Virtually Unusual Create-A-Thon
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YOU ARE INVITED TO VIRTUALLY UNUSUAL CREATE-A-THON STARTING AUGUST 10, 2020 Hosted by Melissa Peterman #UnUSualCreateAThon THANK YOU TO OUR 2020 OUR MISSION VIRTUALLY UNUSUSAL “I come here becuase it makes me feel better about myself CREATE-A-THON becuase usually I don’t have enough self-confidence.” SPONSORS+DONORS Participant and Middle School Student ENCORE Nancy and Steve Carell The mission of The Unusual Suspects Theatre Company is to mentor, educate, and enrich underserved youth through the creation of collaborative, original theatre. CENTER STAGE The vision of The Unusual Suspects Theatre Company is a world where all youth are given the opportunities and support they need to succeed. LIGHTS UP Dave and Pamela Peterman CREATIVE SPARK Lynn and Sam Scott IN-KIND SPONSORS WHO WHY WHAT We are a group of In collaborative Every child from dedicated educators, workshop settings, we every neighborhood STAR PERFORMER DONORS writers, actors, mentor youth to write deserves a place to Amy Aquino & Drew McCoy Argyros Family Foundation directors, mentors and perform their belong, the freedom Stephen & Sherie Carroll and volunteers who stories, using theater to safely express Ed Coghlan transform hearts, to champion those themselves, an Bruce Greenwood & Susan Devlin minds, lives and most desperate to be opportunity to be Jimmy & Joi Horowitz Dan Lin communities by heard and toughest seen, heard, and The Lynch Foundation empowering young to reach. We teach known, and the Annie & Scott Lukowski people to own and confidence, choice, chance to dream and Netflix share their stories. hope, and empathy. achieve beyond their Kit Pongetti & Mark Stegemann Kirsten Vangsness circumstance. HISTORY In 1992, called to action by the the reach of typical arts education As we, once again, provide an LA Uprising, founder Laura Leigh workshops to empower vulnerable artistic lifeline to those feeling Hughes created The Unusual youth with lifelong skills, hope, injustice, our team at The Unusual Suspects Theatre Company (US) and confidence to overcome their Suspects is more committed to our to give strength to vulnerable difficult surroundings. mission than ever before. youth, and provide them a safe outlet and platform for self- Decades later, US has developed Since the Covid-19 pandemic hit, expression. To do 7 complementary, place-based staff made it their number one so, she and a group programs that of volunteer film/ provide well- theatre professionals rounded benefits “Honestly, it’s been a really fun program. The program has helped me provided for approximately improve my mood, and it has given me a place to express myself during disadvantaged teens 1,600 underserved in foster care and individuals each quarantine. It’s helped me with my confidence… let’s say I’m in class and juvenile detention year all through the teacher asks a question. Before I was in the program, I wouldn’t answer with a powerful tool the theatre it, even though I had the answer. After joining, I’m usually the first one to for communication stage— including raise my hand and answer the question. It’s helped me a lot...” via the creation underperforming Adrian, age 16, San Fernando High School & performance of students, students their own original with special needs, plays. US has foster youth, English priority to continue reaching and services such as ZOOM, Google since grown from Language Learners, serving our youth and families by Classroom, and various other that small youth- adolescents any means necessary. We quickly means. This year alone we have intervention suffering from pivoted to offering programming already served close to 500 program into a leader in the PTSD, incarcerated minors, and virtually to help mitigate the participants, offering over 100 fields of arts education, youth members of rival gangs. US has disproportionate impact of the remote sessions to our most development, mentorship, and received several accolades for our pandemic on our under-resourced vulnerable youth. Now more than community building, with a work, including The National Youth communities. In the midst of ever, we need your help to continue presence in underserved schools, Arts and Humanities Program the global crisis, US successfully this vital work with Los Angeles’ community centers, and juvenile Award (our nation’s highest honor developed and launched distance most vulnerable youth and families detention camps throughout LA for after-school arts and humanities learning alternatives, which now helping to reconcile history County. Our participant-driven programs), The National Juvenile include live and pre-recorded and re-envision futures full of joy, theatre-arts programs go beyond Justice Award, and more. lessons that are delivered