About Fantasy Works Youth Theater

(Pictured l-r from top row: Governor Carcieri, FW staff member Ben Scheff, FW Board President Nancy Hillner, Executive Director Ann O'Grady, Congressman Langevin, and Randy Rosenbaum, Executive Director of the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts. Back row: FW staff member Tyler Perry and Congressman Kennedy.)

In 2009, Fantasy Works Youth Theater was honored to receive federal arts stimulus funding.

History | Mission Statement | Philosophy | Programs | Staff | Board of Directors

History

Fantasy Works Youth Theater developed from an original paper in talent development written by Ann O'Grady as she pursued her doctorate at the University of Connecticut. The paper was entitled "The Real Work of Fantasy," and described a theater company run by high school and college students considering careers in the arts as they put on a production with younger students.

In 1987 the wheels were set in motion, and Fantasy Works opened as a two-week summer camp run by student directors working in collaboration with professional mentors. Over 200 shows and 12,000 students later, Fantasy Works has grown into the largest youth theater in RI producing a student-run summer musical series, after-school programs, and original plays for educational venues as well as training program for students interested in careers in theater.

In 2009, Executive Director Ann O'Grady (far right in photo) received the RI Fellows Award from the RI Foundation. (Read more about this program.) Through that program, she took coursework on organizational change at the NTL (National Training Lab) and also spent 2 weeks interviewing staff and observing programs at the Tony Award winning Minneapolis Children's Theatre Company.

Fantasy Works also received the NETC (New England Theatre Conference) Moss Hart special recognition award in youth theater for our 2008 production of Les Miserables at The University of Rhode Island's Will Theatre in Kingston, RI.

Our graduates have gone on to work on Broadway, national tours, summer stock theaters, community theaters, and schools. Our alumni include professional directors and choreographers, casting agents, production managers, arts administrators, technicians, teachers, and supporters of the arts. We have an active alumni network that helps our emerging artists make the transition to professional employment.

We are an ensemble company: a community of emerging artists where respect, responsibility, and collaboration are the values that guide us.

Mission Statement

Fantasy Works Youth Theater, Inc. is a non-profit educational theater company providing opportunities for students to learn by exploring their interests and developing their skills through theater; Fantasy Works supports arts education and literacy efforts through the development of innovative partnerships, standards-based curriculum materials, and theater resource services.

One way we fulfill this mission is by hiring high school and college students as our summer series directors, choreographers, managers, designers, musicians and technicians. Providing these unique paid internships for Rhode Island's emerging artists is what sets Fantasy Works apart from other Rhode Island theaters.

Philosophy

Students are empowered as they enter the world of theater - a place where their diverse interests, talents, and skills are valued; a place where each student becomes an integral part of an ensemble through the process of creating performance pieces and presenting them.

Programs

Fantasy Works fulfills its mission and meets community needs through these programs:

Summer Theater Camps –

We produce five to seven summer programs in communities throughout RI. Each program culminates in a fully staged musical production open to the general public. High school and college aged students are hired to work as interns in all areas of theater production under the guidance of professional mentors.

After School Programs –

After school programs enhance the company's ability to reach out to student artists during the school year. High school and college students are hired to work with elementary and middle school students to put up a full musical with four to six weeks rehearsal time.

Arts literacy and arts-across-the-curriculum programs –

We've developed a partnership with Read Across RI and the Providence Public Library called Stories on Stage to produce a series of performances based on children's literature. Fantasy Works has also created original musicals with accompanying curriculum keyed to the National Education Standards.

Theater School Classes and Performances –

Our theater school presents a Christmas show, a February vacation week program, skills classes and workshops.

Theater Resource Services to Schools and Youth Groups –

We assist other groups by providing a low cost rental of our sound, lighting and technical equipment as well as our costumes and set pieces.

Community Outreach:

Fantasy Works funds 100% of all scholarship requests. We provide blocks of tickets to social service agencies- House of Hope, Salvation Army, and agencies that serve at-risk populations of youth. We also write shows offered to the public for no fee performing at children's reading circles, educational conferences, and special programs.

