Marsh Youth Theater presents…
Supported by the San Francisco Arts Commission
The Marsh Youth Theater presented its first-ever International Teen Performance Festival on June 11–12, 2022 amplifying the voices of teens (ages 14-18) and bringing light to the issues in their lives – from neighborhood crime to COVID-19, gender equality, school violence, and more. Offered in a hybrid format, the festival invites audiences, both local and global, to tune in as youth continue to lead the charge in social change and building a better world. In the months leading up to the International Teen Performance Festival, the young participants were enrolled in the workshop, Voices of Youth: Expressing Yourself in Challenging Times, where they learned the fine craft of telling their stories on stage under the tutelage of Marsh Youth Theater workshop leaders. Program started on April 16, 2022.
KIDS CALLED CRAZY!
In Collaboration with Mercy High School
Directed by Liz McAninch
Written by Ron Jones
MYT Director: Wayne Harris
July 23 & 24
The script’s characters are teenagers who have been “called crazy” and San Francisco “at-risk” teens hired as aides through a special summer program. Is this a recipe for disaster or a new way of viewing the world from both sets of teenagers? This tragi-comic play provides exceptional roles for teens while it also opens up a subject that is still taboo, and invites us all to have a frank conversation about mental illness.
MATTERS OF LIFE AND DEATH
Presented by MYT and MOVING BEYOND productions
Credits: Rebecca Cervantes
Alisa Clayton
Ran Mochizuki
Homero Rosas
Rosa Lisbeth Navarrete
MYT Director, Dena Martinez
MYT’s Hip Hop & World Dance perform along with a group of adults. It’s a multigenerational celebration of life and those who have passed over and guide us. We are celebrating the connections between Life and Death; and how our loved ones who have passed stay alive in our hearts, minds, and bodies.
ROBIN HOOD
Performed by MYT Mainstage Performance Ensemble
Written and Directed by John Litten
Music and Dance by Sofia Lopez Ibor
Costume Design by Susana Aragón
Set Design by John Ramizrez
MYT Director, Emily Klion
MYT travels to Nottingham where its citizens are suffering under the royal weight of greed, power and corruption. Prince John and his sheriff henchman are raising taxes, evicting homeowners, and brutally enforcing laws. But do not despair! For there is an outlaw hero hidden deep in the mossy forests of Sherwood. In this action packed play, Robin Hood and his Merry Band defend the defenseless and bring hope to those who need it most. Accompanied by Renaissance music and dance. Performed by MYT’s MainStage Performance Ensemble.
IN AND OUT OF SHADOWS
Performed by MYT DREAM Ensemble 2013
Written by Gary Soto | Directed by Cliff Mayotte
Music and Lyrics by Emily Klion, George Brooks & Gary Soto
Choreography by Rashidi Omari & Rebecca Cervantes
Costumes and Video by Susana Aaragon
Assistant Director, Hannah Micahelles
MYT Director, Emily Klion
MYT is thrilled to collaborate with the great writer and poet,Gary Soto, on a new play about undocumented teenagers. This important issue touches all of us—from teenagers whose dreams are stymied by immigration status, to documented friends and families. Under the guidance of Director Cliff Mayotte, MYT Teen Troupe interviewed dozens of undocumented peers throughout the community, whose stories are incorporated in Soto’s script.
This incredible collaboration between MYT and world-class author Gary Soto is an important new work of theater for social justice full of humor, passion and hope.
Supported by the Creative Work Fund and NALAC (National Association of Latino Arts and Culture)
BOUND FOR GLORY
Written by MYT MainStage with Lisa Quoresimo 2013
Directed by Lisa Quoresimo
Laurie Lewis, Music Direction
Maica Folch, Circus Choreography
Susan Aragón, Costumes | John Ramirez, Sets
MYT Director, Emily Klion
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OCCUPY BROADWAY
Created And Performed by Myt’s Mainstage Summer Ensemble 2012
Directed by Lisa Quoresimo
Music Direction by Tania Johnson
Choreography by Karina Vela | Sets by Alex Bargas
Emily Klion, Marsh Youth Theater Director
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We don’t usually do Broadway at MYT, but this summer we can’t resist. Join Marsh Youth Theater as MainStage Summer performs a revue of scenes and songs of the 99% and 1% as depicted through the years on the Broadway stage. It’s a classic theme of have and have-not-ers and who gets to be a millionaire at the end of the story. Does money buy happiness? Or does singing, dancing and acting? You be the judge at MYT’s Occupy Broadway!!!
