| All Over the MAP The Newsletter of The Manton Avenue Project | | | If this newsletter was forwarded to you by a friend, please click below to regularly receive our E-Newsletter and updates. |  | Inside Scoop
| | | The latest on some of the MAP Crew: Rebecca Stabile says hello from Brooklyn, NY where she is teaching theatre classes to children at both the Brooklyn Arts Exchange and Circus Minimus. She also watches a baby boy named Finegan, takes clown workshops, auditions, and writes. She will be presenting her first short, self-written physical theatre piece, with boyfriend (and MAPfriend) Alex Sherba, in a show in Brooklyn next week. Rebecca is also excited to be volunteering backstage in the 52nd Street Project next month! She misses MAP so much. Kerry Callery continues to be music director for his improv group "Sky Punch". He also recently finished doing Sound Design and Music for "The Glass Menagerie" at The Gamm Theatre. 2nd Story Theatre's production of The Voysey Inheritance features MAP artists Michael LoCicero, Jeff Hodge, Erin Sheehan, and Nick Thibeault. The show runs March 18-April 11. Moira Brady reports that she "is in love with life, and is making a concerted effort to listen to Tom Lehrer on a regular basis. " Leigh Medeiros was recently awarded RISCA's 2010 Fellowship Merit Award in Play and Screenwriting. Alexis Scott announced that she has been accepted into the MFA Acting program at UTexas Austin for the class of 2013. We're sure her performance as Happy, the high pressure system won them over. Living Literature has created A Brief Visit with The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society to celebrate Reading Across Rhode Island 2010. This 55 minute, condensed version of the novel will be performed by a trio of Living Literature performers, that includes Artistic Director Barry Press and a rotating pair of women, including MAP favorites Sharon Carpentier and Kelly Nichols. The performance is free and open to the public. For more information, including locations and dates, please click here. -jmp | | MAP About Town | | | On March 20th, THE MANTON AVENUE PROJECT will have the distinct honor of being part of the sixteenth annual Seder of Hope, sponsored by the AIDS Task Force of the Community Relations Council and the Jewish Federation of Rhode Island. Three of our MAP Kid playwrights joined forces to create a fabulous play that will be presented at the event. For more information and to purchase tickets, please click here. | | And Now a Word From Our Sponsors... | | Fundraising News We have a new sponsor to announce: The Heather and Ronald Florence Fund will be supporting our Playmaking 2010 production in memory of Marian G. Schott They'll be joining a fine group, namely our Season Sponsors: The Katherine Baker Charitable Trust Citizens Bank Foundation and The Roosevelt Investment Group and fellow Programming Sponsors: The Rhode Island State Council on the Arts a Senate Legislative Grant from the State of Rhode Island A big hip-hip-horrah to them and to everyone who so generously supports the work we do! If you know of a corporation, foundation or generally-generous group of people who might like to be part of our fun, please have them call Jenny Peek at 401-331-7007. -jmp | | | | Dear Friends of THE MANTON AVENUE PROJECT: Hello! Just about six years ago, we presented the first plays of our inaugural group of MAP Kids. Flash forward six years and we find ourselves gearing up for a show that will bring the genius of our seventh group of kids... hoorah!!! We hope to see you there!
| | Quick Link | Click on the image below for more info about our next production (March 26-28):
 And for more about who we are and what we do, click here to be brought to our website | | Tag Team 2010
| |  by Angela Colford This January the Manton Avenue Project produced ELEMENTARY MY DEAR WALRUS, a mystery play, the third installment of the Tag Team program. This unique program unites kid playwrights of different ages and experience levels to collaboratively write a full length play. The playwrights started meeting after school in November for classes where they learned to work together to write a story. They learned specifically the elements of a great mystery and they created three fascinating characters and not one but two spine-tingling mysteries to solve. Each playwright worked with a dramaturg to write one scene of the play, and every time the playwright changed, the actors playing the three characters changed. The entire show was directed by the smashing Nicole Maynard. Daniela de Portillo introduced the characters in her scene. Dmitri Taco was a peacock detective, very flashy and cocky. His assistant was Peter Walrus, a slow but wise turtle. They were hired by King Tater Tot to find the missing Missing Jewel of Egypt; at the same time, an old mysterious hippie named Oscar Tallman realized one of his socks was missing, conveniently while he was standing in front of the detective agency. Leigh Hendrix was the dramaturg and Neal Leaheey played Dmitri, Kerry Callery played Peter, and Guy Noyes played Oscar. In the next scene, Oscar, played by Marc Berry, appeared in the office of Dmitri (Linda Conte) and Peter (Jo-an Peralta) and asked them to help find his sock. Dmitri asked Oscar a lot of pointless questions, told Peter to search every jewelry store in NYC to find the Missing Jewel of Egypt, and was tempted to do some leg work himself with the promise of ice cream. The playwright was Kalyn Waite and the dramaturg was Gayle Hanrahan. Leilani Martinez and dramaturg Jennifer Stevens brought the characters out of the office and into the streets so Dmitri, played by Joe Ouellette, and Peter, played by J. Paul Ring, could search for the jewel. Oscar, played by Josh Short, kept popping up all over town, reminding them of his sock, but no clues were found. After a good night's rest Dmitri (James Robinson) and Peter (Clare Blackmer) came up with a plan to go to the tallest building in NYC to look for the rainbow that the Missing Jewel of Egypt created in the sun. According to Dmitri, the tallest building was the Chrysler Tower, so up they went. Below, on the ground, Oscar (Matt Kandarian) asked for help from strangers to find his sock, since his fear of gravity prevented him from going up to the top after the detectives. The act ended on a tantalizing cliffhanger when Peter spotted a rainbow--then Dmitri took the credit for it. The scene was written by Juan Fortez, Jr. and his dramaturg was David Higgins. Act Two picked up right back on top