New Conservatory Theatre Center
Encyclopedia
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
. NCTC showcases an eight-show Pride Season, an In-Concert/Cabaret Series, Family Theatre performances, YouthAware Touring Educational Theatre, and an Emerging Artists program. NCTC also houses a comprehensive Conservatory for youth and adults. It is located in San Francisco at 25 Van Ness Avenue, near intersection with Market Street.
Organizational History
Founded in 1981 as a small theatre arts conservatory for low-income youth by Ed Decker (a former director of the American Conservatory TheaterAmerican Conservatory Theater
American Conservatory Theater is a large non-profit theater company in San Francisco, California, that offers both classical and contemporary theater productions. A.C.T. was founded in 1965 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in conjunction with the Pittsburgh Playhouse and Carnegie Tech by theatre and...
’s Young Conservatory), NCTC has been in operation for 27 years. In 1986, as a response to the AIDS epidemic sweeping the nation and heavily concentrated in San Francisco, Decker created the landmark YouthAware Touring Educational Theatre program which has since expanded to address an array of health and wellness concerns, been translated into five languages, and achieved national and international recognition. To date, more than 4.5 million youth in the U.S., Germany, Australia, South Africa, Holland, and the U.K. have seen YouthAware Theatre-in-Education programs in their schools and communities. In 2004, Decker received the STOP AIDS Award for his work.
In 1995, Decker premiered the first Pride Season, a series of LGBT-themed performances that has since caught the eye of many renowned gay and gay-allied playwrights and directors. Decker has developed and/or premiered plays for NCTC’s main stage with artists such as Norman Allen, Terrence McNally
Terrence McNally
Terrence McNally is an American playwright who has received four Tony Awards, an Emmy, two Guggenheim Fellowships, a Rockefeller Grant, the Lucille Lortel Award, the Hull-Warriner Award, and a citation from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He has been a member of the Council of the...
, Edmund White
Edmund White
Edmund Valentine White III is an American author and literary critic. He is a member of the faculty of Princeton University's Program in Creative Writing.- Life and work :...
, Joe Mantello
Joe Mantello
Joseph Mantello is an American actor and director best known for his work on Broadway productions of Wicked, Take Me Out and Assassins, as well as earlier in his career being one of the original Broadway cast of Angels in America...
, Mark Cannistraro, Mart Crowley
Mart Crowley
Mart Crowley is an American playwright.Crowley was born in Vicksburg, Mississippi. After graduating from The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. in 1957, Crowley headed west to Hollywood, where he worked for a number of television production companies before meeting Natalie Wood on...
, Jack Heifner, Hal Corley
Hal Corley
-Career:Two of Hal's plays, "An Ounce of Prevention" and "Finding Donis Anne," have been widely performed...
, Felice Picano
Felice Picano
Felice Picano is an American writer. He graduated cum laude from Queens College in 1964 with English department honors. He founded SeaHorse Press in 1977, and The Gay Presses of New York in 1981 with Terry Helbing and Larry Mitchell; he was Editor-in-Chief there. He was an editor and writer for...
, Brad Fraser
Brad Fraser
Brad Fraser is a Canadian playwright, screenwriter and cultural commentator. He is one of the most widely produced Canadian playwrights both in Canada and internationally. Fraser's plays typically feature a harsh yet comical view of contemporary life in Canada, including frank depictions of...
, David Marshall Grant
David Marshall Grant
David Marshall Grant is an American actor and playwright.-Life and career:Grant was born in Westport, Connecticut, to physician parents...
, Jeff Baron
Jeff Baron
Jeff Baron is an American playwright and screenwriter currently living in Manhattan. He is best known for his play Visiting Mr. Green . Baron’s plays have been said to focus primarily on family relationships and conflicts, friendship, romance, sex, and the need for human connection...
, Kevin Elyot
Kevin Elyot
Kevin Elyot is a British playwright and screenwriter. His most notable works include the play My Night with Reg and the film Clapham Junction.-Sources:*-External links:...
, Jonathan Harvey
Jonathan Harvey (playwright)
Jonathan Harvey is a British playwright whose work has earned multiple awards. He is also a former secondary school English teacher.-Life and works:...
, and Lee Blessing
Lee Blessing
-Biography:Blessing's best-known play is A Walk in the Woods, which depicts the developing relationship between two arms limitation negotiators, one Russian and one American, over years of negotiation...
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Summary of Programs
NCTC's current activities fall under four major categories: Theatre Performances, the New Play Commissions program, the Conservatory program, and the YouthAware Educational Theatre Program.Theatre Performances:
NCTC's theatre performance program is anchored around their "Pride Season," an eleven-month season featuring eight plays, three special events, and four in-concert series performances. Plays are selected based on their examination of LGBT issues as they relate to our current world. NCTC also houses a Family Matinee program, featuring daytime performances designed for children 4-10 and their families.
New Play Commissions and Emerging Artists Program:
NCTC commissions, develops, and premiers one new play with LGBT themes every 24 months to be performed during the Pride Season and one new play for young audiences ever 36 months to tour as part of the YouthAware Educational Theatre Program. Since the inception of the New Plays Commissions Program in 2002, NCTC has commissioned three new plays, including Crucifixion by four-time Tony Award-winning playwright Terrence McNally
Terrence McNally
Terrence McNally is an American playwright who has received four Tony Awards, an Emmy, two Guggenheim Fellowships, a Rockefeller Grant, the Lucille Lortel Award, the Hull-Warriner Award, and a citation from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He has been a member of the Council of the...
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Conservatory Program: The New Conservatory Theatre Center provides year-round theatre training classes to young people across San Francisco County.
In-House Conservatory for Youth: NCTC offers classes for students of all ages in acting, singing, musical theatre, and playwrighting at their downtown San Francisco location, serving about 200 youth annually.
Satellite Drama Program: NCTC sends fifteen highly qualified drama instructors into San Francisco County Public Schools, offering a wide range of after-school theatre arts classes in locations convenient to participants and their families. All conservatory programs at NCTC meet the California Standards for Arts Education.
Vocational Training Program: paid internships and positions are offered to interested students ages 13-19. Students are employed as teaching assistants, assistant stage managers, assistant directors, and technical theatre assistants. This program serves 7-12 students annually.
Adult Classes: NCTC recently expanded its Conservatory to include classes for adults in scene study, improvisation, singing, and playwriting.
YouthAware Educational Theatre: YouthAware is an eight-show repertoire of plays, educational materials, workshops, and structured discussions facilitated both in house and toured throughout Northern California school districts, community centers, shelters and juvenile justice facilities. YouthAware programs reach over 20,000 youth per year, using performing arts as a vehicle for examining such issues as HIV Awareness and Prevention, Drug and Alcohol Abuse, Homophobia, Violence, Hate Crimes, Body Image, and Diversity.