High school students angling for a career in theater have numerous pre-graduation options in the Tampa Bay area. Many professional companies have internship programs, for rigorous, hands-on training in show production. There are conservatories and schools, and summer schools and camps.
Then there’s ThinkTank, whose audition-based Young Artists Ensemble works on several mainstage productions throughout the year, alongside seasoned professionals, along with other projects. “It is a true ‘thrown to the wolves’ professional internship for these high school students,” explains Producing Artistic Director Georgia Mallory Guy.
The young people work hard in the program. “We don’t treat them like kids. The expectations are the same.”
ThinkTank’s focus, unique among bay area stage companies, is Theatre for Young Audiences (TYA). This is most definitely not fairy tale children’s theater.
TYA, Guy explains, is filling a void.
“We’re missing a generation of theater-goers,” she says. “if we expect them to go from Winnie-the-Pooh to Chekhov, there’s got to be something in between that excites them, and makes them understand that theater is supposed to be a reflection of society.
“And if we’re not speaking to people ages 13 to 21, then we’re not going to have them when they’re 23, 33, 43 … they’re not going to feel like theater speaks to them; it speaks to their grandparents.”
Recent ThinkTank productions have included The Wolves, Sarah DeLappe’s acclaimed one-act play about talking, gossiping and in-fighting members of a girls’ soccer team, as a microcosm of society; Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, a parable of the Salem Witch Trials; and Number the Stars, based on the book by Lois Lowry, the story of teenaged freedom fighters during the Nazi occupation of Denmark.
The Jason Robert Brown musical Songs For a New World was part of the 2024-25 season, too.
Coming Sunday is the 5th Annual TYA Playwrights Festival, a highlight of every ThinkTank season. Three original works, chosen out of hundreds via a national call for professional scribes, will be presented as a staged reading at the Maureen and Douglas Cohn Jewish Community Campus (JCC) in Tampa.
Although the playwrights, from all over the country, write “adult” plays as well, these were all specifically written for young audiences, Guy says. “We’ve been trying to find plays that we feel speak more accurately to today’s young people and their families.
“We know that there are playwrights out there that are writing incredible plays. There needs to be a resource for playwrights to be able to develop more mature content for young people.
“So that’s what we aim to do with this festival.”
Sunday’s program includes:
Remembering Margot by Claudia Haas: “The Diary of Anne Frank is a pretty ‘canon’ play now,” Guy observes. “Kids read about it in school, and sometimes they read the play. This looks at life through the lens of his sister Margot. It was an interesting one for us to bring into the mix, also because of our partnership with the JCC. It’s a really lovely piece – and it also elevates what our hosts hope to achieve as well.”
My Tree by Samara Siskind. “It’s centered around the friendship of these two young people, over the course of them being 9 to the age of 17. They’ve always met at the tree to hang out, to do their homework, and we see that friendship between this young man and this young woman mature – how they grow to love one another platonically as friends. And protect and stand up for each other.” The playwright has been working with ThinkTank on developing additional themes for scenes in the play.
Camp Cattywampus by Abigail Duclos and Tess Inderbitzin. “It’s definitely the most mature of the pieces, thematically and language-wise. It’s five young women who are at a performing arts summer camp. And they talk like 15- and 16-year-olds talk when they’re not around the parents. Four of the girls are also dealing with the concept of death, as last year they had another girl rooming with them, and she passed away. And this year they have a new roommate.
“And they’re all from different backgrounds. Some of them are pretty well off; their families are fairly rich. A couple of them are more middle-class, and Noah, the newcomer, is there on a scholarship to the camp. Her family is just barely scraping by. So there’s a lot of complex things these young women talk about.”
According to Guy, members of her young ensemble enjoy working with professional actors and tech people on the Playwrights Festival; there are lessons there about teamwork and the joy of creation; mentorships, and longtime friendships, frequently result.
“We’re trying to provide them access to professional theater, so that when they apply for colleges – many of them go into theater in some capacity, in Performance or Production or Design – they’ve got professional credits on their resume,” she says.
“Because I taught for so long as an adjunct at USF, I know those schools. So they’re calling me going ‘I see ThinkTank on here … tell me about this kid.’ If the schools are out of state, and I’m listed as a reference, they’ll call and say ‘I see ThinkTank on here … tell me about this kid.’ And I get to advocate for them.”
Find info on the 5th Annual TYA Playwrights Festival, and tickets, at this link.
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