via opportunity, and expectation. VOICES FOR ARTS & SOCIAL THEATRE PROGRAM (VAST) PROGRAMS VAST adapts our successful after- school curriculum to provide in- class arts education to improve BUILDING PLAYS, BUILDING CHARACTER. students’ language, communication and teamwork skills. YOUTH THEATRE to decrease truant behavior, stay RESIDENCY PROGRAM in school, complete community (YTRP) service hours, and avoid gang BUILDING COMMUNITIES involvement. YTRP’s experiential theatre-arts education and mentoring improves VOICES FROM INSIDE THEATRE & CULTURE PARENT PRACTICA the well-being of disadvantaged PROGRAM (VIP) ACCESS PROGRAM (TCAP) PROGRAM (PPP) and incarcerated youth via a series of two sequential 10-week after- VIP is an outgrowth of our 20+ TCAP reduces disparities in arts This parenting-focused program school workshops, where youth years of experience working with access by introducing low-income tailors our core curriculum collaborate to create and perform incarcerated & system-engaged youth and adults to professional to a series of therapeutic an original play. The YTRP’s youth. Through in-class and/ theatre for free. workshops designed to enhance ultimate goal is to empower or after-school workshops, VIP communication skills and underserved youth with the skills to combines standards-based theatre- NEIGHBORHOOD VOICES strengthen the bond between maintain a healthy mental outlook arts education with trauma- PROGRAM (NV) struggling parents and their and pursue a positive path forward, informed healing practices to children. making them more likely deeply reach incarcerated, system- Designed to decrease social engaged, and high-risk minors. isolation and increase protective ALUMNI PROGRAM While guiding participants in the factors for reducing child collaborative creation of original, maltreatment, NV engages Our new multi-week playwriting socially relevant, uncensored intergenerational community & performance-based residency theatrical material, the cutting- residents (ages 11-65+) in for opportunity youth (ages 16- edge program works to stem creating and performing an 26) is open to alumni from all minors’ harmful tendencies original modernized fable/morality US programs — including youth and provides a positive, safe play through an intensive returning from incarceration — and environment where high-risk 12-week workshop. will incorporate our unique, core youth can learn to trust others, theatre-arts curriculum to young which becomes a gateway to other adults, with continued engagement accomplishments. and mentorship as they consider the next stage of their lives. FPO VIRTUALLY Cant seem to see a photo BOARD named UNUSUAL SARA SCOTT OF DIRECTORS in the shared folder unless i CREATE-A-THON am missing it? Sara Scott Decker Sadowski HOST Board Chair, Senior Vice President Actor Production Development Universal Pictures Kristina Segesvary COMMITTEE David Borsari Private Wealth Management Shawn Amos Attorney, Law Offices of David S. Borsari Goldman Sachs Bradford Bancroft SUPPORTERS Rachel Bloom Russ Cashdan Alison Sternberg Nancy & Steve Carell Supporters of The Unusual Board Treasurer, Attorney Vice President, Investor Relations, Stephen & Sherie Carroll Suspects include: The Annenberg Foundation, The Cashdan Law SmileDirectClub Tameka Carter Arygros Family Foundation, Karen Chou Albert G. Chou Joe Weil California Arts Council, Ed Coghlan Carl and Roberta Deutsch Wealth Manager, Goldman Sachs President & Founder, Psycho Films Mo Collins & Alex Skuby Foundation, Dwight Stuart Youth Victoria Dummer Foundation, Green Foundation, Herb Alpert Foundation, Johnny Annie Deng Charlotte White Sally Fairman Realtor, COMPASS Realty Board Vice Chair, Program Manager for Carson Foundation, The Lynch Maile Flanagan Family Foundation, National Economic Development, Accelerator for Markese Freeman Endowment for the Arts, Ralph Ryan Jones America Annabeth Gish M. Parsons Foundation, S. Mark VP of Development & Production Rachel Goldberg Taper Foundation, Weingart Allspark Pictures, Hasbro Studios Foundation, Will & Jada Smith Laura Leigh Hughes Family Foundation Bank of David Henry Hwang America, FX Networks, HBO, Melissa Peterman Sydney Kamlager-Dove Mark Gordon Company, Michael Actor Deborah Lintz De Luca Productions, Netflix, Paramount Pictures, Sony Annie Lukowski Julio Quijada Pictures Entertainment, TrueCar, Lara Magnusen Universal Pictures, Vanishing Unusual Suspects Alumni, Reba McEntire Point Media, Walt Disney Post-Production Coordinator, Johnny Ortiz Company, Warner Brothers NBCUniversal Mary Ramos & Murray Oden Studios, Steve and Nancy Carrell, Viola Davis, Hector Luis J. Rodriguez Karine Rosenthal Elizondo, Tiffany Haddish, Elizabeth Silver Sandra Oh, Wanda Sykes, Alfre Writer / Producer Julie Tugend Woodard and many more. Kirsten Vangsness Wayne Wilderson