Vision:

Our vision is to create a permanent state children's theater that would become a highly visible asset for the State of Rhode Island. To achieve this vision, we will collaborate with those who share a commitment to children, the arts, and education in the RI community. In three years time, we envision ourselves capable of:

• Training arts leaders to run and manage after-school theatre arts programs thereby meeting the demands for this invaluable service to our schools
• Providing more opportunities in Rhode Island for employment in the theater arts
• Expanding our summer programs across the state to meet the growing community demand
• Creating a permanent resource of affordable costume, set and sound rentals that would be made available to youth groups across the state
• Offering productions targeted to school groups with accompanying curriculum units keyed to the National Education Standards

Ultimately our goal is to transform our organization into a state treasure that is a testament to Rhode Island's support of its youth, education, and the arts.

Staff

Ann O'Grady, Executive Director

Ann O'Grady is the Fantasy Works founder and program director. She has 35 years of experience in teaching and earned a Ph.D in Education from UConn where she developed components of the Fantasy Works program. Ann is a recipient of a Milken National Educators Award and 2009 RI Fellows Award from the RI Foundation.

Elisa Cardone, Managing Director

Elisa Cardone is a graduate of Brown University and earned an MFA from the Yale School of Drama where she currently teaches production management. She has been the production manager of national tours and Broadway shows.

Patrick McCrossan, Lead Director/Choreographer of FW Summer Musical Series,

Patrick McCrossan has acted as Director of Education and Director of the summer musical series for FW and has directed, choreographed, and music directed over thirty musicals with the company and with schools in Rhode Island and Massachusetts. He has worked professionally with the New London Barn Playhouse, Signature Theatre’s Overtures workshop at the Kennedy Center, and he has fond memories of performing with Fantasy Works’ Senior Company at the Odeum for many summers. He holds a Bachelor of Music degree from The Benjamin T. Rome School of Music at Catholic University and a Masters in Theatre Education from Emerson College. He holds his Massachusetts public school teacher licensure and is a middle school theatre teacher in the Mansfield Public School System.

Elizabeth Gotauco, Costume Designer, Dramaturge, Young PlayRIYTs Mentor,

Elizabeth Gotauco has a long history with Fantasy Works having started out as a performer with their teen programs, and returning after college to join the staff. She has worked with Fantasy Works for 6 years, having served their after-school and summer programs as director, music director and costumer - sometimes wearing all three of those hats at once! Additionally, she is a local professional in the Providence theatre scene, having performed and/or designed for Trinity Rep, the Gamm Theatre, Perishable Theatre and Elemental Theatre Collective. Last winter, Liz performed in the Brown/Trinity Consortium's "Writing is Live" festival, and this spring performed in Perishable Theatre's Hedwig and the Angry Inch, which received the Motif Award for Best Production of 2009-2010. Additionally, Liz has collaborated with the Manton Avenue Project, a local play writing program for underprivileged children. She received her BFA in Theatre from the University of Rhode Island, and recently returned to URI to complete her MLIS. She is now marrying her love of the arts with her passion for literacy and education as the Youth Librarian for Middleboro Public Library in Massachusetts.

Michael Hyde, Technical Director, is a graduate of Rhode Island College with a degree in Communications. He is the information technology administrator at Channel 12 and technical director for several RI theater groups.

Dinarte Ferro, Conductor, holds an MAT in Music Education from RIC and is the conductor of the Warwick Symphony Orchestra. He is also a music teacher in the Warwick Public Schools.

High school and college students planning careers in the arts will join our staff as:

• directors
• choreographers
• stage managers
• musicians
• and technical, set, and costume designers.

Fantasy Works is proud to offer 35 summer jobs to RI's emerging artists.

Board of Directors

Jamie Brooks

Jamie Brooks is a results-oriented administrator with over 20 years of experience in fast-paced business and healthcare settings. Catalyst in implementing positive change, innovative problem solving, and creating efficient systems and protocols. High energy professional, dedicated and self-motivated with exceptional team building and training skills. She currently serves as the Director of Learning and Performance at Amgen, Rhode Island. Having been a theater buff since elementary school, Jamie performed in over 20 shows as a High School student, College Student and as an Adult. The last show Jamie did was Steel Magnolia's where she played Truvy at the Uniersity of Maine at Machias.

We are currently getting photos and bios together of the remaining board members.