18th Season Accomplishments (2010-2011)

Season Overview: The award winning J*Company Youth Theatre showcased over 400 children and teens who developed self-confidence and self-esteem as they pursued their dreams of performing on stage. The season, presented the first ever “CHAI Season” of all Jewish programming – 18 Years Celebrating Life and has been a wonderful success teaching young people from all walks of life the many different aspects of Judaism from the historical to the contemporary.

Over 4,000 school children attended a J*Company production during the 18th Anniversary Season. Thanks to funding from the Samuel I. & John Henry Fox Foundation lesser-advantaged students from outlying schools to attend performances at no cost to them.

Educational Components: J*Company supplemented performance preparation with the following education and outreach elements for each show in its very first 5 show season:

Fiddler On The Roof: Partnering with San Diego Agency for Jewish Education (AJE) taught art history with a Marc Chagall inspired set and brought in Broadway veterans: Hal Grant & Phil Johnson to play Tevye, inspiring the young artists to reach for the stars.
13 – A New Musical: Partnering with various synagogues inviting the Rabbis to join the cast as a part of the show. J*Company also partnered with The Trevor Project and itgetsbetter.org utilizing the show’s theme to help stamp out bullying by bringing in professionals from Rady Children’s Hospital to speak to the cast and audience.
Goodbye Memories: Partnering with SDJA on this Southern California Premiere by local playwright Anita Yellin Simons sheading new light on the story of Anne Frank.
Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat: In a very important political year the young artists’ voices were heard when they wrote letters in support of the arts, garnering attention from Governor Jerry Brown, Mayer Jerry Sanders (With a visit from his wife Rana) and President and First Lady Obama.
Children Of Eden: The young artists of J*Company learned, through a series of exercises throughout the rehearsal process about the appreciation of the world around them and the important and fragile relationship between parents and their children. They also had the opportunity to perform with their “Theatrical Father” J*Company Artistic Director, Joey Landwehr in the role of “Father” on stage.

Performance Accomplishment: Dues to J*Company’s stellar reputation; J*Company Artistic Director, Joey Landwehr was chosen to direct several J*Company Young Artists as “The Munchkins” in the National Tour of The Wizard Of Oz.

Marketing & PR: J*Company was featured in many publications this season including having the cover story and featured article about the first ever 18th CHAI Season.

Educational Opportunities: In an effort to bring educational importance through the entire process of theatre not just in the performance of it J*Company accomplished the following:

J*Company welcomed Oscar Hammerstein III who spoke about his amazing musical family in the golden age of American musical theatre.
J*Company welcomed the sons of the Disney musical dream team, The Sherman Brothers (Mary Poppins, Bed knobs And Broomsticks, The Jungle Book and many more.) who spoke about their fascinating artistic fathers.
The J*Company Young Artists went to see San Diego Opera’s production of Turandot working to keep opera alive in the United States.
J*Company welcomed Rana Sampson, wife of San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders, who spoke to the J*Company Young Artists about the importance of the arts in everyone’s life. Especially the life of young people; and how the arts helps create well rounded adults.

Educational Outreach: In this tough economy where arts education is being cut in schools across the United States J*Company is bringing the joy of live theatre into schools. This was J*Company’s second successful year of creating the theatre curriculum at San Diego Jewish Academy where it culminated with the presentation of the Southern California Premiere of Goodbye Memories by Anita Yellin Simons. Currently J*Company is exploring bringing theatre curriculum to more schools in the near future and has been approached by several due to its outstanding reputation in the arts.

Educational Audience Outreach: This season J*Company Youth Theatre created “Insights – J*Company’s Educational Guides“ which accompanied each show and encourage arts education in the classroom before and after the performance of each show.

Internal Collaboration: J*Company is working in tandem with Camp Jaycee to bring the exciting third year of “Broadway Jaycee”, an advanced theatre experience for high school students. Partnering with Broadway/San Diego, J*Company brings this annual theatre intensive taught by Broadway professionals which culminates in a trip to see the Tony Award winning musical Shrek The Musical This includes a backstage tour and talk back as well as a master class taught by one of the stars of the show.

Ambassadorship: J*Company ON THE TOWN, a performing ambassador and charitable outreach group performed for high profile events such as San Diego Airport, Seacrest Village, The opening of the new Rady Children’s Hospital Care Center, KUSI’s Songs For The Season and the only youth group to be selected as the opening act for the San Diego Symphony’s Summer POPS Series being seen by more than 4,000 patrons each night.

Charitable Outreach: The members of J*Company’s student run, theatre-based, community service group entitled ATA (Artists Taking Action) find inventive ways to give to the community or those less fortunate. This year alone ATA raised over $1,200.00 in funds for charity’s such as Aids Walk San Diego and the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation and bringing the arts to underprivileged youth in San Diego. Plus, after its inaugural success; ATA is creating the second annual Tony Awards Slumber Party to raise funds for charity

Audience Development: J*Company also participated in some interesting audience development this season. During 13 – A New Musical patrons where given the opportunity to purchase seats on the stage during the performance to be a part of the action of the play and it was met with great enthusiasm. Also during Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat young people were invited on stage to have a souvenir photo taken with Joseph himself. During each show J*Company Young Artists joined the J*Company Artistic Director on stage during his curtain speech to tell their story and how much J*Company and the arts has helped them grow, not just within the arts but also scholastically, psychologically and spiritually as well. The response to these efforts was incredible!