STUDENT PROGRAMS

Broadway Actor and acclaimed mime Bill Bowers working with DramaFest students.

ATG DRAMAFEST

ATG’s annual statewide DramaFest invites high school students to present a scene from an original play or musical in front of local theater professionals, friends, and family. The performance excerpts are given in-depth critique by working industry members. Students also attend workshops led by industry leaders on topics ranging from stage combat to improvisational techniques.

Participants from Thomas Jefferson Arts Academy New Works/New Voices program

NEW WORKS / NEW VOICES

New Works/New Voices is ATG’s playwright mentorship program. Students work under the supervision of a professional playwright, writing short plays that professional actors then perform. On average, 8-15 student playwrights participate each year. The program was expanded in 2023 to include two high schools, with two dozen participants.

This year’s culminating events were held Friday, April 21st at West Orange High School and on Monday, May 15th at Columbia High School in Maplewood and were part of the New Jersey Theatre Alliance’s Stages Festival. This is the state’s largest annual theater festival, which provides free and discounted theater events for all ages from March through May. Students from both schools had their original works performed, followed by a Q&A session. The events were free and open to the public.

Montclair State University

Montclair State University

STUDENT OUTREACH

Keeping with our goal of nurturing tomorrow’s theater today, ATG looks for opportunities to employ theater and design students and recent graduates.  We’ve had the pleasure to have design students and recent graduates from Mason Gross School of the Arts, Montclair University and Wagner College to join us in past productions in various design positions, including set, lights, costumes, and sound. We are pleased to have featured Montclair University students as cast members in a number of our musical productions. 

“I was treated with respect and compassion while working with the company of Parade and learned so much about the career I intend to pursue. I cannot thank you enough for this incredible opportunity,” S. Soybel (click for full letter)

Audience members from the 2020 Student Matinee of Till posing with Rev. Wheeler Parker, Jr.

Audience members from the 2020 Student Matinee of Till posing with Rev. Wheeler Parker, Jr.

HIGH SCHOOL MATINEES

ATG strives to bring theater to the audiences of tomorrow, hosting dedicated student matinees of mainstage productions and inviting area high schools to attend. Student matinees incorporate educational teacher’s guides and post-show “talk-back” sessions with the cast, playwrights and creative team. Attendees at the 2020 Student Matinee of ATG’s production of Till were treated to a post-performance discussion with Reverend Wheeler Parker, who was Emmett Till’s cousin and was with him at the time of his abduction in 1955. The conversation with Rev. Parker, who was a character portrayed in Till, was especially moving and tied-in to the participating schools’ Black History Month curriculum.