JIP, HIS STORY by Katherine Paterson
MYT MainStage Performance Ensemble 2012
Musical theater adaptatio by Emily Klion & Danny Duncan
Directed by Ellen Sebastian Chang
Rashidi Omari, dance
Michelle Jordan, Vocal Direction
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MYT remounts its popular 2005 production of Katherine Paterson’s historical novel about a 1850’s Vermont boy caught in a web of racial and class prejudice. Jip knows only that he was left on the side of the road when he was a toddler and brought up on a poor farm. Who are his parents? Where is he from? When Jip discovers the truth, his whole life is changed. Two-time Newbery Award winner Katherine Paterson is the National Ambassador for Children’s Literature and one of the nation’s best writers of young people’s fiction. This will be an auditioned production for MYT Teens with a few additional younger actors included.
PERSEPHONE CUBANA
MYT MainStage Performance Ensemble 2012
Adapted by Emily Klion, Lisa Quoresimo & Danny Duncan
Directed by Lisa Quoresimo with Roberto Borrel, dance & music
Chus Alonso & Martha Rodriguez-Salazar & Community Music Center’s Mission Young Musicians Program
John Ramirez, sets; Susana Aragon, costumes
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In honor of our first production, MYT recreates the myth of Persephone, Goddess of Spring, Queen of the Underworld- this time with a Cuban twist. It’s an honor to work with the great Afro-Cuban music and dance specialist, Roberto Borrell, who will assist us in transforming Persephone’s family of Greek gods into Cuban Orishas, each with his or her own music, dance and costume. Our core MainStage team of Lisa Quoresimo, John Ramirez and Susana Aragon will direct and create sets and costumes for the show.
MYT is very excited to announce our first collaboration with Community Music Center! Latin music specialists, Chus Alonso and Martha Rodriguez-Salazar will direct the production band: CMC’s Mission District Young Musicians Program. Persephone Cubana will rock with the rhythms of Afro-Cuban and modern Cuban dance music.
THE LAST WILD WITCH by Starhawk
MYT FirstStage Ensemble 2012
Directed by Sally Davis
Maica Folch, trapeze dance and movement
Violeta Vicario, music
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“Once there was a perfect town, in a perfect world, where there were rules for everything and a right way and a wrong way to do everything, and nobody ever broke the rules-except sometimes.” So begins Starhawk’s eco-fable, The Last Wild Witch. MYT is thrilled to collaborate with one of the Bay Area’s most celebrated earth-based writers, activists and spiral dance leader. We’ll create an original musical theater adaptation of Starhawk’s fable The Last Wild Witch, using drama, music, dance, improvisation and visual art.
TRUTHTOPIA
MYT Teen Touring Troupe 2012
Written and Performed by MYT 2011 MainStage Summer Ensemble with MYT Teen Troupe Creative Corps
Directed by Cliff Mayotte, Marcelo Pereira, Music | Rebecca Weisser, Choreography | Alex Bargas, Sets
Emily Klion, Marsh Youth Theater Creative Director
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The Marsh Youth Theater 2011 Teen Touring Troupe stars in an original music- and dance-filled production based on Mark Twain’s satirical short story, The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg. This updated version tells the story of a small town called Truthtopia, which prides itself on its population of good, upstanding citizens. But when a mysterious stranger abandons a cash-packed suitcase there, the formerly orderly lives of the townsfolk are turned upside-down, leading to a outbreak of greed, temptation, treachery — and fun musical numbers.
AS YOU LIKE IT!
MYT MainStage Summer 2011
Based on the comedy by William Shakespeare
Conceived & written by Lisa Quoresimo & MYT MainStage Students |Directed by Lisa Quoresimo | Music Director Katy Stephan | Choreographer Rebecca Weisser | Sets John Ramirez | Costumes Susana Aragón | MYT Program Director Emily Klion
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Marsh Youth Theater presents a hilarious updated musical version of Shakespeare’s comedy, “As You Like It.” All the world’s a stage in this classic tale of gender swapping, crazy love poetry and lots and lots of unrequited love in the pastoral setting of Golden Gate Park. MYT MainStage Performance Ensemble has updated the story with contemporary music and dance – even a hip hop Maypole! Shakespeare in the Mission? Let’s go!
SIDDHARTHA,The Bright Path 2010
Written by Emily Klion, Lisa Quoresimo, Danny Duncan
Directed by Lisa Quoresimo | Music by Emily Klion, Lisa Quoresimo, George Brooks
Choreography by Antonia Minnecola and Russell Wright | Costumes by Susana Aragón | Sets by John Ramirez
Vocal Direction by Katy Stephan | Live Music by David Möshler piano; Ben Kunin, sarode; Jim Santi Owen & Shonali Srivastava, tabla | Additional Music by Blake Derby and Rev. Gary Davis
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Prince Siddhartha’s journey to become the Buddha is told in parallel with that of Chandra, a modern-day San Francisco girl who, surrounded by a mass of birthday party gifts, finds herself posing similar questions about the value of material things and the reasons for human suffering. The two meet under the Bodhi tree, on the banks of the Ganges River, where Buddha helps her find her own brand of enlightenment. The show is flavored with Indian music, art, kathak dance and a Bollywood dance scene.