of the Chrysler Building in a scene written by Hector Solis, Jr. with dramaturg Angela Colford. Peter, played by Brien Lang, was able to calculate the location of the source of the rainbow as Coney Island. While he and Dmitri, played by Carol Mecca, were waiting for the elevator they were interrupted by Oscar (Matt Omasta) dancing up the stairs to tell them the elevator was broken. After the long climb down the stairs, and the long train ride to Brooklyn, the detectives were disappointed to find that the rainbow was caused by the hippie's sunglasses. Dmitri decided to have his lovely dog Josh sniff out the scent of the jewel, leading to a mad dash around the town. Maria Lemus and dramaturg Kevin Delaney brought the characters together back in the detective agency. Dmitri (Beth Alianiello) bragged about his progress on the jewel case and Peter (James Magee) suggested that they try looking for the sock since they weren't really getting anywhere on the jewel case. Oscar (Matt Fraza) mysteriously appeared and agreed they should focus on his sock for a while. He reminded them that the sock was so important to him because he only had one pair, and they were given to him by John Lennon. After some questioning, they all decided to go back to the cemetary where Oscar's tent was. The final scene, written by Ashley Figueroa with dramaturg Brian Birch, took place in a very spooky cemetary. Dmitri, played by James Brown, was nervous because he was afraid of both the dark and hippies. Oscar, played by Tim Thibodeau, was nervous because he was afraid of Dmitri's dog Josh and because he couldn't remember the location of his tent. Peter, played by Alanna Sousa-Pullan, was fed up and took charge. He found the tent, had Josh follow the scent of the sock, and found it behind a gravestone--with the Missing Jewel of Egypt inside. Oscar had found it on the ground and put it in his sock to keep it safe but forgot about it before he took it to the authorities. And when Dmitri tried to take credit for solving these cases, Peter had enough. He told Dmitri that he solved all the cases and did all the work, and he proved just what a bad detective Dmitri really was by ripping off his hat and revealing himself to be a comely, long haired lady turtle named Marianne. The show was expertly run from backstage by Kelly Hammond and her crew of Maddie Carroll and MAP playwright Ana Solis. The lights were designed by Corey Rancourt and operated by Devon D. Decker and MAP playwright Edward Figueroa. Cyrus Leddy was the sound designer and operator. Costumes, as always, were by the lovely Paula Correia.
Editor's Note: As usual we have a whole gaggle of other folks, besides those mentioned above, to thank for making the show possible, namely Barry Marshall and the Moses Brown School for the Playwriting Weekend space, Brian Mills and Met Public for the theater space and Thomas Nola-Rion for snapping glorious pix of our glorious play!
| | P.O.V. | | | by Abel Quiroa
 It's been quite a while that I have been with M.A.P (Manton Avenue Project). I started in the 3rd Grade and now I am a 9th grader. I'm one of the oldest kids in M.A.P. I was one of the first group of kids. I can honestly say that it's been an awesome 6 years! I remember the first play I wrote. It was called "The Cowboy Twins". I remember being at the show and people laughing at stuff I didn't even think was funny. I was confused and happy at the same time. It felt great knowing that people enjoyed my work. I knew then and there that I loved to write plays. Every time I write a play I have so much fun. It's weird because I'm not a big fan of writing but with plays it's different. I have the power over everything and that feels awesome! What I'm trying to say is M.A.P is a great program and I'm proud to be a part of it. I hope to stay with it for a long time to come. Abel pretty clearly explains his history with us. He didn't mention, however, that he has managed participate in all of our current types of programming and that he stepped in 11th-hour-style to help us out backstage with a show this past September. Abel's work will be showcased again twice within the next few months: he is one of the three playwrights who wrote the play that will be performed at this year's Seder of Hope, and will be the narrator of our 2010 Gala show, "WE CROSSED OCEANS TO GET HERE, a coming-to-america musical" on June 7th. | | | COMMUNITY Webster's Dictionary has several definitions of community. But my favorite is "a unified body of individuals". That pretty much sums up what we at THE MANTON AVENUE have tried to create here... and feel pretty confident that we have achieved on many levels. First there is the community of MAP Kids, children and teenagers who come from very different places and who, in other aspects of there life, belong to very different groups (athletes, scholars, etc.) but who are united by the fact that they are MAP playwrights. Their parents and siblings and cousins and grandparents and neighbors and friends are part of our community, too. They are surrounded by the community of volunteer artists... an ever-growing pool of amazing people who lend their talents and support and who have, themselves, become part of our MAP adult family. The Board of Directors surrounds this group. And then finally, there are our loyal audience members and supporters who support all of us (and who we try to give back to, by rewarding their loyalty with some pretty awesome shows). In the past couple of years, we have been able to cement relationships with other groups in the community. Sure, the theater and arts organizations have always been great creative partners. But in January 2009, we had our first official partnership that related to our theme, the Institute for the Study and Practice of Nonviolence. The play that resulted was "THERE ARE A COUPLE OF WAYS THIS COULD END, a conflict resolution play". And in a couple of weeks, the fruits of our second community-partnership-labor will be presented in the form of "YOU'RE NOT THE BOSS OF ME, the empowerment plays", plays inspired by lessons learned (thanks to The Hive Archive) about feminism and equality. Community, in any form and on any level, is what has made THE MANTON AVENUE PROJECT what it is. And we think what it is is pretty cool! Jenny Peek Executive Artistic Director The Manton Avenue Project | | |
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Steve Aveson Erica Croce Ronald A. Loeser Daniel A. Murphy Jenny Peek Michael M. Woody | | |
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