- Season
- Tickets
- About
- Volunteer
- Support
- Archive
- 2011-2011
- 2000-2010
- 1990-1999
- 1980-1989
- 1977-1979
- Programs
.jpg)
.JPG)
Jumpstart
The Jumpstart! Young Performers Theatre program is jointly sponsored by the Mendocino Performing Arts Company and the Mendocino Recreation Center. During the school year Jumpstart! offers an acting class. During the summer, Jumpstart! produces two plays, one geared towards teens and one toward younger children. The mission of Jumpstart! is to nurture the talents and build the characters of local youth thorough involvement with any or all aspects of the theatrical arts. The specific goal of the summer productions is to present professional level plays with all of the elements of theater - costumes, set, sound, lights - staffed by paid experienced theater workers and designers.
Artistic Director Kathy O’Grady has led Jumpstart! since the first show "Alice in Wonderland" in 2000, Jumpstart! has presented 16 more full productions. In 2004, "The End of the Line," written and directed by Dan Kozloff, was our first teen production, and it sold out to teenagers and their families. In Lorry Lepaule joined Jumpstart! as a teacher and director of the youth shows.
All Jumpstart! shows have received financial support from community groups, including Rotary, the Mendocino Coast Children's Fund and a number of local families. Donations have provided a much needed scholarship fund. Many Jumpstart! students and alumni have have been cast in MTC main stage plays, including lead roles, in more than a dozen productions Our students have also worked in main stage productions as stage managers, crew, equipment operators and designers. Jumpstart! students also appeared in a number of Fall Reading Series performances. Everyone who has worked on a Jumpstart! production has great praise for the program and for its professionalism.
Over ten years ago we began with one class and production with 14 students. Since then, there have been 16 shows and dozens and dozens of happy young actors. Their lives and local theater has been greatly enriched. Jumpstart! - keeping theater alive for another generation!
