dramaturg/director to help them write a play to be performed by actors from the Williamstown Theatre Festival. Performances are on Monday, August 11th at 5 and 8pm on the Nikos Stage of the ’62 Center for Theatre and Dance.
The Greylock Theatre Project aims to serve kids in the North Adams community by introducing them to the empowering act of creating theatre. Through a variety of tasks in playwriting and performing, the children strengthen skills in team building and conflict management, and exercise their imaginations through repeated work in creative expression.
The project is co-directed by Christopher Kauffman and Emily Windover. Liz Urban is the Project Manager. Interns are Sarah Pierce, Ashley Stuart and Amanda Ward.
All performances are free, but seating is limited, so reservations are a must. Tickets for The Greylock Theatre Project’s One-on-Ones can be reserved by calling (413) 597-3386. Tickets for Playmaking and the rest of the Williamstown season can be obtained online at www.wtfestival.org, by calling 413-597-3400, or at the ’62 Center Box Office: 1000 Main Street (Rt.2) Williamstown. Box office hours are as follows: Tuesday – Saturday 10am-5pm, Sunday 11am – 4pm.