New York State Theatre Institute
Encyclopedia
History
In 1974, the New York State LegislatureNew York Legislature
The New York State Legislature is the term often used to refer to the two houses that act as the state legislature of the U.S. state of New York. The New York Constitution does not designate an official term for the two houses together...
enacted legislation creating the Empire State Youth Theatre Institute (ESYTI). In 1982, through a collaboration with "the Egg" (the Empire State Plaza Performing Arts Center) it became known as the Empire State Institute for the Performing Arts (ESIPA). In 1992, the New York State Legislature reconstituted the organization as a public benefit corporation
Public benefit corporation
A public-benefit corporation is a public corporation chartered by a state designed to perform some public benefit.A public authority is a type of public-benefit corporation that takes on a more bureaucratic role, such as the maintenance of public infrastructure, that often has broad powers to...
and renamed it the New York State Theatre Institute (NYSTI)(Snyder, 1991, pp. 11-12). It was the first state mandated theatre for children in the United States (McCaslin, 1987, p. 132).
Mission
NYSTI's website explains that its mission is fourfold: 1) to produce professional theatre of the highest artistic standards for family and school audiences; 2) to use those productions to provide provocative and innovative arts in education programs; 3) to exchange theatre, culture, and humanity with the people and artists of other nations; and 4) to develop new plays and musicals for family audiences that speak clearly to a changing world.Methods and Educational Programs
Performers, technicians, staff, and guest artists use theatre to reach beyond the stage into the classroom, motivating students to find new interest in their daily subjects. The Institute's educational services include Pre-Show Intros and Study GuidesStudy guide
Study guides can be broad based to facilitate learning in a number of areas, or be resources that foster comprehension of literature, research topics, history, and other subjects....
, Inservices, inter-disciplinary
Interdisciplinarity
Interdisciplinarity involves the combining of two or more academic fields into one single discipline. An interdisciplinary field crosses traditional boundaries between academic disciplines or schools of thought, as new needs and professions have emerged....
classes following performances, educational outreach programs, a Theatre Arts School, summer theatre programs, and an extensive intern and educator-in-residence program. All members of NYSTI's professional staff participate in educational programs.
Internships
Highly individualized internships provide school-to-work transitionSchool-to-work transition
School-to-work transition is a phrase referring to on-the-job training, apprenticeships, cooperative education agreements or other programs designed to prepare students to enter the job market...
experience for high-school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
seniors as well as college under-graduate and graduate students
Graduate school
A graduate school is a school that awards advanced academic degrees with the general requirement that students must have earned a previous undergraduate degree...
from schools in New York and other states, as well as from other countries. Each intern is assigned a mentor from the professional staff who guides and assists the intern. More than 1,500 interns from more than 90 colleges, high school seniors, and thirteen foreign nations have worked and studied at NYSTI.
International Exchange
From its inception, the Institute has maintained a strong commitment to international cultural exchange beginning with the tour of “The Wizard of Oz” to Moscow in 1974 by the troupe from the State University of New York at AlbanyUniversity at Albany, The State University of New York
The State University of New York at Albany, also known as University at Albany, State University of New York, SUNY Albany or simply UAlbany, is a public university located in Albany, Guilderland, and East Greenbush, New York, United States; is the senior campus of the State University of New York ...
whose leadership later founded the Institute. In 1986, the Institute became the first theatre company from the United States to perform in the former Soviet Union
Post-Soviet states
The post-Soviet states, also commonly known as the Former Soviet Union or former Soviet republics, are the 15 independent states that split off from the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in its dissolution in December 1991...
upon resumption of cultural relations between the two countries. The company returned to Russia in 1989 and has twice hosted visits to the United States by the Moscow Musical Theatre. NYSTI also has represented its state and nation in cultural exchanges with Canada, England, France, Israel, Italy, Sweden and Jordan, including a month-long performance run in London's West End
West End of London
The West End of London is an area of central London, containing many of the city's major tourist attractions, shops, businesses, government buildings, and entertainment . Use of the term began in the early 19th century to describe fashionable areas to the west of Charing Cross...
. NYSTI has hosted more than thirty foreign artists or companies from such places as Russia, Israel, Jordan, Sweden, Scotland, Hungary, England, France, Canada, and Japan.
New Plays and Musicals
Eight of NYSTI's premieres have been accepted for licensing and publication by Samuel French Inc.Samuel French Inc.
Samuel French, Inc. is an American company, founded by Samuel French and Thomas Hailes Lacy, who formed a partnership to combine their existing interests in London and New York...
, the world's largest publisher of plays. Among NYSTI's count of more than forty-five premiere productions are William Gibson's
William Gibson (playwright)
William Gibson was an American playwright and novelist. He graduated from the City College of New York in 1938.He was of Irish, French, German, Dutch and Russian ancestry...
“Rag Dolly,” which toured to Moscow in 1986 (a later version opened on Broadway as Raggedy Ann) and Paul Shyre's
Paul Shyre
Paul Shyre was an American director and playwright who won a Tony and an Emmy. He is noted for the plays Hizzoner, Will Rogers' USA and The President Is Dead....
“Hizzoner!,” starring Tony Lo Bianco
Tony Lo Bianco
Tony Lo Bianco is an American actor in films and television.Lo Bianco was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of a taxi driver. He is known for his roles in the cult films The Honeymoon Killers, God Told Me To, and The French Connection...
