17th Season Highlights (2009-2010)

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. Over 4,000 school children attended a J*Company production during this season. J*Company was able to invite 600 lesser-advantaged students from outlying schools to attend performances at no cost to them. The 17th Season theme â€œComfort Theatre â€“ The Classic Family Musicals of Rodgers & Hammerstein.â€ has been a wonderful success teaching the young artists about the Golden Age of the American Musical Theatre.

Educational Components: J*Company supplemented performance preparation with the following education and outreach elements:

South Pacific â€“ and the beginning of our season: We began our 17th season including movie musical sing-a-longs which accompany each production, introducing the young artists to the academy award winning musicals which accompanied each of these Rodgers & Hammerstein titles. South Pacific starring Mitzi Gaynor, The King And I starring Yul Brynner & Deborah Kerr, The Sound Of Music Starring Dame Julie Andrews & Christopher Plummer, and Cinderella starring Dame Julie Andrews, Kaye Ballard & Alice Ghostly.
The King And I: J*Company raised over $8,000.00 for young people living with cancer through Rady Childrenâ€™s Hospital. Joey Landwehr, Artistic Director and Daniel Myers, The King Of Siam, both shaved their heads â€œYul Brynner Styleâ€ on local television (channel 6 & channel 10) in order to secure the funds.
The Sound Of Music: The amazing Erna Viterbi spoke to the cast about her journey fleeing the command of the Naziâ€™s over the Swiss Alps similar to the von Trapp family in the production. Plus the cast went on a field trip to the San Diego Operaâ€™s production of Nabucco introducing a whole new generation to the art of Opera.
Cinderella: The young artists of J*Company learned about the art of waltzing from a professional ballroom instructor and how to create a character analysis to incorporate movement and theatricality in their dancing.

Awards: Three of our Young Artists were accepted into the semi-finals of the Globe Awards for theatre excellence.

Educational Audience Outreach: This season J*Company Youth Theatre is creating â€œInSights - J*Companyâ€™s Educational Guidesâ€ which will accompany each show next season and encourage education in the arts in the classroom before and after the performance of the show.

Educational Connection: J*Company is bringing the joy of live theatre into the schools. In this tough economy where the arts are being cut in schools across the United States J*Company has created and implemented SDJA-J*Company a daily theatre curriculum at the San Diego Jewish Academy.

External Collaboration: Bridging artistic gaps and cooperating with other entities has been one of Joey Landwehrâ€™s (J*Companyâ€™s Artistic Director) goals since he was hired four years ago. Since then J*Company has partnered with the Agency for Jewish Education, Broadway San Diego, CHCD Theatre, Sherwood Auditorium, San Diego Museum of Modern Art, San Diego Opera, SDGMC, Diversionary Theatre, Starlight Theatre, San Diego Junior Theatre, North Coast Repertory Theatre, Moâ€™olelo Performing Arts Company, La Jolla Playhouse, The Old Globe, The San Diego Humane Society & SPCA, The San Diego History Museum, The San Diego Repertory Theatre and many more.

Internal Collaboration: J*Company is working in tandem with Camp Jaycee to bring the exciting second year of â€œBroadway Jayceeâ€, and 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 In The Heights! 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 group was created and performed for high profile events such as The Opening Ceremonies of the 2008 Maccabi Games, Debbie Freidman In Concert, Susan Egan â€“ The Belle Of Broadway, The La Jolla Library, San Diego Airport and the honor of being selected as the first group in history to represent a Jewish organization singing Hanukkah songs on KUSIâ€™s annual Holiday Concert two years in a row, this season they are the opening act for the San Diego Symphonies Summer Pops Series being seen by more than 4,000 patrons each night.

Charitable Outreach: J*Company created a new student run, theatre-based, community service group entitled ATA (Artists Taking Action). The members of this organization find inventive ways to give to the community or those less fortunate. This year alone ATA raised over $2000.00 in funds for charityâ€™s such as Aids Walk San Diego and the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation and reaching out to The Riley School bringing the arts to underprivileged youth in San Diego. Plus ATA is putting together the first ever Tony Awards Slumber Party to raise funds for charity.

Audience Development: J*Company also participated in some interesting audience development this season. During The Sound Of Music patrons where given the option of purchasing 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 Cinderella young people were invited on stage to have a souvenir photo taken with Cinderella, her Prince and the Fairy Godmother. Also for each show J*Company members wrote letters in the show programs and joined the Artistic Director on stage during the 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 scholarly, psychologically and spiritually as well. The response to these efforts was incredible! With such great audience responses we hope to offer things like this in future seasons.