Chance Theater makes youth connection
by Eric Marchese
Ever since Chance Theater first opened its doors, tailoring shows toward young audiences has been a goal.
It’s just that until recently, Chance hasn’t had the means or the resources to do so.
Now, with the success of a two-part capital campaign, the Anaheim Hills company that started in 1999 has moved into a larger space, built a new main stage venue and is on the verge of opening a new second stage whose programming includes kid-oriented plays.
Meet Theater for Young Audiences, referred to by Chance company, staff and board members as TYA.
Managing director Casey Long said the program’s goal is “to reach a wider audience and introduce theater to the youth of this community.”
The program boots up next month with the opening of “Alice in Wonderland” in Chance’s new 49-seat second stage and continues with two more shows later this year.
Long said he has heard “a few times from some of our patrons, ‘I would love to bring my child, but so many of your shows aren’t appropriate.’”
“Now,” Long said, “we are purposely producing shows that will appeal to younger audiences, while also giving our current patrons something different that they will potentially equally enjoy.”
Oanh Nguyen, Chance Theater’s founding artistic director, said that in the past, annual holiday shows were the only productions remotely similar to what the youth theater program will produce.
Nguyen said many young people “have never experienced an actual live theater performance” and that cutbacks to arts programs in public schools have made Chance’s efforts all the more vital.
To date, only a handful of Orange County theater venues have offered such programs – South Coast Repertory’s Theatre for Young Audiences, Laguna Playhouse’s Youth Conservatory, the City of Brea’s Youth Theatre Program and La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts’ Programs for Young Audiences.
Getting young people involved in live theater “really engages their creativity – and their empathy,” Nguyen said.
Darryl Hovis, Chance’s education director and the director of “Alice in Wonderland,” sees value in young audiences “learning to appreciate the power of theater to effect change and how theater is relevant to them.”
Key to this, Hovis said, is finding what the needs of the community are. Chance’s upcoming Education Day will allow students, parents and teachers to have a voice in what the company has to offer.
Another branch is Chance’s Young Playwrights program, Nguyen said, which involves “getting young people to learn to tell stories, to think of how you organize a story, to learn that their voice matters.” Hovis, who runs the program, says it’s aimed at students who may want to be involved with theater, but not necessarily as performers.
The overarching goal of all of Chance’s education efforts, Hovis said, is “making theater accessible to as many kids, and of as many different age groups, as you can.”
Until now, Chance’s only specific contact with young audiences has been through its Speak Up program, a summer workshop for local at-risk junior high and high school students launched in the mid-2000s.
Chance co-founder Erika C. Miller, who runs the program, says it gives teens “the opportunity to speak up on issues that are important in their lives.”
Hovis characterized Chance’s expanded efforts as being “about engaging young people actively instead of passively.”
Bolstering Chance’s increased activity in reaching out to young people has been the success of a capital campaign launched in early 2013.
Raising upwards of $650,000 has allowed the creation of the venue’s new second stage space and classrooms used to hold theater classes, including education for young theater students. A full slate of classes for youths should be in place by this fall, Hovis said.
On designated nights, the TYA program will offer “relaxed” performances where lighting and sound effects will be toned down – an effort to serve audiences of young people who are on the autistic spectrum or have sensory sensitivities.
Another key element of TYA: After performances, young audiences will have a chance to meet and interact with cast members – “such an important part of live theater,” Nguyen said, “and something they can’t do when watching TV or film.”
Nguyen said Chance’s various youth-oriented programs have always been about fostering creativity within young people.
“Whatever they wind up deciding to do with their lives, learning that creativity will make them better at it.”
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