, which won five Emmy awards
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
in a WNET/13 co-production and later played on Broadway before touring to Moscow in 1989. The New York and East Coast premiere of Jeffrey Sweet
Jeffrey Sweet
Jeffrey Sweet is an American writer, journalist, songwriter and theatre historian. Sweet's father was the late James Sweet, a science writer for the University of Chicago who aided Supreme Court chief justice Earl Warren in drafting two anti-McCarthy speeches; his mother is violinist Vivian...
's “American Enterprise,” was nominated by the Outer Critics Circle
Outer Critics Circle Award
The Outer Critics Circle Awards are presented annually for theatrical achievements both on and Off-Broadway and were begun during the 1949-1950 theater season. The awards are decided upon by theater critics who review for out-of-town newspapers, national publications, and other media outlets...
for its 1994 John Gassner Playwriting Award and chosen for special citation in The Best Plays of 1993-1994.
Warner Music Group
Warner Music Group
Warner Music Group is the third largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry, making it one of the big four record companies...
awarded NYSTI $400,000 in 1996 to develop five new musicals for family audiences. The first of those was “A Tale of Cinderella” by W.A.Frankonis, Will Severin, and George David Weiss
George David Weiss
George David Weiss was an American songwriter and former President of the Songwriters Guild of America.-Career:...
, made possible in part by funding provided by Warner Music Group
Warner Music Group
Warner Music Group is the third largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry, making it one of the big four record companies...
and by the participation of Warner/Chappell Music
Warner/Chappell Music
Warner/Chappell Music, Inc. is an American music publishing company, and a division of the Warner Music Group. The company traces its origins back to 1811 and the founding of Chappell & Company, a music publishing company and instrument shop on London’s Bond Street that, in 1929, began a rapid...
, Inc. An immediate success, the award-winning show is available as an Atlantic Theatre CD or cassette and has been released by Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
in both VHS and DVD editions. Warner Bros. Publications also published “Vocal Selections from ‘A Tale of Cinderella’.” The video was broadcast nationwide on PBS stations which reached more than 56 million households. In the 2000-01 Season, “A Tale of Cinderella” toured all the major cities of New York including Buffalo, Syracuse, the Capital Region, and Manhattan.
Other new musicals developed with the Warner Music Group grant are “The Silver Skates,” “Magna Carta,” and “The Snow Queen” (which toured to London’s West End and won numerous awards for its audio book
Audio book
An audiobook or audio book is a recording of a text being read. It is not necessarily an exact audio version of a book or magazine.Spoken audio has been available in schools and public libraries and to a lesser extent in music shops since the 1930s. Many spoken word albums were made prior to the...
).
National Touring
In addition to its tour of “A Tale of Cinderella,” NYSTI has toured its education programs and performances to New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, with productions of Institute originals “Sleeping Beauty” and “Beauty and the Beast,” and new stagings of “Narnia” and “Slow Dance on the Killing Ground.” The theatre company has also performed at the Kennedy Center
John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is a performing arts center located on the Potomac River, adjacent to the Watergate complex in Washington, D.C...
, Ford's Theatre
Ford's Theatre
Ford's Theatre is a historic theater in Washington, D.C., used for various stage performances beginning in the 1860s. It is also the site of the assassination of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln on April 14, 1865...
, Queens Theatre in the Park, the Fulton Opera House
Fulton Opera House
The Fulton Opera House, also known as the Fulton Theatre or simply The Fulton, is a League of Regional Theatres class C regional theater located in historic downtown Lancaster, Pennsylvania.-Building:...
, and the Honolulu Theatre for Youth.
Audio Books
In recent years, NYSTI, through Family Classic Audio, began producing audio books and has found remarkable success—ten titles winning awards from as many as five national presenters in all kinds of genres: musicals, mysteries, and dramas. Two titles won Audie AwardsAudie Awards
The Audie Awards are annually bestowed annually in the USA for outstanding audiobooks. The Audies have been granted by the Audio Publishers Association, a not-for-profit trade organization, since 1996. The nominees are announced each year in January, and the winners are announced at a gala banquet...
from the Audio Publishers Association (“The Killings Tale,” “Sherlock’s Secret Life”) and another six were named Audie Award Silver Finalists (“Hollowville,” “Sherlock’s Legacy,” “King of Shadows,” “Heart of Troy,” “Zoe Caldwell reads Oscar Wilde
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s...
Fairy Tales
Fairy tale
A fairy tale is a type of short story that typically features such folkloric characters, such as fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, dwarves, giants or gnomes, and usually magic or enchantments. However, only a small number of the stories refer to fairies...
,” “A Little Princess”). AudioFile magazine gave its Earphones Award to “A Tale of Cinderella” and “The Snow Queen
The Snow Queen
The Snow Queen is a fairy tale by author Hans Christian Andersen . The tale was first published in 1845, and centers on the struggle between good and evil as experienced by a little boy and girl, Kai and Gerda....
.” Foreword magazine
ForeWord (magazine)
ForeWord is a trade journal published six times yearly with the tagline, “Reviews of Good Books Independently Published.” The magazine is distributed primarily to librarians and booksellers to familiarize them with upcoming books from small, independent, and university presses, as well as...
named “The Snow Queen” a finalist for its ‘Book of the Year’ award and the Independent Book Publishers Association also recognized “The Snow Queen” with a Benjamin Franklin Award. “King of Shadows,” also received a nomination for a Benjamin Franklin Award. USA Book News gave “The Killings Tale” its Best Books Award and named “The Snow Queen” a finalist.