Media
Siddhartha CD and DVD ORDER FORM
San Francisco Examiner’s review of Siddhartha 2010
A feature on our lead actor, Jens Ibsen in the San Francisco Chronicle
OUR STORY, What Really Happened?
July 2010
Written and Directed by Randy Symank
Music Direction by Marcelo Pereira with Kendall Owings
Choreography by Karina Vela
Sets by Alex Bargas | Costumes by Caitlin Simpson-Bergman with Anais Azul | Lighting by Erich Blazeski
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Marsh Youth Theater Summer MainStage Ensemble presents Our Story, a Tale of Perspective. Based on the famous Rashomon tale of viewpoints, MYT students wrote and created a story of a mysterious incident at the school dance in which a student is injured. Gossip, innuendo and accusations abound as a detective tries to piece together what really happened. Set to an exuberant music and dance track from the 1980’s 90’s and today’s music. MYT student actors will wow you with their talent!
THE MAGIC FLUTE May 2010 Written by W.A. Mozart
Directed by Lisa Quoresimo
Original Adaptation by Danny Duncan & Emily Klion | Script and Music adapted for MYT by Lisa Quoresimo
Directed by Lisa Quoresimo
Music Directed by Frederick Harris | Choreography by Sonya Smith | Sets by John Ramirez | Costumes by Susana Aragon
MYT Creative Director Emily Klion
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Mozart’s magical opera MYT style! This lovely musical theater version is designed especially for MYT’s MainStage Performance Ensemble. With forest creatures, tests of bravery, a daughter’s love, a queen’s revenge,Tamino’s magic flute and Papegeno’s bells, The Magic Flute spins a fantasy of beauty and delight. Join us for this classic story of loyalty and love through Mozart’s gorgeous music.
THE WAVE
February 2010
Written by Ron Jones
| Directed by Cliff Mayotte
Music by David Denny, Kathy Peck, Emily Klion
| Music Directed by Frederick Harris
Choreography by Tricia Lam and Zoe Fyfe
| Sets by Alex Bargas | Costumes by Susana Aragon
Photo Gallery by Light at 11B Joseph Garappolo and Christian Pease
MYT Creative Director Emily Klion The Marsh is proud to announce Marsh Youth Theater’s (MYT’s) Teen Troupe in the world premiere of THE WAVE, a musical by Ron Jones. The play is based on an actual classroom experiment in fascism conducted by Jones in 1967 while he was a history teacher at Cubberley High School in Palo Alto. During a five-day period students gave up their ‘freedom’ for the prospect of being superior to their classmates. Almost immediately, the experiment got out of control. Student curiosity and questioning were replaced with conformity and violence. The perspectives of the actual students who comprised the experiment in 1967 are incorporated into the show’s production. The Wave translates as a story for our time, challenging MYT teen actors and their audience to examine their deepest beliefs about politics and social pressure.
Media
Read the SF Chronicle article on Ron Jones & The Wave
SF Bay Times review of The Wave
Watch The Wave Trailer!
NOVIO BOY by Gary Soto
July 2009
Performed by MYT Summer MainStage Performance Ensemble
Artistic Director, Emily Klion
Stage Direction, Randy Symank | Music Direction, Shannon Day
Choreography, Karina Vela | Sets, Alex Bargas
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MainStage Summer will create a musical production of Gary Soto’s, Novio Boy, a hip, funny play featuring the Spanglish language and culture of a Mexican American group of teens. Ninth-grade Rudy has asked eleventh-grade Patricia out on a date, and to his amazement she has agreed. Now Rudy has to come up with the money, the poise, and the conversation to carry it off. This play follows Rudy from his desperate search for guidance from family and friends through the hilarities of the date itself, all the way to its successful conclusion. Come join us in a performance of teatro, música y danza latinas, including cumbia, mariachi, chacha, y reggaeton!
GARY SOTO’s first book for young readers, Baseball in April and Other Stories, won the California Library Association’s Beatty Award and was named an ALA Best Book for Young Adults. He has since published many novels, short story collections, plays, and volumes of poetry. He divides his time between Berkeley, California, and his hometown of Fresno.
FEARS OF YOUR LIFE
January 2009 performed by MYT New Teen Troupe’s
Based on the book by Michael Bernard Loggins of Creativity Explored
Conceived, Directed and Choreographed by Kim Epifano with Sonya Smith and Maica Folch
Emily Klion, MYT Creative Director
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What is fear? How do we cope with it? How can we express it? Fears of Your Life will use dance, music, spoken word, video, sculpture and painting in a celebration of this universal emotion. This multi-media work explores our relationship with the sometimes serious and often humorous things that scare each one of us.
