Kids from Hell's Kitchen Become NYC's Newest Playwrights
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Left to right: Actor Lucas Near-Verbrugghe, playwright Tyleek Mark Powell, and actor Todd Bartels enjoy a round of applause after the last performance of Tyleek’s “I’m With A Dummy” at Five Angels Theater on April 1.
The Project was founded in 1981 by actor/playwright Willie Reale, in an effort to improve the quality of life for kids growing up in Hell’s Kitchen. The Project still offers its core theater programs—age-specific endeavors that progress strategically as the students grow up, granting them more responsibility as they mature and progress. But now, after-school activities incorporate many other art forms and homework help is also offered every day after school.
The requirements to participate are simple: one must be from Hell’s Kitchen, and preference is given to both legacies and students who attend PS 111 (located across the street from the Project). “We want to give children an opportunity…to discover their own potential, which is vast,” says Gus Rogerson, the program’s artistic director. “The 52nd Street Project allows them to discover a place to belong—a place where they can be part of a group of people who do creative work on a regular basis.”
For more information about The 52nd Street Project, visit 52project.org.