Welcome to the first Patch blog for Modjeska Playhouse! We are excited to be here. For those of you that have never heard of us and didn’t know there was a theatre company in the Saddleback Valley, let me tell you a little bit about Modjeska Playhouse.
We are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit theatre company that is committed to bringing a permanent professional regional theatre to the Saddleback Valley. This is an idea that was dreamt up in the Trabuco Hills High School Little Theatre by the three founding artists/co-artistic directors of Modjeska Playhouse back in the early 1990s. After graduation, all three of us went on to professional careers as actors, directors, writers, and educators. In 2008, Modjeska Playhouse was born with a production of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) on the same Trabuco Hills stage where we met and became lifelong friends.
Since that time, Modjeska Playhouse has produced nine other shows including two “Summer Theatre in the Park” productions at the Kershaw Gardens and two Theatre for Young Audiences shows. In March, we will open a three-week run of the romantic comedy, First Night.
We are an ensemble-based theatre, which means we have a company of actors, directors, stage managers and other artists that we work with who share a commitment and passion for Modjeska Playhouse and its mission. This ensemble concept means our patrons may see actors onstage for one production and selling tickets during the next. This makes the artists accessible to our patrons and brings a sense of community to the theatre. That being said, Modjeska Playhouse is not a community theatre; we are a theatre for our community.
A strong and well-rounded city needs a strong and well-rounded arts community and Modjeska Playhouse intends to help that community grow. There are several ways for a theatre to achieve this goal, from producing quality theatrical works, to outreach programs, to theatre arts education. We have made good progress with the two former methods with our productions and our involvement with the Mission Viejo Cultural Arts Committee, our participation in the Arts Alive Festival, The Readers Festival and our free summer shows, but have not done much with theatre arts education… until now!
Beginning March 5, Modjeska Playhouse will be offering acting classes for grades 4-6 and 7-8 and Improvisational Theatre classes for grades 7-8 at the Potocki Center in Mission Viejo. Acting classes are a great way to teach children to become creative thinkers, confident communicators and give them the ability to work within an ensemble, but more on that in a future post.
For more information about Modjeska Playhouse or our classes, please visit our website www.modjeskaplayhouse.org.
