About…Productions
is celebrating its 20th Anniversary!!

Wonderful things are happening at About…Productions! As we celebrate our 20th Anniversary, we are proud to announce new programs, new productions, and new board members.

A Mini-Festival of Original Staged Readings

3 FREE EVENTS!
Written by Young Theaterworks Student Playwrights and Performed by Professional Actors & Student Participants

Pueblo High School
@ Company of Angels
Tues, APRIL 28 @ 7 PM
Inside the Black Box @ The Alexandria Hotel
501 S. Spring Street, 3rd Floor
Downtown Los Angeles, CA 90013
(lot and free street parking available)

Whitman High School
@ Greenway Court
Wed, APRIL 29 @ 6 PM
544 N. Fairfax Ave (near Melrose)
L.A. CA 90036
(free lot parking)

Crosstown Culmination &
Community Forum
@ Shakespeare Festival/LA
Wed, MAY 13 @ 11 AM
1238 W. 1st Street
L.A. CA 90026
(free street parking)
Both schools present their work and
participate in a post-show discussion
in the Crosstown Forum.

Click Here for the Flyer

ABOUT… YOUNG THEATERWORKS’ CROSSTOWN VOICES

YOUNG THEATERWORKS is a transformative literacy program that introduces youth to the importance of writing, and the power of communication through artistic expression.

CROSSTOWN VOICES - gives youth from 2 continuation high schools in two separate neighborhoods a chance to transcend the urban gap, and challenge existing perspectives of themselves and their crosstown peers by coming together to share and discuss their original work and creative processes. Midway through the program, participants from both schools formally meet at a neutral site in a third neighborhood in order to begin forming connections through guided dialogue.

We would like to thank our partner classroom teachers and principals at Pueblo High School and Whitman High School. YOUNG THEATERWORKS’ Crosstown Voices ’09 is made possible in part, by a grant from the California Council for the Humanities as part of the Council’s statewide California Stories Initiative, Hot Topic Foundation, United Latino Fund and the S. Mark Taper Foundation.

NEW $20 FOR 20 CAMPAIGN

NEW PRODUCTIONS

About…Productions is enthusiastically preparing for the 2009 premier of Bleeding Through, site-specific theater work based on Norman Klein's inventive novella. We are also excited to announce that we have begun the preliminary steps in collaboration with Los Lobos musician/composer Louie Perez on an original theater piece to premiere in 2011. Stay tuned for more updates!

SAVE-the-DATES!

Bleeding Through Work-in-progress Concert Reading
Sun, JUNE 7 @ 3PM
Shakespeare Festival/LA
1238 W. 1st Street, L.A. 90026
FREE

AND

From Noir to Now
A Garden Party Fundraiser
Sun, JUNE 14 @ 1PM and 4PM
A performance of excerpts from Bleeding Through in a private home in historic Angelino Heights.

NEW FUNDERS

About…Productions is honored to welcome our newest funders — the S. Mark Taper Foundation, the James Irvine Foundation, Hispanics in Philanthropy, and the California Council for the Humanities; and thank our consistent supporters—Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, L.A. County Arts Commission, California Arts Council, Hot Topic Foundation, and the United Latino Fund.

NEW BOARD MEMBERS

About…Productions is also excited to welcome Dr. Jill Aguilar, Deb DePuy and Maria Robles Meiers to our Board of Directors. We look forward to their leadership as AP celebrates this exciting chapter in our growth as a one of the most vibrant theater companies in the Southern California. We look forward to sharing board profiles in the coming months!

About Productions'
BLEEDING THROUGH

About Productions’ current work-in-progress, Bleeding Through, is inspired by and adapted from Norman Klein’s inventive novella (Bleeding Through: Layers of Los Angeles, 1920-1986). Using elements of theater, film/video, and live music, the piece uncovers the narrative ghosts, both fictional and non-fictional, of the L.A. Historic District of Angelino Heights.

Bleeding Through also explores how a city and its inhabitants remember themselves through their own personal and cinematic lenses. The project is being designed as a site-specific work to take place in an Angelino Heights home in Spring, 2009.

About Productions presents
Young Theaterworks
Staged Readings!

Students at these two LAUSD Continuation/Options Schools have worked directly with Program Director, Rose Portillo, and other Young Theaterworks Teaching Artists over the past 3-months exploring themes of neighborhood, family and community. Each school has created its own original theatrical work to be presented as a staged reading, performed by both professional and student actors, for family and friends in their respective neighborhoods on June 3rd and 5th.

In addition, on June 11th we are bringing these two schools together to share excerpts of their work as a way of building a bridge between these two distinct communities. A facilitated discussion will follow the theatrical presentation.

Young Theaterworks is a literacy-based theater program, initiated in 2001, that brings About Productions’ aesthetic into the classroom. Students are guided through a process in which they work individually and collectively to create an original script that explores personal identity, family history, culture and other issues that directly affect their lives.

A special THANK YOU to our 2008 funders for their generous support!
California Arts Council, The Disney Company, Hot Topic Foundation, United Latino Fund, and Walt Whitman High School/LAUSD.