PHILADELPHIA (February 19, 2013) — Philadelphia Young Playwrights leads a charge of high school, university, emerging and professional artists in the development and presentation of Time Machine, a performance installation co-produced with the Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts 2013 (PIFA) and the Ira Brind School of Theater Arts at the University of the Arts (UArts). Performances take place April 23-26 as part of PIFA in the Kimmel Center Innovation Studio.

In late 2012, a diverse mix of high school juniors and seniors from throughout Philadelphia began to workshop ideas that became the basis for Time Machine. This semester, UArts has partnered with Executive Producing Director Glen Knapp and Project Director David Bradley to create a new course, “Approaches to Multi-Generational Theatre-Making,” which will layer in university students, master teaching artists and emerging artists, creating a platform for teams with varying levels of experience to work together in all aspects of the conception, development and production of the piece. In its final manifestation, Time Machine will journey through past and present, blurring the boundaries of time in a performance that is directly interactive with the audience. While collaborative work is part of Young Playwrights’ model, non-linear performance is new territory for the organization, which will celebrate 25 years of tapping the potential of youth and inspiring learning through playwriting this year.

“The power of multi-generational dialogue and interaction in stimulating and stewarding creativity is undeniable,” says Knapp. “As we experience at PYP time and again, it is we, the ‘senior artists,’ who are professionally enriched and greatly inspired by our mentoring interactions with younger artists. The authenticity, innovation and fresh perspectives of student playwrights have much to teach us in the creative process, as well as on stage.”

Time Machine runs Wednesday, April 24 – Friday, April 26, 2013 in the Kimmel Center Innovation Studio, 300 S. Broad Street, Philadelphia. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased online at PIFA.org or by calling 215-546-PIFA (7432).

About the Artists
Time Machine is written, designed and performed by ensembles of high school students and students from the Ira Brind School of Theater Arts at the University of the Arts in collaboration with professional theater artists from the Philadelphia community. These artists will mentor and assist with the production and presentation of Time Machine, and include:

Lead Teaching Artist David Bradley, a Philadelphia-based theater director, arts educator and consultant, will direct the project. His work frequently explores themes of public history, community stories and civic engagement. Since 1991, David has been a company member at People’s Light and Theatre Company, where he directed more than 30 productions, served as the Associate Artistic Director for four years, and jointly led its nationally recognized arts education programs. David has also led panels on art, education and civic dialogue in the U.S. and Mexico, teaches at University of the Arts, and is President of the Board of Philadelphia’s Shakespeare in Clark Park and a board member of LiveConnections.

Aimé Donna Kelly and Chris Bresky will service as Lead Actors and mentors for Time Machine. Chris isa painter/writer/actor who studied acting for his MFA at the Old Globe. He recently designed props for Dragon’s Eye Theatre’s production of Seek and Hide. He has been seen at People’s Light and Theatre Company, Theatre Horizon, Arden Theatre Company, The Old Globe and Capital Repertory Theatre.  Aimé is an actor and playwright in the Philadelphia and New York City area. She has recently performed with 1812 Productions, Epic Theatre Ensemble, People’s Light and Theatre, and Flashpoint Theatre Company. Aimé is a company member with Epic Theatre Ensemble in New York City and a senior teaching artist with Philadelphia Young Playwrights. Her upcoming performance will be with Theatre Exile in The North Plan. As a playwright, Planta me en La Tierra will be Aimé’s first fully produced production of one of her original plays at Flashpoint Theatre Company.

Scenic Designer Maura Roche has recently designed for Theatre Horizon, Arden Theatre Company, Walnut Street Theatre, Montgomery Theater, 11th Hour Theatre Company, Ursinus College, Consortium for the Arts, and BCKSEET Productions. Time Machine will be her first project with Philadelphia Young Playwrights. Her team will work together with Sound Designer Christopher Colucci, who makes sound and music as a theater artist, composer and guitarist. In 2011, Christopher received a fourth Barrymore award for Outstanding Original Music and Sound Design for In the Next Room, or the vibrator play (Wilma Theater), in addition to directing more than a dozen production during the 2011-2012 season.

Philadelphia actorJames Ijames is known for his work in productions with People’s Light and Theatre Company, Arden Theatre Company, Philadelphia Theatre Company, Mauckingbird Theatre Company and Gloucester Stage Company. He received two Barrymore Awards for Supporting Actor in a Play for Superior Donuts with the Arden Theatre Company and Angels in America at the Wilma Theater, and was the 2011 recipient of the F. Otto Haas Emerging Artist Award. He will serve as Lead Writer/Dramaturg for Time Machine.

Melanie Leeds, Production Stage Manager, is a freelance stage manager and technician throughout the Philadelphia area. She has stage managed for Theatre Exile, Inis Nua Theatre Company, Flashpoint Theatre Company, Charlotte Ford Theatre (Live Arts 2010), Delaware Shakespeare Festival and Philadelphia Young Playwrights. She has also worked for the Wilma Theater, 1812 Productions, Pig Iron Theatre Company, Walnut Street Theatre and Delaware Theatre Company. She was the 2008/2009 Production Fellow at the Wilma Theater and a 2004 winner of Philadelphia Young Playwrights’ Annual Playwriting Festival for her play, A Story Involving Mittens.  

