Youth Theater Project

The primary goal of the Youth Theater Project is to use theater as a means to artistically and creatively express the opinions of young people on topics that are relevant to their lives.

The Project happens once a year, beginning in late February and ending in late April. The Project is centered in the Mission District of San Francisco.  You must be between the ages of 14 and 18 to participate.

Youth are chosen from different communities all over the Bay Area and are taught by a diverse team of teachers. Youth attend an eight-week acting and playmaking workshop that meets two days a week, 4pm to 7pm. Dinner and a stipend for transportation are provided. The project is entirely funded by foundations and is free to participants. It culminates in the Youth Theater Project Performance for the public. Each group performs the 30-minute play that they have created during the workshop. Performance week requires a larger time commitment.

The curriculum of the workshop includes:  team building exercises, burning issue discussions, story-telling, improvisation, character development, playwriting, and choreography.

The Project promotes artistic expression, discipline, and cross-cultural understanding as creative alternatives to drugs, gangs, prejudice, hostility and violence. The project is founded on the belief that youth in our society grow up lacking the attention and respect they need to love and respect themselves and to understand each other. The workshop experience fosters an increase in the participant's self-confidence, expands their world view, and leaves them inspired to continue using art as a means of personal and political expression.

One of the workshops is bilingual.

For more information, contact:
Lisa Hori Garcia
Project Director
415-285-1717

Funded in part by:
The California Arts Council

855 Treat Ave. - San Francisco, CA 94110 - 415-285-1717 - info@sfmt.org