Does anyone know anything about this theater besides it being in Times Square?

My ds just did a week with Diane Hardin last week and at the end of the week they did a Demonstration Class at The Turtle Shell Theatre. Its extremely small but very cool for the kids and I even thought it was neat. Its on 43rd and 8th I believe.

Also, its located in the Time Square Arts Center

There are a number of small venues in the building, 42nd and 8th. My son had his Off Broadway debut there this spring at the Manhattan Rep. Nice friendly space. Get to know the guard in the entrance.

Thanks

Take your kids to the Hard Rock around the corner before showtime. You never know who you will run into.
We did that on the closing evening for DS's show and ran into a friend's party that happened to be playing in a show down the street. On cue, he asked David for his autograph. This must have caught a few eyes since that started a couple more people asking for autographs. DS was experiencing his first bit of notoriety, priceless!

Cool DadinWestchester

Hey, there are some great productions of The Taming of the Shrew and The Tamer Tamed running in repertory in that theatre at the end of September and I'm not just saying that because I'm directing Taming... Well, OK, I did, but I just wanted to add that it's a great space to book and perform and the owner has been great to work with.

Joe -
I saw that breakdown and thought it was a great concept! I was only sorry that you were certainly going with 18TPY. You're doing some really great shows, congratulations!

Thanks Neverdefeated, but I'm a little confused. We didn't post 18TPY, what we actually posted was 'MALE/FEMALE PLAYING MALE Mid-Late Teens'; where did it come out 18TPY? I ask because our casting notice was picked up by a dozen internet sites and came out butchered/altered more than once with wrong dates, misposted breakdowns, etc. We only submitted to Backstage, Equity, and Playbill ourselves. Our Backstage ad indicated that we would see minors accomompanied by a parent. In fact, we ended up casting a sixteen year old as Curtis in Taming of the Shrew and currently have a fourteen year old playing Balthasar in our production of CSI: Verona. It was our hope that when we take the abridged version of that latter program into schools in the Fall, an actor in the age range of the target audience might relate to them better in discussing the rehearsal process, etc.

Our Company, while new, already has a youth company. They're doing a staged reading as part of our upcoming festival, and some of them are already lobbying for shows to do over the winter. Our requirements for them are the same as any other company members: come to us with a show that you have a passion for, is financially feasible (no revolving barricades or shark tanks), and have a team interested in supporting. Our only additional caveat for the 'yutes' is that their parents read the show (They desperately want to do 'Dog Sees God!) and that it's not Aladdin Junior. We want them to choose work that has some meat and meaning. We have no problem working with young actors, especially those in their 'Dead Years' since by definition they fit our company's 'Misfit Mandate', and we are structuring our Youth Protection and Risk Management programs to educate potential mentors for them. We're trying to do things right. We've had a few youth actors in the 'senior company' from its outset, and we've been lucky to fill the ranks with a few more. The parents have been amazingly supportive and understand that we will not lower our expectations based on age; so far they have risen to every challenge. They are invited to participate fully in all of our workshops and work nights, and their work ethic and professionalism has inspired all of us.

Please let me know where you saw 18TPY so we can monitor that site when we post further breakdowns. In our Company 18 can play 8, 18 or 80 if they're right for the part. The same goes for 'da yutes'.

Joe,
Let us know when you open a Westchester company... I will definitely have David see CSI!
GT

Dog see's god is a bit much for children, dont ya think?

Avidactor, I couldn't agree more! We were thrilled that they came to us with a 'real show', and two of the yutes actually work monologues from it for auditions, but I had to explain that one of the definitions of 'Feasible' is 'Marketable'. Yes, the characters are mid-teens and yes, these are very mature kids with understanding parents, but audiences that might be comfortable with the subject matter (sex, drugs, drinking, etc) and language (raw) might be seriously squicked with seeing actual minors performing it. I love the show but I don't want to see real fourteen year olds playing it. Besides, we'd get off easy with picketers, it could end up as a call to CPS. So, regrettably, we had to suggest they 'go fish', they're looking for other shows We have some talented playwrights who have chosen to associate themselves with us (who'da thunkit?) who have expressed an interest in writing for both our Company and the Youth Company. We'll let y'all know what happens.

Sorry everyone, I didn't mean to hijack the thread. It really was just meant to be a tip of the hat to John Cooper and the Turtle Shell Theatre. He's great to work with and it's a beautiful space in a great location.

Second Banana - Sorry it took me a little while to get back to you.

I can't honestly remember at this point where I saw the breakdown and it is possible I interpreted "mid-late teens" as 18 since so often that is what they mean even if it's not what is said. Too bad for me (and my daughter) since I did think it was really cool! Oh well, next time.

I do love the information about your company, especially the youth company, that you provided. In many ways it sounds like the company my daughter belongs to. If there's one thing that makes me crazy it's when you have teens in a production but you "dumb it down" for them or make it "PG" as if they aren't intelligent enough or exposed enough to the real world to handle real (fictional) situations. For example my daughter's company did "Wild Party" and "Stop Kiss" whereas the local teen theatre in our community did "Grease Jr." because why? I guess it was too risque!

Anyway, thanks for the correction and I'll look into this further!