The Los Angeles Drama Club is considered to be The Country's Youngest Shakespeare Ensemble. The non-profit youth arts movement is known for introducing children from ages 6 to 15 to the works of William Shakespeare, through mounting full productions of the Bard's plays for the public under the banner, "Shakespeare Youth Festival of Los Angeles" or SYFLA.
Also called "The Drama Club" - the arts program has been successfully operating since 2005 under the leadership of Founder/Artistic Director Blaire Baron Larsen and Executive Director, Julia Walker Wyson, both American actors themselves who design the programs and direct all the productions.
The organization's master directors work year-round to produce the company's performance season, educational outreach activities, a growing free youth arts ensemble in Baldwin Hills/West Adams area of Los Angeles, and fundraising for its free programs for children and youth in schools and underserved pockets of Los Angeles.
The Los Angeles Drama Club reaches about 200 children per week from various cultures and socioeconomic backgrounds, who gather after school to adapt Shakespeare's characters, plots and universal themes to their own lives.
Different Programs at The Los Angeles Drama Club include: THE ASYLUM - therapeutic de-stressing improvisation workshops using Spolin techniques. SOCIAL JUSTICE THEATRE - Middle School faces racism, classism, sexism, religious bigotry, ableism, homophobia, ageism, lookism. SHAKESPEARE YOUTH FESTIVAL, L.A. - full productions in repertory, often three Shakespeare plays per weekend. Fall/Spring. WILLFUL MINORS - Regulars from the ensemble perform at venues in the community for free (libraries, residential homes, parks) SHAKESPEARE IN THE CITY - Growing troupe in Baldwin Hills, West Adams. Free for children an public. QUEEN ELINOR'S SCHOOL OF KNIGHTHOOD & CHIVALRY - Codes of Conduct and the Chivalric Arts combined with Community Service.
HISTORY In 2005, a few neighborhood children, gathered weekly in the backyard of Los Angeles based actor/parent, Blaire Baron Larsen. Mothers would visit around a table for 90 minutes, while their young ones passed through a "forbidden" gate which led to another property with a name: "Brookledge" which is owned by The Larsen Family (Founders of the Magic Castle in Hollywood). At this Brookside property existed a bona-fide Victorian theatre, where the players, ages 5 - 8, began rehearsals for a well known speech from Shakespeare's, As You Like It, called "The 7 Ages of Man." After a month of rehearsals, costumed with hand crafted materials by a local artist/parent, these Founding Players performed for 65 audience members. To the chagrin of all, the children were able to speak and understand Shakespeare's words and meaning. After this performance, the community wanted more. In January of 2006, rehearsals began for a 35 page abridged version of The Tempest. Nine month's later, with the children having now spent one fifth of their lives with Shakespeare, The Tempest was performed at a larger theatre in the basement of a nearby church. Money collected was donated to a longstanding local charity (Hope Net) that serves free meals out of churches to those in need. The cast of The Tempest, now ages 6 - 9 also served meals to the needy in conjunction with the mission of the group.
The amount of families and children grew exponentially and the Los Angeles Drama Club moved out of church basements and into the Lost Studio, a commercial arts space on La Brea Avenue at Beverly Blvd. which houses a theatre/gallery.
In its new space, the Drama Club has consistently produced three Shakespeare Plays per season and created an ongoing series of programs designed to help all children, many with disparate learning styles, social skills, levels of energy and attention abilites - all which come to a level playing field as they approach the task of putting up a Shakespeare play.
Production history
2012 - Shakespeare Youth Festival Main Stage Productions: "Justice, Where Art Thou?" - Theatre for Social Justice Macbeth by William Shakespeare King John Love's Labours Lost Hamlet
Shakespeare in the City - Productions Brush Up Your Shakespeare - William Grant Still Arts Center, Winter, 2012 Special Appearance, Shakespeare in the City - William Grant Still Music concert - Spring 2012 Brush Up Your Shakespeare - Baldwin Hills Branch Library - December 2012.
Willful Minors Ensemble Performances: Baldwin Hills Library Jefferson Park Library Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA/Geffen) Bridgeport Senior Residence, Beverly Hills Pan Pacific Park Ampitheatre
2011 Shakespeare Youth Festival Main Stage Productions: Merchant of Venice Cymbeline Comedy of Errors
Willful Minors Ensemble Performances Jefferson Park Library Pan Pacific Park Ampitheatre West Los Angeles Library
2010 Much Ado About Nothing Timon of Athens As You Like it
2009 Henry IV, Part One Henry IV Part Two Twelfth Night
2008 Macbeth
2007 Pericles A Midsummer Nights Dream
2006 The Tempest
2005 Seven Ages of Man Poetry Recital for 9/11 Tree Planting Ceremony for Brookside
References [edit]External links
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