The Croton Teen Theatre is hosting a fundraiser this coming weekend to support programs that challenge teens as actors and help them grow as community members.
Attendees can dance the night away to live music and enjoy tasty barbecue this Saturday, April 29, all while supporting the local arts scene. Patrons Barbara Hart and Joe Slakas will host this adults-only, indoor-outdoor event at their Croton home.
The price of a ticket to the fundraiser is $50, however, $35 of the admission is tax-deductible. All the proceeds collected will go to support the theatre, a non-profit educational organization dedicated to teen theater productions.
At the theatre, a single musical is produced each summer composed of teens between the ages of 13 and 21 years old and guided by professionals in direction, set, lights, music, etc. Participants in the four-week program come from many of the surrounding towns, and some have gone on to work in a professional theatre setting.
Board of Directors President Bianca Mancinelli says that the teens involved in the program benefit from the professional level of production, but also create lasting bonds that the program tries to cultivate.
“What I think happens more in our program than in other programs is that these bonds that develop between these kids are unbelievable,” says Mancinelli. “They get together weeks after repeatedly because they don’t want it to end, and they’ve developed friendships that will last a lifetime.”
The program, approaching 30 years of operation, originally operated under the Croton Council on the Arts for 20 years until filing as an independent, non-profit organization in 2014. Funding for the program comes directly from grants and an annual fundraiser.
The success of the upcoming fundraiser is important for the Croton Teen Theatre because it will allow the program to continue providing scholarships for teens in need of assistance with the cost of tuition and pay for the professional instruction, according to Mancinelli.
“Having those monies come in via fundraisers and annual fundraiser events, allow us to grow the program in a way that can accommodate more kids, more shows, more outreach,” says Mancinelli. “So the fundraisers are absolutely vital.”
Croton Teen Theatre is currently preparing for the 2017 summer program and musical. For more information about the summer program and the fundraiser, visit the Croton Teen Theatre website.