Shavon Norris is a dancer, choreographer and educator, and will serve as Lead Movement artist for Time Machine. As a performer, Shavon has worked with several choreographers, including Gabri Crista, Silvana Cardell, Marianela Boan, Kemal Nance, Leah Stein, Merian Soto and Charles Anderson. Her choreography has been presented at Swarthmore College, Temple University, Philadelphia Live Arts and New Dance Alliance’s Performance Mix Joyce Soho, and she currently teaches dance at a Charter School in Philadelphia.

Costume Design will be led by Alison Roberts in her second project with Philadelphia Young Playwrights. Her designs have been seen at Arden Theatre Company, where she is in her 13th season as Costume Supervisor. She has also designed costumes for Theatre Exile, Theatre Horizon, Act II Playhouse, 1812 Productions, Flashpoint Theatre Company, Rowan University and Jeanne Ruddy Dance.

About Philadelphia Young Playwrights www.phillyyoungplaywrights.org
Founded in 1987 by Adele Magner, and led today by Executive Producing Director Glen Knapp, Philadelphia Young Playwrights is an award-winning program that taps the potential of youth and inspires learning through playwriting in more than 50 public and private K-12 schools each year. A leader in the region’s educational programs for youth for 25 years and built upon its primary belief that all students have something important and valuable to say, Young Playwrights has enriched the Greater Philadelphia community, touching the lives of thousands of students, teachers and parents for the past twenty years. Since 1987, approximately 60 professional playwrights have led workshops, and nearly all of Philadelphia’s professional theater companies have participated by performing, producing, or directing student works. More than 60,000 young people have participated directly as playwrights and audience members, seeing their work produced in class or by professionals. Young Playwrights’ Literary Committee includes more than 60 educators, writers, parents, and former Young Playwrights students who read and critique each student script.

Key Staff
Mindy Early, Associate Director for Education and Program Services, is a director and playwright in the Philadelphia area. In her role at Philadelphia Young Playwrights, she helps to conceive, administer and execute the arts education, artistic and outreach programming of the organization. Her role includes facilitating professional development activities, in-class workshops and special projects. She also communicates regularly with program teaching artists, actors and teachers and supports their classroom workshop activities as needed. She previously served as the Resident Teaching Artist and Education Associate at Philadelphia Theatre Company, teaching over 500 workshops at nearly 40 schools, and as the Artistic Director of the Cardboard Box Collaborative (CBC), a company devoted to producing emerging playwrights.

Glen Knapp, Executive Producing Director, is a senior lecturer in theater management at the University of the Arts and Temple University, president of the board of Scrap Performance Group, board member and two-term board chair of the Theatre Alliance of Greater Philadelphia and has served on the Leadership Committee for Arts Education for the School District of Philadelphia and the Arts Advisory Committee of the Philadelphia Art Alliance. His career in theater, arts administration and education spans twenty years.  Prior to moving to Philadelphia from New York, Glen was acting executive director and director of external affairs for National Corporate Theatre Fund.  He was previously director of development and communications at New York’s Elaine Kaufman Cultural Center and director of development at New York Theatre Workshop.

Over the years Glen has served as a consultant and panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, the Alliance of Resident Theatres/New York, the Arts and Business Councils of New York and Philadelphia and the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. He was awarded a fellowship to the 2006 Executive Program for Nonprofit Arts Leaders by National Arts Strategies and the Center for Social Innovation at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and was recognized with a 2008 “Gimper Award for Outstanding Service” from Philadelphia’s Urban Education Fund.

David O’Connor has been a teaching artist and director with Philadelphia Young Playwrights since 2004. He has directed for Arden Theatre Company, PlayPenn, Hedgerow, the Philadelphia Fringe and Lantern Theater Company, where he was nominated for a Barrymore and named Philadelphia Weekly’s Director of the Year for his production of Master Harold…and the boys. He is also a lighting, sound and projection designer, as well as an adjunct faculty member of both Temple University and University of Pennsylvania.

Donnell Powell, Executive Producing Assistant, considers himself a conceptual and mixed media artist, who intertwines different mediums such as painting, photography, sculpture and digital media.  Through his art, Donnell focuses on social themes such as diversity and oppression, classicism and the notion of informal versus formal. Donnell’s work has been featured at several galleries in Philadelphia including the Top Hat Gallery and The Arts Garage. He was introduced to Philadelphia Young Playwrights while taking a Theater Management class under the instruction of Young Playwrights Executive Director, Glen Knapp.  In 2010, Donnell co-founded and currently serves as Producing Director for Color My Sidewalk, an arts organization that focuses on the interplay between aesthetic expression, cultural context, and social change.

About The University of the Arts www.uarts.edu

The Ira Brind School of Theater Arts at the University of the Arts has been providing conservatory training to aspiring theater professionals for over 25 years.  Its alumni can be found on Broadway, leading regional theaters, film and television.

The University of the Arts is the nation’s first and only university dedicated to the visual, performing and communication arts. Its more than 2,300 students are enrolled in undergraduate and graduate programs on its campus in the heart of Philadelphia’s Avenue of the Arts. The institution’s roots as a leader in educating creative individuals date back to 1868.

Acknowledgements
Time Machine is made possible with funding from the Wyncote Foundation, the CHG Charitable Trust, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts 2013, Ira Brind School of Theater Arts at University of the Arts, the Philadelphia Foundation, the Lumpkin Family Foundation, William Penn Foundation and honorary producers Linda and David Glickstein and William Loeb.