Media
Pink Section article on Fears Of Your Life
Mission Locals video on Fears of Your Life
CIRIBIRIBIN May 2009
Performed by MYT Mainstage Performance Ensemble
a new musical by Lisa Quoresimo and Charles Eurydice Gray
With Lisa Quoresimo, Shannon Day, Sonia Smith, John Ramirez, Susana Aragón and other artists.
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MainStage Performance Ensemble celebrated its eighth season with the world premiere of Ciribiribin [CheeryBeeryBean], the story of an Italian immigrant family living in California in the early 1940’s. As the U.S.A. gets drawn into World War II, the family’s Italian language and customs are outlawed, and they begin to question the meaning of home. Set with Italian opera and infectious swing music and dance, Ciribiribin was created by the writing team of Lisa Quoresimo and Charles Eurydice Gray. It takes its name from a nineteenth-century Italian song that was popularized in America in the 20’s by Mario Lanza, then reborn as a big band hit by Harry James and Frank Sinatra.
STONE SOUP, the musical 2009
A new version of an old French Tale performed by the MYT’s FirstStage Ensemble
Written and Directed by Sue Walton
Choreographed and Codirected by KC Chapek
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SIDDHARTHA, The Bright Path … the story of the boy who became Buddha
December 2007 – January 2008 | Performed by MYT Performance Ensemble
Written by Danny Duncan, Emily Klion and Lisa Quoresimo
Written by Emily Klion, Lisa Quoresimo, Danny Duncan | Directed by Lisa Quoresimo
Music by Emily Klion, Lisa Quoresimo, George Brooks*
Kathak Choreography by Joanna Meinl and Antonia Minnecola
Modern and Bollywood Choreography by Russell Wright
Costumes by Susana Aragón | Sets by John Ramirez
Vocal Arrangements by Shannon Day | Live Music by Dave Malloy piano; Ben Kunin, sarode; Javad Butah, tabla
*Additional Music by Blake Derby and Rev. Gary Davis
Photo Gallery by Doug McKechnie
Prince Siddhartha’s journey to become the Buddha is told in parallel with that of Chandra, a modern-day San Francisco girl who, surrounded by a mass of birthday party gifts, finds herself posing similar questions about the value of material things and the reasons for human suffering. The two meet under the Bodhi tree, on the banks of the Ganges River, where Buddha helps her find her own brand of enlightenment.
The show is flavored with Indian music, art, kathak dance and even a hip hop Bollywood scene. The cast of 24 ranges in age from 10 to 16 and from up-and-coming young actors to Vishnu Balunsat, a San Francisco Ballet “Nutcracker” veteran, who plays Siddhartha. There are no adult actors.
Media
SF Bay Times
KALW – Listen!
India Currents Article
NARNIA
based on The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis.
May 3-10, 2008 Performed by MYT’s MainStage Performance Ensemble 2008
Written by Jules Tasca
Lyrics by Ted Drachman |
Music by Thomas Tierney
Directed by Lisa Quoresimo
| Music Direction by Tania Johnson
Choreography by Maica Folch & Sonia Smith
Costumes by Susan Aragón |
Sets by John Ramirez
| Choreography by Aileen Lawlor
Magic by David Hirata
Lighting by Tyler Null
| Emily Klion, MYT Director
Poster Art by MYT Students Emily Claire Mason and Angelina Orrelana
Photo Gallery
QUINCY’S QUEST
Performed by 2007 Summer MainStage Performance Ensemble
Written and Directed by Russell Wright
Music Direction by Shannon Day | Choreography by Russell Wright
Sets by Alex Bargas | Lighting by Tyler Null
Emily Klion, Marsh Youth Theater Director
Quincy Washington (Rapper Q) journeys back through time to learn about his musical roots, guided by the spirit of his aunt, Mama Queen, On the way he learns about the influence of African American artists on pop culture throughout the world. \ MYT’s MainStage Summer Ensemble sing, shout, twist, cakewalk, hip hop and swing dance through the twentieth century.
DONA QUIXOTE Based on Don Quixote by Miquel de Cervantes
The classic story of the chivalrous visionary, with a twist.
Performed by 2006 MainStage Performance Ensemble | Original Libretto by Danny Duncan | Original Music and Lyrics by Emily Klion and Maggie McKaig
Directed by Lisa Quoresimo | Music Direction by Emily Klion
Spanish Guitar by Ricardo Diaz | Choreography by Mónica Bermudez
Costumes by Susan Aragón | Sets by John Ramirez
Lighting by Patti Meyer | Emily Klion, Marsh Youth Theater Director