Winifred Ward Award Acceptance Speech

Check out the acceptance speech Jacob gave at the AATE conference after Purple Crayon received the Winifred Ward Outstanding New Children's Theatre Company Award!

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“At an AATE workshop in 2008, members of Purple Crayon Players were asked to pretend for a moment that they were teenagers. We didn’t have to think back very far.

To be considered colleagues here is an honor in itself. To receive this award affirms one of our essential beliefs: not only can people of all ages connect with Theater for Young Audiences, people of all ages can create a brighter future for Theater for Young Audiences.

Thank you to our ardent proponents, Sandy Asher and Drew Chappell, playwrights who tell the stories of our field. Thank you to our steadfast mentors, Rives Collins and Betsy Quinn, who have inspired our story by sharing theirs. Thank you to our tireless peers collaborators (some of who are sitting right over there) past and present. Thank you AATE for validating our emerging voices.

Here’s to more songs, more stories.”

- Jacob Watson

Artistic Director (2010-2011)

Purple Crayon Players

AATE Photos

Check out a few awesome pictures of some of the Players and friends as who took on AATE 2010: Playing on the Fault Lines this past weekend!  

 

Some of the Purple Crayon Players and their friends jammed out during a night of songs and laughter in the presidential suite with Rives Collins and Don Doyle.

Some of our friends discovered the conference's I-Booth!  (From left to right: Jeff Glass, Anakin Morris, Briana Bower)

The board and friends have one of many dinners with the legendary Don Doyle.

Master Storytellers Don Doyle (left) and Northwestern's very own Rives Collins (right) captivate their audience at a Storytelling session.

  

And a big congratulations to Purple Crayon Players on the Winifred Ward Outstanding New Children's Theatre Company Award received at the conference!

 

 Jacob Watson, the board's current Artistic Director, accepts the award with a rousing speech (left), backed by the stunning Kelby Siddons (Artistic Director '09-'10), Abby Schwarz (Literary Manager '10-'11), Allison Finn (Team Education '10-'11), and the one and only Rives Collins (right)!

 

 Congratulations, PCP!

PCP Takes on AATE

If you've been keeping an eye on your calendar, you know that today is the first full day of events at the 2010 American Alliance for Theatre & Education Conference: Playing on the Faultlines in San Francisco!  Be sure to check back soon for updates from those Purple Crayon Players attending the conference, and take a sneak peak at our very own session, Shifting Ground on College Campuses: Exploring the Undergraduate TYA Model, scheduled for this Sunday, August 8th at 9:15AM.  If you're there, say hello to Jacob Watson and Kelby Siddons, who will be facilitating the session with Sandy Asher!

For a closer look at the conference as a whole, check out their website here!

PLAYground Gets National Recognition

In the most recent edition of Incite/Insight, the American Alliance for Theatre and Education's digital magazine, Purple Crayon Players was recognized for the first annual PLAYground Festival of Fresh Works in 2009.  In addition to learning a little bit about the festival's origins, you'll be able to see pictures of the performances, read synopses of the three shows, and even get a sneak preview of the scripts!

Also, be sure to check out the featured article on Funky Snowman, a play/ballet for young audiences put up at North Shore Country Day School in Winnetka, IL this past February.  Take look and you'll find three of our lovely board members (Kelby Siddons, Annie Munch, and Alyssa Vera Ramos) and one of our Northwestern peers (Ariel Isackowitz) smiling at you!

You can download a PDF of the April 2010 edition of Incite/Insight by clicking here!